A Rant About Raids

I've been dealing with a raid issue lately, but this isn't a normal raid rant. Unlike some raid rants, I don't have anything to bitch and moan about concerning bad tanks, healers who couldn't heal their way out of a paper bag, or DPS that just doesn't deliver. Why not? Because in the raids I'm doing, I'm the only one there.

Or at least, I would be, if I could enter a raid solo. I'm trying to work on the Zandalar Tribe faction, and as you all know, the only way to get rep with them is to do Zul'Gurub over and over and over for the rep, coin drops, and bijou drops. However, finding raids to do the instance is almost impossible. I can easily solo trash mobs, but Blizzard has set raids so that you must be in a raid group to enter the instance. This means I've got to find someone who isn't questing (can't do regular quests in a raid) and get them to group with me in a raid. If one of my friends is online grinding rep with another group and not questing, it's all good. However, that rarely happens.

So I'm left with spending my hard-earned gold on the AH to buy coins and bijous. This is sometimes fine since the prices usually aren't horrible. However, it's rather annoying. Personally, I think these low level raids should be changed so that solo characters can enter them.

OK, that's my rant for today. Time to go check the AH for coins!

New patch 3.1 notes

I know they're all over the internet, but I thought I'd list the current Warlock changes. These are of 3/6/09, and chances are, things will be changed before the final release.

• Curse of the Elements (Rank 5): Increased to 13% spell damage, up from 10%.
• Curse of Recklessness has been removed.
• Curse of Weakness: Now also reduces the armor of the target by 5%.
  Drain Soul: Each time Drain Soul deals damage to a target which can grant experience, it now has a chance to generate a Soul Shard.
• Enslave Demon: Spell haste penalty reduced by 10%, Melee haste penalty reduced by 10%.
• Doomguard: Cooldown reduced to 30 minutes, down from 60 minutes. Damage reduced approximately 30%, and health reduced approximately 30%.
• Warlocks now innately have an increased 10% spell hit chance on the Enslave Demon spell.
• Fire Shield (Imp): You can now cast this ability on raid members, rather than party members.
• Ritual of Summoning: The summoning of the initial portal is now instant cast, down from 5 seconds.
• Soul Shard: This item now has a maximum count of 32 in inventory.
• Voidwalker: The health bonus on this pet has been reduced from 60% to 10%.

Talents

Affliction

• Eradication: Whenever you deal damage with Corruption, you have a 6% chance to gain the Eradication effect. The Eradication effect increases your spell casting speed by 6/12/20% for 10 seconds.
• Haunt: Now only increases your shadow damage-over-time on the target. (No longer includes non-Shadow damage over time spells.)
• Immolation and Unstable Affliction are now in the same exclusive category (both damage over time effects cannot be present at the same time by the same caster on a target).
• Malediction: No longer increases the effect of Curse of the Elements, but now also increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Corruption and Unstable Affliction spells by 3/6/9%.
• Pandemic: This talent has been reduced to a 1-point talent, now grants your Corruption and Unstable Affliction the capability to critically hit.
• Shadow Embrace: Now only increases the damage done by your shadow damage periodic spells.
• Siphon Life: The Siphon Life spell has been removed. Siphon Life now causes your Corruption spell to instantly heal you for 40% of the damage done. In addition, the damage done by your Corruption, Seed of Corruption and Unstable Affliction damage over time effects is increased by 5%.
• Soul Siphon re-designed: Increases the amount drained by your Drain Life and Drain Soul spells by an additional 3/6% for each of your Affliction effects on the target, up to a maximum of 9/18% additional effect.
• Suppression: Now increases spell hit for all of your spells.
  

Demonology

• Demonic Empathy has been removed.
• Demonic Empowerment: This talent spell now has a unique spell effect.
• Demonic Sacrifice: This talent has been removed.
• Fel Synergy has been moved to tier-1. No longer increases Intellect, Stamina and damage of your summoned demon.
• Improved Enslave Demon talent removed.
• Mana Feed: This talent is now a 1-point talent, down from 3-points. Now is the 21-point talent in Demonology. Now grants 100% mana return to your pet, up from 33/66/100%.
• Master Conjuror: Increased from 15/30% up to 150/300%.
• New Talent: Decimation: When you Shadowbolt or Incinerate a target that is at or below 35% health, your next Soulfire cast time is reduced by 30/60% and costs no shard. Lasts 10 sec.
• New Talent: Nemesis: Reduces the cooldown of your Demonic Empowerment, Metamorphosis, Soulstone and Fel Domination spells by 10/20/30%.
  

Destruction

• Aftermath re-designed: Increases the periodic damage done by your Immolate by 3/6%, and your Conflagrate has a 50/100% chance to daze the target for 5 sec.
• Backlash has been moved up to tier-5, up from tier-7. Now requires Intensity (pre-req).
• Cataclysm: Now reduces the mana cost of Destruction spells by 4/7/10%. No longer increases the chance to hit.
• Conflagrate: Spell now works similar to Swiftmend, consuming an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target and dealing damage based on the strength of that effect. Reduced to a single rank.
• Improved Immolate: Now increases the damage done by your Immolate by 10/20/30%, rather than just the direct damage.
• Improved Shadow Bolt: Now increases the damage done by your Shadow Bolt spell by 1/2/3/4/5%, and causes your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against that target by 1/2/3/4/5%. Effect lasts 30 sec.
• Improved Soul Leech: Now has a 50/100% chance to proc Replenishment.
• Molten Core: This talent has been moved to Demonology (Tier 8).
• New Talent: Molten Skin: Reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
• Pyroclasm re-designed: Now increases your Shadow and Fire spell power by 2/4/6% when you critically hit with Searing Pain or Conflagrate. Lasts 10 sec. Also moved down to tier 7, down from tier-5.

New Glyphs

• Glyph of Chaos Bolt: Reduces the cooldown on Chaos Bolt by 2 sec.
• Glyph of Demonic Circle: Reduces the cooldown on Demonic Circle by 4 sec.
• Glyph of Haunt: The bonus damage granted by your Haunt spell is increased by an additional 3%.
• Glyph of Life Tap: When you use Life Tap, you gain 20% of your spirit as spell power for 20 sec.
• Glyph of Metamorphosis: Increases the duration of your Metamorphosis by 6 sec.
• Glyph of Shadowflame: Your Shadowflame also applies a 70% movement speed slow on its victims.
• Glyph of Soul Link: Increases the percentage of damage shared via your Soul Link by an additional 5%.

That's all I have time for now. Later, I'll come back and comment on some of these potential changes.

This is not broken?

Any other warlocks having issues with their felguard and his health? Here's what I've been experiencing for several months now. My felguard is at full health. I mount up (ground or flying, in Azeroth, Outland, or Northrend) and then dismount. Sometimes my axe-wielding minion has full life. Sometimes, he only has half! And it's not because of a debuff or anything, and a quick Google search shows it's not just happening to me.

So I open a GM ticket, and I later get an email that says this is "not considered to be "broken" and should be functioning normally." Wait...so the fact that one pet is losing half his health randomly when I dismount is SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN? WTF mate?

Here's hoping this gets fixed soon. It's not functioning normally, and it needs to be dealt with.

I'm A Fool for Love After All?

Rumors say patch 3.1 will be changing the Love Fool meta-achievement so that you only need six of the eight candies! Looks like I may be Dippy the Love Fool after all!