This is something new for me since I have always been a tank with my Deathknight. With the recent account hackings and the removal of all my gear I was left with some tough decisions as what to do with my characters. Starting with my deathknight I had no tanking set but I had a minimalistic set for dps. My tanking spec was long defunct from 3.0 and I had let Vyrona collect a little dust before taking her out for a spin again. I had always like dual wielding and was ready to go into a little dps as it was going to let me start playing again in the quickest way with the smallest amount of gear.

After seeing our guildmate’s DK dpsing in frost spec I decided to give it a try.

The spec I went with was: 9/53/9

This isn’t a build I had ever seen on normal spec searches so it was intriguing.

The main selling point is the killing machine proc with a well placed Howling blast. I still have some AP increases to make but with only about 3500 ap I am seeing 8k crits on multiple targets at a time while pumping out 2.7k – 3k dps in heroics.

More on this to come…

(thanks go to Sunamoon for digging this up)

Ahh the life of a GM. The sometimes rewarding and often thankless job of leading a bunch of e-people around by their noses for many hours per week. It takes a special type of person to be a GM and that type is one bound for a nice room with a small window and fluffy, white padded walls.

It’s never very easy to be a GM. You need to find a style and go with it and be strong enough to not let other people and their expectations pull you out of the style. Are you the heavy handed type or do you spare the rod and spoil the child? How do you manage 50 or more people? Are you skilled enough to mediate disputes and arguments that you might not have even been around for? You can be the king GM that sits upon a throne and expects a guild to be a bunch of peons running back and forth with timber and gold. It’s also just as easy to be the type that never claims any executive powers and slogs it up down in the mud with every other guild member. GMs are so many things wrapped up in one spicy burrito. We’re leaders, organizers, regular members, mediators, investigators, bankers, librarians, taskmaster, whipping boys, scape goats, jailer, public speaker, resources, sadist, masochist, delegator, kings, jesters, and human resource specialist.

It’s often very rare to really find positive feedback. No matter the job you do or how well you do it, you mostly hear the complaints and issues. How often do you really hear how good you are doing? It’s far less common. More and more recently I’ve seen just how much leading WoW misfits around can truly kill a person’s soul. I’ve watched people rise up and try to help and run away yelping like a spanked chihuahua in just a few short weeks. Some people can take the heat, some just GTFO the kitchen before their remaining sanity is eroded away.

To all the GMs out there-I salute you. Keep hanging around here and I’m sure we’ll have great stories and ideas to share.

~~by, Vampyrate

Call of the Crusade, the new World of Warcraft content update, is now live! Under thundering skies, Argent Tournament participants have honed the arts of war and faced off in bone-shattering jousting matches to earn the right to be called champions. But these heroes have yet to face the greatest challenge of all: the Crusaders’ Coliseum, an all-new level-80 raid dungeon available in both normal and more challenging Heroic versions for both 10 and 25 players. Call of the Crusade also introduces the new Isle of Conquest Battleground, the ability to gain experience points in Battlegrounds, new daily quests, and significant changes to class talents and abilities.

Watch the Call of the Crusade trailer now, and make sure to read the patch notes or the recent Shop Talk for more information.

A story by Sunamoon:

It has been over 3 years since I began playing world of warcraft, trying hard to run away from my everyday life of deception. Heartbreak after heartbreak I got fed up with relationships in the real world or any type of world. I thought that maybe I was mean to be alone in many levels, not only from a significant other but from lost friends and family. So I embarked on this wonderful game we all call a ?Hobby? and like any other newbie I was brought here by a friend whom I cherish dearly. She taught me the basics and I began the endless journey with my night elf Hunter which many know as Zylone.

After leveling to 10 I decided I wanted to know what the heck a guild was and placed an add that I was looking for a guild that was friendly trying to see if the virtual world was a better host for a friendship than real life. It was Hands of Righteousness that gave me the big break. I felt welcome rather quickly, in fact I met the guild leader whom I am still very close friends with in yeah you are reading right real life Kryotek (you rock Man). Then came the loyalty situation when my dear friend that had got me started in the game join our guild, it felt good bringing everyone together I met many wonderful people along the way. As I hit 70 I was sad to see the guild disband over the normal drama, but hey as I moved on so did others whom followed me to my second home Ronin (Thomeff you Rock as well Wanker).

With me came my friend Menstumper, Blatus, Elmarolly among others but these are still whole heartily my closets friends. After a while in Ronin the guild began its journey raiding and recruiting more people to join Ronin some of which quickly clicked with me as I was always the chipper and funnier in the group. Even when my life was going to hell over drama where I lived I still played and never changed the way I was. Most of my friends in Ronin backed me up listened to me whine, cry and get angry at how horrible my life was turning but still I managed to surpass that by playing wow and nam in every mob after everyone I wish did not exist in my real life. With about a year worth of time Ronin began losing it’s members due to the drama, it was then I felt my world tumble down. I lost almost all my friends or those I considered friends in Ronin due to the bickering and drama that really was unnecessary, but it was then Blatus and Elma invited me to bring my tank druid over to Heroes league.

Once I got to heroes league I immediately clicked with the owners Bullsire and Wren spirit (Guys we miss you). With my transcend to the new guild came new friends and some old that came after me and joined Kiche, Crombie, Liviah, Kryotek and Doireanne (you guys rock for your loyalty). Still some more came after that but to many to mention love you all. But as all became normalized in game I lost my tank who had become the only druid healer in the guild as I mistakenly deleted. I cried and weeped over it and could not believe my luck. But it was the guild who stood by me and helped me raise yet another healer Sunamoon my baby, Heroes League one and only Druid Healer born and raised in house. I have to admit I love this guild and the friends I have there (Syrah thanks for pushing me to the limits you know I won’t fail you guys, Zarik you are a pain in my ass but hey you keep me somewhat grounded, Exodious well you know and Arcannis I promise I won’t ever forget your voice again lol) but my story is not all about the loyalty of my friends, but about the one person that drilled my heart that was made of nothing but titanium (Exodious, thanks for being that special person in my life). WoW breaks through the hard barriers in someones life like no other therapy can. If it weren’t for the loyalty and the friends I have made in this game I don’t know where I would be right now. I love this Game and what it did for me.

(CNN) — Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer whose best-selling albums — including “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” — and electrifying stage presence made him one of the most popular artists of all time, died Thursday, CNN has confirmed.

He was 50.

He collapsed at his residence in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, California, about noon Pacific time, suffering cardiac arrest, according to brother Randy Jackson. He died at UCLA Medical Center.

Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy would probably be done on the singer Friday, with results expected that afternoon. Watch crowds gather at Jackson’s hospital »

“Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said. “To say an ‘icon’ would only give these young people in Harlem a fraction of what he was. He was a historic figure that people will measure music and the industry by.”

Read more [here]

Located north of Icecrown, the Isle of Conquest bristles with activity as the Horde and Alliance go head-to-head in a bid to control the resources that could mean their victory against the forces of the Lich King and his Scourge.The upcoming content patch, Call of the Crusade, will introduce the new Isle of Conquest Battleground, where players will be able to battle forty-versus-forty to control this critical location.

To read more about the new Battleground, please visit our preview page.

All I can say is…WOW. Another piece of my youth disappears. He was an icon of a past era.

Actor David Carradine has been found dead, hanging by a nylon rope in a hotel room closet in Bangkok, Thailand, according to a Thai police official. The rope was believed taken from hotel room curtains, Bangkok Police Col. Pirom Chanpirom said. Investigators found no signs of forced entry, he said. full story

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

Death Knights

• Frost Presence: Armor bonus is now 60% down from 80%.

Druids

• Improved Barkskin: This talent now also grants 80/160% additional armor while in Travel Form or not shapeshifted.
• Improved Tree of Life: The armor bonus to Tree of Life Form from this talent has been reduced to 67/133/200% bonus armor.

Hunters

• Hunter’s Mark: The ranged attack power bonus from this ability has been increased from 300 to 500.
• Master Marksman: This talent now also decreases the cost of Aimed Shot and Chimera Shot by 5/10/15/20/25%.

Paladins

• Eye For An Eye: This talent now deals 5/10% of the critical strike damage taken by the paladin back at the attacker.
• Hand of Freedom: The base duration of this buff has been reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.

Rogues

• Overkill: Talent redesigned. Now increases energy regeneration by 30% while stealthed, and for 20 seconds after breaking stealth.

Warlocks

• Chaos Bolt: This spell no longer ignores damage reduction effects of the target.

Warriors

• Blood Frenzy: This talent now provides 5/10% haste instead of 3/6%.
• Bloodthirst: Cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds, and rage cost reduced from 30 rage to 20 rage.
• Juggernaut: This talent now also increases the cooldown on Charge by 5 seconds.

Items

• Death Knight PvP Gauntlets: The chance to refresh a Frost Rune when casting Chains of Ice has been removed. When equipped, these gloves now generate 5 additional runic power whenever Chains of Ice is used.

Dungeons

• Ulduar
  • Mimiron
    • The flight time of Rocket Strikes has been increased, and Rocket Strikes will try to prefer players at range.
    • The Leviathan Mk II component of the V-07-TR-0N will become stunned during Phase 4 when the VX-001 component begins to cast the P3Wx2 Laser Barrage ability.
    • Proximity mines now deal less damage and have a lower duration. A small arming time has also been added so proximity mines will not immediately detonate on creation.

Bug Fixes

• Druid Tier 8 Balance Set: The 4-piece bonus no longer has its effect consumed by Starfire casts in progress when it triggers. The chance for the effect to be triggered has been reduced down to 8%, as it was originally inflated to compensate.
• Ice Layered Barrier: Upgraded to item level 232. In addition, the stats in the tooltip have been correctly adjusted to 78 spell power, 48 haste rating, 16 mana per 5 seconds, 52 Intellect, and 50 Stamina.
• Pulsing Spellshield: The stats listed in the tooltip for this item were incorrect and have been adjusted. This item provides 69 spell power, 34 haste rating, 42 critical strike rating, 45 intellect, and 45 stamina.

In this edition of Shop Talk, we?d like to offer a peek at the new information found on our Under Development page for those who may not have seen it yet. The upcoming major content patch, Call of the Crusade, will bring a host of new features for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

• The Argent Tournament Expands: With the help of Azeroth?s heroes, the Argent Crusade will finish the Argent Coliseum just in time to call for all brave citizens to prepare for battle with the Lich King. New dailies, rewards, and more will be available at the Argent Tournament grounds to lure adventurers into the coliseum.
• Crusaders’ Coliseum: In order to prepare for a siege on Icecrown Citadel, players will be called by the Argent Crusade to test their mettle in the coliseum. 5-player, 10-player, and 25-player challenges await inside.
• New Battleground: Isle of Conquest, a new large-scale siege Battleground, will be open. The Horde and Alliance will battle head-to-head for control of strategic resources to lay siege to the keeps of their opponents.
• New Arena Season: Season 7 will officially start, paving the way for all-new items and challenges.