Hidden Warcraft » Epic and Blue Drops

Band of Frosted Thorns in Heroic Nexus

Renei — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:56:15 +0000

did Heroic Nexus yesterday, I was hoping to get the Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle for Mordauk, but it seems that Keristrasza, the final boss, dropped some sort of mail appropriate for a hunter instead of the cool belt appropriate for yours truly (it was the Interwoven Scale Bracers)

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Fortunately, Ormorok the Tree-Shaper, one of the other bosses, dropped the Band of Frosted Thorns. As I told my guildmates when I saw the Item, “Can I need on this? It’s kind of my thing.”

Actually, its a bit more than “kind of my thing”, it’s “exactly my thing”. Strength, Stamina and Critical Strike Rating are right up my alley as a Blood-specced Death Knight.

Because the ring I replaced was so crappy (relatively speaking, it was still Blue), it turns out that the Strength bonus is a net gain, I get about 30 extra stamina and maybe 20 critical strike rating more.

So while I did not get the Plate belt I wanted – tough luck, it didn’t drop – I still received over 2000 Rep points for the Wyrmrest Accord, and the cool Band of Frosted Thorns.

And all of that for only 19g in repairs! Wow, I can’t wait to get more Epics and see how high that repair bill can REALLY go!

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Farming Emblems of Heroism

Renei — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:40:30 +0000

Farming Emblems of Heroism. I suppose it was bound to come to this eventually.

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Over their lives, my toons have farmed pretty much everything. They have farmed Ore, for blacksmithing (and a brief and regrettable foray into Engineering), Herbs for Alchemy and Inscription, and Leather for Leatherworking.

I have farmed gold, greens to disenchant and pretty much anything else you can think of.

I have farmed rep – recently and successfully for the Knights of the Ebon Blade. I even tried farming Honor in Battlegrounds, although I can’t stand it and that didn’t last too long.

After discussing with Hladonar yesterday, it was established that what I *really* need now is to farm Emblems of Heroism.

I was looking through the lists of reputation rewards, and nothing seemed to strike my fancy. Oh, I’ll keep the Wyrmrest Accord Tabard on, since it looks cool and I want that Drake, but in terms of gear, I figure I need to farm about 400 Emblems of Heroism to get the following:

I realize, of course, that the next Expansion, whatever it may be called, will probably be out by the time I get all this stuff, rendering all my efforts obsolete.

But eh, I need an excuse to keep playing Mordauk, by far my favorite character. So there you have it, 400 Emblems of Heroism, which boils down to over 100 Heroic Instance Runs.

The promising thing is that we have several toons that are coming to 80 now in the Guild, so there will be opportunities for many runs!

Edit by Renei:

According to Hladonar, who knows better, this article is full of uber-noobish mistakes. Seems that the Emblems of Heroism don’t give access to that nice gear, the Emblems of Valor do. Or something.

Sorry about that, I’m new to the Epic stuff.

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Heroic Halls of Lightning

Renei — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:24:22 +0000

The Guild – Brute Force – got together last night for a little Heroic Instance, and we decided on Heroic Halls of Lightning, since it was both the regular Daily Instance as well as the Heroic one.

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We had a relatively rough start, we picked up the pace and managed to clear pretty much the whole instance, wiping a total of 6 or 7 times in the process.

The first of our wipes were most probably imputable to the fact that our tank, Fluffmuffin, had never tanked before, and Heroic Halls of Lightning is not the best place to learn. Even the regular non-Boss Elites hit HARD.

I don’t mean that as criticism in any way: I know that Death Knight tanks are notoriously hard to play, and if you’ve never done it, then your gonna die. A. Lot.

And we did!

About an hour into the instance, our regular tank, Kithany, came online and while I’m not going to say that it was smoooooth sailing from then on, things looked up a little. We cleared all the mobs, killed all the bosses, until we got to Loken.

Hladonar, who’d been there before, explained the strategy for killing Loken. It involves piling up on top of him while he’s doing melee damage, and running like a rabbit when he does an Arcane Explosion (different name, same death).

So fortified with this knowledge, our Epic raiding party attacked! And even before Loken got down to 300,000 hit points (starting at about 575,000), we were decimated.

Pernicious doubts invaded our fragile minds… Are we ready for this? Are we going to wipe 10 times, only to get home empty-handed?

When we re-entered the Instance, the first groups of mobs had started to respawn!

Oh no!

Throwing caution to the winds, we ran through them and mowed them down mercilessly! We HAD to get to Loken before more mobs appeared!

Fortunately, only the first 4 or 5 groups had respawned. After dispatching them, we ran back to the Boss, Loken, and fine tuned our strategy.

Our strategy consisted of the same as before, but better. Be more careful, we KNOW this guy can kick our collective asses! Our Chef, Gravewax, cooked us up a Fish Feast, I drank a Elixir, tooted my Horn and into the breach we charged!

Loken stired himself, drawing himself to his full height and power, and responded to our assault with flying fists of fury and giant stomping feet!

The Earth rumbled!

Lightning crackled into the dry air of the giant’s lair!

Back and forth we ran, expanding every power available to us, hitting and wailing and running and hitting again!

And after what seemed like an eternity, a moment frozen in time, the defeated Loken fell, spilling his loot into our covetous hands!

A great cry of victory went up from our ranks, instantly replacing the anguish and exaltation we all felt. We did it! The giant was dead! No more, from his throne of stone, would he terrorize the good people of Storm Peaks!

Reveling in the moment, we congratulated ourselves on this Heroic achievement and heroes far and wide praised our Epic achievement.

The time had come to search the Giant’s Hoard… A Frozen Orb, a Shard, the Lightning Giant Staff, and … the Colossal Skull-Clad Cleaver!

Mordauk, yours truly, was awarded the Epic Axe by what seemed like general consensus. He gratefully picked up the awesome weapon and hoisted it on his well-toned shoulders, in the knowledge that such a weapon would prove a boon in the adventures that are sure to come!

…..

Thank you Drehand, Gravewax, Kithany, Fluffmuffin and of course Hladonar, for what has been the most exhilarating night of World of Warcraft in a long, long time. I would go on with the story, but I have a 6 hour drive to Toronto looming before me, and I have to get going!

Until next time!

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Knights of the Ebon Blade [Death-Inured Sabatons]

Renei — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:59:56 +0000

After 3 weeks – more or less – of doing all the Knights of the Ebon Blade Dailies, turning in Vyrkul bones to the Bone Witch, and running a few instances here and there, I’ve finally done it.

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I’ve achieved Exalted status with the Knights of the Ebon Blade.

Why did I put myself through that, you so rightly ask? Well, several reasons. First, Mordauk is level 80. If you’re not planning on raising your rep with factions at level 80, then you won’t have very much to do, and I enjoy playing Mordauk too much to mothball him, much like I did my much-maligned main, Mandorall at level 70.

Second, and more importantly, I wanted the [Death-Inured Sabatons]. They are Epic plate boots, perfect for a plate-wearing DPS such as myself – or a Retribution Paladin, I guess.

Here are the stats for the Knights of the Ebon Blade’s [Death-Inured Sabatons], after I was done tweaking them:

1541 Armor – not bad!
+50 Strength
+73 Stamina
+12 Critical Strike (Icewalker Enchant)
+12 Hit Rating (Icewalker Enchant)
+8 Critical Strike (Gem)
+12 Stamina (Gem)
+7 Critical Strike (Gem)
+7 Strength (Gem)
+6 Hit Rating (Socket Bonus)
+66 Critical Strike Rating (Boots’ regular bonus)

That’s a nice list, is it not? I thought so myself. Here’s what it ads up to:

+57 Strength
+85 Stamina
+18 Hit Rating
+93 Critical Strike Rating

Much like the Spiked Titansteel Hem I detailed here a few days ago, the [Death-Inured Sabatons] are worth 2.03% Critical Strike Chance, which in my opinion is HUGE, especially at level 80.

But where do I go from here? Here’s an idea. My friend and healer Extraordinaire Hladonar, whose words you may have read here, offered to enchant my legs with Icescale Leg Armor – with my mats, of course - a nice enchant if there ever was one.

Thing is, and as I told him, I’d rather wait to have Epic legs before applying an expensive Epic leg enchant.

So the quest goes on!

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[Spiked Titansteel Helm] for a Blood Death Knight

Renei — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:08:15 +0000

A few days ago, I created my very first Epic Plate for one of my own characters. Mandorall crafted a [Spiked Titansteel Helm] for Mordauk, my Blood-specced Death Knight.

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Mordauk is particularly fond of critical strike rating bonuses as well as strength, so the [Spiked Titansteel Helm] is a perfect fit. The Spiked Titansteel Helm can be crafted from a recipe that Blacksmiths learn at the Trainer at skill level 440.

Mandorall required the following mats for crafting the Spiked Titansteel Helm:

Saronite Bar x 4
Titansteel Bar x 4
Frozen Orb x 1

Now the Saronite and Titansteel were in inventory, and he had to buy the Frozen Orb for roughly 100g. If I had needed to buy everything at the Auction House, I wager that the cost of materials would have been in the 800 to 1000g range.

I added a few – expensive – gems as well as the Ebon Blade Head Enchant, the Arcanum of Torment. Here is what my Spiked Titansteel Helm looked after I was done with it:

1821 Armor
+97 Strength
+50 Attack Power (Arcanum of Torment)
+20 Crit Rating (Arcanum of Torment)
+21 Crit Rating (Meta Gem)
+3% Crit Damage (Meta Gem)
+8 Crit Rating (Gem)
+12 Stamina (Gem)
+8 Crit Rating (Socket Bonus)
+60 Hit Rating
+44 Crit Rating

Now you’ll admit that this is not bad at all. All in all, this adds up to +101 Critical Strike Rating Bonus, not to mention the extra damage caused by the 97 Strength Bonus and the Attack Power Bonus.

At level 80, and set up as it is, the Spiked Titansteel Helm is worth a whoping 2.20% critical strike chance ALL BY ITSELF!

My Ebon Blade reputation is getting up there, too – only 4 more days of running the Dailies and I can finally get the Epic DPS Plate Boots they have. I’m curious to see the effect they will have on my already elevated critical strike rating!

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Saronite Ore Mining in Sholazar Basin

Renei — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:51:55 +0000

As the more astute and observant of my readers have probably noticed, the last series of articles were not written by me, but rather by my friend Etienne. Etienne is a real pro when it comes to daily quests, and has written a whole series of articles on how to raise reputation with various Northrend factions.

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I appreciate his help even more considering that I’ve been busy writing a Blacksmithing leveling guide, as well as putting together the 10-Day WoW Gold course, for which I encourage you to sign up, either at the bottom of this article or in the sidebar to the left.

Now, to the meat of today’s topic: mining Saronite Ore in Sholazar Basin.

I spent about 40 minutes this morning mining for ore in Sholazar Basin, on my brand new flying mount. By the way, what a difference that makes! I actually managed to steal ore right from under the nose of some earth-bound landlubbers! Of course, when I was the worm crawling on the surface of Azeroth, I thought that people that swoop down from the heavens and steal my ore were worse than scum and totally reprehensible.

Now that I’m the one doing it, well, “All’s Fair in Love and (World of) War(craft)!”

In 40 minutes of mining in Sholazar Basin, I got the following:

140 Saronite Ore
12 Titanium
6 Eternal Earth
1 Eternal Air
5 Eternal Shadow
1 Eternal Water

And if that wasn’t enough – it isn’t, I’ve got mounts to pay for! – the following also dropped:

1 Monarch Topaz
2 Sun Crystals
2 Forest Emeralds
1 Chalcedony
1 Autumn’s Glow
3 Dark Jade
1 Huge Citrine

For a detailed map of the Ore Nodes location in Sholazar basin, click here.

In all honesty, all that stuff for 40 minutes of farming is spectacular, in my humble opinion.

I’ve not had the chance to calculate the exact Auction House value of all those items, but I know that some of those gems are worth, theoretically at least, over 100g.

Yesterday, I purchased the Artisan Riding Skill for my Death Knight Mordauk, as well as the Cold Weather Flying skill, for a cool 6 grand. So I’m sure you understand if I have a little catching up to do!

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Herbalism in Redridge Mountains

Renei — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:30:02 +0000

Farming herbs in Redridge Mountains was, for me, an intensely frustrating experience. The whole place is full of mountains – obviously – and the old saying “you can’t get from there to here” take a whole new, crisp sense.

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I did a little run yesterday morning, about 45 minutes before going to work. I farmed the following herbs:

26 Mageroyal
37 Earthroot
25 Briarthorn
22 Bruiseweed
6 Swiftthistle

The whole farming experience was rife with situations where I saw a potential gather on the map, only to discover that I had to go extremely out of my way to gather it, landing in a spot where all I got was a miserable Earthroot and was far removed from other spawn nodes. Really annoying, as far as farming goes.

As usual, I milled down the herbs for their pigments, to be used in Inscription. Here’s what I got:

40 Dusky Pigment
18 Alabaster Pigment
4 Verdant Pigment

Not exactly a fantastic haul. I’ll take it, and for 45 minutes, it wasn’t bad, but the whole experience was in general disagreable. One positive point: I got another Blue, [Magician's Mantle] which I posted right away on the Auction House for 50g.

It was sold by the time I got home from work, so I guess someone somewhere was in a spending mood.

I have the feeling that Duskwood will be a LOT better for farming herbs, which is what I’ll do next. I’ll also be adding a map of Redridge Mountains as well as an herb farming route shortly, but be warned: it’s pretty sparse.

In short, farming herbs in Redridge Mountains is more pleasant than getting a root canal on an infected tooth without anasthetic… but not by much.

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[Shocking Claws] Fist Weapon Drop in Borean Tundra

Renei — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:39:12 +0000

I got the coolest looking weapong ever as a drop a few weeks ago in Borean Tundra, [Shocking Claws].

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Unfortunately, it is a Fist Weapon and I don’t have any toon that can actually use it.

Judging by its very poor success – or lack thereof – on the Auction House, I surmise that not many people use Fist Weapon, either.

Like I needed confirmation. I don’t remember a single instance of seeing someone use a fist weapon. It probably happens, but its about as common the proverbial papal… well, anyways.

This weapon dropped for me from a Skadir Longboatsman, 69th level, in Borean Tundra.

Here are the stats for [Shoking Claws]:

Off, Hand, Fist Weapon, Speed 1.70
106-198 Damage (89.4 DPS)
22 Stamina Bonus
Requires Level 70
Improve Hit Rating by 23
Improve Critical Strike Rating by 22
Increases Attack Power by 32

The thing is, this weapon looks so unbelievably cool, I wish I could use it. But I’ll probably just take a screenshot of the ‘dressing room’, post it here at some point, and call it a day…

According to various WoW databases, this weapon is supposed to be worth about 60 Gold, which is pretty cheap for a Level 70 Blue Weapon.

But unsurprisingly, no takers so far!

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What To Do with my [Orb of Deception]?

Renei — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:18:02 +0000

Fluffmuffin, my Death Knight had to give a Woot! Woot! ( our guild call for something fun/interesting had happened ) the other day. However, before I begin, I know “Fluffmuffin” is a silly name for a Death Knight.

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It’s on purpose.

My very fluffy kitty, Tucker, insists on sitting on my lap when I play WoW and he is a bad ass. Oh he’s very cute, cuddly, sweet, until……he bashes your head in…especially at 3am and thinks it’s fun to throw a toy at your head ( how he managed that, I will never know ) but I digress…back to my Woot! Woot! moment..

Fluffy is now 71 and stalking Mordauk, as promised, throughout Northrend…but alas, she had to go to work to pay for her first flying mount. Being a miner/herb…she sets off too Silithus for some thorium to feed her Jewelcrafter toon. A wasp thingy was really annoying me and wouldn’t go away while I try to mine, so I turn and bash it in the head and lo and behold the [Orb of Deception] drops for me. Let me hear a Woot! Woot!

Orb of Deception, for those that aren’t in the know, is a costume that you can wear for 10min that makes you look like a member of the opposing faction. My server value in the AH 1400g! Woot! again…but there is too much fun to had to just sell a rare drop like this. No, no…PvP fun will be had I can assure you!

Now if I can just sneak past those pesky NPC’s who see clearly through the disguise…

Liberty Smith has been playing World of Warcraft for over 2 years, and is the Guild Master of Brute Force on US-Gnomeregan Realm. She is a wife and mother and resides in Texas.

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[Beneficent Bulwark] in Borean Tundra

Renei — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:12:31 +0000

Eheh. A couple of days ago, I got yet another fun little Blue drop in Borean Tundra. I don’t know if its just me that has been playing a lot, and therefore increasing my chances for good stuff to drop, or that Blizzard changes the drop rates, but it seems like Blue items have been dropping like crazy.

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My bet is that its just me. Blizzard have enough trouble managing the server economies without screwing it up by introducing tons of valuable items and contributing even more to inflationnary pressures.

But that’s a topic for another article. Right now we are concentrating on the [Beneficent Bulwark]. It dropped for me from a level 71 Talramas Abomination in Borean Tundra. I didn’t even have to fight that hard to get it!

It is a Blue Shield (pun intended) that has a level requirement of 69 to equip. Here are the stats:

4283 Armor
101 Block Value
19 Intellect Bonus
Improves Critical Strike Rating by 19
Increase Spell Power by 22
Restores 9 Mana per 5 secondes

Overall, the Mana and Intellect bonus make this an excellent shield for a Paladin or Shaman that concentrates on healing. I read that in the Beta version of Wrath of the Lich King, it originally had a +19 Spirit bonus, but that was replaced with a +19 bonus to the Critical Strike Rating, which I think is excellent, since you can get Enchants that will add a Spirit bonus to the Shield. If that’s your thing.

Obviously, I will not be using this item. My Paladin is Retribution, and uses 2-Handed weapons. Even if he did use a shield, for tanking, he would want one with defense bonuses, since he has sworn off healing anybody but himself forever, especially in Instances. See previous article about Utgarde Keep.

The Auction House values for this shield vary from database to database, from 49g on Thottbot to 80g on Allakhazam.

Because I’m greedy, I will probably list it for more at least once, and see how it goes. I’ve sold too many Blues too fast recently to think that I couldn’t have gotten a few bucks more for them!

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