It's Been A While Since I Rocked and Rolled
Cordolvar actually saw the inside of a dungeon for the first time in about a week. Let’s summarize where things are at.
Quick Stats
| Since Last Update | Total | |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 2 | 88 |
| Dungeons Tanked | 6 | 116 |
| Dungeons Tanked Since Last Death | 4 | 4 |
| Levels Gained | 10 | 102 |
Progress Made
While I haven’t been updating this blog, I have still been playing. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’m into content that I’ve never experienced as a player before. I also got itchy enough to take a stab at improving my UI and keybinds.
So I’d say I split my time more or less evenly between developing Cordolvar’s garrison, working and re-working Cordolvar’s UI, and questing in new (to me) content.
Cordolvar did run a few more Warlords of Draenor dungeons over the week, specifically twice through Bloodmaul Slag Mines and once through the Iron Docks. He also dipped his toes into Legion dungeons with a run through the Halls of Valor.
Numerous upgrades dropped in the past week. Gloves seem to drop most often. The rarest upgrade (for non-heirloom slots) seems to be rings, but not by enough to make me think it’s anything statistically significant. It’s kind of strange to get green upgrades after running so many dungeons and being mostly blue-geared for so long.
Also, Cordolvar completed the Bronze tanking challenge without a problem.
Hilariously (to me), both of the deaths above came while working on UI updates. One was caused by me not paying attention on some random mob (too busy looking at cooldowns and weak auras) while the other came from attacking a level 100 raid boss target dummy as a level 91 character. I got 1-shot. Hint: Attack the (level 1) ranged target practice dummies instead. If they chase you, you can run away!
Random Notes
- 👍 Numerous upgrades.
- 👎 I didn’t post many updates in the last week.
- 👎 About half of my liquid gold was spent on upgrading heirlooms, ouch.
- 👍 I have a UI I’m almost happy with.
- 👎 No screenshots of the new UI or keybinds yet.
Cordolvar continues to kill things slowly. However, it’s also still the case that he can pull eight or more mobs at a time and not break a sweat, so that remains the best way for me to deal with quests—look for clumps of mobs and pull them all at once. I guess I really should consider developing an off-spec if I’m going to do significant questing. I hadn’t really planned on much questing with Cordolvar, but the Legion quest lines have been interesting, and I’ve read so much about how much other people liked it, so I want to keep exploring them.
Anyway, if I choose an off-spec, I’m leaning towards Fury. I might dive into the Fury Warrior artifact weapon quest line the next time I play. I also want to check out the Legion invasion points, as I’ve heard they’re a good way to gain some experience points, plus they seem like fun.
I selected Heavy Repercussions for Cordolvar’s level 100 talent. I like it okay, but I think if I get back into dungeons, then Anger Management might be a better choice, since I use cooldowns far more frequently in dungeons. The extra uptime on Shield Block is nice, but really its the extra DPS of Heavy Repercussions that led me to choose it, especially since I’m questing a lot at the moment.
I’m also not sure I want to stay in [Vengeance][vengeance]. At least not while leveling. I don’t feel like I’m alternating between Revenge and Ignore Pain enough to really gain the benefits of the talent. There’s something to be said for the simplicity of passive talents, especially when questing, i.e. not maintaining the level of focus you would likely have in a raid.
Next up, Legion invasion points, more UI work, dipping Cordolvar’s toes into an off-spec, and getting one step closer to level 110!
UI Modifications
I’ve re-worked just about everything in Cordolvar’s UI. I started off by thinking about the most important things in my UI. I watched a few YouTube videos, took a few notes, and started sketching. I’m fairly happy with what I have, but I know it’ll be a long process of improvement.
I’ve also got the beginning of a good essay on UI design in Warcraft. Hopefully I’ll get more time to polish it and post it here soon.
I’ve also had a lot of thoughts about keybinds I want to get down on paper soon.