Daniel Whitcomb
Richland, WA - http://
Daniel Whitcomb has been a player of MMORPGs for years. He currently writes the Death Knight column and general news articles for WoW.com.
Lichborne: Blood DPS 101
by Daniel Whitcomb 
on Feb 9th 2010 (4 hours ago)
According to recent armory analysis, blood is the most popular death knight spec. It's not hard to see why, it's a simple yet robust tree that provides lots of power with a minimum of fuss. If you're interested in getting in the DPS side of the tree but aren't sure where to start, or if you're just looking to brush up on the basics of the tree, this is the Lichborne for you. While this guide doesn't necessarily cover some of the more advanced aspects of the tree, it does covers the basic ways to get the most out of your gear, rotation, and spec as a blood DPSer.
1. What is blood DPS?
Blood is the death knight tree that focuses the most on pure physical damage. It also has superior health regeneration. Like all three trees, it can be used for both tanking and DPS, but we'll focus on DPS for this guide.
2. Blood DPS Benefits
- Superior single target damage.
- Superior self healing and health stealing abilities mean you probably die less and can survive through a less than stellar healer or tank more consistently than many other DPS.
- Some very nice group and raid melee buffs in the form of Hysteria and Abomination's Might.
- Not quite as much AoE potential as the other two trees.
Filed under: Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Breakfast Topic: Are You Ready for Some Football?
by Daniel Whitcomb on Feb 9th 2010 (12 hours ago)
Anyhow, it was a good game, if not the best Super Bowl I've seen in years. But what it really got me thinking of was Warcraft football. Believe it or not, football in Warcraft is totally canon. If you don't believe me, you should watch the end credits for Warcraft III. With that in mind, I got to thinking about what an Azerothian football league might look like, what cities and villages would field teams, and who'd win the superbowl.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Tuesday Morning Post: In the Air edition
by Daniel Whitcomb on Feb 9th 2010 (13 hours ago)
Beyond Icecrown Citadel, we also saw some pretty interesting stuff in and outside the game: Blizzard's planning to offer a premium AH app for the iPhone so you can corner the linen market on the downtown bus. The Love is in the Air holiday is active and completely redesigned, with new achievements, easier existing achievements, and a new boss fight with new holiday loot. Check our Love is In The Air FAQ for information on all the new stuff. Arena season 8 is up and running as well.
Unfortunately, even with all this activity, weekly downtime is still upon us. You'll have from 5 AM to 11 AM pacific time to take a break from all this new stuff. As always, I'll suggest that that's an excellent time to read about it instead. Here's a summary of some of our articles from the past 7 days.
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Lichborne: Crimson Hall loot for death knights
by Daniel Whitcomb on Feb 2nd 2010 (7 days ago)
Welcome to Lichborne, wow.com's weekly death knight column. This week, we continue our breakneck tour of the fabulous Ice Crown Citadel, premiere vacation getaway of the dead, rich, and infamous.
Our look at ICC death knight loot continues this week with the Crimson Hall. Prepare for corny twilight jokes to go with your raiding (trust me, I know they're coming, and I will be making many of them). There's only 2 boss battles in this wing, but there's still plenty of loot to discuss. As before, I'd suggest you check out the introduction to the Lower Spire loot guide, as it does include some basic stat rundowns and philosophies that you should keep in mind as you read these guides.
There's also a few wrenches in the gears (but good wrenches, since they involve buffs) for your loot selections as of Patch 3.3.2, which I'd expect will be live by the time you read this. We'll be getting an Ashen Verdict strength ring and a slight stat adjustment on tier 10 tank armor, so keep those in mind as you read. In short, you'll probably be keeping the Ashen Verdict strength ring as one of your main rings, and tier 10 tank gear looks a lot sexier now, at least for physical-based fights.
Filed under: Raiding, Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Tuesday Morning Post: Ice cold spoilers edition
by Daniel Whitcomb on Feb 2nd 2010 (7 days ago)
Of course, a new patch means a lot of downtime. So, While you're waiting through the 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime for the servers to come up and the patch to download, have a serving of some of the hottest news and best articles from the past 7 days, and be sure to stay tuned for lots more Patch 3.3.2 news in the coming days.
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Lichborne: Plagueworks loot for death knights
by Daniel Whitcomb on Jan 26th 2010 (14 days ago)
Good News Everyone! With the Deathbringer down, you don't have to wait for some gnome in a frying pan. The Plagueworks are open, and you can go right in. Before we take a look at the Plagueworks boss loot, you might want to go back and read the opening paragraphs of last week's Lower Spire loot guide. It outlines the basic parameters and stat considerations we death knights use in picking out our best loot. Once you've done that, read on for a look at death knight loot from the Plagueworks wing of Icecrown Citadel.
Filed under: Raiding, Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Tuesday Morning Post: Not the horse edition
by Daniel Whitcomb on Jan 26th 2010 (14 days ago)
I'll be honest though, the big story for me this week was the release of the Invincible music. Seriously, this is some amazing music and I can't wait to hear it in game. That said, it better not be about the horse. Seriously, Arthas. I love you and all, but that horse is just dumb. You gotta let it go. It was years ago. No-one liked that horse but you. And seriously, naming it Invincible was just thumbing your nose at fate. No, this had better be a plaintive hymn to the fall of Lordaeron, the loss of innocence, and the beloved prince that you once were, played as the Argent Crusaders and the Ebon Blade carry your body off on a bier while Varian, Jaina, Muradin, Thrall, Saurfang, and Bolvar Fordragon watch solemnly.
Yes, I may have put too much thought into this.
Anyhow, you didn't come to hear me rant, you came to catch up on your WoW news during the downtime. As such, please find our usual summary of the last 7 days or so below the cut!
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Ghostcrawler on hunter ammo replacement
by Daniel Whitcomb on Jan 23rd 2010 (17 days ago)
In a general forum post created to discuss ammo replacements, Ghostcrawler piped in to remind us that the only change announced for Cataclysm was the removal of ammo, with nothing else yet decided (or, more accurately, announced). While he did acknowledge the possibility of adding in new situational ammo, he did observe that the hassle of collecting and swapping different ammo types might grow old pretty quickly, especially for a class like the hunter that already needs to push a lot of buttons to play at peak potential, in addition to already having a pet to manage.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Cataclysm
