Badge Vendor, Come Out...

Sometime yesterday, the Badge Vendor was unlocked in Quel'danas. While I had enough badges saved up for my Scryer's Blade of Focus, I was 12 badges short of the Fused Nethergon Band. But luckily, when I awoke in the Scryer's Inn, I was invited to a Karazhan raid that had seen one of its members disappear without notice. It was a late start for the team as a whole, so we didn't get a full clear in, but I got exactly 12 badges as we breezed through 6 bosses. After disbanding, I ported to Stormwind to fish me up a baby crocolisk and then went back to Shattrath to turn in some quests I was just finishing up before I was summoned into Karazhan.

Then, off to Quel'danas. With 10 Large Prismatic Shards and 10 Greater Planar Essences in hand for Enchant Weapon: Spellpower (I have not saved up for Sunfire yet) and Enchant Ring: Spellpower, I was ready to find the vendor. Of course, there were many other people around me trying to do the same thing, but I managed to get his attention and purchase my items. I then went out on the island to do my daily quests with Mercreus. We breezed through everything except the Darkspine Myrmidion quest as they were refusing to drop keys for us, but when I returned to the questgivers, I hit exalted!

I immediately went and picked up a Shattered Sun Pendant of Acumen which replaces my Vindicator's Pendant of Conquest. But I think the Pendant of Acumen will be replaced with the Vindicator's Pendant of Subjugation once I have saved up enough honor points. With a Runed Crimson Spinel, damage is identical on the two, so it comes down to whether 21 haste is better than the proc on the neckpiece which theorycrafts into 25 damage or so (maybe less due to a hidden cooldown).

Scryer: [((333dmg + 367dmg) / 2) * (1 + 0.5 * 0.12)] / 50s = +7.42dps = 25.97 dmg

While out doing the dailies though, I definitely could see the boost in damage from the new dagger and ring. The nice thing about the ring is that it allows me to use the Icon of the Silver Cresent at all times and stay at the hit rating cap (with the Pendant of Conquest or Subjugation - I'm 8 under the cap with the Pendant of Acumen). However, if I find I like the Pendant of Acumen, two Great Lionseyes will get me to the hit cap rating exactly which I might do if I can find someone to purchase them from (I will certainly be watching the auction house for them this weekend).

Note: It has now been 2 weeks and 1 day since the patch - I have done the fishing daily quest every day and still nothing. No hat, no fishing line, and most importantly, no pets. And now that Nefernetcher has the Phoenix Hatchling, he's bringing it out whenever he can to rub it in my face...

A Few Planned Upgrades

With 2.4 hitting, and a new Badge of Justice vendor opening soon, I plan on purchasing two new items. Along side those items, I'm hoping the daily quests can quickly fund the purchase of a couple Hearts of Darkness for a craftable item. Once I receive those upgrade, I also plan on switching out my cloak for additional haste rating. When all is said and done, I should be able to hold off Nefernetcher who almost beat me in damage last night on Gruul.

Upgrade #1: Nathrezim Mindblade (with +40 damage enchant) --> Scryer's Blade of Focus (with Sunfire enchant)

Gain of: 24 stamina, 10 intellect, 54 damage. Loss of: 23 crit.

Upgrade #2: Signet of Ancient Magics (+15 Stam Gem, +12 damage enchant) --> Fused Nethergon Band (+12 damage enchant)

Gain of: 2 intellect, 28 hit rating, 4 damage. Loss of: 10 MP/5.

Upgrade #3: Pauldrons of the Aldor --> Mantle of Nimble Thought

Gain of: 12 stamina, 38 haste. Loss of: 16 spirit, 15 crit, 4 hit, 1 damage.

Swap #1: Collar of the Aldor --> Spellstrike Hood

Gain of: 16 hit, 22 damage. Loss of: 14 stamina, 23 intellect, 17 spirit, 15 crit. Trade of: +3% increased crit damage for +92 damage for 10 seconds with Spellstrike Set

Swaw #2: Brute Cloak of the Ogre-Magi --> Shadowcaster's Drape

Gain of: 4 stamina, 25 haste. Loss of: 23 crit, 1 damage.

Total gains/losses over all five changes:

Gain of: 26 stamina, 40 hit, 63 haste, 78 damage.
Loss of: 11 intellect, 33 spirit, 76 crit, 10 MP/5.

In all, it's a great trade off. Hit and crit are traded at a 1:1 ratio through sockets so I lose 36 hit/crit. But with 1 Haste > 1 Damage, and both Haste and Damage > Hit and Crit, it's some huge damage gains (141 haste+damage is much better for damage than 76 crit (though I'm really only losing 36 in the tradeoff)). The intellect I lose isn't nice as a larger mana pool is always nice, but only 11 lost isn't too bad. I never liked the MP/5 in the ring, so I'm glad to get rid of that. And though spirit now factors into mana regen, it hurts a little to lose that, but it's not a big deal as I was able to make it through Gruul last night without potions and with a mana emerald still in my bags.

With these changes, I should be able to hold off Nefernetcher for just a little while longer. I just haven't seen any Hearts of Darkness on the auction house for a while, but hopefully spamming trade channel with requests will get me the two I need for my shoulders.

Of course, this also factors in the Sunfire enchant which I have a bit of farming to do, but I think with some concerted effort this weekend I can either farm up the mats or earn enough through 50 daily quests to purchase the mats.

The spell haste rating I will be achieving with 63 points grants me a 4.01% faster cast time which translates essentially to 4.01% more damage. With these haste items now also affecting the global cooldown, it'll be pretty nice if I can stack some more haste. Perhaps with the additional hit rating gained through gear changes I can put some epic haste gems in some slots previously reserved for +hit and if I amass enough badges, I can think about swapping out Fury of the Ursine for Runed Spell-Cuffs giving my total haste rating a boost of 1.59% for a total of 5.6% faster casts.