Seems ah’m hangin’ up mah boots fer a while and going back tae Ironforge tae dae some er ’secretarial’ work.  You know, stuff tae dae wi’ documents and ‘filin’ them right’ and stuff. *Ahem*

I blame The Bloggers.  I really do.  It’s all their fault.  All those resto druids and shamans, holy paladins and priests. They’ve changed me.

Chain-Healing
What am I talking about?  About a week or so ago, now, I changed my main to my shaman.  I had been getting tired and bored of stabbing things from behind - I don’t know why as I’ve always loved melee.  A couple of times, however, we were short on healers for Mount Hyjal and I offered my shaman - he’s decently geared with quite a few of the T6 quality badge loot and the pick of Kara epics (still no bloody shield though /bitter) - and was taken along.

Wow.  Just… WOW.  There was a thrill and of  a new sort. A few subs like this and it had gotten to the point where I was actively hoping a healer would drop out just so I could go heal.  When I realised I was doing that I figured it was time to ask for a main change.  It might seem weird so close to Wrath but the guild is currently a little short of healers and heavy on melee dps and here I was with a reasonably geared resto shammy and wanting to chain-heal!

I have to say - it really has put the thrill back in raiding for me.  If you’d told me a year ago I’d actively seek out a healer role I’d have laughed.  If you’d said I’d give up a melee dps spot to do it I’d have laughed doubly hard.  Yet here I am. What has changed? No clue.  I have just found that I really, really enjoy healing and that, in a raid, it engages me far more than roguery does.

Even if most of what I seen in an evening looks something like this:

Hyjal has come alive again for me - every boss fight is not the same old dps cycle, the same old trinket clicking, the same old… old.. *snooze*.  Now I have to pay attention to totems, mana, incoming damage.  Each time I heal the same boss different people take different damage and everything is so new and exciting.  I guess the other thing is that I actually feel like I make a difference.

Doing a fight like Kaz’rogal where you’re staving off mana-reducing deuffs and still having to heal your little heart out is amazingly fun.  Every boss fight feels like a small triumph - more so than whittling away at a ginormous health pool over the course of five to ten minutes.

So, what now?

Of course, that doesn’t change stuff around here.  Aurik is and will remain ‘me’.  He is the personification of my real life self - short, dumpy, scottish, hyperactive and, of course, huggable! *ahem* This has never been a rogue blog nor one which shies from posting about alts so all you might find is that any ‘I went to BT and saw this boss, wow’, posts will be shamany rather than roguey.

Durid is for haelz!

But, that’s not the only healing I’ve been up to…

Yes, the tree is yours truly.  Embracing my new-found enthusiasm for the healy side I grabbed a respec to go heal for the budding young paladin tonk you see here.  I could have healed normal ramparts as feral but I really wanted to try things tree-style with all of the available bells and whistles.  It was a blast but perhaps a bit too easy an instance to judge if I’ve been tempted away from my feral side…  I had to respec the next day to tank some instances but my respec cost at the moment is very low so I might jump the fence a few more times!

I’ve managed to pic up some pretty nice epics just from doing some heroics where noone else wanted them so I’m sitting at around 1k healing already on my druid.  My spirit is a little low, though, as is my mp5 so I’m working on that.  I’ve also not enchanted anything yet - though as I don’t expect to be healing anything difficult I think I’ll see if I can grab some more healy gear whilst tanking before I start grinding out those primal lives.

Oh and I started playing my paladin again a little bit…

a third healer in the making?

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Ah hear tell o’ trouble on the horizon, somethin’ big brewin’ in the frozen lands.  Ah can feel it in my bones, my heart.  Darkness is spreadin’ again and I have a feelin’ it’s gonnae get  a lot worse afore it gets better.

Pookies inspired post inc, get those hots rolling, this may be a bumpy ride!

So, my latest alt has hit 70, I’m plowing through quests for gold and pondering what to do when the expansion comes.  A fever has overtaken my brain since the first ’serious’ beta notes began to come out.  I’m having a hard time being enthusiastic about any one of my current 70 characters - knowing they’ll very soon be undergeared and underlevelled again.

I’m dreaming of Death Knights.  This annoys me as it’s so horribly ‘common’ and I hate being so utterly intrigued by the Mary Sue of all classes but, goddamnit - those videos, the class abilites, the niche and, of course, the BIG SWORDS are making me drool.

One of the biggest turn-offs for rogues in the expansion for me is that they are pushing daggers and dagger spec/abilities heavily and I just don’t like daggers! Odd, for a rogue, I know, but I picked the class based on ’stabby stab’ and then realised I liked my stabby-stab to be from a rather large sword.  I know many might see this as a silly thing but as a mechanic and how I see my character the new stuff just doesn’t work for me.  There’s a few nice things they’re adding for rogues but nothing that totally grips me. I am not blaming Blizzard or whining at them -  I know things may change, yet, but unless they change substantially then I will change how I play.

I’ve even ‘created’ my Death Knight already, reserved a name and decided on professions tentatively - not worthless as I will have one as an alt if I don’t have it as a main.

I’m a little torn as I want to level a Death Knight when the expansion comes out but this will mean I lag a few weeks behind the other fast levellers in my guild - I’m also not even guaranteed to like playing one! (Hoping for an open beta in the last few weeks).

Also, there are going to be three billion Death Knights out there.  This particular fact bothers me less than it once did as I reckon the majority will lose interest very quickly (much like all of those abandoned belfadins and squid shammys).  I want a more complex class to play in a raid setting and one which has more raid utility so even if I don’t go for a Death Knight I’d want to switch to one of my other alts.

Just some ponderings.

The Burning Crusade Goes On!

On the other side of things, though, as the great BBB has said it’s at least a few months away and I’m certainly not going to totally lose interest in what I’m doing - hell I want to down Archi and work on getting further into BT - I know we may not see Illidan but I’m on the path and I ain’t stepping off it until the Lich King drags me by the beard (or ponytails…)!

Like Leafy I probably won’t be spending much time pondering over Wrath stuff on my blog until Wrath actually hits us.  I also like to be surprised by new zones and the general feel of a place so although I’ve had a peek at screenies and some professions / class info I am dragging myself away from Siha of Banana Shoulders’ video posts - have a look if you’re ravenous for every Northrend fix y’can get.

Perhaps not a complete anti-wrath blanket like he’s done but generally I concentrate on the here and now posts anyways.  The only change in this will be if my beloved world events get a mention from the beta.  I loves my world events…

Whit dae ye mean ah’m shifty lookin’? Did ah ever dae somethin’ to you?! Hmph.  Seems everybody these days thinks a rogue is some sort of bad guy or somethin’ *grumble

I am concerned.  There seems to be a prevalent belief amongst players that rogues are mean / idiots / kids / ninjas (not the cool bandana-wearing type).  I really don’t like that fact that people will assume, when I join a group, that I am one of the above.  I’ve never ninja’d something, I am not a child and I don’t think I act like one (with strangers, anyway) and I most definitely try not to be mean.  I am a happy person, an optimistic one.

Why is it, then, that rogues have such a bad rep?  I mean, I’ve personally had more issues with mages being arses to me but it doesn’t mean I’ll assume that any mage I group with is an arse.  What I think of people is usually based on their performance or manner.  They get kudos even if they do mess up, if they realise and apologise for their mistakes as it at least means they are aware of them (and is a courtesy I hope will be extended to me when I mess up).

So, why do people hate rogues?  The class makes up around 12% of the player base according to Warcraft Realms - not the highest but equal to warriors and just below hunters in popularity.  Hunters have had a bad rep in general for a long time but it’s only recently I’ve noticed such a high rogue hostility outside of pvp so whats the deal?

Stunlocking- Nothing can be more frustrating than not having control over your own character.  A lot of frustration about rogues seems to stem from the fact that a lollermaces rogue can keep someone stunned whilst smashing their health into the ground.  Calmly explaining that I hate pvp and couldn’t stunlock or burst damage my way out of a paper bag makes no difference.  All rogues are stunlocking buggers with…

‘No skill’ - It takes no skill to play a rogue, apparently.  It’s ‘easymode’ since all rogues can stunlock everyone to death.  See above.  About the only time I’d agree with this is when a rogue is weilding lollermaces - procs are not skill and this works for warriors, too.   However, learning to keep someone locked down takes a little time and effort.  Doing it well and being able to recover from their attempts to break out of it even more so.

From both these points, all I have to say is ‘don’t hate rogues just because they handed your arse to you in pvp’.

Also, rogue dps in pve is simple.  This does not mean that it is easy to be a good rogue.  To make the most of my dps I had to sit down and work on my combat cycle - yes rogues might have a reputation for sinister strike spam and that is partly true but I have to keep up SnD 100% of the time, try to juggle so that rupture has high uptime, too, and time my burst cooldowns to maximise both of these - just like most other classes.  Oh and I have to do it whilst running in and out of melee range for most bosses.  Now, this is something I, personally, revel in.  When we have a melee on Azgalor I ask to be that melee.  Standing killing infernals is deathly boring and though running in and out of a fire is less ’safe’ I know how to deal with it and relish the challenge it brings to playing my cycles.

Either way, I don’t think rogues are especially easy compared to other classes in pve dps situations.

Ninja-ing - Apparantly rogues are common committers of the foul deed of ninja-ry.  Now, I’ve never experienced this and never done it myself so I really don’t understand where it comes from - rogues are limited as to what they can wear (leather, cloth) and can wield a far smaller number of weapons than, say, a warrior or hunter.  I can’t explain this one as, like I say, I’ve never experienced it.

DPS - This is an issue of sheer e-peen and I have seen this working both ways.  Rogues are seen as being concerned overly with their dps.  Guess what?  It’s all a rogue can bring to most encounters (bar a little cc) so it will be foremost in their thoughts.  I have seen rogues picked on for not being top dps even when horribly undergeared comparative to whoever is preening and I have seen rogues who strut their epeen about being highest dps versus other class with dual roles or responsibilites.  This is a player-by-player issue and is committed to some degree by all classes capable of dpsing.

Any arse who cares more baout his personal dps than the raid / group is an arse - it doesn’t matter what class s/he is.

Loot Entitlement - This is another one where I can see from both sides of the argument - having to compete with feral druids, fury warriors, enhancement shaman and hunters for some loot can be irritating (as I’m sure it is for them to have to compete with rogues) but everyone is entitled to the loot which will help them progress.
However, the amount of bitching you hear when someone even suggests that a piece is ‘nice for rogues’ is astounding.  All I hear from most is ‘must justify why I want to take this piece of loot’ rather than being able to sit down and say ‘Yeah, nice loot for a rogue and, hey, my fury warrior would love that too’.  Some stuff will actually benefit one class more than another but, to be honest, it really depends on the player making best use of it so is more case-by-case.

I’d love to hear anything you could add to this list - even if just to be aware of possible prejudices I might face if I leave the swaddling of my usual guild groups.

However, I can’t let it rest at that, so I’m going to add some reasons you should like rogues.

Stuns - Not stunlocking, per say, but stuns in general - quite often myself and another rogue will take a necromancer in Mount Hyjal and trade stuns, burning down an untanked / un cc’d mob.  They can also take the heat from a healer in an aggro touchy fight, giving the tank a few seconds to pick the battered mob up before it chews its way through the squishy.

Vanish - Unlike some other dps classes the tank should not need to worry so much about aggro concerning rogues as a vanish will drop him/her below the radar with concern to theat even if their dps is phenomonal.

Lockboxes - Well, noone else is going to unlock those 20 Eternium Lockboxes you have stashed on your bank alt…

Lockpicking - I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked to open Arca / SH / DM / whatever instance door when noone has a key.  Thank your local rogue for bothering to spend the time maxing their lockpicking skill!

Ok, so most of these are pretty arbitrary but, to be honest, you should appreciate any and every good player.  Their class does not matter, at all!  If someone is going to be a twit then they will be one irregardless.  Believing someone will be a bad player because of their class is unfair and will often make you judge them harsher than if you’d assumed neither way to begin with - thus fulfilling your (negative) expectations.

Appreciate any player who is good - no matter what their class.  Some classes are seen as ‘easier’ (lol faceroll huntard, warlol, rog) but to be great at something you have to try.  It’s usually obvious when someone is trying and when they’re not.

So, go out there and give your local lovable ruffian some /hugs!

Busy, busy, busy! Ah’v been doin’ everythin’ this week an’ ah’d like tae tell ye all aboot it.  Helps me relax, ken?  After a long week o’ smitin’ all sorts ah jist feel like sittin’ back and chewin’ the fat wi’ u lot.

I feel sorry for my poor wee blog - it’s been half abandoned these last few weeks due to everything seeming to hit at once busyness wise.  So, this post may be a bit rambley and all over the place but I was to stick it down for posterity.

Rogue

I has a new hat.  It is an improvement on my old hat.  I r happy rog.  Of course, it clips my hair so I’ve turned helm off again and I’ll continue to look… exactly the same.  /sigh  I also need to drag myself into AV or something this coming week, too, as Blizz felt it was a great idea to make pve off-hand swords none-too-easy to come by in TBC.

Shaman

I have spent so much gold on my shaman this week and I need to spend more.  Having s4 coincide with your new pve gear is not nice.  Many, many primal lifes have been farmed and I’m still not maxed on what I’ll need.

I managed to grab [Light's Justice] last week - it’s nice to have something other than the s1 mace to look at - even though I did love its glowyness.

Avarix has also rounded out his gear with [Runed Scales of Antiquity] thanks to a few guildies helping me farm 2 badges after tonight’s Kara run! Now I need more primal lives and gems… Ah well, happy is me that my shammy is wearing a dress again! *Ahem*

Druid

Mushrooooom.  That is what my druids level has done since I last mentioned her (apparently much to Softi’s despair).  She’s now done what my other druid did about a year ago:

It’s such a difference to when I brought my hunter through the Portal - I had to make myself log in and dragged my way through the quests.  Now, on my druid, I’m eager to go and even enjoyed grinding Hellboars so I could quickly boost my leatherworking skill.

Learning from the past I had collected any unidentified plant parts I’d come across on my hunter and saved them.  When I dinged 60 on my druid I promptly rode to the Cenarion Expedition Outpost and handed in 360 to achieve honored status.  /cheer That grabbed me quite a number of leatherworking patterns (the all important [Strength of the Clefthoof] ones) and a nice chunk of reputation towards the coveted Exalted.

A guidlie kindly ran me through Ramparts (though I’d been asking for a same-level group to practice tanking with, hehe) and I got just about every leather / melee dps piece which can drop except the staff.  Go me.  Ever had a char which seemed incredibly lucky drops-wise? Like my other druid, Jhai seems to have a gift for getting what she wants.  I’ve probably jinxed it now, oh well.

Unfortunately, this morning my PC’s HDD gave out on me (it’s been throwing errors for weeks and I’ve got a new one to replace it… I’m just short a cable!) so I won’t be tanking until that’s sorted - I can play my shaman on my laptop but both the rogue and druid need the PC as I use mouse-button keybinds which don’t work on the laptop without disabling the trackpad…  This wouldn’t be a problem for me as I never use the damn thing but the other half uses the laptop more and prefers the trackpad.

I started using mouse button keybinds when I got a new mouse after Christmas - I staved my finger and it hurt to flex it sideways too much so I bound one of my oft-used abilites (Slice and Dice) to the mouse, leaving Sinister Strike for my other hand.  This means less flexing and so less strain on my already slightly weird fingers.  For my druid shifting to bear is on the mouse - this works for levelling as it’s a very fast way to shift into bear but I may change it as it’s not something I should be using that extensively in instances - I think I might put mangle on that mouse button, or lacerate when I get it.  I’ll need to figure that out once my new HDD is installed.

Fire Festival

My favourite writing bone to gnaw on when it comes to WoW is replayability - this means you’ll be straddled with a post about my Fire Festival shenanigans soon concerning that and other fun aspects.  *ahem*  Suffice to say, at the moment, that I’m enjoying myself.

There’s acquaintances and pals and then there’s good friends - you know they’ve got yer back and you’ve got theirs and when the shite hits the fan you’ll be able to pull through or at least laugh at yer mishap.

A lot of really cool people have been writing about healer and tank synergy this week - the first two I read being that by Phae at Resto4Life and the person who had inspired her - SaladFork at Omen of Clarity. I know I’m a little late to the party (story of my blog-life) but I figured I’d go and stick up my own little view from the ‘third’ point of view - dps - specifically melee dps.

Melee dps get the least love when it comes to healing. A lot of healers tend to look down upon the poor ill-fated rogue, warrior, crittycat, shaman or retridin who has commited the heinous crime of taking damage. In 5 mans you know, as a rogue especially, that if you take aggro (it can happen for reasons other than stupidity, trust me) you’re not going to get a heal unless the healer is content that the tank is ok. You sort of accept it with a small sigh, accept your res and move on.

It’s not always the case, however. I, personally, always try my best to make myself aquainted with a healer if I’m running a pug. Water / mana pots drop? Pass ‘em to the healer. “Thanks for the heals” also goes a long way. I find if I do this, and make friends with ‘em, I get more heals. Making your healer feel loved means more heals all around. That might seem a bit feindish to most of you but I see it as win-win. The healer knows I appreciate them and I appreciate them all the more as a few more heals come my way. This works on me too - I am more inclined to heal those who take time to appreciate my efforts when on my Shammy.

However! The topic was special bonds. I think the reason, perhaps, any dps are less likely to feel a special bond with their healer is that they don’t really get assigned a healer to themselves. Noone ever says “Ok, Priest-1, you’re healing Aurik”. Unless they’re a ‘lock, mage or hunter tank most dps will never have a special healer to themselves. Melee dps, however, have their resto shammies. Resto shamans are awesome melee healers and in Burning Crusade the melee often takes a lot more damage than ranged (not always true, I know, but in general). This means having a healer assigned especially to us! As a group we love our resto shaman and she keeps us alive - we know half the time we owe our ‘lives’ and our dps (from not being dead) to her timely heals.

I have learned around how much her chain heals hit for and when they will heal me and when I should maybe step out and bandage / pot on raid-damage heavy bosses. I also keep an eye and ear out to make sure nothing’s decided she’s a tasty meal-inna-crunchy-shell. In Hyjal, with so many mobs, sometimes I’ll find a caster targeting her or a skeletal mage who’s slipped through and will do my best to stun/maim or otherwise incapacitate them - or failing that aggroing and pulling ‘em to the Pally-tonk. For us ‘our’ Shammy part of the melee team. Doubly so as sometimes she fights alongside us enhancement spec!

An in game relationship of any sort - one on one or amongst a small group - makes working with others so much easier and better. It’s all about trust and doesn’t matter, in my opinion, if you’re a tank, healer or dps. People who trust each other and know each others limits will not only do better but enjoy their time more - going a step further than they might have otherwise.

No, no, don’t laugh. It isnae funny. It’s a good helm, see? Better than some o’ the crap ye can pick up aboot the place. Whit dae ye mean it makes ma hied look like a watermelon!?

The raid had a laugh at me the other night when I announced I’d probably see Wrath of the Lich King before I got a new helm - a silly looking one which has become a running joke/mockery between myself and the raid lead (a paladin with the t5 helm).

I currently have the [Helm of the Claw]. Yes, I know, sad isn’t it? My secret shame - raiding BT / MH with a blue helm! I kept putting off buying the badge reward one ([Mask of the Deceiver]) in the hope I’d pick up something better. 5 months later… Bah!

I’m just not sure the Mask, at +12agi, +2hit, +15sta, -2AP is worth 50 badges. In saying that, the only other upgrade I can get, at the moment, comes from Archimonde or Illidan (since we don’t run SSC / TK any more) who we’re not going to be attempting for a while, so I may well have to suck it up and buy yet another ugleh helm.

Of course, if I hold off spending my badges I can grab [Tunic of the Dark Hour], which is a much bigger upgrade over my [Netherblade Chestpiece] and overall with +1agi, +15hit, +7sta, +28AP - including sockets - so it’s a tough choice… I might even have to see if I can throw Aurik in for Prince on a Kara run. Bah.

Still easier than bloody shaman gear…

2 comments

Well, whit de ye know, ah got myself somethin’ other than a sword… Gotta say it looks pretty funky but ah’v no clue how to use it…

I’m afraid you’re going to have to suffer through another gear post - there’s something a bit more substantial in the works but, unfortunately, it’s slurping up all my blog-creativity! So, yet another shinies post. At least there’ll be pretty pictures, right?

So, tonight was Mount Hyjal and, for about the millionth time, a [Claw of Molten Fury] dropped. I think everyone and their Granny has one by now in our raid group - even the resto shammies have ‘em for offspec etc. so I picked it up for base dkp!

It’s a little better than my main-hand sword [Talon of Azshara] but I’m not sure if it’ll actually be worth taking over a sword - I’ll need to grab a respec and try Fist / Sword (which is apparently second highest dps anyway) -it might be a nice change. Of course… I’ll have to get my ‘unarmed’ fighting skill up from 246.. ouch.

I’ve been a huge swords fan since my early levels but this fist gets major bonus points for being as big as I am…

Avarix, my Shammy chain-healbot got his first full Kara run this week too - I’d previously only been up to Opera on him and so jumped at the chance when the guild mentioned they were short a healer for a second Kara group! I was in mostly blues with a few rep purples and buyables but I think I managed ok - though a little more mp5 wouldn’t hurt!

I walked out with [Pantaloons of Repentance], [Forestlord Striders], and [Cord of Nature's Sustenance] for main spec and [Rapascallion Boots], [Dragonheart Flameshield], and [Scaled Breastplate of Carnage] for offspec.

I’d just gotten myself back in all mail and once again I’m catapulted into leather and cloth for healing! I don’t mind, of course, all of the healing items were decent upgrades for me but I seem to be looking a lot more priestly / druidy since Wednesday, hehe. Very… purple, too!

As for the offspec gear? I was absoloutely tickled to get the Dragonheart Flameshield - it looks awesome!

One day I might actually get enough pieces of gear to try enhancement. *cough*

Last, but by no means least, my little ferlol, Jhai has been geting herself some gear courtesy of a guildie giving a few alts a run or three through Deadmines! I snagged myself a few peices of the Defias set and was amused to pick up both [Rhahk'Zor's Hammer] and then [Smite's Mighty Hammer] in two consecutive runs. I love two handed maces on my druid - much more funky than staves, in my opinion!

I came out of those runs with a decent tanking set - 1.7k hp at level 23! Shame noone wants to run old-world instances these days… I’ll need to see if I can grab a whole group of low-level guildies and blast through some of them for fun and old-times-sake shenanigans.

Ok, this post seems to have gone on a bit longer than intended for just a gear-splat. I think I’m just rebelling, temporarily, against writing more in the post’o'dhoom to come. Bah.

Ah wish ah could say ah ripped them oot o’ Azgalor’s cold, dead, hands but, y’see, it was more a case o’ gettin’ a wee token o’ appreciation fae one o’ them ‘I’m-not-a-dragon-honest’ type ‘elves’ fer doin’ the deed wi’ mah friends.

It’s been a while since I did a ‘look what shinies I got’ post so you’re going to have to suffer through one. Or, you know, press ‘mark as read’ and go on to the next blog. *ahem*

Anyway, I’m somewhat late in posting this but I am now the proud owner of my first piece of Tier 6 - [Slayer's Handguards]! If you’d told me a year ago I’d ever be getting my hands on these I’d have laughed at you but here I am, in Mount Hyjal, having a blast and getting some nice gear besides. As seems to be my curse luck(?) I was able to get them only because I’d been called in for backup when one of the other rogues was unable to make it.

Of course… now I have to go hit some spreadsheets (bleargh) to see what will now be the best gear combination for me.

Ah well… I have cool gloves! /glee (And they match my boots…)

Thon Draenei was buggin’ me and tellin’ me ah should write some funny-lookin’ poetry. Now, ah huvnae seen anythin’ like it before but my shaman pal Avarix assures me that it’s a well known ‘art form’ where he’s fae and he helped me tae write some while daen’ a few hisself.

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When yer adventurin’ y’need the right gear for the job an’ some stuff is just a lot better fer a particular job than others. Sometimes somethin’ comes along, though, that ye never thought ye’d get…

This post will be full of gleeful roguishness - other classes might want to flee before I start spouting stuff about all those dreadfully boring things that raiding rogues talk about.

Are they gone? Good!

A simple happy thing made me cheer yesterday. I got my t4 chest! Not the biggest or most monumental of rogueish things but, my fellow stealthy, stabby, stalkers you can maybe understand my glee when I tell you that I will now no longer have to do what I had dreaded - break my tier four, two piece bonus. Happy as a pig in muck am I !

I suppose I should add here that, up until now, luck has had it that I only grabbed myself two pieces of tier four before being catapulted into tier five / tier six content - shoulders and gloves.

This terrible, doom-bringing decision had been looming over me for the past two weeks since the guild downed Az’galor - try for tier six gloves and break the bonus or stay with that delicious bonus and hope to get an upgrade elsewhere? I had resigned myself to the fact that if I did get the gloves I would break the set - it was a big enough dps upgrade to be worth it and I badly need to catch up gear-wise to the rest of the rogues.

Currently, then, with my shiny new chestpiece (which replaced the s1 chest - blech), I have the choice of swapping in something to either the glove or shoulder slot. My inventory, happily, holds a pair of [Shoulderpads of the Silvermoon Retainer] which are a pretty nice upgrade to the [Netherblade Shoulders]. Of course, some juggling may occur if I do manage to grab the tier six gloves (I’m up against some stiff competition from the mages…) but, until that time, I can rest happy in the knowledge that my 1s/5r is safe for a little while longer yet!

/cheer