Naxx

So, once again, I have created my Raiding group, only this time it is with a group of 5 friends that have been playing together for a while.  The good news is that they are all extremely well geared and know how to play their classes.  However, the rest of us kind of feel like outsiders to the group. I guess with more runs, we will all get to know each other better.  

We were able to down the 3/3 Arachnid, 3/3 Plague, 2/3 Military and 1/4 Construct.  And we got Grobbulus down to 28,697.  Argh.  But given that this was the first time that 6 of the people had been in Naxx, I think we did pretty well.

Our guild is up to 39 level 80s, which is nice, but also means that people are feeling left out of stuff. We had two people quit the guild because they didn't feel needed.  Not quite sure why, they had been going on dungeon runs and hit 80 last Friday, so they would have been invited on this weeks Naxx runs.  I don't quite understand it all, but maybe I'm not supposed to.

A friend of mine has been pretty good DPS out of going cat.  He went complete cat since at the time we had quite a few tanks.  He seems to be really liking the cat dps.  

Personally, I'm up to 28,000 armor, 33,000 health and 35% dodge unbuffed, so I'm getting there.  I hope to buy another new piece soon.  I'm getting the Savage Gladiator's Sanctuary set. I think it is better for bear than the T7.  I have the chest and should be able to buy the hands this week with honor/arena points.  That will be nice at least for arenas.  

Of course, I will be out of town for the next two weeks, so no real play time.  Kind of hard to play at the lake!  

Have a Happy Holiday!

Gear and Naxx

So we have now cleared the Arachnid, Plague and 2/3 of the Military quarters.  We would have finished the Military Quarter, but 2 of the guys had to go to bed.  I mean, it was only 2:30 in the morning there and they had to work today.  I just don't see the problem.  I'm kidding.

Overall, I think we are doing pretty well.  We now have enough people that we should start 2 10 man Naxx runs.  I will be in charge of the second one again.  I kind of wish we had gotten further with the "core" group before the split but we just have so many people ready to go.

I also got my first upgrades from Naxx.   Staff of the Plague Beast and I also got Cloak of Armed Strife  so I am pretty pumped.  I am now 6 emblems away from my new chest!  So I'm getting some nice upgrades.

Ding!

Well, we hit 80 on Saturday December 6, 2008 at 6pm.  We were 78 on Friday, but I dual boxed while she worked on Saturday so that we would be 80 for Naxx.  And then Naxx got moved to Sunday, which is fine, we ran 5 Heroics instead.  Violet Hold, Utgarde Keep, The Culling of Stratholme, Drak'tharon, The Occulus  I am now up to 30 emblems so I'm making my move.  

When we hit Naxx up on Sunday, I only had 25,500 armor; 32,000 HP; and about 35.6% dodge. However, we were able to do the Arachnid Quarter and get down Patchwerk.  Man those Hateful Strikes hurt! Steaky got three leather healing drops, she was excited!  I think it was pretty damn good for our first attempt!

I got the Handwraps of Preserved History on Saturday and Shroud of Darkness yesterday. Yeah! Now I'm sitting at about 26,000 armor, with 26,207 health and 32.16% dodge self buffed. So yeah, need some work there to really tank but I'm getting there.

Speaking of, I'm also now Tanking Lead for the guild as well as Recruitment Officer.  Now the only thing that sucks about that is that I can no longer get to the Tanking Forums from work.  It is now blocked, however, I can get to the European Tanking Forums.  Go Figure!

Stats and Conversions

All of these assume you are level 80

Agility = 0.0254% dodge. 1% dodge needs ~39.31 agility. 2.12 armor per point of agility
Dodge Rating = ~0.025% dodge. 39.35 dodge rating per % dodge.
Stamina = 15.9 health
Defense = ~4.92 rating per skill, 1 skill = 0.04% dodge, miss, anti-crit. 25 defense skill,
or ~122.96 defense rating, for 1% less crit/more dodge/more miss.
Armor = 5.17 armor in bearform if the armor comes from items. 1 armor if it comes from buffs/enchants. (for now, after patch 3.0.8 it will be 8.5822 for the 8 slot armor times)


Strength = 2.2472 AP per point
Agility = 1% crit per ~78.62 agility
Critical Strike Rating = 1% per 45.91
Hit Rating = 1% hit per ~32.79 hit rating (264 to be capped)
Attack Power = 1.06 AP per point.
Expertise Rating = 1% reduced parry/dodge chance per ~32.79 rating.  (131 to be capped)

Feral Faction Info

Factions are a great/horrible thing to have to grind.  So I'm making a list and checking it twice.

Knights of the Ebon Blade

Darkheart Chestguard - (Exalted) Cat chestpiece

Wyrmrest Accord

Dragonfriend Bracers - (Exalted) Cat and Bear

Oracles

Glitterscale Wrap - (Revered) Bear

Kirin Tor

Mind-expanding Leggings - (Revered) Cat and Bear

Stave of Shrouded Mysteries - (Revered) Cat

Argent Crusade

Boots of the Neverending Path - (Exalted) Cat

Cloak of Holy Extermination - (Honored) Cat

Frenzyheart Tribe

Azure Strappy Pants - (Revered) Cat (but I wouldn't, go Oracles)

Sons of Hodir

Spaulders of Frozen Knives - (Honored) Cat

So I plan to grind for the Oracle belt and Kirin Tor legs.  Not quite sure what else yet, but I know those two.  And of course, I'm grind for my fishing pole!