Hopefully we find some time for Heroic Throne of the Four Winds, which sounds possible as the RL and Co GM makes it sound like the last thing we want to do is spend too much time on Heroic Rags.

I have been fortunate with gear and all I have left outside of Heroic Rag drops…

• Widow’s Kiss
• Obsidian Arborweave Grips
• Choker of the Vanquished Lord
• Flickering Wristbands
• Upgrading Idol and Belt to Heroic.

Basically right now I am running a 4T12 set with non Heroic gloves and using Heroic Helm offset item. Because of running 4T12 I am reforging into Hit/Expertise to the cap and Haste above all else. Technically this is the way to go running 4T12, if you are not in 4T12 it’s best to maximize Mastery in reforge wherever possible and ignore Hit/Expertise caps just like the old days.

We also got in a Heroic Majordomo Staghelm kill which has ended up on Video…

It has the ability to watch full screen in 1080p no less where you can see my name in the raid frame and my flaming kitty butt jumping around.

We also downed Ragnaros in Regular 25′s

Supposedly the nerfs have really made it all a lot easier though but since I have not raided with these folks or in 25′s it was hard for me to really know since they are all very good to begin with. We one shot Heroic Domo and Normal Rags and the Raid leader sounded pretty happy with that considering a bunch of new raiders in the raid.

I was lucky and scored some new upgrades… Sandals of Leaping Coals, Widow’s Kiss, and Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate.

I didn’t die to anything stupid and managed not to wipe the raid so hopefully I get to see some more action this evening, will update as my new adventure as a Horde player unfolds.

On that note, just an FYI…. If you transfer to Horde you have to go and get your portals to Vash and Twilight Highlands again…. was kinda a pain in the arse.

So after weeks of trying…

GM: Hey Jace, could you come in for Majordomo? We will be bringing in another healer for Rags, so just the one fight.
Jace: Uh, Yeah! I just want that dang staff!

One shot Domo and Boom, finally, on my 8th kill (I really thought I had killed him more than this) I finally recieved Fandral’s Flamescythe.

My lack of posting is due to not playing much or being at the edge of progression like I have in the past. My 10 man raid team broke up, again, geesh. So I am now basically just raiding when one of our 2 10 man groups need a fill.

I most likely will get re-invigorated when T13 raiding releases as well as finally getting to bank my old Tier sets.

I have to say I am actually pretty excited about this.

I tanked quite a bit back in BC… most of it actually.
I tanked at the beginning of Wrath (Did all of Naxx and most of Ulduar).
I shifted to Kitty DPS for the end of Wrath (That is what my 10 man team at the time needed).
I have obviously started Cata as Kitty/Boom DPS.

But now it is time for my game face and reading every last detail of how to tank in Cata.

Hopefully going to lead off tonight against Beth’tilac, most likely up top while the pally tank controls adds down low.
Then off to Shannox, probably tanking Rip.

Both fights sound relatively easy and fun…. a good way to break back into being a full time bear.

Last night I used RAWR and Mr. Robot to try and get my gear, chants, gems up to speed. These 2 don’t always agree…

Questions for you bears out there….

1. Tsanga’s Helm or Membrane of C’Thun
2. How important is 2T11 and/or 4T11? Neither RAWR or Mr. Robot seem to care much about the bonus.
3. Depending on #2 is my answer for #3… Do I use T11 gloves, shoulders, pants, and chest or do I use offset where it is better?
4. Delicate Inferno Ruby or Solid Ocean Sapphire
5. Reforge Mastery or Dodge? Obviously when I can’t reforge mastery I do dodge but what about when I have the choice?

Just looking for some opinions as all the reading I have done sounds like people are split on a lot of these. Doesn’t seem like the community has a clear cut strategy for gemming/chanting/gearing that I had grown accustomed too in the past.

I look forward to updating everyone tomorrow on my experience in the tanking seat tonight.

Now comes the Fandral’s Flamescythe!

Blizzard… smart move if you are trying to get feral druids REAL excited about this expansion. I honestly can’t wait to get this sucker… my guess is however I will relive the Stranglestaff curse and it will take FOREVER to actually fall for me.

About the only thing that changed for feral (once the energy bug was fixed) was that Unheeded Warning is now near BiS or is BiS until Heroic ilvl trinkets.

Agility is still king, Mastery is still next, Crit and Haste seem to be about even or close enough that you shouldn’t fret over it.

We downed Twilight Ascendant Council.

We have started on Cho’gall and we are learning that this is going to be a tough fight with 3 melee and only 2 ranged.

I have slowly been working on my Boomkin set. Unfortunately my Kitty set is so epic I can’t get near my DPS output to switch over and help at range. Should have a Volcano card soon which will help and hopefully some caster gear will start falling for us that isn’t cloth pants.

I am going to update my gear page to reflect my current kitty gear. I am going to ditch any references to bear gear on that page as it is perfectly acceptable to tank 5 man heroics in my kitty set and I don’t tank raids.

Don’t let anyone tell you feral DPS is toward the bottom of DPS charts. If you are doing it right and you are geared properly you should be toward the top on just about ever encounter. This takes holding certain abilities at certain times, using kitty leap, keybinding and using macro’s, using Dash, and giving 110% effort. It’s not a face roll to top charts, but it is entirely possible.

Sorry for the lack of updates but I have been playing with what time I have between work, family, and working out/running. I am working on getting fit for the next summer so I can surf a little more than this last year…. on that note, Ding 40! I turned 40 this year… and I want to get back into pre 30′s shape.

Anyhow, Cata is proving to be a lot of fun thus far. The 5 man instances, quests, cut scenes, etc. are all really cool. I will try and post kitty pro tips specifically about Heroic boss fights soon but I can give some general tips I have been using to help reduce the amount of wipes… Heroics have been pretty challenging but far from impossible wipefest when playing in guild with some skilled players. We have had a wipe or 2… or a couple more… figuring out mechanics since we did read any strategy prior… trust me when I say it is more entertaining that way.

On to some tips while I am flying to my next Archeology point…

• CC is your friend, get the Glyph of Entangling Roots… you will be happy you did. Use focus and Keybinding to make sure your mob stays put.
• Spec for Hybrid in 1 Spec. Don’t take Pulverize, Perseverance, Stampede, Predatory Strikes, Brutal Impact, or Nurturing Instinct. This spec is perfect for Kitty DPS with the fail safe in a tank death and you can use your 2nd spec for Boom, Heal, or full on bear. This is perfect but might change when raiding starts.
• Do Hyjal… go back to Vash after 85.
• Check Quartermasters for gear and build rep through tabards and dailies. It is the fastest way to get geared up for Heroics.
• Be patient. Explain instance fights to new people. Take your time.
• Reforge Crit/Haste to mastery. Reforge Hit/Expertise to Mastery once you have enough.
• Use Mongoose on your weapon until you get a really good one, then go with the new agility enchant.
• Make sure you Quest deep into Twilight Highlands and get this staff… Staff of Draconic Pacification. The CoC (New Ring of Blood) is only good for your caster or healing spec.
• Be careful with buying gems, your Meta will require more blue than red… which makes gemming tricky… think it out first.
• Try not to pug heroics… seriously, join a guild.

That’s all for now, I will try to get strategy up for each Heroic as time allows… maybe one instance a day.

• EJ List HERE
• Fluid Druid List HERE

So what can I add to this…. well, not a whole heck of a lot. The list and explanations at the Fluid Druid at first glance look really good to me.

I am sure things will change somewhat post release and pre raiding so stay tuned. I will definitely do my usual tweaking of the list to highlight how to best utilize your time and still gear up as best as possible.

Just finished up the couple of quests that lead me to Stormwind for the breadcrumb to Uldum.

Changing gear to Cataclysm greens and blues is looking like a necessity now that mob damage has shot up. Old Wrath gear does not have enough stam methinks come level 83.

On to Uldum VIA Stormwind, will report back on the new zone soon.

Let me start by saying all your ArP gems will convert to Crit gems, so one might want to stock up on agility gems before the xpac… however, I plan on just leveling in the Crit gems with the knowledge that greens and blues before or by level 83 will be replacing my Wrath gear.

Let me tell you why you will be replacing gear rather early.

1. Mastery – Old Wrath gear has none, most of the quest rewards has lots. Look below for the Mastery tooltip in the character screen for an idea of what this means to DPS.
2. Stamina – All the new gear has a lot of added stamina. If you plan on tanking new 5 man content early in the xpac you will be harder to heal with your old gear.
3. Agility – The new gear rewards come level 83 content starts surpassing old gear stats on more than just stamina and mastery.
4. Leveling not Raiding – For leveling, pure stats not set bonus or procs tend to be more beneficial. Fights are short and usually trinket procs are wasted as you run between mobs.

This being said I am at level 83 and I still have not seen a weapon worth switching out my Heroic Wrath weapon for (though I hear a blue polearm at the end of deepholm questing fits the bill). I think there was a weapon or 2 with tons of mastery but I wasn’t sold on the stats over my current staff.

Note also that Idol’s are becoming uninteresting in the xpac and are expected to no longer be limited to certain classes. For example I was surprised when I headed to the bank hoping my old idol would be better for leveling….

Note the new gems sockets. Notice the lack of interesting procs. Meh.

So, level 83 and here is my new look…

Sexy huh?

I geared myself in greens and blues to max stats like Hit and Mastery… see below…

Notice you can now get a quick answer to your hit chances in your current gear, this is the new Hit Tooltip.

With all old Wrath Epic gear Mastery was at a base of 20%.

Here are my melee stats in old Wrath Epics. It doesn’t tell the whole story as you don’t readily see procs but as I said, leveling wastes them more than not and the lack of stamina will hurt when running instances especially as bear.

I wish I could do some test dummy parses but with no recount and the chance that some things are not working (not sure Mastery is functioning) I can’t do much. Notice I lose about 7% Crit. Not sure yet if that loss is worth the added damage from higher AP or the mastery bonus, but as I start leveling again I will report back on my findings.

I am in a holding pattern atm in beta since I am at the level cap, as soon as they break that open I will start leveling Jacemora again. My plans are to start leveling my hunter in beta… I need to find the new foxes.