Ding

One more level to go for my Ardent Custodian MH mace. I read that it is likely the best pre-MC tanking mace available. I haven’t checked that claim, though I saw that one from Dire Maul has good stats but loses the Defense.

I’ve been 37 for about 3 hours now, and can take on Elites multi-levels above Paladr. I’m testing to see what is the highest melee Elite I can down. He can do a 38 with over half health and half mana left. Both could be higher, but I was getting bored and used some spells. I can wear down anything that doesn’t hit harder than my Seal/Judgement of Light + Bubble/Healing. When Redoubt is up, I’m at 40% blocking, have 9% parry and dodge, a 20 point Mithril Spike, 2200HP, and 1700 mana.

It’s class night tonight, so we’ll see how much playing time I get in when I get home. Tomorrow is a busy Friday before a weekend vacation.

Paladr went all-out last night without rest to level and get another talent point. It was a longer haul at the end, but it was worth it to get Blessing of Sanctuary and a couple more spell rankings and… a BUBBLE!!I completely forgot about the bubble while quest/grinding this morning, so I don’t know how good it works yet.

In my effort to get Paladr to 34, I really started going after some Nesingwary mastery quests that were a tad high for me, but they are totally doable because pallys rock. Last on my list was to go kill Sin’Dall for the upteenth time (Mr. Altism takes a bow). He was so easy when you get to heal by whacking, damage by being whacked, and a big heal when I wanted. I think the level 38 Shadowmaw Panthers south of Grom’Gol are tougher.

I killed a lot of Lashtail Raptors 2-3 at a time for good XP, and was wondering what your favorite grinding mobs are in STV. There are so many to choose from, and we all prefer ones that don’t flee or stun, so what will it be for you?

I hit level 33 last night in the Growling cave in Hillsbrad Foothills trying to get Hecular’s rod to drop and then charging it at the braziers. I was at 52% when I logged in and noticed after 20 minutes that I only had 20 minutes left for the level, with full rest through the end of the level, give or take a kill. That’s some dang good motivation to grind there. I was getting about 2% XP per group of 3 yetis and rocked out the rest of the level in a 43 minute session before bed.

With 6% Retribution, things were going pretty good. I could take on 3 like-level or +1 level yetis without any danger, plus one or two to follow if someone happened to spawn or patrol.

That all changed with another level under my belt and another 2% chance for 4 extra swings. Here’s what I did: I went after Frostmaw. I cleared out the cave, charged the rod, and then realized that I needed to kill a mountain lion again to get the carcass. I found 2 and got a carcass. Entering the empty cave, I summoned him with the bait, only to have a yeti respawn. Not good. That meant that two more were going to respawn momentarily, and much sooner than I’d prefer too.

As I was laying down the last smack on Frostmaw, a second yeti appeared behind me as I had the first one down to 56%. I started to conserve mana and just trying to beat them down and had Seal of the Crusader up to help heal. Then the third one respawned behind me and I had to bring it full force.

So… that’s a 37, 32, 32, 31. Screenshots at home… I’ll get them up.

My next point is going into Blessing of Sanctuary, not Retribution. I think I’d like the perpetual damage from multiple attackers more than extra full-force swings a little more often. 8% is darn good, and 10% can wait one more level after I get the benefit of Sanctuary.

Last night, I didn’t think it could get any better when I soloed 5 like-level and higher mobs in Arathi Highlands. There were 2 31s, 2 32s, and a 33. I was so stoked, I challenged Level 37 Punitor to several duels outside Org… and proceeded to lose every one of them, though not by much on two of them.

I was mistaken about how cool that was, when I was quest/grinding this morning before work in a mad effort to ding 32. I went to Witherbark Village in Arathi Highlands. While beating on an Axe Thrower, I aggroed a named gray, Nimar the Slayer. Oops. He is a level 37. I killed the firstmob, but there was no recovering from the beating Nimar was putting on me.

Flee, drink, arrogantly go for it mano y mano.

[Read more…] about Ding 32; Soloed 37 Nimar the Slayer at 31

It was quite a weekend with Paladr, as we were determined to hit level 30 to become a true tankadin. That moment has finally arrived, as I’m now able to take on multiple mobs in a fashion I’ve never done before, although, carefully. we remembered reading that the AOE tanking should be done with melee beasts and other mobs that don’t flee. That really can screw things up, in a number of ways, which we will outline below.

Please keep in mind, at the time of this writing, Paladr is only level 31, with most of the stuff following being from his time at level 30 and does not have all the “cool” tools for tanking as a pally. What he does have is awesome so far, and is bringing us a lot of enjoyment.

Things that I have learned from my mistakes already:

• You will run out of mana if mobs keep fleeing and bringing help.
• It is better to hit fast than hard.
• Your aura is crucial.

[Read more…] about Ding 30, 31; Starting a Tankadin Run