Thoughts on Season 4 Changes.

* If a character’s personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating.
- This is a good change. Helps against teamselling.



* If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team’s rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating.
- This is retarded. This completely destroys playing with more than a few friends. I enjoy playing with different setup for my class and with different friends. Now with some bad luck (meeting good players at low rating) we will lose the entire teamrating really fast and my friends lose alot of arena points.

* The new Season 4 items will have the below personal and team arena rating requirements:
Shoulders: 2200
Weapon: 2050
Head: 1700
Chest: 1600
Legs: 1550
Gloves: none
Off-hand: none

In addition, some of the Season 4 quality items that will be purchasable with honor will also carry a personal and team arena rating requirement:
Boots: 1700
Ring: 1650
Bracers: 1575
Belt: none
Necklace: none
Trinket: none


This basically says that if you enjoy wow pvp casually, you wont have anything to show for it.
I mean, even now, when it's "easy" to get "welfare epics" It still takes alot longer to get them as a casual player. And what does it even matter? Is it really that necessary for the elitist player to have skill advantage AND gear advantage?

End result of this is alot of players will quit, creating a domino effect so that the top players who atm reside in 2300-2500's will bump down to 2100-2200. Giving a VERY few top 2.5% the shoulders. Wasnt that wat the dragonmount and gladiator title was for?...

I also enjoy bg from time to time. Because after some time and work you got an item or two out of it and get to kill the other faction. Now I have to play arena to get those items, and even at that, I have to play the FOTM and 1 Team to get that. I'm completely locked down to one team and setup to eventually get upgrades.

I never PvE. I dont like it, and for this I am punished as a casual player.
The top players was the ones wintrading and selling teams, and yet the top player GAINS from the solution blizzard came up with. How's that logical?

The top players in season 3 got their full gear within a month, and the casuals got most of the gear within 2-3 months. I dont see the problem here. Most players still had fun, played with friends in different setups, and enjoying bg from time to time, simply because there were rewards at the end.
Now we get close to nothing. Fun stops. Playtime stops.

And I get that its a problem creating more bg types because of server restraints. But come on. How hard is it to come up with different enviroments/maps for the gametypes already in.
You already did this with arena. 1 arena. 3 maps. Do the same for bg's. 3 different Eye, AB, WSG and AV maps. Shouldnt be that hard. Every other online game that exists are capable of doing this. Why cant you?

Rogue tips and tricks.

>> Mage stun & gouge trick
Because of lag 2 abilities can proc at the same time. In other words, if you gouge a mage right after you stun him he will most likely end up in gouge after his blink. Giving you free time to catch up to him.

>> Caster opener trick
When duelling a caster, always start with a sap. The reason for doing this is because it allows you to open with a premed > garrote into rupture and vanish before any of the dot's tick and removes sap.
That gives you a free new opener and 3500+dmg.

>> Tauren stomp precaution
Whenever a druid runs up to you and stomps you, I can say with 99% safety that he is going to cyclone you directly after. So whenever you get stomped spam kick so that when stomp ends you can actually manage to kick his cyclone right before it hits you.

>> Getting out of combat midfight
Most rogues gouge with and without improved gouge to restealth. However, it takes 6 seconds for you to get out of combat, so for a more safe ooc method try to restealth with a 5point kidney instead. Unless you can use line of sight to become ooc.

>> Shadowstep > Intercept trick
If you cant avoid an intercept or want to bate it out. Try to predict when he's going to intercept and shadowstep at the same time. This results in both of you just swapping locations and you gain the advantage, maybe even a free restealth.

>> Hunter CloS trap trick
Most people know this, but I'll include it anyway.
If a hunter pops the single-ice-trap you can clos it to resist it so it despawns. This doesnt affect the ground ice-trap and the snake trap though.

>> Shadowstep stun trick
Very few know this, but vs rogues and warriors a kidney could be vital for the match. It's very annoying when they dodge or resist the kidney when you really need it, so what you can do is kidney right after you shadowstep. For some reason the kidney wont fail and always hits.
This even works through evasion.

>> Full lockdown on 1 person without pvp trinket
Sap > Sap > Premed > Cheapshot > Kidneyshot > Gouge > Blind > restealth > Sap > Prep > Sap > Premed > Cheapshot > Kidneyshot > restealth > Sap > Gouge > Kick > etc.
This avoids diminishing returns as much as possible. You can do this, or partly this to reset cooldowns on first-aid, CloS, Blind, Shadowstep. Etc.

>> Battlemaster trinket trick
Whenever you use the battlemaster trinket for a 1750 heal and have above the same amount, the health gained is lost when the timer runs out. However, if you use it below 1750health, for instance when Cheat Death procs the health is not lost when the timer runs out. Cheat Death should give you more than enough time to use it.

>> Blind into sap trick (DR Reset)
Blind/sheep/cyclone into sap is a common thing to do. But remember, it takes 6 seconds to get out of combat without you or the target doing ANYTHING. Even sprint/evasion/firstaid/etc restarts the combat timer and you have to wait 6 seconds again. (With firstaid the timer starts after the first tick) However, blind > vanish/restealth > sap is a really nice way to restart your stun DR's.

>> Sheep and sap
Be aware that sheep and sap/gouge share the same diminishing return. So if you play with a mage your cc on the same target is limited if you open with a sap.

>> Paladin anti BoP firstaid trick
Always have deadlypoison on when dueling a paladin. Most paladins bop to first-aid and save mana but with deadly poison ticking in, he cant really do that now can he? ;)

>> Distract vs drink
If you see a person drinking/eating and your to far away to stop him. Distract him. For some reason this makes him stand up.

>> SnD in arena
The first point of SnD is 9 seconds, the others gain 3 seconds. So energy effctive it's best to just use 1point snd's to burst down a target. For instance, Premed>Garrote/CS>Expose>(Relentless Strikes)/hemo>snd

>> Playing with a warrior
Against team with abolish poison use rank 1 crippling instead of rank 2. Rank 2 overrides hamstring so that when a target gets abolished, he gets away.

>> Stealth info
Nightseye trinket +5 stealth
Boots med stealth +5 stealth
Enchant cloak stealth +5 stealth
Catseye ultra goggles +18 detection
The night watchman +8 detection
Deathblow x11 goggles +5 detection
Hyper-vision goggles +30 detection on use, 15sec duration.
Perception +50 detection
Vanish +100 stealth
Paranoia +30 detection
Shadowmeld +5 stealth.
Mod +3 stealth pr level.
Heightened senses +3 per level.

>> Gems
Bright Living Ruby - 16ap
Wicked Noble Topaz - 8ap 4critrating
Bright Crimson Spinel - 20ap
?? - 10ap 5critrating

>> Tradeskills
I recommend jewelcrafting and enchanting as a rogue. The Panther's trinket and +4 stats on trinket + the 24ap and 12critrating gems really gives you that extra edge in arena.

Burning Crusade Intro Movie (High Quality)

For those of you who want to see the new intro movie introducing you to the Burning Crusade universe. Click this link.

Link

UI Released. Version 0.1

Finally got down to making my UI for release. So here you go.
Link: Sacrife UI v0.1
14 Des. 2006 UPDATE: Addon update 0.2 (Some errors fixed)

*NOTICE* This is made for people with 1280x1024 resolutions. If you use other
resolutions you will have to edit some settings manually. (Skinner is the main gui mod)

Install steps:

1. Delete your wtf and interface folders in your wow folder first. (Take backups of them if
you dont like the ui) But remember to copy "Config.wtf" and "bindings-cache.wtf" because
they are your video settings and keybindings files. I added mine for it to go as smoothly as possible
but I have everything maxed. If you dont want my keybindings re-install your backed up bindings-cache
after everything is unzipped.

2. Extract the folders to your World of Warcraft folder. Nothing should be overwriten because everything should be deleted for a clean start.

3. Go into the wtf folder and rename the folders accordingly.

a. WOW\WTF\ACCOUNT\RENAME.TO.YOUR.LOGIN.NAME
Rename this to the name you use to login to wow with. Type with BIG LETTERS.

b. WOW\WTF\ACCOUNT\LOGINNAME\Rename.to.your.server.name
Rename this the the name of the server your currently have your main character on.
Copy and rename to other servers if you have characters spread out on different servers.

c. WOW\WTF\ACCOUNT\LOGINNAME\SERVERNAME\Rename.to.your.character.name
Rename this to the character name your playing with.
If you have multiple characters (alts) just copy this folder and rename them to your alts.


4. Go into WOW\WTF\ACCOUNT\LOGINNAME\SavedVariables and open these files with your main text-editor.
EngBags.lua
DamageMeters.lua

Do search&replace for Kizzle and replace with your own character name
Do search&replace for Ravencrest and replace with your own server name


5. Thats it! Log into wow and everything should be in its place.
All the settings can be altered in any way you want by using deucecommander which is located
at the topright of your screen. Right click it and change anything u want.
If you have multiple characters use the profile options to have the settings different from
your main character.


Known bugs with wow (and this UI). You have to use /duel to challenge someone to a duel.


Slash commands:
/skinner
/ebb (elk buff bar)
/roguespam
/tbopt (target buttons)
/slicer (slice and dice counter)
/sct menu (scrolling combat text)
/aguf config (AG Unitframes)
/ozraid (raidframes) (I currently only have party enabled. But feel free to change it to full raid)


Addons installed. (Delete if you dont want it)

Clearfont: Replaces the ingame fonts with a font which is alot better and easier to read.
Improved Error Frame: Reverts ui errors to a minimap icon instead.
Acceptance: Autoaccept guild invites.
AG Unitframes: UnitFrames
Antagonist: Enemy Cast Bars
Bartender: Action Buttons
BigWigs: A pack of bossmods and timers for raiding.
Capping: Timerbars for everything in wow battlegrounds
Chronometer: Timerbars for your personal buffs.
CooldownTimers: Cooldown timers for your own abilites.
cyCircled: Circled Textures for Bartender (Your action buttons)
DamageMeters: Damagemeters for you and your raid\group.
DeuceCommander: Main handler for all your mod's settings.
ElkBuffBar: Your easy on the eyes buff frame
EngBags: Bagmod. Automaticly sorts everything in your bag and makes it really easy to use.
Fubar: Infobar at the top of your screen (or bottom of u want) with lots of information for everything.
ItemRack: An addon which handles your item sets. You can set up different sets and change gear with simple clicks.
KillingBlow: Killing Blow announcer.
MyBindings2: Changes your keybindings window to something alot easier to use.
oCB: Casting Bar
oRA2: CTRaid replacement.
OzRaid: Raid, Maintanks, Party frames.
Poisonpouch: Right click to apply latest poison to your main hand and offhand weapon. Left click to choose poison.
Prat: Removes chatbuttons. Allows chatscrolling. Universal fontsize settings. And ALOT more.
RatingBuster: Translate hit\crit\defense\etc ratings to your percentage values.
Reslacker: Autoaccept resses. Can be configured to autoaccept ready checks (DANGEROUS!)
Roguespam: Hides pesky error msgs rogues get when spamming buttons.
SCT: Scrolling Combat Text
SCTD: Scrolling Combat Text Damage. (Shows your dmg in the middle of the screen rather than above the mobs)
Simple Combat Log: Betterlooking combatlog.
Simple Minimap: Removes zoombuttons (use scroll) Location and makes the minimap square.
Skinner: Reskins wow's mainwindows and much more. (Also used in my UI to create the bottom art)
Slicer: Timeraddon for your slice and dice ability as a rogue.
Target Buttons: Buttons below your friendlytarget frame with easy acces to duel, trade, follow, etc.
TipBuddy: Tooltip addon. Easier on the eyes.
WitchHunt: Spell Alert
Xloot: Dead sexy lootframes ;)
XRaidStatus: Raid status. Shows healermana, buff need list, Dead's and Offlines. And more.

Rogue "revamp". New TBC Changes

Rogues

• Improved Backstab moved to tier 2 Assassination.
• Improved Slice and Dice moved to tier 2 Combat.
• Surprise Attacks changed to “Your finishing moves can no longer be dodged, and the damage dealt by your Backstab, Gouge, Shiv, and Sinister Strike abilities is increased by 8%”.
• Improved Sap and Elusiveness have swapped tiers.
• Improved Sap now 2 ranks, 50%/100%.
• Preparation changed to “When activated, this ability instantly refreshes the cooldown on your Evasion, Sprint, Vanish, Cold Blood, Adrenaline Rush, and Premeditation abilities.” Goodbye double Cloak of Shadows/Blind in arenas.
• Cloak of Shadows is now 1 minute cooldown instead of 2.
• Evasion ranged attack avoidance reduced from 50% to 25%.
• Blind changed to 3 minute cooldown from 5 minutes(is this new? never noticed it before).
• Wound Poison(all ranks) has been changed. Now has a 30% chance to instantly deal damage(increases with poison rank), and reduce healing effects used on target by 10% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
• Combo points are not lost when you change targets. However, you can only have combo points on 1 target at a time.
  
  Video showing CP not disappearing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qDI9qEXb8g

This opens up for the two ultimate dagger builds I will personaly try and abuse ;D.
There will be the most obvious dagger build of death. 30/0/31. I chose premed over vigor anyday. :)
However there's also the infamous shadowstep build 20/0/41. I'm going to try both to see what fits me the best.

This change was a change we really needed. With our new mortal strike (5stack wound) and Quick Recovery (+20% heal) we will be a really great asset in 2v2 arena's.
And yes. It is confirmed. Wound poison will stack with Mortal strike for a total of 75% less healing effect.

To bad Thistle tea is somewhat nerfed. At lvl 60 it will restore 60 energy and 40 energy at lvl 70. Renataki's charm of Trickery will be invaluable since you cant use potions of any kind inside arenas.

Shadowstep is according to blue's going to be buffed and we will recieve a replacement for weapon expertise. Let's just wait and see what this will be.

Lvl 70 - 30/0/31 Build:
Talents
Pro's: Cookie cutter combopoint builder with preparation and 10% attackpower.
Quick recovery which is great in 2on2 arena with a pvp healer.
Improved Expose armor for Premed-Ambush-EA on clothies ;D.

Lvl 70 - 20/0/41 Build:
Talents
Pro's: 10% AP and 15% Agility. Shadowstep for imba ambush dmg. And another +10% dmg from Master of Subtlety.

Lvl 60 - 30/0/21 Build:
Talents
Pro's: Same as lvl 70 just without premed and 10% AP for now.

Addons for Wow 2.0

Addons thats currently friendly with the new wow api due to be released wednesday 6th of December.

***WoWinterface.com***
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/cat89.html

***ui.worldofwar.net***
http://ui.worldofwar.net/listbc.php

My User Interface history

This is just going to be some sort of a nostalgia thread displaying the ui's I've gone through over the years ;) They are mostly made by myself (The esthetics. Not the addons).

Dunno how my UI will turn out when 2.0 appears and completely messes everything up. I will probably be using default UI until DUB shows up as a usable version.
(Discord Site)

Article reveals how to get a Nether Drake!

A recent article reveals how you can get yourself a brand new and shiny armored Nether Drake in The Burning Crusade ;)

Tom Chilton explains the workings: "With BC the Arena system gives rewards on par with the best you’ll find in the rest of the game. Any time we start new raids, we’ll start a new Arena season that gives us the opportunity to add a new set of Arena rewards to keep up with that. Each season lasts three months, and at the end of that, based on your position on the ladder, each person in the top team is going to receive an Epic armoured Netherdrake mount."

Go here for more information: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?SCID=27&CIID=67480&p=3

I'm sure as hell getting one. Thats for sure!

Tier 4 and 5 Set-items for The Burning Crusade

There's lot of pictures flying around the net from these sets so I thought I might aswell post em here aswell for your viewing pleasure.

Tier 4:

Tier 5:

Rogue Tier 4 is awesome (look on the orc picture for the updated helm graphics).

However, rogue tier 5 looks retarded. Looks like something a kid could draw.

Current Beta Tier 4 Stats: http://www.thottbot.com/beta?s=tier+4

Arena Weapons for The Burning Crusade

As a dagger rogue it pains me to see that yet again the dagger graphics is fugly as always. :(
Just about every weapon obtainable looks really cool, especially the War staff (Top right Pic 2). Grats to whomever caster gets that ;). The dagger literally looks like something some kid found in the sewer who has been rusting there for centuries.

Atleast the damage on the thing is insane. Cant wait to Shadowstep Ambush with it :).
And I know there is quick offhand dagger aswell but I think im going to take two of the 191 daggers to test with Mutilate if it becomes good enough due TBC Retail.

Time will tell. And if arena battles is as fun as I think it's going to be I might aswell pick up 2 fist weapons for grind and amusement purposes. Wont hurt to have a pair :)

Allthough not released yet (Looks) the arena set are rumoured to be copies of the Tier 4 sets only with a different color scheme. The normal tier 4 sets looks really cool with its Black And Purple colors which is what a rogue is supposed to look like. Dark! I just hope they wont mess up the arena set color with something shiny. Paladins Anyone? :p

Recommended Rogue PvE consumables.

Pots:
[Elixir of the Mongoose] - 2x Mountain Silversage, 2x Plaguebloom, 1x Crystal Vial
[Winterfall Firewater] - 3-4% Drop av Winterfall Furbolgs. (Winterspring)
[Elixir of Giants] - 1x Sungrass, 1x Gromsblod, 1x Crystal Vial

Food:
[Grilled Squid] - 1x [Winter Squid], 1x Soothing Spices
[Smoked Desert Dumplings] - 1x[Sandworm Meat], 1x Soothing Spices

Blasted Lands Pots
[R.O.I.D.S.] - 3x [Snickerfang Jowl], 2x [Blasted Boar Lung], 1x [Scorpok Pincer]
[Lung Juice Cocktail] - 3x [Blasted Boar Lung], 2x [Scorpok Pincer], 1x [Basilisk Brain]
[Ground Scorpok Assay] - 3x [Scorpok Pincer], 2x [Vulture Gizzard], 1x [Blasted Boar Lung]

Felwood Pots
[Whipper Root Tuber] - http://v.ga.free.fr/perso/plantes.jpg
[Night Dragon's Breath] - http://v.ga.free.fr/perso/plantes.jpg

HP Pots\Food
[Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops] - 1x Hot Spices, 1x Goblin Rocket Fuel, 1x Deeprock Salt, 1x [Chimaerok Tenderloin]
[Flask of the Titans] - 30x Gromsblood, 10x [Stonescale Oil], 1x Black Lotus, 1x Crystal Vial
[Major Healing Potion] - 2x Golden Sansam, 1x Mountain Silversage, 1x Crystal Vial
[Monster Omelet] - [Giant Egg], 2x Soothing Spices