More Perler beads and art

After discussing the Perler beads last time, I found this nice tutorial about how to make some more of them.

The tutorial is about making World of Warcraft related art, and is part of a website I like called WoWInsider. Be sure to check it out.

Shadow Priest in Outland following patch 3.0.2

With the introduction of the new talent trees, towards the release in November of the Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK for short), all players have had their talent point reimbursed.

This enables everyone to re-spec to a build of their own fancy, and for new outland players just passing level 60 to be able to choose their talents in quite a different way.

With the new trees, we can now use all our talent point on the Shadow tree alone, and forgo the need to invest any point in the other tree builds. That is to say, that one can reach level 70 and still have point only in the Shadow tree, and advance to the other trees only once passing level 70.

For those that do want to have a build that's mostly shadow, but still has a few points in the others, you can invest 51 points in the Shadow Tree, and take the rest to the either the Holy or the Discipline trees.

What is important is to take at least 51 points and invest them in all the dps related talents there are on the Shadow Tree. That way, you can maximize your ability to preform as a DPS caster.

One idea is to invest point in "Twin Disciplines", or you could choose "Unbreakable Will", or any other 1st tier talents that strike your fancy.

What's important, though, is to make sure you've made use of all the points you can that are related to generating damage.



If you liked this post, you might be interested in a few short posts I've written on the Shadow Priests. Part 1 starts here.

The Shadow Priest - Part 3

Shadow priests play a versatile roll in levels 60-70 in World of Warcraft. In the previous parts (part 1,part 2) we discussed how a Shadow Priest can both DPS and heal, sometimes at the same time, using abilities unique to him. In this third part we will review some of the better uses and abilities of the Shadow Priests in Outland as levels 60-70.

Shadow Priests are a proper DPS class casters. That means that the damage they do is by using magic spells. There are many different spells at their dissposal, but safice us to say that they are casters (unlike hunters, rogues or paladins who can DPS without casting).

When leveling 60-70, either by questing or by doing a lot of dungeons, the Shadow Priest is a sought after party member as a DPS. As a healer, the Shadow Priest has many rivals who are proper healers (holy priests, healer paladins, druids and more). Therefore, the Shadow Priests' uniqueness is in their ability to DPS, and aid the main healer as a secondary healer to heal all the group via Vampiric Embrace, at the same time as dealing damage.

While questing, the DPS role is vastly superior. It is also preferable when doing most dungeons, but there could be instances when a Shadow Priest will be main healer. This can be achieved by the Shadow Priest having a high healing bonus, and able to properly heal the tank. Sometimes, Vampiric Embrace can also be useful, but when healing a tank the healing bonus takes more affect.

More information can be read at WoWWiki on their post about the Shadow Priests.

The Shadow Priest in World of Warcraft - part 2

In World of Warcraft, there are three talent "trees" that your priest character can choose talents from. Choosing most of your talents from a specific tree would render your character to be called by that tree; i.e. a Shadow Priest, a Discipline Priest and a Holy Priest.

Most players pick their main talent tree as either Shadow or Holy, and pick up some talent from the Discipline, as they see fit. Therefore, most priests you see playing are either Holy Priests (vast majority) and Shadow Priests.

Priests are a relatively rare character choice, as they are mainly healers. They are equipped with the best healing spells and incantations around, and therefore preform the "Healer" position when questing in a group or in raids. Other healers of note include Paladins and Druids which can build their own talent trees to be healers.

Shadow Priests preform the DPS role in a group/raid. They can deal a lot of damage, and they have the advanage over other types of DPS that they can also heal very well and aid the main healer if they need.

I've described this in detail in my previous post on the Shadow Priest. In this post I'd like to comment on its role in BG's from 50-60 and the way a Shadow Priest can level and aid in groups/raids.

As mentioned before, being a Shadow Priest means your are a DPS and therefore can deal a lot of damage to your opponents. You can level your priest by questing and by doing dungeons. Both will generate the experience points you need to get to your next level. Usually, both will also get you reputation with a certain faction, which is good for you for future use.

It is probably better to quest as much as you can if you want to level faster. Dungeons are great fun, but as you just kill mobs and bosses and don't complete any quests there (unless you have a quest to do in a dungeon, which is also common), then you can get more experience points by questing. You can still level via dungeons, but it might take longer and prove a bit more tedious than mixing questing and doing dungeons every so often.

Also, remember that when questing you will also kill a lot of mobs (most quests) and by doing so you will be able to get more loot (which you can sell for silver to a vendor) and by completing the quest you will get an experience points compensation for your trouble, which is in most times better than just killing mobs inside a dungeon without a quest to do so.

That is also why when you go into a dungeon, you should ask all your party members to share any quests they have for that dungeon with you.

When you get to level 58-60 and have the Burning Crusade, you will consider moving to the Outland. Questing in Outland is superior to questing in Azerroth or in Eastern Kingdoms, the loot is better, the rewards are better, and the honor and experience bonuses from quests are better.

As can be expected, the Outland dungeons are also a lot better than the ones in Azeroth/Eastern Kingdoms.


In all dungeons, Shadow Priests are worthy secondary healers and are very good at spamming mass-healling for the whole group with the aid of a spell called "Vampiric Embrace" (see also in wowwiki). Using this spell the Shadow Priests can help the team by healing the whole group through DPSing the target.

That is one of the unique features I found the Shadow Priests have that make them an excellent addition to any 5 men group, let alone a raid.
--End of Part 2.

In Part 3 we will discuss the importance of the Shadow Priest in levels 60-70 and questing and raiding in Outland.

WoW Hobbs' Blog

If you recall my last post about WoW Hobbs, then you remember how much fun it was to watch his movies, let alone hear his tips on all things WoW.

I've noticed today that I haven't linked you myself to his own blog, here, even though the video's do have the address. I strongly recommend visiting it.

You might also like to check his YouTube Channel and see his movies there.

WoW - The Shadow Priest

Of the three alternate talent trees available for the Priest in Blizzard's World of Warcraft(a.k.a. WoW) is the Shadow discipline.

Of the three available, both Holy and Shadow are formidable. Reading many forum posts and scanning through sites along the web, both have many strengths. The Holy Priest is highly sought after, especially in BG and dungeons, and any PVP conflict. The Shadow Priest, that can be a very successful healer in a party/group, is also able to do a lot of damage.

As a DPS, the Shadow Priest is not too bad. He is easier to level than a Holy Priest, and can contribute to the general damage-generating ability of the group. That is was a Shadow Priest is a good first choice, in my view.

One of the forum posts I've read was that after leveling the Shadow Priest to the higher levels, one can switch to the Holy tree, with a price of gold (in-game currency). However, we must remember that often high level player have a lot of gold, and thus could have no difficulty making the transfer.

It is my opinion that for the first 40-50 levels, the Shadow Priest is a more fun option to choose. In those levels most of one's time is spent soloing around the WoW universe.

During level 40 and beyond you start allocating more and more time to the dungeons and BG's available. Playing there becomes more and more enjoyable, though for a priest the BG is not the favorable option. In contrast, the Priest excels in the dungeons, and is a highly sought-after party member. Playing the role of the healer of the group, and priest would have no problem in most dungeons, finding other party members or on-going parties that would love for him to join them.

The advantages of the Priest as a Holy Priest start to become dominant in the later levels, 45-50 and beyond. Then, the Holy Priest is able to be a better team member in the dungeon and do his job as a healer in a much better fashion.

This could lead one to consider to leave the Shadow talents and switch over to the Holy talent tree, once enough in-game currency accumulates.

-end of part 1.

Click here for part 2.

WoW ads

Mr.T and Star Trek's William Shatner did cool ads for World of Warcraft. You can check them out here: