I still love u

So I sign onto Ylee last night after my raid to run a quick random heroic, and I get tossed into Old Kingdom. Which is not my favorite by a long shot. But I go in and try to buff people only to realize that my healer is a druid with the improved mark. I'm thinking sweet, this will be cool.

So we all move up and I pull the first two adds and pull them close to the far stairs and pull the other two spiders that also pat across as they come out that way. No big deal right? Well, I hadn't realized that the tree only had like 14K mana so when my health drops kind of low, I pop survival thinking nothing of it other than maybe the tree wasn't paying attention. So after we clear that pull, I looked at the tree's mana pool and then check his gearscore and find out it is 2240. Ouch, I will have to be more careful. No big deal.

So then I pull the next threesome, the one with the spell-finger. I have aggro on all of them but the spell-finger is still casting shadowbolts around and the healer is again having issues healing and I have to use frenzied regen.

Well, we finish that off and go downstairs where I pull the one patting group over to the right, and again I have the spell-finger targeted and am clearly in the lead for threat but shadowbolts go out cause I only have one interrupt and it is on a minute cooldown. Then the shaman somehow pulls the other group as well, so I run around and grab everyone, and I'm low on health again so I pop survival instincts again and of course it takes me a second to get aggro on everything so a few folks get hit with some shadowbolts because apparently the rogue doesn't know to interrupt, but no one dies. But I get aggro rather quickly and we burn everything down. When everything is dead, I look at Recount and I'm top in dps.

At this point, I sit down and eat since the healer has no mana. While I'm sitting there the healer says, "Tank, WTF u suck"

I reply with, "uh, excuse me?" To which he says "but I still love u".

I'm speechless. I suck? I didn't pull the extra group, I ran and got aggro on everything when it was pulled and on every trash pull I have had to use survival instincts, frenzied regen, or lifeblood and barkskin and I suck?

Now keep in mind, I only do 10 mans on my bear, but I have over 30K armor, 46K health and 40%ish dodge in a 5 man. And it was Old Kingdom. And why am I leading dps when there is a boomkin, rogue and enhancment shammy in the group? How exactly is it that I suck?

Normal 10 Man Bear Gear for Patch 3.3.2

Okay, I'm going to list the gear that is BIS for a bear who isn't doing 25 mans or heroic modes. This is my preliminary list, and there may be things that fall from the Frostwing Halls that I don't have listed.

You are going to want the 4 piece T10 bonus, so I have included those items. DO NOT BUY THE CHEST PIECE WITH EMBLEMS! You won't be able to get the Sanctified sets because you would have to get tokens from 25 mans, but you can get the level 251 set.

Head:

Lasherweave Headguard

Neck:

Marrowgar's Scratching Choker

I know that it has parry on it and it doesn't do us much good, but the stam and dodge are very good.

Shoulders:

Lasherweave Shoulderpads

Back:

Sentinel's Winter Cloak

Chest:

Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder

This is included because it is BOE and it is a damn good item! Buy it!

Wrist:

Bracers of Swift Death

and

Vambraces of the Frost Wyrm Queen

are pretty darn close. The bracers have a bit more stam, but the vambraces have more agility. Since the bracers are crafted and you can get those easier, I would go that direction.

Hands:

Lasherweave Handgrips

Waist:

Vengeful Noose

Legs:

Lasherweave Legguards

Feet:

Footpads of Impending Death

Ring 1:

Ashen Band of Endless Courage

Ring 2:

Clutch of Fortification

Trinket 1:

Unidentifiable Organ

Trinket 2:

Corroded Skeleton Key

Weapon:

Lightborn Spire

This is from the Battered Hilt quest line. Do the ICC 5 mans until you get this drop or buy it but get this weapon.

Idol:

Honestly, this would be the last piece I spend emblems on.

Idol of Mutilation is still a very good idol and it would be better for pulls with multiple mobs because it can proc off of swipe.

Idol of the Crying Moon is much better for single target tanking since you know you will keep your Lacerate up.

This winds up looking like this: Ylee

Shaman Best in Slot (Non Heroic)

Crafted:

Earthsoul Boots

Reputation:

Ashen Band of Endless Destruction

From Emblems of Frost:

Waistband of Despair

Bizuri's Totem of Shattered Ice

From Emblems of Frost plus a Token:

Sanctified Frost Witch's Helm

Sanctified Frost Witch's Hauberk

Sanctified Frost Witch's Gloves

Sanctified Frost Witch's Shoulderpads

From Lord Marrowgar:

Bulwark of Smouldering Steel

Frozen Bonespike

From Gunship:

Ring of Rapid Ascent

(if you are hit capped)

Amulet of the Silent Eulogy

(if you aren't hit capped)

From Festergut:

Plaguebringer's Stained Pants

(note these are cloth)

From Rotface:

Bloodsunder's Bracers

Dislodged Foreign Object

From Prince Valanar:

Valanar's Other Signet Ring

(if you aren't hit capped)

From Blood-Queen Lana'thel:

Blood Queen's Crimson Choker

(if you are hit capped)

From Valithria:

Frostbinder's Shredded Cape

From Sindragosa:

Phylactery of the Nameless Lich

Which sums up to be:

http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=20772717

Which way did she go?

So, after a while of looking at things in my guild and us struggling with Marrowgar 25, I decided to switch things up.

My alt Shockylee, 80 Elemental Shaman, joined a more serious 25 man raiding guild and I'm loving it. I don't mind DKP and we are downing bosses. I raid on her on Tuesday/Thursday.

Ylee has stayed put in my guild and I'm still running my 10 mans on Wednesday nights but we are struggling with Saurafang given we don't have decent ranged dps nor a regular disc priest. Argh.

Yleedead, my 80 Disc Priest is now raiding on Sundays with another 10 man ICC.

Now the issue is that this has somewhat put me at odds with some of the other officers in my guild. But the thing is, sometimes you just can't continue to beat your head against the wall and expect different results. We have tried running 25 mans for as long as I have been in guild, and we have never been overly successful. We get good members, the raid for a while, then they leave for greener raiding pastures. It happens. I'm just wanting to see more of the bosses before the next expansion. It will never happen given that all we have allotted per week is 1.5 hours for 25 mans. That is a joke. So, I'm beginning to think it will never happen in BotH.

I'm having a lot of fun on Shockylee. It is nice to be able to just show up and raid. I don't have to worry about anything but being a good raider. Non Entity is the new guild, and while they aren't the best on server, they are much more serious about raiding and I like that. We are set up to raid between 6-9 hours per week for 25 mans and I'm happy about that.

So, as for feral stuff. I'm working on putting together a gear list that is 10 man normal content exclusive. All the lists I see always have 25 man mixed in and heroic mode in there too. I want to know what gear to look for if you aren't in the most cutting edge guild and you are just doing 10 man normals. So look for that in the next few days.

Also, you may notice a few more shaman related posts soon. I have noticed there are relatively few shaman blogs out there so I will be doing my research and seeing what I can find.

In the meantime, keep it furry!