Daily Thoughts: Too Easy is Still Too Easy

I finally got a chance to get into the second half of Mogu’shan Vaults as looking for raid (along with the first few bosses on normal mode as well, but that’s for another time) and I found the bosses to be much more interesting. These encounters were such that completely ignoring the mechanics may result in death (unlike the first half) where I kept my finger near the “Raise Ally” skill to bring up a tank or healer that may have died – cause we’d need them alive to win.

The first boss I landed on was the last one. The group had wiped on that encounter previously though we had little trouble collecting our loot that time. It did at least give me the impression that everyone had to at least catch on to what was happening or the healers would have trouble keeping up. After getting into my next group and passed the first bit of trash, the actual first boss was a little tricky if the group isn’t paying attention. Half of the team was dead before the boss fell. The second boss, Elegon, is a titan defense machine those is a little unlike those we’ve encountered before. This was the only boss we wiped on. Most of the raid, maybe, fell to their deaths, or something. Otherwise, the fight was tough but manageable. It as well ended with the raid looking like it might fall over if there were a small gust of wind.

So, if these fights were of appropriate difficulty for a raid finder situation, then why is this post about things being too easy still? Because the first half is still, ridiculously, too easy. Sure, raids typically get progressively harder as you go down the bosses, but even raid finder bosses shouldn’t be as much of a set of pushovers as the first three were – particularly given the raid is still pretty new and people don’t know it yet. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I’d like to think that most gamers (of really any type) want some sort of challenge as part of their enjoyment. Instead, the first half of MV shows people it’s a place to go to get free epics then it’s a slap in the face when the second half makes them work for it a little. Although I’m hopeful that future raids don’t aren’t such a walk in the park (which may be insulting to the difficulty of walking through a park), I can’t quite understand why these particular bosses were balanced this way. Any ideas?

Daily Thoughts: It’s Not Christmas Anymore

Apparently today is the official day after the Christmas holiday time for my universe. Last night my significant other took down our tree and decorations in the midst of a living room cleaning frenzy, and today the tree at the office where I work is packed away into boxes to wait for the next year.

So, I’m now waiting for christmas again. Though, I sincerely hope it doesn’t take until december to find my presents, which apparently someone buried all over Azeroth. Yes, I’m talking about Archeology epics. This profession is a little soul-sucking, but I really want Zin’Rokh, the epic level 85 bind-to-account 2h weapon. Aside being a substantial upgrade for my ret main, would also look nice on my fury warrior and death knight once the paladin upgrades or finds a replacement. There is also a very nice healer trinket for my holy set or my resto shaman once he hits 85, and a caster ring, which lacks hit or spirit, making it a viable upgrade for my holy paladin, resto/ele shaman, or boomkin. The trinket and ring are also bind-to-account.

Although the grind to get any of these (which I haven’t yet, by the way) is pretty long, at least due to the nature of the BOA epics, only one toon needs to be an archeologist unless you really care about multiple toons getting the pets and mounts. Just last night I got the Fossilized Raptor mount and although it’s pretty cool, I have no desire to level archeology on any other toons. I’m glad I have the last of the fossil solves that I have any interest in, but we all know we really want the gear.

For those looking to start archeology, a couple important tips:

  • Do it now, they’re making leveling even longer in patch 4.0.6
  • After 100 skill you don’t get anymore skill points for leveling, so don’t solve any of your finds prior to that skill level, in 4.0.6 it seem they’re lowering the number to 50. So at least head to 100 prior to the patch dropping.
  • They’re also limiting the amount of fragments you can collect to 200 per race. Each solve takes a minimum of 35 fragments, rares solves up to 150 fragments. Some people were saving all the fragments of the race they wanted loot from (the 2h sword is from troll), in order to only solve that race once they were high enough to find the item. This won’t work after 4.0.6 either.
  • Unless you have a real preference of which toon gets pets/mounts/achievements, level this profession on your fastest character. Any toon with 310 flying, paladins for aura, druids for quick flight form, etc. The faster you can move the faster you get to dig sites and to the survey points
  • A decent guide/explanation of the profession can be found HERE.