Archive for the ‘WoW Realms and Introductions’ Category

WoW Classes: Druid

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Druids are commonly referred to as a hybrid class, as they are able to fulfill various roles within World of Warcraft dependent on the specs assigned to each of them. Generally Druids can choose to be prominent in ranged magic, close melee or healing and restoration. Druids are also unique in that they have various forms they can shape shift into. Cat is a very quick (attack + speed) form that can stealth and is similar to a rogue. Bear can be utilised to grant increased strength in melee, whilst Cheetah is used as a key ability used for speed and flight from combat.

Mastering each of these abilities is the key to unlocking a Druid's full potential. Combining these abilities with the Druid's unmatched healing skills (most of which are auto-cast) make this class highly attractive to 2v2 and 5v5 games. Druids also have amazing kiting abilities (cheetah form) and the ability called Cyclone, which makes a character unable to do anything (Cyclone can't be dispelled). Druids are, unfortunately, notorious for being extremely fragile whilst in human form and so attract a lot of unwanted attention. Bear Form allows them to stay up for a while but they cannot heal while in this form and are effectively shut down. Effective use of kiting can usually keep the Druid out of harm, but this must be mastered and is still a tricky feat to pull off.

The Moonkin spec is becoming increasingly popular in top teams, as the Druid provides a great range of aggressive spells, whilst also coming complete with high level armour for a caster. This makes the Druid a less attractive target to the enemy. Moonkins bring great CC (Cyclone and Entangling Roots) and the only real downside to them is that they have very little defensive abilities. Teams with mostly casters can easily burn down a Moonkin and it will not be able to defend itself. Again though, this can be countered with skilled use of kiting abilities.

Feral Druids require a large amount of skill and perseverance to use, but once mastered their potential is rightly respected and feared. Their differing forms are usually at the peak of performance, with Bear form bringing unparalleled survivability and human form allowing for impressive and potentially game defining crowd control. Feral Druids can very easily lock down two healers with Feral Charges (Bear form) and well placed Cyclones. Mastering this spec can provide a team with their key player.

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WoW Classes: Warlock

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

In World of Warcraft, Warlocks are similar to Mages in that they dish out great dps, specialise in crowd control and have some nifty silence techniques up their sleeves. However, they trump Mages in their higher healing abilities, and intrinsic self heal increase at 20%. The difference between a Warlock and a Mage, though, is that Warlocks do not have the kiting abilities and survivability of a Mage. Most of a Warlocks dps comes from various dots (damage over time), which can be distributed across multiple enemies or concentrated on one. This effectively allows the Warlock to multi-task, damaging various players and then able to control healers or dps other targets at the same time. The downside to dots is that they can be quite easily removed by a cleanse or dispel (Priest or Paladin).

Warlocks pack two very powerful curse spells into their arsenal aswell, the first being Curse of Tongues, which makes all casting last 100% longer. Secondly there's Curse Of Agony, a powerful dot.  That being said Warlocks also bring great chemistry to teams, especially ones with Shadow Priests on them. Warlocks have two separate fears (generally viewed as some of the most potent attributes in the entire game) and have a silence with one of their pets. Add to this a wide range of effective specs, such as Felguard spec (Deep Demonology tree), UA spec (Deep Affliction Tree), and Soul Link Hybrid (Part Demo/Affl) and you have a well rounded and potentially dangerous individual.

Felguard Warlocks have increased staying power and survivability compared to other spec Warlocks. Named after the pet they bring to battle, Felguards are known for putting out huge dps and constantly harassing the target. The pet also has an ability to intercept players for 3 seconds, used to greatest effect against healers. The Felguard Warlock also gets higher spell damage through talents in their spec and also get 20% damage done rerouted to their felguard, allowing them to survive longer. Combining the Felguard abilities with a Warlock's standard spells gives these casters deceptively great burst dps, which, combined with their great crowd control and survivability make them a great asset to any teams.

UA spec Warlocks have the impressive ability to make all the dots they dish out unmovable, and this is through Unstable Affliction. Unstable Affliction will silence the dispeller for 5 seconds and do 3000 damage to him. Therefore it's considered too much of a gamble to intrude on the UA's dots. The downside is that this spec does not have soul link, drastically decreasing the Warlock's survivability. Because of this most UA Warlocks play on 4 dps lineups, best to burst down an opponent very quickly. UA Warlocks go well with Shadow Priests as their Unstable Affliction protects their dots as well.

Soul Link Hybrid locks are the most popular build for Warlocks as it combines massive dps with Affliction with the survivability of demonology. This is complemented by their ability to drain life and consume the power themselves at an uninterrupted level. This build is used by almost all top 5v5 Warlocks.

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WoW Classes: Shaman

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

As with Druids, Shamans constitute a hybrid class character that shares the same differences in spec choices within World of Warcraft. These consist of choices between building strength in primarily healing, casting or melee. Both Restoration (Healing) and Elemental (Caster) Shamans bring a set of three very useful and coveted powers to your team: Totems, Heroism, and Purging.

Totems are exclusive to the Shaman class- not even Druids have access to these skills- and consist of the following: Wind fury Totem (granting one team memeber an extra attack), Grounding Totem (absorbs and dispels malicious spells targeted at allies), Tremor Totem (removes Fear/Charm effects from teammates), and Poison Totem (used to cleanse poison and negative status effects from either the Shaman or a team member).

Shamans also have the ability to cast a huge buff once every arena; Heroism. This buff serves to increase every teammate’s casting/attack/healing speed by 30%, which is best used to turn the tide of battles when hope is looking thin. Finally, the Shaman can utilize the Purge ability, which is used to nullify any beneficial buffs the opposing group have cast. Once again this spell is ideal for pulling the rug out beneath an enemy, turning the tide when victory looks imminent.

Elemental Shamans have increased in popularity recently, as they provide a great basis for mixing powers and backing up fellow members. Their huge power DPs is only rivalled by Fire mages within the game, and can bring down ememies extremely quickly. They are also able to off-heal, which removes from stress from the other two healers during intense parts of a match. Adding their spec abilities to the mix means that you'll rarely see a 5v5 game without a Shaman.

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WoW Classes: Priest

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

World of Warcraft features a host of job classes available to the two warring factions, with nine in total. These classes will have a resonating effect upon your characters, opening up a selection of skills and attributes in certain fields, at the sacrifice of power in other areas. Here we begin a selection of articles detailing the various classes, and the strengths and weaknesses they incur upon your quests.

Priest

Priests are considered to be one of the most important characters throughout the quests. They benefit from a number of non-cast healing abilities, meaning their aid can be bestowed without the need and wait for casting. These abilities allow Priests to focus on other things during the fight, such as mana burning (taking mana away from the opponent targeted) and dispelling, which can be used to both nullify advantageous buffs to enemies, and also to get rid of any negative effects within his or her own group. Priests have three different specs (various areas to choose abilities) that are all viable in Arena.

Holy spec is generally seen to be the most advantageous field as it brings many buffs that can be built upon. Discipline Spec is what most 5v5 Arena Priests use as it gives the Priest many Defense abilities and because of this Discipline Priests aren't often targeted, as killing them would often take a great deal of time and effort. Discipline Priests also receive a quicker mana burn, preventing long term enemy healing.

Finally there is the shadow spec, distinguished from the two earlier specs as this features the Priest in a primarily aggressive role bringing Mind Blast and Mind Flay which do a very high amount of damage. Shadow specs also confer two exclusive abilities; Vampiric Touch, which gives hp back to all teammates when damage is done to target, and Vampiric Embrace, which gives mana back to all teammates when damage is done to the target. This best part is that the priest still brings his innate fortitude and healing abilities. The downside to Shadow Priests is that they lack the further healing abilities of the other two specs, and are inherantly quite easy to kill and so ususally targeted first.

The variety and range of the priest functions lead to them being one of the most popular classes, as they are well balanced and highly functional in whatever role they play.

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WoW: Realms and Introductions

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

The immersive lands of WoW can be split into four different realms. These realms serve many functions and offer differing challenges and rewards, but the primary role of these realms is to offer four different battle modes to choose from. These consist of Player vs Player (PVP), Role Player vs Player (RPVP), Player vs Environment (PVE) and Role Player vs Environment (RPVE). Choose your arena carefully as different realms have slight variations on combat and assault rules. If you stick to the PVE realm you're completely safe from random encounters and can only be targeted once you have entered into an arena. The other realms are better suited to seasoned players, as they pose the challenge of being completely open to random encounters and ambushes wherever you tread.

When roleplaying, it is best not to create your character lightly. Every possible facet of your character must be considered, including their background and lineage, as this will have a profound effect on your journey to come. It will determine your strengths, weaknesses, attributes and goals. Most importantly however, it will determine your allies and foes. This will go on to affect your stance within each of the realms.

Consider the PVP & PVE realms for starting out. These environments allow prospective players to create a fairly basic avatar before being introduced to the game. For those who are not so interested in the extensive roleplaying aspect of the game, or those who wish to gently and progressively learn the gaming mechanics of WoW, these two realms are ideal. The roleplaying realms are better reserved for those players who are already veterans of the MMORPG genre and for those who have mastered the ways of WoW, as the roleplaying aspect is taken very seriously indeed by those immersed in the World of Warcraft.

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