Hallow's End quest guides for 2007

Hallow's End has grown quite a bit this year. Adding to the old favorites of Innkeep Trick or Treating, PvP Smoke Bombing and Wickerman raids is the new Daily Quest to trigger the 5-man Headless Horseman event in the Scarlet Monastery graveyard wing. Considering this new mob drops Flying Broom Mounts, Evil Pumpkin Pets and Purple Jewelry, you can guess that he is going to be quite popular with the players.

New guides on defeating the Headless Horseman have sprung up around the Net. The fight doesn't seem too difficult for a group of L70s, but you can get an overview of all three phases and the loot table and WoW Wiki.

Also check out this excellent Hallow's End guide that covers all the activities for the holiday and lists the reputation gains and item rewards associated with each quest. Now put on your scary face and go get some Hallow's End goodies.

BigRedKitty: Quit Nerfing Our Necessity

Each week, Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the hunter class sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.

In the lovely dawn of the Burning Crusade era, before the bugs were patched, the mobs scaled-down, and the promise of ten more talent points gnawed on our brains like termites in a house made of sticks, there were some wonderful situations that required skill, patience, tenacity, and guile.

They needed, in a word, a hunter.

And you and your hunter brethren were there to fill the void, to complete the circle, to provide the key ingredients toward making those impossible dreams come true. It was glorious, it was awe-inspiring, it was waves of gratitude from the massive collection of the lesser classes crashing over the Internet and into your headphones inspiring you to greatness. You were giddy. You were excited. You were quasi-but-not-really god-like.

And then Blizz nerfed it all to Sporeggar and back again. Typical.

But the echos of past glory still exists. For many of us, those memories are fresh and intoxicating. For others, they are a myth and only spoken of in hushed tones and in quiet, dark places where we meet to plot our return to prominence.

Let's bring our pain and suffering into the light. Let's remember what has happened and what has been and talk about it openly and with pride. BRK teaches young hunters to hone skills that are not needed in today's game because the day may come when our talents are once again critical to our guild's success.

Do you remember when they were?

We used to Kite. Nowhere was kiting more necessary than Upper Blackrock Spire. To the many of you who never got to run this instance in its heyday, you'll find it hard to believe how often one would see in general chat channels,

"need hunter for UBRS, have 9/10 and gtg"

Yes, we were needed and needed big-time. General Drakkisath, the final boss of UBRS, was important back then as he dropped every class's Dungeon Set One chest armor. This was not a difficult fight as long as the raid had a hunter who could Kite.

The setup of the General Drakkisath fight was thus: Drak was flanked on each side by an elite, making it a three-mob-pull. The fight strategy was for one of the adds to be crowd controlled, either by off-tanking or other means, and Drak to be Kited away from the fight until the other two elites were killed. And what a Kiting effort it was.

Drak was fast but not as fast as a hunter with Aspect of the Cheetah. The key was to Kite Drak as far away from the add-fight as possible. This was accomplished by getting a massive initial aggro with an Aimed Shot, followed with a Serpent Sting so that every tick of the sting kept him aggro'd on you. The hunter then ran out of the room, across a bridge, and then had to pop Drak with another shot, preferably another Serpent Sting, to keep him on your tail. Drak would be kited into the ZOMG Five-Mob-Pull room, (where many a raid suffered hideous deaths,) and then the hunter would make a choice of where to take him.

If your party was sufficiently geared and had the DPS, we would take Drak into The Beast's room. This was an easier kite in that one was less likely to get lost or lose aggro, but the leap over the fire was tricky. If you hit the fire with Aspect of the Cheetah active, you'd be stunned, Drak would catch you, end of Kite. But timed properly, the fire-leap was the last hard part of the Kite and the hunter would run waaay back into the darkness that was The Beast's starting area. Once at the back of this "room", (it wasn't really a room, it was more just an undesigned area that had no floors or walls or ceilings but was perfectly safe once The Beast had been dispatched), the hunter would Feign Death and fall off of Drak's threat list. Then Drak would usually aggro on the healer back at his starting room and make a bee-line for her.

For raids that required more time to kill the adds, the hunter could Kite Drak all the way to Rend Blackhand's chamber. This was much more fun as one had to make turns and twists and not get lost while Kiting this massive dragon throughout the instance. Eventually making it to Rend's room, the hunter would run to the very back corner, let Drak get right up on his grill, and drop FD at the last possible second. Again, Drak would aggro the healer and boogie back to the rest of the raid, the hunter on his heels to help take him down.

"Drak incoming, aggro'd on Priest!" we'd call out over vent. The tank would stand and wait for Drak as he and the hunter raced back to the raid. The tank would grab aggro, the raid would burn Drak down, someone's chest armor would drop which would most likely to be sharded as shaman-gear would drop for alliance raids and paladin-loot for horde.

Regardless of the crappy gear, another superlative Kiting was cheered. Hunter reputations were made and destroyed on this boss. Lists were kept, names were recorded.

"Yeah I've seen him Kite Drak before. He's good."

"No way. He got caught on the bridge and wiped the raid last week. Find someone else."

The culmination of BRK's Hunter Class was a successful Drak Kite. One didn't graduate without this critical component of our class's arsenal firmly established in front of the guild.

(Furthermore, Kiting-skill was the test for the Epic Hunter Quest and the Rhok'delar bow. We won't go into this specific subject here; it's deserving of its own column.)

Hunters would Kite things just for the thrill of it. Have you seen the movies of a hunter kiting Stitches to Goldshire? Or how about the pre-Burning Crusade Doom Lord Kazzak burning Stormwind to the ground? Yes, that was a hunter who kited that 40-man raid boss into the city.

Hunter-skill was Necessary back then. But where is our Necessity now?

Arcatraz is a difficult instance for the unprepared and inexperienced. However it used to be much worse than it is now. After Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates and Dalliah the Doomsayer are dispatched, a party runs up the curved stairs, across a transparent bridge, and encounters an elite mechanical trash mob. He's tough to be sure, but your party has downed a couple of these already and he isn't anything new.

But there used to be two of them here, and what was the only class that could crowd-control one of them? A hunter and his Freezing Trap. Without a hunter, it was a total pain to get past this point. Tank and off-tanking was required and a healer would get taxed close to or even beyond her limits trying to keep them both alive while the two remaining DPSers would slowly burn down the mechanicals one at a time.

"need hunter for arc, have tank and healer and gtg"

Wasn't that great? The first Outland faction with whom we reach exalted was Sha'tar because we ran this instance so frequently. It wasn't a Drak Kite or anything else wildly spectacular, but it was a Hunter Instance because of this single two-mob pull.

And Blizz nerfed it, removing a mechanical. No hunter needed anymore.

Mechanar is a harder instance than Arcatraz, in our esteemed opinion. Especially the tunnel leading to Pathaleon the Calculator. But the part of this instance most people have difficulty with is the second boss, Nethermancer Sepethrea. And even she's not the Big Problem, it's her {bleep}{bleep}mother{bleeping} fire elemental adds that are the party-killers. A total pain in the @ss, this chick is.

Enter the Hunter. When we first thought of doing this boss after Pathaleon -- Kiting her butt down his tunnel, fighting her in the last room of the instance -- and seeing this strategy work beautifully, we were positive Blizz had introduced this fight in remembrance of the Great Drak Kite from UBRS. Her adds were so slow and she herself so easy to kill that the elementals would disintegrate before they completed their trek across the tunnel. Having a hunter for Serpentia was a godsend and made her destruction the easiest part of the whole bloody instance.

"need hunter for mech, have tank and healer and gtg"

And we rocked that instance over and over again, introducing people to the Serpenthia Kite and telling anybody who would listen that this fight had a History. What you just witnessed, we'd announce, is a quasi-reenactment of the Great Drak Kite hunters had to perfect in order for guilds to get their Dungeon Set One chest armor! Pride, my hunter-friends. We kited that beyotch and people got their crummy shards -- her loot-list is pretty sad -- just like in the UBRS heyday.

And Blizz nerfed it, making Sepethrea Unkiteable. No hunter needed anymore. She's bound to her stupid room with her stupid elementals and her stupid loot-list.

WTF, over?

So what's left now. Shadow Lab? Our pet can tank Murmur but that's not a class-skill we can teach or really brag about. Steamvaults? Nothing. Karazhan? Nada. Misdirection is great but there's no real skill involved with it.

There's nothing left for us. Blizz has nerfed our usefulness, our "We Need a Hunter" moments. There are no more "need hunter" posts in the general chats anymore.

We are diminished.

But there is Hope. The new expansion is on the horizon and with it new instances and bosses. Perhaps, if we are both polite and boisterous, Blizz will recognize that we've continued to train our Kiting skills, that we haven't forgotten the Old Ways or the hunters that have come before us. Bring Drak Back! we could proselytize. Perhaps we shall be rewarded for our perseverance with a mob that cries out , "Hunter Needed".

And a decent loot-list wouldn't be bad, either.

Daniel Howell continues his quest to be introduced as an NPC in Nagrand and be the starting point for the new Epic Hunter Quest as the hunter-pet duo extraordinaire known to lore as BigRedKitty. More of his theorycrafting and slanderous belittling of the lesser classes can be found at bigredkitty.blogspot.com.

Shifting Perspectives: Awesome Moonkin gear - The Finale

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran.

NOTE: Mages, Warlocks and Shadow Priests may be interested in these lists as well.

This last set of equipment slots are better tailored to Moonkin than the visible slots covered earlier. Because the neck/ finger/weapon/trinket slots have to cater to all dps casters, we see more pure +spell damage items and less equipment watered down with +healing. Also, the relic slot has items specifically tailored to Moonkin.

Since there are so many choices for these slots, the format of this guide is going to be more of level based list, than the conversational approach of Part I and Part 2. Each section will have a few recommendations followed by a complete list of non-raid Outland alternatives.

The best part is that because there are so many choices, you're pretty much guaranteed solid upgrades no matter your style of play (i.e. solo, group, PvP, etc.) Finally, at the end of the guide is a link to two excellent Moonkin guides for gems and enchantments found on the Balance of Power blog.

Enough build up! On to the pre-Karazhan equipment extravaganza after the jump.

Neck: Early levels present separate Hellfire Peninusla quests for Alliance and Horde, but the results are the same. For the Horde, they get the L60 Felforce Medallion (18 sta, 12 int, 15 dmg) [H] and the Alliance get the L60 Telhamat Pendant (10 sta, 10 int, 21 dmg) [A]. Alternatives:

L59 Pendant of the Marsh (13 sta, 10 int, 9 spi, 11 dmg, 4 mp5) [A/H] starts with a random drop (Drain Schematics) from the Naga in the Zangarmarsh.
L62 Lunatic's Choker (16 sta, 11 int, 13 dmg, 4 mp5) [A/H] Terokkar Forest quest reward, but you may want take bracer reward instead.
L62 Necklace of Bloodied Feathers (24 stam, 15 int, 19 dmg) [A/H] Group quest out of Terokkar Forest
L63 Dragonbone Talisman (8 int, 7 spi, 15 crit, 16 dmg) [A/H] Another group quest in Terokkar, this time killing a bone dragon
At midlevel, the L65 Torc of the Sethekk Prophet (18 int, 21 crit, 19 dmg) [A/H] is guaranteed since it is a quest reward from killing first boss in Setthek Halls. There's also L64 Earthen Mark of Power (13 int, 23 crit, 12 dmg) [A/H] from a Nagrand group quest chain or head to the Auction House to look for the world drop L63 Amulet of Unstable Power (23 crit, 18 dmg). Alternatives:

L63 http://wowhead.com/?item=24462http://wowhead.com/?item=24462(15 int, 11 crit, 25 dmg) 16% drop from Gha'zhan Normal Underbog
L64 Sigil of Shaffar (18 sta, 16 int, 21 dmg) 14%,drop from Nexus Prince Shaffar, Mana Tombs
At high level, there are many options, but only one choice: Natasha's Ember Necklace (15 int, 10 crit, 29 dmg) [A/H] a great 9 part quest chain out of Blade's Edge that can be done with 1-2 players and results in the best non-raid Balance neck in the game. If you've already done the quest and chosen a different reward (they are all excellent), there are many, many options. Quest alternatives:

L67 Pendant of the Battle-Mage (12 sta, 11 crit, 25 dmg) [A/H] Netherstorm quest chain
Mob drop alternatives:
L70 Talisman of the Breaker (18 sta, 17 int, 21 dmg, 15% silence & interrupt resist) 6% drop from Kali'dan the Braker, Heroic Blood Furnace
L68 Brooch of Hightened Potential (15 sta, 14 int, 9 hit, 14 crit, 22 dmg) 12% drop from Blackheart the Inciter, Normal & Heroic Shadowlabs
L70 Omor's Unyielding Will (19 sta, 19 int, 25 dmg) 13% drop from Omor the Unscarred, Heroic Hellfire Ramparts
L70 Warp Engineer's Prismatic Chain (17 sta, 18 int, 16 crit, 19 dmg) 18% Mechano-Lord Capacitus, Normal & Heroic Mechanar
Other alternatives:
L70 Chain of the Twilight Owl (19 int, 18 def, 21 dmg, Use: +2% spell crit for group) 365 Jewelrycrafting
L70 Pendant of Dominance (30 sta, 10 int, {YS: 2 crit}, 14 res, 23 dmg) PvP reward, 15,300 Honor Points & 10 Eye of the Storm Marks of Honor
L70 Manasurge Pendant (21 sta, 21 int, 27 dmg) 25 Badges of Honor
L70 Charlotte's Ivy (18 sta, 19 int, 13 spi, 23 dmg) purple world drop
L70 Choker of Repentance (22 str, 15 int, 22 dmg) purple world drop
Finger: The low levels of Outlands offers more options than usual for the finger slot. Horde get a solid dps ring out of the gate with L60 Carinda's Wedding Band (18 sta, 12 int, 14 dmg) [H] from a 4 part quest chain out of Helffire Peninsula. Alliance must either grind the Hellfire instances for rep to get L60 Sage's Band (15 int, 14 crit, 18 dmg) honored with Hellfire Peninusla Alliance faction: Honor Hold (Horde version: L60 Farseer's Band (15 int, 14 crit, 18 dmg) honored with Hellfire Peninsula Horde faction: Thrallmar) or hope to find L60 Witching Band (16 sta, 14 int, 21 dmg) 17% drop in the Fel Iron chest that spawns near the end of Hellfire Ramparts. Alternatives:

L60 Circlet of the Victor (25 sta, {RS: 2 dmg}, 13 crit) Hellfire Peninsula World PvP 15 Marks of Honor Hold
L62 Cenarion Ring of Casting (24 sta, 16 int, 18 dmg) [A/H] Find and release 4 captives in Coilfang instances. Two are in Slave Pens and two in Underbog.
L62 Heirloom Signet of Willpower (7 sta, 11 int, 5 spi, 23 dmg) [A/H] Short quest chain out of Terokkar Forest
At midlevel, you are guaranteed the L65 Wildlord's Band (8 int, 11 crit, 25 dmg) [A/H] since it is part of the Natasha's Necklace quest in Blades Edge. Otherwise:

L64 Burning Blade Cultist Band (24 sta, 16 crit, 19 dmg) [H] Horde only quest out of Nagrand with two pre-Quests
L65 Treebole's Hoop (12 int, 12 crit, 15 dmg, 5 mp5) [A/H] Simple 2 part Blade's Edge quest chain
At high level, everyone will get L66 Band of the Guardian (11 int, 17 crit, 23 dmg, 15 pen) [A/H] since it is a quest reward for finishing the Black Morass quest line. Quest drop alternatives are:

L67 Manastorm Band (15 int, 10 crit, 29 dmg) [A/H] Long, fun Netherstorm small group quest chain
L68 Evoker's Mark of the Redemption (15 int, 10 crit, 29 dmg) [A/H] Shadowmoon Valley group quest chain
L68 Mage's Mark of the Sha'tar (29 crit, 14 dmg) [A/H] Shadowmoon Valley large group quest
Mob drop alternatives:

L70 Arcane Netherband (18 sta, 18 int, 21 dmg, 15 pen) 20% drop from Thorngrin the Tender in Normal Botanica
L70 Sparking Arcanite Ring (13 sta, 14 int, 10 hit, 14 crit, 22 dmg) 7% drop from Epoch Hunter in Heroic CoT: Old Hillsbrad Foothills
L70 Cobalt Band of Tyrigosa (16 sta, 15 int, 33 dmg) 12% drop from Nexus-Prince Shaffar in Heroic Mana-Tombs
L70 Ryngo's Band of Ingenuity (12 sta, 14 int, 14 crit, 25 dmg) 19% drop from Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates in Normal and Heroic Arcatraz
L68 Scintillating Coral Band (14 sta, 15 int, 17 crit, 21 dmg) 17% drop from Hydromancer Thespia in Normal & Heroic Steamvault
L70 Exarch's Diamond Band (19 sta, 19 int, 25 dmg) 13% Exarch Maladaar in Heroic Auchenai Crypts
Other alternatives:

L67 Seal of the Exorcist (24 sta, 12 hit, 11 res, 28 dmg) 50 Spirit Shards
L70 Ashyen's Gift (28 sta, 20 hit, 22 dmg) Exalted with Cenarion Expedition in Zangarmarsh
L70 Ring of Cryptic Dreams (15 sta, 16 int, 19 crit, 21 dmg) 25 Badges of Honor
L70 Band of Dominance - (21 crit, 28 dmg) blue world drop
L70 Seer's Signet (22 sta, 11 crit, 33 dmg) Aldor Exalted
L70 Lola's Eve (13 sta, 14 int, 13 spi, 29 dmg) purple world drop
L70 Band of Dominance (27 sta, 15 res, 25 dmg) PvP 11.934 Honor Points, 10 Alterac Valley Marks of Honor
Trinkets: Upon entering the Outlands, both Alliance and Horde immediately embark on a long quest chain in Hellfire Peninsula that culminates in trinket rewards that won't be replaced for a long time. Both factions get the L58 Vengeance of the Illdari (26 crit & 120 dmg / 220 heal : 15 sec @ 1.50 min) [A H].

For the second trinket slot, both factions get a reward from an amazingly simple Zangarmarsh two part quest. This reward won't be replaced unless you start raiding. Alliance receive L62 Glowing Crystal Insignia (26 dmg & 104 dmg : 20 sec @ 2.00 min) [A] and the Horde variant is L62 Ancient Crystal Talisman (26 dmg & 104 dmg : 20 sec @ 2.00 min) [H].

The only non-raid trinket that surpasses the Zangarmarsh trinket requires 41 Badges of Honor (i.e. 41 heroic boss kills): L70 Icon of the Silver Crescent (43 dmg & 155 dmg : 20 sec @ 2.00 min). I'm guessing we won't be replacing the Zangarmash trinket until Wrath of the Lich King goes live.

There aren't too many options to replace your Illdari trinket. Two Heroic only drops and two Revered faction rewards:
L70 Quagmirran's Eye (37 dmg, Equip: see link) 9% drop from Quagmirran in Heroic Slave Pens
L70 Arcanist's Stone (25 hit & 167 dmg : 20 sec @ 2.00 min) 9% drop from Epoch Hunter in Heroic CoT: Old Hillsbrad Foothills
L70 Scryer's Bloodgem (32 hit & 150 dmg / 280 heal : 15 sec @ 1.50 min) Scryers Revered
L70 Xi'ri's Gift (32 crit & 150 dmg / 280 heal : 15 sec @ 1.50 min) Shatar Revered
The rest of the trinket alternatives are not upgrades to the Illdari or Zangarmarsh trinket, but are good alternatives if you missed out on those two:

L68 Starkiller's Bauble (26 hit & 125 dmg : 15 sec @ 1.50 min) [A/H] Netherstorm quest
L70 Figurine - Living Ruby Serpent (33 sta, 23 int & 150 dmg : 20 sec @ 5.00 min) [Jewelcrafting BoP]
L63 Terrorkar Tablet of Vim (22 hit & 84 dmg / 156 heal : 15 sec @ 1.50 min) [A H] Short two man quest in Terokkar Forest
L63 Ancient Draenei Arcane Relic (21 crit & 120 dmg / 220 heal : 15 sec @ 1.50 min) [A/H] Small group quest in Terrokar, fun ring event
L70 Shiffar's Nexus-Horn (32 crit, (Chance on spell crit): 225 dmg for 15 sec) 11% from Harbring Skyriss in Normal & Heroic Arcatraz
L65 Oculus of the Hidden Eye (33 dmg & Use: 900 man restore upon death of opponent in next 10secs) 17% drop from Shirrak the Dead Watcher in Normal Auchenai Crypts
Two-Handed Weapons: Early on the Horde get the advantage here with a quick Hellfire Peninsula quest that nets them L60 Totemic Staff (33 sta, 22 int, 80 dmg) [H]. Alliance have to hope for L60 Crystalfire Staff (34 sta, 34 int, 16 crit, 46 dmg) a 13% drop from Omor the Unscarred in Normal Hellfire Ramparts.

After that, there's no options until midlevel. Then there's only one option: L65 Battle Mage's Baton (45 sta, 31 int, 30 crit, 85 dmg) [A/H] from a very fun Ring of Blood event in Nagrand. You shouldn't have a problem getting a pick up group for this event as there is an excellent weapon upgrade reward for almost every class. If you are having problems with any of the fights, you can have dps help from outside your group.

The Baton will last you until high level. Then your options open up considerably. I would recommend doing the relatively short Netherstorm group quest chain that nets you L68 Ameer's Impulse Taser (27 sta, 27 int, 26 spi, 17 hit, 27 crit, 103 dmg) [A/H] If you're eventually going to raid, you can always do the Cypher of Damnation quest chain out of Shadowmoon Valley that rewards L68 Oronok's Ancient Scepter (27 sta, 45 int, 25 crit, 103 dmg) [A/H], but that's a very long quest for a reward that is comparable to the much shorter Netherstorm quest.

After that there are four more or less comparable staff upgrades:

L70 Bloodfire Greatstaff (42 sta, 42 int, 28 crit, 121 dmg) 12% drop from Aeonus in Normal & Heroic Black Morass
L70 The Bringer of Death (32 sta, 31 int, 42 crit, 121 dmg) purple world drop
L70 Warpstaff of Arcanum (37 sta, 38 int, 16 hit, 26 crit, 121 dmg) 10% drop off Warp Splinter in Normal & Heroic Botanica
L70 Auchenai Staff (46 int, 19 hit, 26 crit, 121 dmg) Aldor revered
Finally, there is this bad boy with a low drop rate and a high drool factor: L70 Terokk's Shadowstaff (39 sta, 41 int, 35 crit, 150 dmg) 5% drop from Talon King Ikiss in Heroic Setthek Halls.

One-Handed Weapons: I wouldn't call one handed Moonkin items "easy to get" as there are no questable ones and little choice until max level. Even then, they aren't easy or cheap to come by. That being said, here are the pre-raid options. In early levels there aren't many choices:

L61 Blade of Trapped Knowledge (15 crit, 68 dmg) blue world drop
L61 Diamond-Core Sledgemace (12 sta, 14 int, 51 dmg, 5 mp5) 16% drop from The Maker in Normal Blood Furnace
L63 Zangartooth Shortblade - (13 sta, 14 int, 12 hit, 61 dmg) 19% drop from Swamplord Musel'ek in Normal Underbog
In midlevel, there is only one option:

L66 Time-Shifted Dagger (15 sta, 15 int, 13 crit, 85 dmg) 19% drop from Epoch Hunter in Normal CoT: Old Hillsbrad Foothills
Finally, at high level, you can find some decent one handed alternatives.

L70 Warpdagger of the Eagle (24 sta, 15 int, 95 dmg) & Warpdagger of the Elder (18 sta, 12 int, 95 dmg, 5 mp5) green world drops
L70 Starlight Dagger (15 sta, 15 int, 16 hit, 121 dmg) 15% drop from Mennu the Betrayer in Heroic Slave Pens
L68 Runesong Dagger (12 sta, 11 int, 20 crit, 121 dmg) 18% drop from Warbringer O'mrogg in Normal & Heroic Shattered Halls
L70 Bleeding Hollow Warhammer (12 sta, 17 int, 16 crit, 121 dmg) 11% drop from Quagmirran in Heroic Slave Pens
L68 Sky Breaker (13 sta, 20 int, 132 dmg) 17% drop from Avatar of the Martyred in Heroic Auchenai Crypts
L70 Gavel of Unearthed Secrets - (22 sta, 15 int, 14 crit, 150 dmg) Lower City Exalted

L70 Eternium Runed Blade - (10 crit, 160 dmg) Crafted by Blacksmith requiring, among other things, 8 primal might
I would recommend staying with a two handed weapon until you hit 70. Then, if you have your heart set on a one handed item either commission an Eternium Runed Blade from a blacksmith or grind your Lower City faction to Exalted for the Gavel of Unearthed Secrets. You will already be at Revered with Lower City anyway if you completed your druid epic flight form quest. Pair one of those with Saga of Terrok listed below or Khadagar's Knapsack.

Off-Hand Weapons: Like one handed weapons, there are few choices for Moonkin off hand items. At the early levels the Horde get a distinct advantage with L58 Demoniac Soul Prison (6 int, 10 crit, 19 dmg) [H] a midquest reward out of a quest chain in Hellfire Peninsula. But when Horde can get the 80dmg Totemic Staff two handed staff out of HFP just as easy, it makes the Soul Prison a hard sell.

At midlevel there is only one option, but it is one of the best in the non-raid game for Moonkin off hand: L65 The Saga of Terokk (23 int, 28 dmg) [A/H]. This is a very easy quest to finish since it requires you to pick up three items in Normal Setthek Halls which you are going to run a few times anyway.

At high level, there are only two off hand items that are upgrades to the Saga of Terrok: L70 Khadgar's Knapsack (44 dmg) which requires 25 Badges of Honor and L70 Lamp of Peaceful Radiance (13 sta, 14 int, 12 hit, 13 crit, 21 dmg) a 13% drop from Harbring Skyriss in Normal & Herioc Arcatraz. Other options at high level if you don't have the Saga are:

L70 Hortus' Seal of Brilliance (18 sta, 20 int, 23 dmg) 14% drop from Warchief Kargath Bladefist in Normal & Heroic Shattered Halls
L70 Netherwing Sorceror's Charm (15 int, 15 crit, 18 dmg, 6 mp5) [A/H] The only off hand item with Mp5. Comes from the Netherwing rep quest
L67 Imbued Draenethyst Crystal (11 int, 8 crit, 25 dmg) [A/H] Short Netherstorm quest chain
L68 Star-Heart Lamp (17 sta, 18 int, 12 hit, 22 dmg) 15% drop from Temporus in Normal & Heroic CoT: Black Morass
L70 Manual of the Nethermancer (12 sta, 15 int, 19 crit, 21 dmg) 18% drop from Nethermancer Sepethrea in Normal & Heroic Mechanar
Relics: Which relic to get really depends on your style of Moonkin play. Do you pewpewpew? Then the L60 random world drop Idol of the Moon (Moonfire 33 dmg) is for you. Do you spam Wrath like a green cannon? Then head to Shadowmoon Valley for the long and involved L67 Idol of the Avenger (Wrath 25 dmg) [A H] quest.

Do you call down Starfire for the big numbers and chance of stun? Test your mettle against Grand Warlock Nethekurse in either Normal or Heroic Shattered Halls for a 1 in 5 chance of winning the L68 Ivory Idol of the Moongoddess (Starfire 55 dmg).

Finally, at the end of your druid epic flight form quest, you will not only get your coveted Swift Flight Form, but also the L70 Idol of the Raven Goddess (9 crit to Moonkin Aura).

Gems & Enchantments: For gem choices by slot and enchantments by slot, I highly recommend checking out Fiordhraoi's excellent Moonkin blog, Balance of Power. He also has some well written articles about Moonkin talent specs as well as the importance of int/mp5/spell crit/etc gear.

That's it for this week. As usual, if I missed any solid alternatives, leave a comment below. In two weeks, the beginning of pre-raid Resto gear list.
Tags: balance druid, balance equipment list, BalanceDruid, druid upgrade gear, joystiqfeatures, moonkin upgrade gear, MoonkinUpgradeGear, pre-karazhan moonkin gear

Is "ugly" the new beautiful, and "evil" the new good?

I have a question for all the Horde and warlock players out there -- as well as anyone who plays their character in a so-called "evil" way. But first, let me explain where I'm coming from.

As you know, one of the main differences between the Alliance and the Horde is their sense of style. In fact, the question of what looks and feels good to players of either side may be one of the biggest areas of disagreement that actually exists between them. To a lesser extent, this sort of disagreement exists between classes as well. Warlocks give off a very different feeling from Paladins for example, and different people are attracted to each sort of "aura."

Like many players, my sense of aesthetics and beauty fits in squarely on one side of this aesthetic equation, and the other side can be rather difficult for me to understand. I play in the Alliance, and my favorite races are usually the ones that are "beautiful" and noble-looking in a traditional sense. To me personally, the Horde races are hard to relate to.

I do sometimes start up a Horde character if I have a funny idea for roleplaying him or her, but eventually something about them starts to bother me. Now that the Horde has prettier blood elves to play, I admit this helped me a lot -- I am gradually leveling up a blood elf alt in my free time -- but somehow being a blood elf in the Horde feels rather out of place, as if I'm not really part of the Horde because I'm not hunched over with a ready-to-kill look on my face.

For a long time I couldn't play a warlock either for similar reasons. The class just seemed inherently evil; summoning demons and stealing people's souls seemed wrong somehow. Even though I knew it's just a fantasy game, I still had no desire to mimic in the game something that would be abhorrent to me in real life. I often wondered: what is attractive about the look and feel of these characters to Horde and warlock players?

Now before you start pointing out to me the various inconsistencies in this sort of feeling (such as "how come you have a problem summoning demons when the whole game is about killing people?") keep in mind that this is not really an intellectual or moral issue. It's an emotional one. It's about that instant feeling you get of attraction or repulsion to something without even thinking about it at all. You just know you like it or you don't. In this case, I have one of those negative gut reactions to hunched-over monstrous player characters, as well as summoning demons and stealing souls, while many of you out there are deeply attracted to these things. While my eyeballs instinctively look at draenei or night elves and see "good," then look at trolls and undead and see "evil," many of you may look at trolls and undead and see "badass," as far as I can tell, then look at draenei and night elves and see... "goody-two-shoes" and "prissy" perhaps?

Now, nobody here actually summons demons or has rotting flesh or horns or whatnot -- far from it: you may even pray for world peace, volunteer at the soup kitchen, and sponsor a poor child's education. In real life (I assume) we all see ourselves firmly in the "good" category, or at least we "live and let live." I'm not questioning anyone's morality or suggesting that the Horde players really are evil or misguided at all. I'm just wondering, when you log onto WoW, do you like to pretend to be nasty, evil, or "ugly" in some way? Or is it not ugly to you at all? Would you insist on another word, like "badass" instead? What attracts you by the "darker" races and classes in the game? What repulses you by the "lighter" ones?

Death Knights not welcome at town picnic

It's a problem: here you are, a master of your very own runed blade, a summoner of an army of undead, an immensely powerful tank and damage-dealer -- and yet no one will let you into the lore party over at Starshine Shadowstrider's house!

"Yuckie!" they say. "He got his powers from the Lich King! ...Eww!"

"But I turned against him!" you proclaim in your defense. "I wised up and came back to the Light, sorta. Okay not really but I'm still not completely bad! It's like... fighting..." your voice gradually gets quieter as party-goers stop listening, "... fighting fire with ... fire. Dammit. I'm gonna go kill Onyxia by myself! That'll show 'em."

Yes indeed. It's looking like the future's going to be pretty rough for Death Knights. As Nethaera explained, "It's most likely that Death Knights aren't going to find themselves being popular guests at the town picnic."

But Death Knights aren't alone in dealing with this sort of thing. "Keep in mind," Nethaera points out, "that Warlocks aren't generally welcomed with open arms either (depending on the culture of the race in question)." Here we have a good role model for plucky summoners of the undead: Warlocks are magic users who use the powers of the Burning Legion against the Burning Legion itself! Have not the Alliance and the Horde not gradually come to accept that just because some people happen to summon demons, cause agony, corruption and ruin, as well as steal people's souls -- that doesn't make them inherently evil, right?

So it is with Death Knights. So what if you betrayed all the peoples of Azeroth to go and serve the Lich King for a little while? So what if his taint of undeathiness is still flowing through you while you draw those unholy runes and create zombies? You can now go to Shattrath to have your picture taken with a Naaru! Your reputation should be squeaky clean.

While Blizzard may yet find a plausible reason for Death Knights to be fighting against the Lich King rather than with him, keep in mind that even if that doesn't work out, you've got one magic word that will make everything okay. Whenever people won't trust you or play with you just because it would seem that you might possibly be technically evil (on the outside)...

Arcane Brilliance: Five magetacular mods

It's time again for Arcane Brilliance, your one-stop mage shop for all your magical caster needs. Last time we spoke about the macros mages should know and love, those little additions to your game play that will make you even more uber than you already are. At the end of that article I mentioned we would next talk about the addons that mages simply shouldn't do without, and even the comments in that article mentioned a few (thanks for stealing my thunder guys.)
This isn't to say that as a mage it is required that you use mods when you play. Think of these more as the added features on your luxury sedan, the DVD player and the auto-adjusting seats. The mods I use are an extension of the way I already play, but they don't play the game for me. Try them out, see if they work for you, and let us know how it went. Like I've said before, no one can tell you how to play your class; we can only suggest things that might make playing your class easier or more fun.

Cryolysis: This beauty of a mod is a radial menu that puts every spell you need at your fingertips. The main sphere of the interface can be configured to display info on your health and mana in either numbers or percents, and show your cooldowns on evocation and mana gems.

Cryolysis also has some great alert features, letting you know when your sheep breaks for instance. It gives you a nifty readout that tracks the cooldowns on your spells. You can also have the mod automatically restock your reagents at the vendor so you never run out of that blasted Arcane Powder (not that this has ever happened to me).

Many of the features in this mod seem to be automations of macros I created on my own, for instance the /party alert letting them know you've polymorphed a target, or that you're summoning a portal that will take them to a certain city. All in all, the word for Cryolysis is concise. It coalesces just about everything you do as a mage into one simple menu. I call it beautiful.

WaterboyLoc: Until we get our Water Fountain and Feast Table spells, Waterboy is here to help you provide food and drink to your party or raid. You might think this is too simple to add to the list, but think about all the time you spend making/trading food and water for the 25-man raid, and you'll realize that Waterboy really can be a useful friend.

The menu allows you to summon your consumables and when done you drag them to the box to the right and hit trade. That's it. The addon automatically trades the water or food with your target, saving uber amounts of hassle. The interface will also let you right-click to use the products of your effort, be they mana gems, water or food. Simple, beautiful, and it this version is available with localization for those with French or German clients.

Quartz: Ah Quartz, wherever was I without you? This is one of the most useful mods I have ever loaded into my UI. At its core Quartz is a modular casting bar, and its most powerful component is its latency information. Basically Quartz lets you know when you truly stop casting a spell, based on your current latency. After you install the addon, you go in and create a stopcasting macro for each of your spells (read up on how to do this by looking at the last Arcane Brilliance.) You are then able to stop casting without actually interrupting the spell, and begin to cast the next one immediately. Quartz's latency feature can increase your spell damage by up to one-third because you are simply casting more spells.

The other feature I love to death with Quartz is the multiple casting bars. When I cast Pyroblast, for instance, Quartz puts up a bar that lets me know exactly how long my target is affected by the spell. I've gotten in the habit of looking at these bars almost more than I watch the health of the target. It's a great way to keep track of when the Frost Nova will break, or when you will have to resheep that Naga in Heroic Underbog.

Omen Threat Meter: If you've ever wondered why you keep dying, chances are it's because you're pulling aggro off your tank. A threat meter is the key to keeping you alive, particularly if you are doing decent damage. The key to Omen (or even its low-powered cousin KTM) is having everyone in your party install it. If they are running KTM Omen will read their information, but not the other way around. I find Omen to be more concise, easier to read, and certainly more accurate than KTM. It has a couple of features KTM does not, like that little trick of framing your screen in red when you pull threat off the tank.

Omen is a WoWAce addon, which means you'll need to download the WoWAce updater to get access to it, but you definitely will want to do that because our last entry is also only available through WoWAce, and you can update both with the click of a button.

Decursive 2.0: The big boy is back from the dead, resurrected with a Soulstone of fabulousness. If you have never encountered Decursive before you're in for a real treat, because here is where mage addons began. Long ago Decursive would populate a list for you of who was cursed in your party, and all you had to do was click on their names and the curse would be lifted. Blizzard found this to be too much automation for their tastes and stopped the instant decursing in its tracks. That was a sad, sad day for mages, but luckily Ace2 has provided us with a new and improved version of this very essential mod.

Decursive now has a handy set of clickable little boxes that light red when a party member is cursed, and in addition lets you know when someone is charmed. It also has an auditory alert for when sheep break, quite handy I must say. Just about everything about Decursive 2.0 is easier to deal with now, and I just about passed out with joy when I was able to use this beautiful little number again.

Well, that's about it for this Arcane Brilliance. I have to go update my addons now and then set about farming money to buy enchants for my newly finished Spellfire set. Next time look for a nice chunky discussion on bonuses to spell damage. Until then, may all the mobs you farm be melee, and may your mana pool never run dry.

Blood spirit II