I had to convince Fimlys and Nibuca that tanking is really girly... click here for the outcome.

Well I've been tagged again... As Naissa always says to me us Tauren gals got to stick together. I'm flattered that some still go to my site and read the few and far between updates and comments.

So here's the gist:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.


2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.


3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

So... 7 Blogs I find brilliant in content or design. I'll be honest and say some of these may have been tagged and I missed it. I've been VERY busy lately... More on that in the 10 honest things section.

• Veneretio's Tanking Tips


• Drotara's More PewPew less QQ


• Matticus' World of Matticus


• Yakra's Mirror Shield


• Ratshag's Need More Rage

I'm quite sure there are many additional deserving blogs that haven't been mentioned, however I've been considerably behind on the blogging scene lately. These six blogs do however represent the blogs that I try to never miss reading a post.

Now, for 10 things that are honest about me:

1. I've been married to the love of my life for nearly 8 years now and he has played with me on World of Warcraft for 4 of them.


2. My parents have also played Warcraft for about 4 years.


3. My grandparents also play Warcraft and have for about 3 years, they're in their 70's now and don't do any instances but enjoy puttering around leveling characters together and with my parents.


4. I've been away from blogging while taking up the reins of management of Epilogue of Icecrown. They're a focused raiding guild on a casual schedule. We raid 7.5 hours a week and are currently working on Sartharion with 3 Drakes up.


5. I've been debating making a comeback with a blog focused on both Tanking and Guild Leadership. I've missed seeing posts from Chick GM and I've enjoyed Yakra's Mirror Shield so those two would represent my influences.


6. I am a gal who enjoys imported beer. Especially a dark lager. Most of my friends don't get it, but I do love it.


7. My favorite book ever is Sorcery by Terry Pratchet, but I usually prefer to read non-fiction books.


8. I am a licensed Insurance "Producer" which really means I'm an agent, but that I work for another agent instead of having my own business.


9. I am up late at night right now with a fever. Can't go back to bed or my fever will rise and since it's already at 102.5 I really don't want to try it even though it's 4:00 am here.


10. I am an avid fan of Macintosh computers.

That sweet German girl Kadomi tagged me for a post. Now for most people I would probably say "meh I'll get back into blogging eventually" but for her I said "Ah what the heck, I might as well let folks know what I've been up to!"

So my sixth screenshot in my sixth folder is also one of the ones I'm the most proud of:



I've been asked to be the guild leader of my guild Epilogue. We're a casual raiding guild that's actually making some reasonable progress. We've gotten our people to 80 and began raiding about 3 weeks ago just before I took up the reins of leadership. We've killed all of Naxx 25 and Malygos 25 and we'll be starting to work on Sarth with Drakes this week most likely. I do plan to eventually pick up blogging again as I do love to write, but for now it's a busy job being guild master and still trying to have a real life!

Occasionally it is my plan to post some videos of achievements and how to obtain them.

Today we're discussing Loken's achievement "Timely Death." It's actually one of the easier ones to obtain as a tank. The biggest load for this achievement will be on the healer.

Loken's abilities are as follows, quoted from wowwiki:

• Lightning Nova: Emit a pulse of energy that deals 6013 to 6987 Nature damage (about 10638 on heroic) to enemies within 20 yards. (5 sec cast)
• Pulsing Shockwave: Shocks all enemies every 2 sec., dealing damage based on distance from Loken. Damage is increased the greater the distance away from Loken. Infinite range.
• Arc Lightning: Shocks the target dealing 3238-3762 Nature damage and giving the target a chance to shock nearby allies (within 10 yards). Note that the when the target shocks nearby allies, they also receive the Arc Lightning debuff, meaning that this ability can "spread", plague-style, as players continually "infect" each other.

The strategy I'm about to propose does require each of your players to be above 16,000 hit points. It also requires a lot of timing on the healer's part.

All DPS stand directly behind Loken. Spread out as much as possible while remaining within melee range. The s spreading out but being behind and to the sides of Loken will lessen the DPS mount of Arc lightning that the group takes.

Do not run out during lightning nova. Instead have the healer time a group heal to land immediately following it. This is especially easy if you have a priest who can start their prayer of healing spell while Loken is casting Lightning Nova.

As a Tank do everything you can to help your healer not need to heal you. Take potions, use cool downs, and plan to keep up your debuffs.

Here's the video, please feel free to leave any questions you may have in the comments. Also, you can view it in a higher quality resolution here.





Thanks go to Arcanirus, Terrence, Rivens, and Anowyn for taking part in this Heroic Loken kill.

So you're one of those folks that hasn't yet specced into deep wounds eh? Maybe you feel it's too DPS-ish? Maybe it's just too non-Tanky. If you're practical, you might even think you'll be squishier if you pick it up? Put to rest your fears and read on!

What makes Deep Wounds so great? Not only is it a huge damage boost (6-12% if you believe Ciderhelm) it's also a massive AOE tool.

Deep Wounds can proc off of Damage Shield.

This means that everything that hits you has a dot on it. Not just any dot either, this dot produces more threat than a Devastate! Think thorns on Massive-Gnomish-Annihilator-Steriods. Blizzard must have felt Vene's pain.

The best part is, you don't have to sacrifice anything to get it.

What about cruelty? Yes, I don't recommend having deep wounds and having all 5/5 in cruelty, but you're not really giving anything up! Cruelty has always been a pure threat stat. Point for point Deep Wounds is MUCH better.

What about all the other good survivability stuff in protection? While I could see a viable use for imp SW, the truth is I just don't use Shield Wall more than once every 5 minutes. It's possible that there may be some required spec for a certain boss that needs imp SW, but sort of unlikely. Other than imp SW there really aren't any other survivability talents that you won't be getting.

All said and done Deep Wounds is a must have.