Death Knight listeners have been burning up after Sihx’s “You Might be a Death Knight” bit
Click below for the audio segment:
I reads some hate mail that I received from death knights for my “You Might Be a Death Knight” standup bit from Episode 31.
Also, check out TortureCast.com, a podcast by and for fans of the San Francisco Giants. Last week, we were able to go up to AT&T Park and video tape one on one interviews that we had with players such as Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum, Sergio Romo and manager Bruce Bochy.
Click the play arrow above to hear the audio segment!
Upgrade vendors are going away with patch 5.2, and many players think that you should upgrade your gear before the patch hits. This sounds reasonable at first, but I took a deeper look into the numbers and the efficiency of this strategy, and with an exception, I believe you should NOT upgrade your gear.
Ok, nerd-alert!
It costs 750 valor points for a 4 item level upgrade, which equals the benchmark value of 187.5 valor points per item level. This is not a good exchange rate compared to most of the vendor gear you can purchase. I recommend you rep up with Operation Shieldwall or Dominance Offensive to get ilevel 496 gear for 4 different slots: a ring, trinket, waist and feet. Even at this rate (before patch 5.2), it would take amassing 6,500 valor points to purchase these 4 items, which would take you no less than 7 weeks with the 1,000 VP/week cap. Obviously, there are some exceptions to this advice: 1) if you have a best-in-slot piece that you are confident that you won’t be replacing for 6+ months, then you may want to upgrade. 2) If you have capped at 3,000 valor points and don’t have the rep anywhere to purchase gear, then you may want to burn 750 to bump your best piece 4 item levels (but sheesh, get going on some rep!!). 3) If you refuse to do ANY dailies, well then, yes, upgrade your gear I suppose, but it better be 476 or higher from LFR and regular raiding (You can upgrade blue gear with justice points).
Bottom line: The math says that until you have only item level 483 equipment or higher left to replace, replace it with vendor reputation gear, UNLESS you have a best in slot item that you know that you won’t replace in the next 6 months. Additionally, in patch 5.2, 5.0 vendor gear, which is ilevel 489, will cost 50% less, and 5.1 gear will cost 25% less. Knowing this, you may only want to spend valor points when you reach the 3,000 VP cap and use whatever you save to immediately purchase discounted gear once 5.2 drops.
After a busy holiday season, I’m back producing audio segments. In this installment, I take a left and right, and left turn again, to produce a 90 second stand up segment honoring Jeff Foxworthy and the bad rap that Death Knights get in the World of Warcraft.
I was half-way to work today when I got the call that my son was sick. There goes the day. Had to cancel everything and pick him up. So, I tried to make something productive out of it. Here’s the quick and dirty result: a horribly produced and on they fly vlog short.
Bind on Account heirloom gear is the focus for the latest audio segment. If you are an alt-oholic like me, heirlooms have been a god-send. They can stack to a maximum of a 40% boost to your leveling speed. Most max out at 35% due to the difficulty in getting the fishing derby ring (+5%). Some heirlooms don’t provide a leveling boost, but they are blue-equivalent gear, level up along with you, and don’t require repairing. Plus, you can sell even more questing/dungeon gear that you acquire, saving you significant gold along your journey.
First, you pretty much need a max-level character (although you can earn heirlooms through the argent tournament, starting at level 77). The most common way to purchase them now is with Justice Points. There is a specific heirloom vendor in each main capital city. If you have multiple alts, try and consolidate your gear across multiple alts. For example, you can use agility leather for your hunter, enhancement shaman, and feral druid. The armor bonuses aren’t crucial, especially considering the grinding time you’ll save.
You can also spend your time pulling your fingernails out by grinding seals through the argent tournament, but personally, that’s not my recommended method.
Helms and cloaks are available through your guild vendor, and require reputation and quite a bit of gold. However these pieces work from 1-85, and all other heirlooms lose their benefits at 80.
You can follow me @epicdiapers and follow my blog and hear all of my segments at epicdiapers.com.
And remember, it’s hard to balance the pew pew with the poo poo.
I took about an hour to produce a little audio segment (with wonderful voice acting, btw…ha!) about prioritizing one’s limited WoW gaming time; particularly parents and those with very busy schedules. It was light hearted and fun, and apparently Scott Johnson et al thought it barely worthy to include in the most recent (ep. 229) episode of “The Instance.”
