Mix & Match

Disclaimer: No... I don't have Frostmourne (although I wouldn't mind having one). Neither do any of my characters. But since the replica was just announced, and I'm talking about weapons, it sort of fits...

Almost everyone (well, except for Sheanne... She's not quite there yet at lvl 15) managed to hop onto a 'Guided Tour' of an instance over the weekend with everyone sporting some blue or another.

It's also when I hit a little snag in terms of item selection... Elainith now has three blue weapons at her disposal. Firstly, is Dawnblade, from a Ghostlands quest. Then, last night in SFK, she picked up Butcher's Slicer, and Meteor Shard.

First, I considered Meteor Shard in the main hand and Dawnblade in the off-hand, with Butcher's Slicer too slow in the OH, but Meteor Shard seems too fast for the main hand. Butcher's Slicer seems most suited for main hand usage (even if it means the loss of some of those sneaky stab in the back moves). Since their speed is similar but Meteor Shard has a higher DPS, that gave it the edge over Dawnblade for the off-hand. I'll work with this combo for awhile, I suppose.

But the nice thing is that I don't really need Wingblade so Elainith can give Wailing Caverns a miss.

One other thing concerns professions.

Elainith is currently a Skinning/Leatherworker who will drop the Skinning for Blacksmithing. Kellarn (the pally) is to drop Mining from the Mining/Engineering combo for Jewelcrafting.

However, the new patterns in the Shattered Suns Offensive previewed have some nice BOP blacksmithing plate. Also, it looks like Kell would be better able to use more of the BOP gear as compared to Elainith. There are also BOP trinkets that aid stealth which are more useful to the Rogue. So, I've decided that after dropping Skinning (soon), Elainith will take up Jewelcrafter. Similarly, Kell will take up Blacksmithing when she drops Mining.

Rogue Speccing

This is actually the toughest class for me to spec...

Why?

I've never played a Rogue past level 20... I honestly have little ideas on how the class as a whole work (besides knowing that the class beat things to death from behind with little sharp sticks)...

I've taken a pretty cookie-cutter Combat Swords spec from Wowwiki's writeup on Rogue builds.

However, this spec is really a Level 70 raid/grouping spec and had skipped Deflection and Riposte as logically, Parrying isn't something a Level 70 Rogue in a group should be doing too much of.




But I'm not sure what I should be giving up to get this. One possibility is Improved Slice and Dice, but I've grown to really like it.



I find that Eviscerate doesn't get used too much against non-Elites; I get up to four combo points, and white damage will kill the mob before I get enough energy for Evis. At three combo points, Evis doesn't even finish it off. So, I've been using SnD as a finishing move, especially against multiple mobs, when the speed boost is just nice to help in the next mob.

Now, of course, this spec also means I need to find nice Swords for my Rogue... While Elainith will also be a Blacksmith, the BoP 1-Handed Swords are really tanking swords which makes them unsuitable. The Maces are nice, stats-wise, but look terrible... Somehow, dual-wielding maces just look odd... The PvP swords are the other option, but I'm still not too sure about that... While this is a problem for the future, it's something to keep in mind at level 30 when the Specialisation will be picked. While re-specs are possible, I just hate spending G on something, especially if the cost could have been avoided with more careful planning of talents, as compared to available weapons...