Today I received an e-mail from WoWBreak, which is a WoW-themed user-submitted news site, similar to Digg.

It's pretty neat. It looks like it'll be handy for keeping up on the latest news and blogs that aren't already being posted on WoW Insider or MMO-Champion or whatever. But, it needs more users.

I've added a few of my posts to the site. You can see my submission list here. Feel free to "tag" my stories so they get on the front page. If you want to. Please.

[WoWBreak] [Stories submitted by Baluki]

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About a week ago, I decided I was ready for a change with my mage Trellan (who's currently 56, but was 54 at the time). He's been full Frost from the beginning, but I felt like trying out a Fire spec. So I traded in my durable, CC-endowed, AOE powerhouse frost spec for a glass cannon fire spec. How do I like it?

Well, it's ok. The damage output is nice, and the fact that you can kill stuff really quickly is fun, but I spent too much time eating and drinking between fights. And, it's pretty bad for fighting more than one opponent.

The fire spells seem kinda weird to me, too. Pyroblast is a great opener, but after that I don't know what to do besides keep firing off fireballs. What is Scorch for? Blast Wave confuses me, and Flamestrike is just difficult to use. As for the rest of the talents, I just don't "get" them.

So, clearly being Fire-specced isn't my thing; I went back to Frost. Maybe I'll try Arcane the next time I want to try something different, perhaps once I have Arcane Blast at 64.

By the way, I'll gladly accept any tips and explanations for making the most of a Fire Mage. I'm always willing to try again.

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A while ago, I added the Project Wonderful ad box you can see on the left. Since then, I've made a whopping $2.

So, I've decided to put those two dollars into getting the word out about this blog by placing ads on other WoW-related web sites. Gotta spend money to make money, you know.

At this moment, I've placed 4 ads on 4 different sites. I'm paying them 0-5 cents per day (depending on how popular the site is) for one week. Hopefully my investment of a whopping 35 cents will pay off in increased traffic and, ideally, more ad revenue for me. We'll see.

Oh. Here are the simple ads I created, which should be showing up on the aforementioned sites. They're also useful if you want to link to me.


Argh, looks like I need to change the background color on one of them.

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Well, I got my third character to Outland. Aellsa, my Blood Elf Paladin, is now 60 and tearing up Hellfire Peninsula on her new SuperChicken. She joins Baluki (70 shaman) and Inebrius (68 hunter) on the shattered world.

I recently wrote a post about changing her spec from Prot (which she had been from 20 to 57) to Ret, and even though some people suggested that I respec her to Holy (which sounds like a terrible way to solo level) I did in fact go Ret.

Man, I sure am levelling up a lot faster. I knew that Protadin multi-mob tank-grinding was slower than going Ret, but I didn't know how much slower. Not only is Ret faster, but it's also a lot more fun. I still plan to go back to Prot when I hit 70, but until then Ret is my spec of choice.

I really thought that my mage Trellan would be my next character to hit Outland, because I've been playing him a lot lately. I guess I got kinda frustrated with my paladin, though that problem was solved by going Ret. I also respecced my mage to Fire (from Frost) and I'm surprised by how much faster my killing with him is too.

I'm pretty sure my mage will be the next to hit Outland, since he's lvl. 55 right now. My warlock is lvl. 50, but I haven't played her at all for months, except to disenchant stuff and make potions.

After her, my next character is Abscondius, my rogue, who's only 35. Haven't played him in a long time either. Then there's my shadow priest Sallas at 29, my drood Spamfire at 20, my warrior Oroc at 18, and my other shaman Rogahn at 14 (who will probably be deleted in favor of a Death Knight if Blizz doesn't increase the characters-per-server cap).

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This is a list of other WoW-related blogs that I like. To possibly get yours on the list, just leave a comment with a link below.

And feel free to add me to your lists, if you like my blog.

Laser Chicken
By: Delos
Focus: Balance Droods

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NOTICE: I was completely wrong in this post. See Edit 2 at the bottom for details.

I'm a casual PvPer, and I've been doing Battlegrounds from time to time to upgrade my crappier gear to sweet, sweet Season 1, Vindicator's, and other assorted Honor-buyable gear.

However, once Season 4 starts, Blizz is making some changes that will require Arena ratings for some of that gear.

According to MMO-Champion, Blizzard will be giving the Boots, Rings, and Bracers an Arena Rating requirement. So, go get those now before it's too late, if you don't do Arenas like me.

The Belts, Necklaces, and Trinkets won't have an arena rating, so if you're thinking about buying one of those, it's a good idea to hold off and spend your honor points on the items listed in the previous paragraph.

I've been saving up to replace my green-quality belt for a while now (I've been busy, and broke) but I've decided to replace my boots (the second item on my list due for replacement) instead.

Just thought I'd throw that warning out there. I have no idea when Season 4 will start, but I doubt it'll be this Tuesday, so I think we have at least a week to get what we need.

EDIT: There's some confusion about whether or not the current Vindicator's gear is being replaced on the vendors with the new Guardian's gear. If it's not, you can pretty much ignore this post. I was under the impression that it was.

EDIT 2: Bah, I was totally wrong. They're not removing the Season 3 honor-bought gear (aka Vindicator's) after all. So, my new advice: don't buy a Belt, Neck, or Trinket until Season 4. Unless you want to. I'm writing this as someone who doesn't get a lot of time to PvP anyway (and quickly tires of it when I do), so I will definitely be waiting to replace my gear.

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Remember when I used to just post screenshots on this blog? Here's a throwback to olden days.

Here's a pile of kobolds I (and, um, that prot paladin) killed while we were clearing out our mine in AV. One thing I can't stand about AV is how people always forget about defending the mines after they've been captured. Eventually, some opposing rogue or feral drood will come along and capture it. I usually end up going back to recap it, but I really suck at killing rogues (and they excel it killing ME).

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