Happy Cataclysm Eve!

Whether you’re excited or nervous about the coming Cataclysm (the expansion that is, since Azeroth is already shattered), tonight it finally arrives. One of the most anticipated game releases — ever — is upon us at 12:00am December 7th, Tuesday morning. Some people will be in a mad rush looking for server firsts for leveling (though I hear that might not have an achievement this time) or professions. Personally, I’m going to take my sweet time with it. I have no desire to blow through the new content. I’m going to relish every moment I don’t have to farm Utgarde Keep or the Oculus. I’m sure I’ll miss my hunters 55% unbuffed crit and my Paladins ability to spam heals without caution once I reach 85, but I can’t lie; I’m pretty damn excited.

Even though I work tomorrow morning (the 7th) at 8am, I’m going to be at midnight release at my local GameStop and will be installing and playing (cross fingers/knock on wood/pray) tonight, likely far too late into the morning. So today, I read. I’m hoping to finish the Shattering novel and I’ve been reading almost all the guides that WoW Insider has up regarding the new content, professions, etc.

Speaking of that, you really should go here, to WoW Insider Cataclysm topic search. The have some good recent posts about the guild perks from guild leveling, some dungeon guides, class guides, and profession information. They also are running some great contests like THIS ONE for a 100$ Jinx coupon. I think they all end between tonight and tomorrow, so go check them out.

…and that’s all for today folks. Now I’m off to finish the book, maybe get my rogue to 80, and wait for the big release.

Hmm, that sounded worse than I meant it.

Daily Thoughts: Fear the Reaper

Yes, fear the reaper. My rogue hit 78 last night and although he isn’t the one-shotting-everything-that-moves powerhouse that he was through most of the leveling process, he is still a stealthy ninja-like force to be reckoned with. I can top the meters in instances in my combat spec, but what I really want to focus on today is the fun of the subtlety spec and the new PVP brackets.

PVP as a Subtlety rogue is fun. Sub is the spec that has always played the way I feel a rogue should. Sub emphasises effectiveness and deadliness from the shadows. We get the +30% to stealth movement speed in sub, which is absolutely essential to not being horribly frustrated trying to catch people in a battleground. Of course, we can’t forget to mention sub’s signature ability: Shadow Step. It is buckets of fun to teleport behind an unsuspecting victim and slash him with Ambush, using the increase damage bonus from SS. Further, SS gives a run speed bonus for a few seconds after it’s used, making it a mini sprint that talents to a 20 second cooldown. Not only does this make Shadow Step a great offensive skill, but it can be used when running away from a large pack of enemies by teleporting to the furthest player and then using the run speed to get away. Hopefully this gives you time for Vanish to come off cooldown. Sub rogues just have such a cool toolbox for pvp play, but they suck at PVE right?

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