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Battle for Azeroth is Coming Soon

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I think that I can safely say I'm back to my normal schedule here very soon. My plans to blog every single day lasted for a really long time until real life just smacked me upside down and made that impossible. Nevertheless, onward we go with blogging as often as possible!

The vibe I'm getting and the rumors I'm hearing point to the pre-patch of Battle for Azeroth is coming soon -- as in two weeks. If the rumors are true, pre-patch will be July 3'ish. That's completely unsubstantiated, and it may end up being July 10. Still, that's soon!

More...

In the pre-patch we'll essentially be in BFA mode. The stats and artifacts and those types of things will be revamped. We'll have to start dealing with life-after-artifacts. My fingers are crossed for more content. I'm tired of the existing dungeons -- they're definitely no WotLK dungeons. 

I'm hoping for solid story. The quests are whatever, but when that story acts as a carrot for me I find myself capable of pushing through questing with ease.

There are tons of things to do still in-game, and I'll probably accomplish none of them. I have once again missed the money train at the end of an expansion. I'm a goblin at heart, but not a 'goblin' in-game (literal or figurative) when it comes to the economy. 

I haven't been good at farming the Legion-only collectibles, transmogs, mounts, etc., either. Those activities just don't bring me joy, so I don't do them. That's also why I'm not into fishing for the Legion stuff. I guess I'm really just a 'core content' kind of player. When I reach the point where I have to look for things to do in-game, that's when I can happily move on to another game altogether.

For example, BellularGaming (who does really good WoW videos), released a video today with what you can do to get ready for BFA. I thought this was going to be a great list of things I can actually do, but it was more of that "level up alts!" and "Unlock all the hidden artifact appearances!" kind of "content". Meh, not for me. At the end of the video he recommends other games to play while you wait... and that's when you know it's time for a new expansion!

What Spec for Paladin

Now for some future thinking. I'm set to play Paladin, and I'm trying to decide what spec to play. In Vanilla I was actually a Paladin healer -- yes, you read that correctly. I was one of those paladins who MAIN HEALED a raid! Yep, I main-healed as a Paladin for MC, Onyxia, BWL, and AQ for several server-first kills. I wore cloth -- yep, cloth because there wasn't plate armor. I loved healing as a Paladin in WotLK too. 

Healing gets groups, doesn't have to worry about DPS drama, and doesn't have the focused stress of a tank. But... healing sucks at leveling up. I really enjoy Ret, and I'd be happy playing Ret, but I'm worried about those DPS queues. I'm also worried about needability, which is why way of saying I like being an in-demand class/spec. So I'm debating the needability of a Ret paladin over heals as well. 

We'll see. I might level at Prot or Ret then go Heals, or if BFA is truly as alt-spec friendly as it sounds I can Heals with Ret Off-spec for leveling and/or fun at 120.

Over to You

Do you have a list of things to complete before BFA? Solidified your spec/class/etc? Let me know if you think there's some super-important thing I'm missing pre-expansion launch that I should tackle before it's too late.

  • Atm prot paladin is in pretty bad state.
    That said, give all your specs a try during prepatch and see what you like the most.

    And the only thing you need to do now is get those mage tower artefact appearances as you won’t be able to get em later.

    • Dang, I didn’t want to hear that about prot. Any reason why it’s in a bad state? I was rather liking the idea of prot.

      Fingers crossed they don’t nerf healing too bad! But then again, since I won’t be mythic raiding or competing for the mythic invitational, I’m sure any spec I play will be just fine.

  • Only two things on my to-do-list: Down Argus on heroic for AotC, and win 22 more RBGs for the Vicious Skeletal Warhorse. Unfortunately, with the prepatch coming in three weeks or less and the limited free time I can devote to WoW each week, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to accomplish either. My Blood DK has been stuck at 942, and it has been a struggle to find and be accepted into a group that is close to the end, and the fresh groups that I tank from the beginning usually disband well before we reach the end. With a winrate < 50%, I'll have to play at least 44 more RBGs to get the Vicious Saddle. That's 11 – 15 hours of commitment right there.

    As for the prepatch itself, I'm worried that the game won't be fun to play until the actual expansion drops. With our artifacts disabled and the classes presumably tuned for gameplay at 120 with BFA raid gear, the classes might not feel fun to play at all. There won't be anything to achieve: the PvP season will have ended, the Brawler's Guild will be closed, the AotC will be gone and Antorus nerfed (and soon to be irrelevant), and the Mage Tower will be closed. Outside of the two scenarios, the only real content to play through will be squabbling over supply crate drops in War Mode, or otherwise running old content.

    • Do you think the pre-patch will introduce any storyline to play thorugh? And I heard the Mage Tower was staying open.

      • Prepath will have a short questline for the destruction of Teldrassil and the Undercity, and that’ll be it.

        Mage Tower is closing at the end of Legion, as Blizzard wants the 7.2 artifact skins to remain “prestigious” like the Challenge dungeon tranmogs and legendary cloak/ring quests they removed. 🙁

  • For 10 years I’ve switched between dps specs while soloing and healing for groups. With the recent gear changes it’s never been easier. Most stats on gear change to be spec appropriate, so you only ever need to carry around an addition weapon+trinkets.

    For example, I play a Windwalker monk whenever soloing, but I switch to Mistweaver anytime I do a dungeon/raid. Unless you’re doing “Really Serious” raiding then it doesn’t even matter if your stats are ideal.

    So I’d just level as Ret and try to pick up a spare Holy weapon along the way.

    • I used to do that pre-Legion. In WotLK and Cataclysm, even Pandaland I would just swap specs. Legion made it nigh-impossible during the early days when I was playing seriously. I hope in BFA it’ll be as simple as swapping a weapon.