Shadowlands: Balance Druid

The Shadowlands version of the Balance Druid is both very fun and incredibly powerful. As more people are giving the spec a try, many have asked questions about how to play one. In this guide, I’ll give an overview of how the class is played, what tools they have at their disposal, and teach you how to make your laser-chicken go BOOM!

This is not really a return to me actually blogging about WoW, but since I’ve been asked to write guides on how to play this spec in particular, I decided I might as well put it on the blog instead of just writing it up in Discord. 

Side Note: I threw this together in a few hours, because a couple of guildies had asked about it. I haven’t bothered proof-reading it, and I didn’t do much in the way of research to make sure I had all of my numbers right, so there may be a few minor mistakes of that variety floating around. 

 

Wildstar Leveling: Stalker DPS 1-25

I was originally going to write guides broken up into sections based on the PvP brackets, but now I’m leaning more towards just doing two different versions, which are 1-25 and 26-50. I might change my mind again at some point in the future, but for now that’s the plan moving forward.

In typical Psynister fashion, the the Medic that I was writing about in the previous leveling guide has already been deleted and rerolled, so it will be awhile before I get back to writing about Medic healing. However, since Stalker was my original main class (technically, Engineer was, but I deleted him too), I figured it was time to write about it instead. I also have some friends that have struggled with the Stalker in the teens and twenties, so I wanted to bump this one up in priority to help them out.

This guide will look at which spells to use, how and when to use them, and how to allocate your ability and AMP points to maximize your performance without having to learn a lot of math.

 

Wildstar Leveling: Medic Healer 1-14

I’ve been in the mood to blog again lately, but didn’t really feel any particular game calling my name to write a guide. I wrote my Hearthstone Guide mostly out of my desire to write something. But, as this week was the release of Wildstar, and my wife decided she wanted to get back into gaming, we jumped right in. As always, that meant it was time to roll tons of characters to experience all of the different classes, and so far I enjoy it quite a bit.

As I’ve been neck deep in Wildstar PvP the last couple of days, it got me interested in looking up guides on some of the other classes to see which class I might want to try out next, and that’s when I noticed that guide writers haven’t changed much from when I first got into WoW several years ago. People still tend to write guides directly solely at max level, with little to no attention paid to helping people get there in the first place. Telling people how to play as a healer at level 50 is great for end game and all, but how are those people supposed to heal on the way to level 50, before all of those spells, AMPs, and equipment become available? That’s what I aim to tell you.

In this first installment of the Medic Healer, I’m going to help you figure out how to be the best little medic healer you can be up to level 14. At that point you’re likely to get sucked into Housing for so long that you’ll forget how to play your character by the time you’re finished, and you’ll need to come read this again to remind yourself. And by that time, I just might have the level 15-30 guide ready to help you along for the rest of it.

 

Where Are the Rogues?

The time has come for me to ask advice of someone else here. As my mage finally reached Northrend last night (level 69 at the moment) the time comes swiftly for me to plan which alt to level up next. In my previous poll where I asked this same question, Druid and Shaman were the top choices and the ones that I was interested in leveling at the time.

But I have changed my mind…again. I still want to level a Druid pretty strongly, but with the announcement of Cataclysm I would really rather wait for the Worgen to be made available so that I can roll a Worgen Druid. So chances are very high that my series on leveling a Druid will continue to remain on hold until Cataclysm has been released. There are also a very large number of Druid blogs that already exist and you can find links to several of them in my blogroll over there on the right side of the page.

The Shaman class still appeals to me a lot, but for some reason I just don’t have a lot of desire to play one right now. I still have Belgawrath sitting around level 48 doing a whole lot of nothing right now, but I log onto him and just don’t even feel like leaving town. It’s not that the Shaman class isn’t fun or anything, it’s actually a blast just plowing through things with him, I’m just not feeling it right now. So, the Shaman series will remain on hold for a while yet as well.

I am currently looking at two classes for my next alt instead: Rogue and Warlock

Since my current focus in my Mage, I’m not sure that I want to jump straight into another caster class, so I’m not quite so eager about the Warlock as I am the Rogue. Since that puts the Rogue on top, that is what I am currently leaning towards for my next alt. I do not plan on rolling him until next week or the one after though, so there is still a chance that I will change my mind once again and go with a Warlock (or another class all together, who knows?) instead.

As I have mentioned before though, when creating a character I generally start out by researching their class to find out the basics of what I want to do. And while I find numerous blogs on all of the other classes (Paladins, Death Knights, Druids, and Priests being chief among them), I find almost none on the Rogue so far. I have found a few here and there but the vast majority of them have not been updated in a year or longer. While some of that information remains valid today, just as much of it has changed.

What I need from you, my dear readers, are blogs or other sources of Rogue leveling information that you can find that are Current, Free, and Useful for leveling. If you know of any blogs or other reliable sources of Rogue information, please post them here in your replies. As I level my own Rogue I will pass on the information from my experiences here so that others can put them to use as well, just like I do for all of my other leveling posts.

Sources So Far:
Shadow Panther – an excellent source of raw information and guidance.

Slice and Dice Rogue blog, has details on how to level with all three Rogue specs.
Forever a Noob Rogue Blog
One Rogue’s Journey Rogue Blog

 

Roleplaying Alt: You Decide

For a few months now I have contemplated giving Roleplaying a shot. I am an avid roleplayer in every type of game that I play. I was introduced to D&D when I was four years old, though I didn’t actually start playing the game until I was nine. I love roleplaying, and I love World of Warcraft. I used to really get into the story of the games that I played and I liked knowing a lot about the world I was in and how things related to one another and so forth.

A lot of that changed though when I went to college. I no longer had time to play as much as I did before but I still liked playing the games. What ended up happening though was I began to ignore story for the sake of playing the game instead. I really like to beat games quickly the first time I play and then go back for a fully indepth experience during the second play through. Since my time was short, it was easier to just jump online for a quick walkthrough and then play the game while ignoring most of the story.

That was a bad habbit I developed and it’s one that has made WoW a bit less enjoyable than it could be. I really love playing the game and all the things we can do within the world and such, but I can only give you a summarized version of what any of the story is througout any of the game.

That’s where you guys come in. I need help.

The Plan
I want to roll a character that I can really get into from a roleplaying perspective. I don’t care what faction he’s in, what class he is, what professions he takes, or what gear he wears.

The server I roll the toon on doesn’t particularly matter to me, nor does the type of server that it is. I don’t mind turning off all of my chat logs so that I see nothing that any other players say. It can be a RP server, Normal, or PvP – it doesn’t matter to me. I can reroll on a fresh new server, or I can roll on one that I already have.

What I want to do though is start a brand new toon and take the time to really get into the story of the game. I want to talk to those of you who have actually played this game and paid attention a bit to some of what’s going on around us so that I can get the most out of this experience.

I need help.

Race
While I prefer to play the game as Horde, this time I need to keep the doors wide open. I want your opinion on what race(s) I should play strictly from a story standpoint. If you think that gnomes have the best, richest story in the game then tell me to roll a gnome and I will do so (yes, @Arrens you can come kill me and eat me for saying that if you must).

I know there aren’t really any race-specific quests in the game, but if there are some quests that you know enrich a particular race enough that you would suggest I play that race just to experience it, then let me know.

I have played all of the Warcraft games, but I don’t remember a lot of the old story, and I certainly haven’t made any particular effort to go back and learn it. I’m not so much interested in becoming a master of Warcraft Lore, but I do want to learn from this experience.

Class
Taking class quests, play style, and ability to solo content all into account here – what class(es) would you suggest that I play?

If a certain class’s class quests really helps you to get into the story, then I want to know. If you feel that the best way to experience what this game has to offer is by sneaking around as a stealthed rogue, then I want to know. If you think the best way to really get into this game is to be a warrior who rushes into combat to face the enemy, then so be it; let me know.

The point here is to play the best combination of race/class to get the most out of the game. With this toon I plan on reading all of the quest text and even talking to random NPC’s that I come across simply to see what they have to say. If going after Shaman totems makes this game tick for you, then let me know. If rogue quests expand the story too much to be missed, throw it out there.

Tell me which class(es) you feel would give me the richest roleplaying experience.

Death Knights: I want this to span across the whole leveling process, so this is going to be a level 1 toon. Death Knights are out. No exceptions.

Professions
Some race/class combinations make for good professions, some seem a bit odd, and so on and so forth. I don’t care so much about what I’m getting out of the professions as I am how it fits in with the overall concept of the character.

If you think a Gnome Warlock Herbalism/Blacksmith is (honestly) the way to go, then that’s what I will make. Well, alright, so I wouldn’t grab two professions that abosolutely do not work together at all, but still. The point is, if you think any of them will strengthen the experience at all, then I want to know about it.

Questing
There are a LOT of zones that I have never even been to, much less quested in. I have a set of quests that I like to do from a leveling perspective, so there are far more zones that I have never quested in even than the ones that I haven’t been in.

Along with that, I don’t play Alliance characters, so I have no idea what any alliance quests are like beyond level 20, and even then all I know is the Night Elf area. My highest alliance character is a 20 NElf Hunter.

I don’t have to have just a single idea on this one, I want to know what quests or quest chains you think really give this game some flair. If I need to travel to some remote zone in the world to do some quest that gives me a whopping 3 silver as my reward, then so be it. If you think the Gnome starting area is supreme, but questing around Stormwind is the next best, and then heading over to Bloodmyst Isle is the way to go from there, then let me know.

While low level will obviously be where I start, I’m looking for all of your specific suggestions on questing. If you think I should be sure to experience every quest in Howling Fjord, should do all quests related to Ragefire Chasm, and should get the achievement for all of Hemmit’s quests, then let me know.

Any quests that you consider top of the line that should never be missed are what I want to see. Or if there’s a chain of quests that absolutely suck and you always skip them, but they really help you get into the story, then let me know about those as well.

How to Help
I am looking for whatever suggestions you might have to offer here. It can be a mixture of Horde/Alliance-only or it can be something general like “I think Alliance quests are better than Horde” then go ahead and let me know. I want to know what your opinions are so that I can come up with the best way for me to really get into this game.

I have already tried every race and every class in this game. So telling me to “just play whatever you want, whatever you think you’ll have the most fun with” isn’t going to do anything for me because what I want is what you have to suggest for me.

If you don’t know much about the quests but feel a specific race or class is best suited for getting into the game’s story, then let me know. I am looking for whatever information you would like to share here.