Misdirections

So the with plenty more interesting tidbits. This time around actually poking at a few things I hold dear – The Glyph of Dispel Magic has had its heal effect changed from 6% of target health to 3% – understandable I imagine, but still sad to see it happen. Reflective Shield only working on the Priest(ess) casting it is an.. odd change. It won’t really change that much I guess since the reflective properties are mostly used in soloing and/or pvp anyhow, but it’s a nerf to my beloved Discipline tree and that alone is cause for disapproval. We finally also got mana burn cleared up: It burns 13% of the targets mana, up to a maximum of 26% of your own mana, so no burning 50k boss mana in a single cast. I get the impression though that this’ll make Mana Burn somewhat utterly useless while soloing since its main purpose there was to stop enemies from casting spells, and the strength of it being that for enemies where that tactic was intended, it would do so in about four casts. Like this, you will need 8 casts to achieve that.

Is this a good time to ask that the Priest(ess) class get a baseline interrupt ability somewhere along the way? Rather than having to go Shadow for Silence. Since our replacement interrupt was kindof tuned for PvP now and thus turned a whole lot less useful in just about any other situation.

On a flip note they made the Shadow Protection prayer raidwide – it says they did the same with Spirit, but as far as I know it already was (if not, that speaks highly of my unattentiveness). There’s one change that’s interesting – namely this: “Improved Holy Concentration now reduces the base cast time by 10/20/30%. (Old – Increased spell haste by 10/20/30%)”. Now, I’m heavily into discipline ( 63 / 5 / 3, as a matter of fact ) and staying there, but with Borrowed Time (25% spell haste for next spell after casting Power Word: Shield) being worded similarely, I’m curious whether the change might migrate there too, and what the actual difference really is. (suspecting the resulting cast speed won’t be as quick).

This also sounds interesting: “Summon Faithful Mule — Summons your faithful pack mule, giving you access to any bank items for 3 min.”, curious when/if we might see that implemented.

I’ve still seen nothing of that Steelseries MMO Gaming Mouse I ordered some good two months back – the supposed release date to coincide with the release of Wrath has been pushed back continously – retailer blames manufacturer for delivery problems and conveniently hasn’t said anything more or informed those who ordered it. They still say it’s possible to book one, which makes mes question whether their “Very limited amount” was that very limited at all, or they’re trying to sell product they don’t have. Annoyingly enough, on the product page they say the preliminary release date has been moved up to the 12’th December, while the actual release date value is as far as the 18’th. Consistent updates, yes indeed.

I’m pretty reassured that I won’t have it before the holidays at this rate, and I’m starting to question whether I might actually get one at all.

On a flip and random note, I found myself embroiled in an IC “military council” meeting over in Valiance Keep yesterday – apparently they’d run out of Night elven representatives and the main organizer wondered if i’d be up for the task. It’s an interesting place to be in as most people there speak for guilds and soforth, while old Nhani Moonfall is more a representative of a horde of non-speaking, non-moving NPCs. Of course, it also led her to ask the uncomfortable question of whom exactly was representing his majesty King Wrynn on the council, and was somewhat suprised to find out no one actually was.

It was an interesting gathering, however, and I imagine the kind of matters that High Priestess Whisperwind would ask Nhani to attend in her stead due to trusting Nhani’s judgement, even if it’s a bit awkward to be there being the only “NPC representative”. Still, it definitely heightens this feeling that Nhani is very much a part of her world, rather than seperate from it.

I do idly note that Nhani seems to be the only one who stubbornly clings to using formal titles in such environments – she’d never refer to Tyrande as just “Tyrande” in such a setting – always title and family name. I even snuck in “his majesty” before King Wrynn to emphasize it further. I’m actually not sure whether that’s a character trait or whether people simply don’t know how to address people formally – or just don’t bother to.

With Nhani, formal address certainly is a character trait – though she can be very casual and relaxed in some settings, when going into formal state, she retains it to the best of her ability. Even with the subplot going of my developing a friendship – and a strong and close one at that – between Nhani and the High Priestess, she wouldn’t dream of refering to Tyrande as just “Tyrande” in formal or even public dialogue. You wouldn’t even know of said friendship unless you made observations and assumptions based on potential Temple of the Moon gossip or count as Nhani’s family and might hear her make a slip about it.

It’s one of the things that I like about Starwatch – the Kal’adore Sentinel Scouting Detachment – it offers a good setting for indulging in Night elven formality. And it gives an excuse for the /salute emote, which I do like the Night elven version of.

In closing, I’ve made a decision: Lafoo wins. Sorry Jaloot, but Lafoo is simply more adorable than you are.