ICC Strategy for the Raid Boss Part 2: Scourge Allies

Scourge allies will allow you to dish out damage, among many other utilitarian uses. There are some core strategies, however that should remain consistent throughout each raid.

                                                           Dark Prince Strategy
Get the princes out as soon as possible by turn 5. If one is played, it will fetch the others. Although these guys are a standard 5/5/5 ally, they turn off abilities in play, negate powers of opposing allies and turn off equipment powers. Expect to be interrupted. However, if one of the princes is interrupted, and you get a hold of another, only the princes not in the graveyard, but in the hand or deck- will come forth. It is adviseable that if you use this strategy, be prepared for a smart raider to take possession of one of the three princes, mainly Taldaram or Valanar. Interrupt this immediately. By shutting down your allies, the raiders have a chance at beating you to turn 10. Don't give them the luxury. I have seen raiders power through the princes by killing them and I've defeated raiders using them because they failed to deal with that major problem. If you can present more headaches ahead of the dark prince strategy, you may overwhelm the heroes. Attack only with the princes if there are no protectors on the field and a hero is wide open to be swung at.

Thrifty Lich
If you are having difficulty by turn 4 finding big allies to drop down, or you are under pressure from allies or spells, it may be advantageous to pop down cost 2 or lower allies as most abilities cost 1 or 2 resources at best. Shambling Horrors are hard to get since there are only two, but pop one down for extra protection if you are having trouble against attacking allies. Vile Spirits should be rammed into important allies (if you can) so that you can utilize their effects. If the heroes don't take care of them, they will ram into an ally and possibly take out another. This is not good for board advantage (for them). Drudge Ghouls are a minor nuisance to raiders, but become a pain in the ass when you keep playing them from the grave for the cost of one. Play a Drudge Ghoul if you have resources to spare. They are good for a turn 1 play.

Valithria Dreamwalker
There is a strategy that exists with Valithria that I'm not fond of. It's hard to pick up one card out of 60 out of a draw, and commonly I'll use Valithria as a resource if I am good on health. You can protect Valithria with protectors, but it is susceptible to spell suppression (what isn't) and easy ally destruction. This dragonkin isn't untargetable, but is elusive without the keyword. Consider using this card as a resource if a warlock is in the party- they may take control of this ally and use it's powers for their own gain.

Pre-Prince Strategy
Before turn 5 you have a few pre-prince options. All of the above obviously, but unless there is a particular ally you need to pop, avoid playing Val'kyr shadowguard until the late game (around turn 8). I do not like Lady Deathwhisper as I feel she is not worth the cost of playing. Marrowgar is only useful around turn 6 or 7 if you haven't acquired Sindragosa yet. In fact, Marrowgar is a good follow up play on Turn 8 if the heroes popped Sindragosa, who is susceptible to interrupts. Save Marrowgar for the late game, or don't play him. If you find you are at an advantage at the moment in the game, play Rotface or Festergut. If you have an ally problem and you have the choice between the two abominations, play Rotface over Festergut. Otherwise play which one tickles your fancy.

Saurfang
If you happen to get Saurfang by turn 6, he can present an interesting problem to raiders. However, at his cost, he is susceptible to an interrupt and may not be worth playing. I'd use him as a resource unless I'm getting hit hard by turn 6.

The Big Three
The big three can be a little controversial to play. The object of defeating raider interrupts is to get them to waste their interrupts on cards that didn't cost you as much. If, for example Sindragosa is interrupted and you can't chain it, you just lost 7 resources to one card. A huge board advantage. If you keep playing high amounts of low cost cards though- you may run out in terms of hand size. This can be a good thing if you have a priest in the party. If a mage or other class plays a card to see your hand, just let them. It's a waste of resources- but prepares them for what is coming. If they do that, you can mess with them if you think they are cunning enough.

The big three are:

Putricide
Sindragosa
Blood-Queen Lana'thel

For a delay strategy, Sindragosa is the most dangerous, and thus the most susceptible to an interrupt. Any incoming attacks have to be addressed to Sindragosa; and it has 20 health. It's a big problem that raiders need to be prepared for- the question is, is the gamble worth it risking 7 resources for an interrupt. Putricide and Lana'thel cost the same, but in terms of cost versus reward, Lana'thel is worth it more if there are allies on the board. Putricide is less of a problem, but again, you risk 6 resources for an interrupt. I generally don't like to play these three unless I have no choice.

The Lich King has a few protectors to help out, but the main way to keep delaying is to clamp down on destroying (or converting.... hehe) opposing allies. This can be done with a combination of abilities and allies. Protectors aren't the best strategy to drop in my opinion as they can be susceptible to tomfoolery. Use them as resources and focus on playing (pre-princes) cost 2-3 allies, then ramp up your ally removal by turn 4 if you can. Next article we'll look at abilities. Remember- if your opponents are focusing on interrupting your abilities more than your allies- feel free to drop some big bombs.


Conclusions
*Save big bomb allies for play if the raiders focus on interrupting abilities. If they like this strategy, bait them for cheap.
*Always count on getting the princes out by turn 5. Usually it is possible. If you can't get the princes out, consider Rotface, Festergut and Val'kyr Shadowguards.
*Be very careful playing expensive "bomb" allies. If these are interrupted, you are losing a lot of resource power to one card. A big board changer.
*Stall. If you want to draw out interrupts or crowd control, throw down some protectors, but I caution against using Saurfang for that task.
*Count on Sindragosa or Lana'thel being interrupted.

ICC Strategy for the Raid Boss Part 1: Frostmourne and Helm of Domination

It's been a while since I've posted anything WOW TCG. I decided to pull my cards out again, excited at the prospect that I might bet back into the game when I move... at least casually. I don't have an awful amount of money to spend, but I want the maximum enjoyment out of a classic collection that I can share with friends and buddies, while having stand-a-lone raids (or something close to them) for fun. I've got at least two other pals interested, and possibly a third. That's enough for a raid night!

Someone asked me over social media why I'm not waiting for Blizzard's Hearthstone program to come out. Here's the thing. I already have a ton of cards, and I want the social experience of sitting with friends and battling it out and cracking open packs and rolling for loot. Mix a bit of alcohol in there and fun times will ensue.

I left the TCG a little after Icecrown Citadel was released as a raid deck. We got some use out of it in college, but I never sat down and actually looked into the contents of the raid deck itself. I've seemed to have misplaced my rulebook and box- hopefully I can find them because ICC is costly to replace at $33.99 a pop. The set features a lot of cards- so they want their money's worth.

Let's look at the breakdown of the deck. This will assume the deck is in it's stock configuration.


---> SKIP HERE FOR A BREAKDOWN OF THE DECK

The Lich King deck features 22 allies, 20 abilities, 16 quests and 2 pieces of equipment. This deck will be a little short on quests (events), but from what I've played in the past the draw rate of abilities is excellent. Let's talk strategy for this deck. It has enough abilities to cause the enemy grief but enough allies of your own to get things started. Let's start with the head honcho himself.

The Lich King
Undeath's Armament- At the start of your turn, if you control two or more resources, you may search your deck for a card named Frostmourne or Helm of Domination and put it into play. On your turn, pay (10) and flip the Lich King.

[Flip] Fury of Frostmourne: At the start of your turn, the Lich King deals 300,000 unpreventable shadow damage to each opposing hero.

While molten core took a long drawn out approach to snuffing everybody in a coup de grace, the Lich King gets to business within 10 turns. The main focus of the boss player should be on stalling long enough to get to turn 10, especially with a raid party of 4+ players.

Frostmourne & Helm of Domination

The Lich King's famous weapons are available to grab [freely] from turn 2 if you didn't already place them down from your opening hand. Raid or not, a cost 1 sword that does 4dmg for 0 swing is OP. Frostmourne reads:

Harvest Soul: When the Lich King deals fatal damage to an opposing ally with Frostmourne, add a +1 ATK counter to it [Frostmourne], and the Lich King deals 2 frost damage to each opposing hero. Death Rattle

It's a good idea to get Frostmourne out, but in my opinion Helm of Domination should take priority if you choose this route on turn 2. Frostmourne is highly susceptible to Mage tomfoolery, interrupts and rogue shennanigans. Thus, I wouldn't put too much stock into it. However, you could use Frostmourne as bait, swinging with it to deal damage but not focusing on its text as a main strategy, due to death rattle bringing it back. That way, the opposition is wasting time popping that piece of equipment when they can use interrupts on other stuff.

Helm of Domination is much more dangerous, in my opinion. After all, it contains the soul of a mighty Orc.

Leader of the Scourge: Once per turn, pay (1), target ally has Ferocity this turn. Death rattle

Leader of the Scourge can provide for some nasty surprises that raiders will have to deal with. If you play it too early, I have found that rogues, warlocks or mages on standby will get rid of that card. It provides the Lich King with his only 5 armor points. This armor can keep coming back, but you need to watch your strategy if the raiding party has a Warlock. Warlocks have spells that can remove cards from the game, effectively ending any little sharrade the raid boss can pull off. Where the helm dominates though (pun intended) is by allowing scourge allies a chance at ferocity.

While any candidate is good for ferocity, there are four ally type cards that stand out for their high damage dealing:

Cost/ATK/HEALTH

Val'kyr Shadowguard (3/6/5)
Sindragosa (7/10/20)
Blood Queen Lana'thel (6/8/8)
Professor Farnsworth Putricide (6/10/15)

Playing the helm in combination with any of these allies will hurt. Though, if the raiders are well prepared enough they can deal with the helm by turn 2. If you can successively pump out low level scourge allies and use domination, hopefully with little crowd control you can begin causing some damage, something that the healer and opposing healing allies will have to deal with. They can keep popping the helm, but it will keep coming back. That is why it is recommended a Warlock be in the party to deal with this card; or a mage to use spell suppression.

When Helm is spell suppressed, all it becomes is a [5] armor piece of equipment. The strategy then for raiders is to keep that piece of equipment in play. The only way to deal with any kind of shennanigans like this is to use Soul Reaper or Defile, but a pain in the ass mage, and I know one who would do this- may keep spell suppressing to get you to waste your interrupts. Don't play into that trap and let it go if there is a mage present in the group.

Helm of Domination should create a problem for the raiders, and let them remain occupied with it. Simply keep using the helm for as long as you can to get ferocity allies out there. If an opposing ally with no obvious threat is on the board, keep hitting one of the heroes. The priority should be like this, from top to bottom of most important to least:

Mage/Warlock/Rogue (for interrupts)
Healer
DPS
Tank

This is why it is adviseable that the raid team diversify their ally pool incase the healer or tank is locked down. If that happens in a raid like Black Temple, the raid party can be screwed. Similar can be said here in the frozen halls.

Players Not Happy With the VK System in Warcraft- Others See No Problem

Surely you have been in a random dungeon (if you play World of Warcraft) and had one or two bad apples. You know, the tank that goes AFK for dinner in the middle of a dungeon; the person who does no DPS, or someone who ignores convention and wants to pull everything. When these problems occur, people can vote to kick the person from the group. Use the feature too many times though- and soon you will be on a kick timer. Blizzard's system is an elephant- and it was clearly stated on VK release that the system knows how frequently you try to kick.

The system was implemented to prevent abuse.  Well put here:

"If you're kicking people so often that you have a two hour cooldown on your Vote Kick timer then you're kicking people far to often and most likely for the wrong reasons.  Without the Vote Kick timer you'll get people kicking people for "low dps" or some other such pathetic excuse despite the fact that the person who's doing "low dps" is running the dungeon to get better gear to allow them to do better dps.  Heck you get that even with the timer.  The timer is fine as is.  If you get a troll then put up with him through the dungeon and put him on your ignore list to insure that you never get him in a group again.  If he's griefing the dungeon, a tank that just sits at the start of the dungeon instead of running it for example, then wait a few minutes, to make sure he's not going to the bathroom or something, and report him for griefing.  He'll get booted from the dungeon and you can get a new tank and it won't even count against your timer.  If you're using the Vote Kick timer for the uses its intended for then you should never have any more than a five minute cooldown."
                              
"If you get another bad player who comes in after the one kicked, ask another group member to kick them. After all, if he's being a baddie then it's likely that all members present are going to agree. You can still remove more than one player, just YOU cannot initiate the kick."

and here:

"Problem was: we were kicking to bring guildies in for last bosses, kicking because someone was going to need the same piece of gear as us, kicking because someone is in all greens / blues (you know, actually needing to do those heroics) and slowing down our rush through in T10 and finish the place as fast as possible, or kicking because they didn't stand up to our arbitrary dps minimum, even though they were doing exactly what their dps should be for their gear...

Blizzard's solution, add restrictions to the kicks for the people who abuse it, and help the people who get abused by it."



It begs the question: do excessive kickers have high standards? Often, people kick for the following reasons:

-low dps
-wiping the group
-rude people
-booting for fun
-poor play

Which reason do you think is appropriate? I believe #3- rude or antisocial people. If the run isn't going as fast as I want it to, I will leave and do something else. As for the bad players- put them on ignore so you can't get them again. Even if you don't put them on ignore, chances are small you will ever see them again. Here is an official statement from Blizzard on the matter, circa patch 3.3.5:

We have found that most players using the Dungeon Finder don’t use the Vote Kick feature or abandon groups very often. For these players, we are removing the cooldown on voting to kick players from a dungeon party. In contrast, those players who tend to kick players or abandon groups more frequently will notice that the Vote Kick feature maintains its cooldown. The goal here is to make sure players who are generally patient can make use of the Vote Kick feature when they really need it, without giving a more powerful tool to those who try to kick others or abandon dungeon groups very frequently.

This functionality will adjust itself as a player’s behavior while using the Dungeon Finder changes.

                     

Druids in Mists of Pandaria

Anyone playing World of Warcraft knows that the new ideas for the talent tree system are out (or should). I am not a theory crafter or an expert at any particular class, but I am here to talk about my thoughts on the changes, which by the way, will likely change before launch.

Blizzard is raising the level cap to 90. Instead of a tree system, they are going with a tiered system (up to tier 6). A new tier is reached every 15 levels. You have three choices per tier. 3^6 equals about 729 different combinations for each class. Blizzard has not released information on Monks yet (to my knowledge).

Tier 1 Druid
At tier 1, Druids have three choices. Feline Swiftness, Displacer Beast, and Tireless Pursuit. Feline Swiftness increases your movement speed by 10% (in any form) and an additional 20% while in cat form. I will never tire of bitching about walking long distances early on, and this is really a nice talent. However- I think the point can be better spent in Displacer Beast or Tireless Pursuit. Displacer Beast teleports the druid 20 yards in a random direction, purging all DOTs (ouch in PVP) and providing stealth for 10 seconds. Attacking or taking damage cancels the effect, meaning you can likely move around stealthed. Using the ability activates cat form. This is really cool- but can backfire in PVE (if you don't move away from a MOB). In PVP, this may give you a chance to get your bearings straight- or give your opponent their opportunity. Tireless Pursuit removes all roots and snares, and gives you a burst run (+70%) in cat form for 15 seconds. It activates cat form. This would be ideal for PVP.

Tier 2 Druid
At tier 2, Druids have Nature's Swiftness, Renewal, and Cenarion Ward. NS makes your next cyclone, entangling roots, healing touch, hibernate, nourish, rebirth or regrowth instant, free and castable in ANY FORM. Healing and duration of the spell is increased by 50%. This is great all around for a quick healing moment on yourself if you are in trouble. I don't think casting hibernate or entangling roots afterwards is the best idea. Renewal heals the druid for 30% their max health. Useable in any form! This is dang nice for those PVE or PVP moments when you are hanging on and the healer cannot get to you. Pop this for a little boost. Cenarion Ward kind of sounds like a disc priest bubble. Any damage on the target heals the target for X every 2 seconds for 6 seconds (3 times). Useable in any form. Good for a situation when a tank (or someone else) is very low on health.

Tier 3 Druid
At tier 3 we have Faerie Swarm, Mass Entanglement, and Typhoon. FS acts a lot like Faerie Fire from Cataclysm. In addition, here it slows the movement speed of target by 50% for 15 seconds. Target cannot stealth or go invisible. It is useable in any form, but incurs a six second cooldown in bear or cat form (probably to avoid spamming). Blizzard says that this will replace the old faerie fire. Mass entanglement roots every enemy within 12 yards of the cast circle for 8 seconds. Cannot be cast in bear form or cat form. I think this is some nice CC, but is more applicable in being an annoyance in PVP. Typhoon strikes targets in a wave in front of the caster, knocking them back and dazing for 6 seconds. Warning: don't do this against a mob that wants to kill you! This sounds very annoying in PVP.

Tier 4 Druid
At tier 4 we have Wild Charge, Incarnation and Force of Nature. WC (not to be confused with water closet) grants you a power depending on your form. in non-shapeshift, you can "fly" to an ally's position and the next healing spell you make costs no mana. As for the range on that, I haven't a clue. Bear form allows you to charge and grant 30% haste. In moonkin (yay lazer turkeys!) you will hop backwards and gain 20 solar/lunar, whichever is more beneficial at the time. Incarnation gives you specializations depending on your "specialization" for 30 seconds. King of the Jungle gives you improved cat form, which means you can use stealth only abilities regularly. Tree of Life increases armor by 120%, and enhances your lifebloom, wild growth, regrowth, entangling roots, and wrath spellcasts. How so? no clue. Force of Nature summons 3 treants (tree f*****s that punch people) to assist the Druid. Abilities will vary by specialization.


Tier 5 Druid
At tier 5 we have Demoralizing Roar, Ursol's Vortex, and Bear Hug (lol). DR disorients all enemies within 10 yards for 4 seconds, and activates bear form. UV conjures a tornado that pulls all enemies within 15 yards towards your location. Bear Hug is a melee attack that stuns the target and deals 10% of the druids health n damage every 1 sec for 3 sec (3 times). Activates bear form. DR sounds fun, but I like Ursol's Vortex for crowd manipulation.

Tier 6 Druid
At tier 6 we have Heart of the Wild, Master Shapeshifter and Disentanglement. HotW gives you the chance to off-spec immediately when fighting. What I mean by this is that sometimes heals will generate lunar or solar energy, grant 50% of intellect as agility, etc. MS is awesome too- melee abilities increase spell damage by 10% (I wonder what that means?) and non instant spellcasts increase attack power by 10%, and both can stack 3 times and last 15 seconds. You can't get three from both: either will cumulatively add up to 3. Disentanglement says that shapeshifting removes all roots (lol). Shifting into a form heals the druid for 20% of max health, and this can be done once every 30 seconds (to receive the heal).

The tier system is gone, and the talent system sure is simplified. I can't comment on how bad or good it will be- that is for the beta testers. I like that they are simplifying the talent system, the only issue will be keeping it fun. Here are my choices for talents:

1 Displacer Beast
2 Renewal
3 Faerie Swarm
4 Wild Charge
5 Ursol's Vortex
6 Disentanglement

I wonder how glyphs will be revamped as well, if at all.

Blizzard Upgrades Authenticator Services

How to Herb in World of Warcraft

Ok fine... here is how I make money in World of Warcraft: I never worry about gold in that game.

-video is still processing, 8 mins pl0x-

Gearing Up in World of Warcraft Cataclysm

If you are new to the expansion, welcome. I've been getting better gear and such lately. I am currently waiting on a dungeon finder dungeon, and I thought I would take the time to write a guide for beginners on general gearing.
Each piece of gear has an item level associated with it. This item level will assess how prepared you are for future content. If your ilvl is not high enough, in some cases, the game will not let you complete harder dungeons.

Cataclysm Normals: (Entry: 318 Exit: 333)
You should complete Cataclysm normals until all of your gear is item level 333. At ilvl 329, you can begin heroics. Get used to normals so that you can learn the additional difficulties of heroics.

Cataclysm Heroics: (Entry 333 Exit: 346)
Heroic gear is ilvl 346. Earn valor points to spend towards 359 gear. 359 can also be acquired by earning exalted with the Cataclysm factions and purchased from their respective quartermasters. You should then be ready to raid!

Undermine Herb Market Poised to Make a Gradual Recovery

On a random note- the recent blogger outages have been irritating me. Back on topic.

The Undermine herb market is showing signs of recovery from April 13th. I may have complained here, or on my Facebook that the market crashed in mid-April and has been an absolute mess for profits. We had a downward shift in prices. Not only was that so, but there was an absolute crash in terms of demand- there was a tiny trickle of demand, and not the normal demand we are used to seeing.

Tracking a trendline from the beginning of April to now, we see a positive slope trending towards profit (rather than loss). This is good news for tycoons like myself who make a living through herbs. I have been selling off mats such as cloth and ore, but those sales are minimally profitable at best.

The prospects looking at a starting point beginning this month indicate a much bigger number than 130; painting a more accurate view of how much gold I am making per day. From March to April, I took a 65% loss in sales. From April to May, I gained 20.6% in sales. This number is still a trickle as we make a full recovery- but at least we are on the right track.

Undermine Herb Market Deflating

World of Warcraft
A deflation can be defined as an increase in the supply of a product and a decrease in the prices. In short, no one wants to pay the amount of money that herbs were selling for in the past. Demand has definitely dropped off.

 

As you can see from the following graph, demand began dropping around April 13th, and never fully recovered at the zero point. The projected demand is not a good sign for the herb market, but around point 26, there is hope in that the market has swayed violently to a position above 0.

I am analyzing the market, and can only speculate on the disaster. It may be that the core dependent markets of Alchemy and Inscription (one of the two, or both) are suffering, leading to a decrease in demand for herbs. It could also be that raiding guilds are using cauldrons and their own alchemists/herbalists to do their flask work. Since the beginning of Cataclysm to now, flasks have never been a profitable business.

There is hope in the mathematics of the demand tracker formula. The amount of herbs on the AH at any one time influences the demand tracker. Eventually, the number will catch up with the quantity of herbs on the market, so long as the market is consistent in its habits. This could take until next week, it could take until next year. The 14-16 day cycle of Supply over Demand and vice versa has lasted for approximately 24 days.

What in the World Happened to my Herbalism Profits?

Introduction
Cataclysm hit last fall as the new world of warcraft expansion. Demand was through the roof for raw materials- herbs, ore, skins, and cloth. Prices were extremely high, and tycoons were there to milk the demand. 5 months later, and prices in the herb market are beginning to simmer to new lows.

What are Herbs?
Herbs are plants which are picked by herbalists with the proper gathering profession. These herbs are ground to be put into alchemist potions, or to be used as ink for inscriptions. The latter almost exclusively demands herbs.

History of the Market
The Herb market, up until early March, was always peaked high in demand. Prices, at the launch of Cataclysm, were at 100% (as a reference). Today, that number has decreased to 40%. The milk and honey days are over, unfortunately. Today's 100% is the 40%, and the old 100% is now 239%.

Today's Prices (after 5 months): 100%
Launch Prices: 239%

There have been some crashes of certain cata herb markets. They were either caused by someone dumping over +5000 of a particular herb on the market, or by a chinese gold farmer dumping four times the amount. For those with capital, it is a dream to buy this up and resell it.

Market Analysis
The herb market runs entirely off the Darkmoon Faire's schedule. There is no ifs, ands, butts, or coconuts about it. The herb market has a pulse to it, beginning 4 days before the DMF begins, and ending 4 days before the DMF ends, lasting, on average, for a period T of 12-15 days. The Supply cycle then kicks in, where there is an abundance of herbs, priced at market or below market. The supply cycle lasts for the same amount of time: about 12-15 days.