Warcraft - A Tribute to Mad Skill

Last week our group managed to complete 10 trial of the grand crusader with 43 attempts remaining. This week we had 45 attempts remaining when we finally reached Anub'arak. With only one player remaining we earned the achievement A Tribute to Mad Skill. Congratulations to everyone and great work!


Here is our group screen shot.


Here is the tribute chest loot for 45 attempts remaining.

Warcraft - Master of Strand of the Ancients

About a week ago i finished the achievement Master of Strand of the Ancients and i wanted to give a small review on the before and after of this battleground. When the Wrath of the Lich King was first released many avid pvpers were looking forward to a new battleground. Strand of the Ancients would be the first ever battleground that incorporated vehicles and destructible elements into a battleground.

The first problem that was noticeable was that the alliance always attacked first. At first glance this might be a minor issue but i will go more into detail. As the first attacking team you could earn more honor per hour. The alliance could capture the relic chamber within 3 minutes and only need to defend for 3 minutes which lead to a 9 minute game (about 3 minutes for prepping). Also as the first attacker you would have a huge benefit if your team was outnumbering the horde forces (which was very frequent on some battlegroups) because it takes a few people to take down each tank effectively. This often led to very quick victory's for the alliance.

The second problem for the horde was the inability to complete certain achievements like Defense of the Ancients because horde were forced to defend 10 minutes every game regardless of how well they played. The other achievement which gave issues was the previously bugged Storm the Beach. This achievement was impossible to complete for the horde because the timer would start at the beginning of the game and not when the round started for the horde.

It took many months before these issues were corrected and now the game is random for whom attacks or defends first. This is a bit too late in my book because the interest of the battleground has dropped dramatically since launch. Currently you might find yourself waiting threw 10-30 minute queues just to play and when you find yourself defending first you might want to just bail into another battleground because 23 minute games get boring and tedious.

After playing threw 100 wins on my death knight i must say overall Strand of the Ancients is a decent battleground but it really lacks that fun factor. I would highly recommend Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch as the best battlegrounds and they are the oldest.

Warcraft - Mount Achievement

Well some good news if you have yet to finish your mount achievement for Glory of the Ulduar Raider. It appears that the proto drake rewards will still be available in patch 3.3 which will make the achievement even easier because players will have tier 10 gear.

"Currently we have no plans to remove them in the foreseeable future. However, we will continue to evaluate the situation and if a decision is made to remove these rewards at any point in the future, we'll provide a one month warning so players will have time to make some final attempts. " Link here.

Warcraft - Death Knight Expertise and Hit Cap

At level 80 you will need 8.1974973675 expertise rating for 1 expertise. You will need a total of 26 expertise to cap, which comes out to 214 expertise rating. Luckily there are some talents and racial bonuses that increase expertise in wow. Keep in mind these values are for dps, i will write a separate guide for dk tanks and if you are looking for the rogue expertise and hit guide click here. Here are some examples.

1. Blood death knights with Veteran of the Third War will only need 20 expertise (164 expertise rating) to cap.

2. Frost death knights with Tundra Stalker will only need 21 expertise (173 expertise rating) to cap.

3. Unholy death knights with Rage of Rivendare will only need 21 expertise (173 expertise rating) to cap.

Now we must factor in racial bonuses. Here is a rundown of racials with expertise.

1. Orc death knights with Axe Specialization will receive a bonus of 5 expertise. Axes required.

2. Human death knights with Mace Specialization or Sword Specialization will receive a bonus of 3 expertise. Swords and/or maces required.

3. Dwarf death knights with Mace Specialization will receive a bonus of 5 expertise. Maces required.

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The melee hit cap for 2 handed weapons is 8% hit (263 hit rating). This is the only number you need to worry about. Virulence is a great talent to have, but you should never try to cap your spell hit.

However with dual wielding things become slightly more complicated. You need 8% hit (263 hit rating) to cap special attacks and a staggering 27% hit to cap auto attacks. The 27% hit is unreasonable and should never be attempted even after factoring in Nerves of Cold Steel. The spell hit cap is 17% hit. Improved Faerie Fire and Virulence give a total of 6% extra spell hit.

Warcraft - The Horseman's Reins Solo

So after my third day of killing the headless horseman solo i got some interesting drops! Not only did i get The Horseman's Reins but i also got Sinister Squashling as a drop. I guess today was my lucky day and you really never know when it will happen.

If you are soloing the headless horseman as a blood death knight tank here are some tips. Phase 1 and 2 are straight forward. During phase 3 use your army of the dead right away because they will draw agro from the boss and the adds. After the army dies use yours cooldowns and you are good to go. Here are some pics, enjoy!