Pre 2.3 To-Do List.

Wulfsblood:

*Get the materials together for the 24-slot Ammo Bag and Quiver.
*Get enough Cenarion Expedition Rep to get the pattern for Nethercleft Leg Armor.
*Obtain a decent stock of Primal Nethers to make the aformentioned Leg Armor.

Ulushnar:

*Gather as many Badges of Justice as possible for the following items:
1. Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian - 75 Badges
2. Unwavering Legguards - 75 Badges
3. Girdle of the Protector - 60 Badges
4. Sabatons of the Righteous Defender - 60 Badges
5. Slikk's Cloak of Placation - 35 Badges

Admittedly some of these badge rewards can wait until after 2.3, where my badge income will be greatly supplemented with the badge drops in 10-mans, but I'd love for Ulu to have the Chest at least, and possibly the legs as soon as 2.3 opens. At present, I'm averaging about five badges a day, thanks to Shattered Halls Heroic, so it'll take 24 days to get the 120 badges I still need to get Chest and Pants on patch day. Hopefully some determined grinding over the weekend will supplement that.

In other news, CD got Magtheridon to 4% last night. I reckon there'll be a kill on Fridays attempt.

Two Point Three - Oh Em Gee!

Well, i have to say that I wasn't especially looking forward to patch 2.3 when i heard that proposed Prot changes had been moved to a later patch. I figured the best I could wish for is that the new badge rewards would offer Ulu a nice chestpiece.

When I saw the patch notes for the forthcoming patch, I got my wish and more to boot:

Paladins

* Blessing of Light: Lower ranks of Flash of Light and Holy Light are now properly penalized when used with this Blessing.
* Cleanse and Purify range increased to 40 yards.
* Crusader Strike (Retribution) cooldown reduced from 10 to 6 seconds.
* Exorcism mana cost reduced.
* Hammer of Wrath mana cost reduced.
* Holy Wrath mana cost reduced.
* Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) benefits folded into the base spell. This talent now gives the benefits of the Sanctified Crusader talent instead.
* Judgement of Light: The combat log will now show the mana gained from rank 5 of this ability as Judgement of Light instead of Seal of Light.
* Pursuit of Justice (Retribution) is now 3 ranks and increases movement speed by 5/10/15% and also reduces the chance you'll be hit by spells by 1/2/3%.
* Sanctified Crusader (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Seals, which now increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and melee attacks by 1/2/3% and reduces the chance your Seals will be dispelled by 33/66/100%.
* Vengeance (Retribution) duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds.
* Vindication (Retribution) frequency and duration increased and now reduces all attributes by 5/10/15%, not just Strength and Agility.
* Weapon Expertise (Protection) renamed Combat Expertise, now increases expertise by 1/2/3/4/5 and total Stamina by 2/4/6/8/10%.

In one fell swoop, Blizz have enabled Paladins to close the HP gap between them and Warriors. Also on top of that, there's additional heroic badge items which show that Blizzard has finally understood what Paladin Tanks need:

* Stamina by the truckload
* Solid Avoidance stats
* Spell damage and Spell hit for threat generation

I'm now off to grind a crapload of Heroics with Ulu to get the necessary badges together. I wanna be able to buy the chest at least by patch day.

Parting thoughts.

Replies to yesterday's comments:

@Galo:

Yeah, the endgame can get a bit tiresome, although with the impending introduction of a second 10-man raid instance, it seems that there's a lot for the casual raider still to do. As a tank though, I find it pretty much impossible to be casual. Tanking is a continuing race to keep your gear as close to the cutting-edge as possible. If the tank can't take the pummelling, then it doesn't matter how good the rest of the raid is.

@Andrew

Where are you?

@BB

I've missed playing with you too dearie. CD ain't the same these days. Ah well, I'm sure I'll be back on ER in a week or two.

On a different note, I made a post after trying to explain crushing blows and gear optimisation to another potential Tankadin recruit.

As I've mentioned there, as well as here in the past, it's mind-boggling the amount of maths and theorycraft required to play an effective Tankadin at a raiding level. I personally don't mind it, since build analysis, min-maxing and gear optimisation fit my personality quite well after eighteen years of RPGs. For someone without those tendancies, I can't imagine how they cope.

Time for a break...

I'm winding down my WoW playing, and certainly my raiding for a while to come. I've just got tired grinding the same instances over and over, which, after two-and-a-half years playing the game should come as no shock.

So I'm taking a few weeks at least as a break from Raiding to play other games. First up is Neverwinter Nights 2. I originally got it last year, but the clunkiness of the engine rendered it all but unplayable on my PC. Since then they've patched the game into playability and released an expansion, so I'm going to get stuck into that.

Also, I've had some friends attempt to tempt me to the Dull Side by investing in an XBox 360 and Halo 3. I don't have a massive love for FPS's, but if I can get playing with enough of my mates I'm sure it'll become tolerable.

During my "break", I'll probably still be playing wow, just not as extensively and probably not raiding. It'll be more upkeep play until I return or decide to quit permanently.