Darkpromise....HOOOO!

Only 5 more pieces till I never have to PvE again ever ever ever if I don't want to!

Tonight I finally got my first piece of Darkpromise gear to drop in Lost Vale. We cleared out the first wing rather quickly, as per usual, and I was the fortunate recipient of a lovely new pair of Darkpromise Handwraps. Thank you Broog, Kildara, Annarane, Deathwed and Orgrune!

Now, on to the topic of the day: PvE, and why I don't like it.

Back in the days of Warcraft, I never set foot in any area or instance that was remotely PvP related. I had come from Asheron's Call, where there was some benefit to killing people besides "points" to buy gear I could easily get from any number of bosses in the game. Basically, playing WoW was my 4 year hiatus from PvP as a whole... till Warhammer came out.

I love RvR. I can't get enough of it. And this game has made me hate PvE to the point that I complain INCESSANTLY about having to do Lost Vale or any other instance because all it means to me is that there will be no premade oRvR or Scenario groups for the night. (I blasted Vinda to R40 with such a quickness that I'm currently unfortunately only 66% to RR33. :( )

"But don't you want Darkpromise???" my guildies ask incredulously.

Of course I do... but only because it means I'll be able to take part in city sieges. :)

PvE to me is only a means to an end. It's really just easy-access ward gear that you don't have to rely on STUPIDLY RANDOM contribution-ruining dice rolls to get. (I have come in top 3 in contribution a number of times in keep takes and rolled in the double digits :\). At this point I don't need Annihilator gear anyhow, since we clear Enclave in about 20 min and Bilerot in under an hour with Deathwed or Orgrune tanking and Sentinel gear is markedly more easy to obtain. I'm currently 4/6 Sentinel and 1/6 Darkpromise (which could change tomorrow depending on how much the drops hate me). The individual Darkpromise pieces are not huge upgrades, but the set bonuses on the DP set FAR exceed those on Sentinel, so I'll hopefully be able to put together a nice mix of the two.

PvE just plain bores the SHIT out of me. I'd rather get zerged by Order all night than slog through a Lost Vale, Bilerot or Enclave run... though I will continue to do so likely even after I am geared fully because other people need wards as well... and selfishness just ain't my style.

I will, however, duck out of PvE at any available opportunity provided the group really and truly doesn't need me. >:) Generally the drop rates for things that people actually need are horrific (GG Magus and DoK gear, ffs. There isn't even one in the damn guild.) so that's not a big motivation to sit in there for a few hours either. :\

------------------------------Off-Topic---------------------------------
If you don't want to read my musings about available gear and what I do and don't want, read no further. ;)


I've lately been trying my hardest to figure out what +heal crit gear I can easily get, and it's frustrating.

So, here is the plan so far, logging it here for posterity so I can look back on it later if need be:
(Please note: This is NOT a "Best-In-Slot" list or anything like that, just reasonably obtainable upgrades for my character at her current Renown Rank and level of progression.)

Head:
Currently: Sentinel Cowl
Want: Currently no pressing need to upgrade. DP just looks cooler, IMO.

Chest:
Currently: Carcass-Guard of the Warden :(
Want: Sentinel or Darkpromise Carcass-Guard, whichever drops first.

Feet:
Currently: Annihilator Footwraps
Want: Darkpromise Footwraps (Best in slot, IMO)

Hands:
Currently: Sentinel Handwraps/Annihilator Handwraps/Darkpromise Handwraps
Want: Nothing. However, I'm not going to equip the DP till I get another piece for the set bonus.

Waist:
Currently: Sentinel Waistwrap
Want: Darkpromise Wastewrap (Clear, though small, upgrade. Easy way to get the 2-piece bonus.)

Shoulders:
Currently: Sentinel Wingmantle
Want: Darkpromise Wingmantle (Another clear, though small, upgrade.)

Dagger:
Currently: Agony (R37 Epic quest chain reward, and yes, I know, it's not very good.)
Want: Bloodfist Skinflayer or Skinflayer of the Scalebreaker. Would also take a Knife of the Watcher, if I could find one.

O/H:
Currently: Malice (R37 Epic quest chain reward, and yes, I realise this is also terribad.)
Want: Focus of the Watcher

Cloak:
Currently: Some green cloak with 22 WP and 22 Wounds on it.
Want: Cloak of the Watcher or Guise of Repose.

I also need to keep my eyeballs peeled for Change Rings of the Harrier in the AH. 24 WP and 24 Wounds with resists = NOMNOM.

Gearwise, if I could get the DP Chest and Feet to drop, I'd be set. I know the DP gloves aren't the greatest, so if I had the belt I'd swap it out instead of the Sentinel and leave on the Sentinel Handwraps, cause they're really itemized a bit better IMO.

Crit:
Innate Crit - 10%
Darkpromise Footwraps - 3%
DP set bonus - 5%

Then Ideally:
Dagger - 3%
Focus - 2%
Cloak - 1% from Guise of Repose (unless I somehow hit the lotto and wind up with a Watcher cloak with 4%)

That gets me up to 24% crit from items. I have not been able to find jewelry with +crit on it, and I don't think there are any such items in game, at least not according to WarDB. Pretty good, methinks.

What I guess I don't get is the fact that Darkpromise setpieces are, individually, only minimal upgrades from Sentinel. However...

Darkpromise Set Bonuses:
2- +69 WP
3- +5 Heal Crit
4- +69 Toughness (meh)
5- +10% chance to reduce cost of next ability used in 10 sec to ZERO AP. <3333
6- +5 AP regeneration

Sentinel Set Bonuses:
2- +344 Elemental Resistance (o_O)
3- +62 WP
4 - +62 Toughness (meh)
5- +5 Heal Crit
6- Stupid shield proc that, according to the tooltip, absorbs 47 damage. I'll pass.

The DP pieces aren't individually itemized much better than the Sentinel, but the set bonuses are a clear upgrade. I really do wish they'd turn that Toughness into Initiative, though... Toughness really doesn't start to make a big difference in the damage you mitigate unless you're stacking around 800 or so of it, and I'll never, ever, ever have that much Toughness... so it's kind of a waste.

Anyhow, this turned out way more long winded than I would have liked it to, so I'm going to sign off now to go perhaps play an alt or something... or possibly watch a little TV.

Night!