The Sacred and Profane

A little machinima to usher in the new year!

2009-01-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! I am thankful that 2008, a year of global economic tumult is behind us. Let's hope that the 2009 brings better tidings. We at the Sacred and Profane are thankful for our small but burgeoning readership. We look forward to entertaining, edifying, and delighting our readers in 2009.

I've always been amazed by the best WoW machinima. Repurposing the game into a creative medium takes remarkable concentration and creativity. Over the holiday break, I discovered one of the best WoW machinima videos that I've ever encountered.

The video is entitled Blind for reasons that become apparent by the end of the film. Blind nicely riffs on lore concerning Onyxia and Lady Prestor. (obvious spoiler warnings apply here). The action choreography would do Master Woo Ping (of Matrix and Stormwind fame) proud. I can't wait for the next installment. Bravo!

The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

Archaeologists discover true BC shaman

2008-11-19T10:30:00.003-05:00

Our prehistoric past has always fascinated me. How did people lift themselves up from basic hunting and gathering to organized agriculture? How did the domestication of dogs, cattle, and horse really happen? How did our ancient ancestors, blessed with language and self-awareness, explain the natural world around them?

A recent archaeological discovery in northern Israel sheds light on our prehistory. A few years ago, archaeologists found a 12,000 year old burial site for a woman who died in her mid-forties. In those days, life, to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes, was certainly nasty, brutish and short. Anyone who made it to that age was a statistical outlier. The woman was Natufian, one of the oldest large bands of hunter gatherers known. Excitingly, the grave marks the oldest shaman burial site ever found.

Meticulous ritualistic arrangement underscores the woman's status.

What's particularly interesting about this society is that it marks a transition between nomadic hunting and gathering to the initial collection and cultivation of wild grains. Early Natufian sites indicate a lot of gazelle hunting and fishing occurred. Later Natufian settlements show tools to grind wild grains as well as large grain storage pits. Natufians show the earliest evidence of dog domestication. Such technological shifts permitted a more settled existence and the rise of a semi-sedentary lifestyle. An economic surplus from food productivity gains was essential to technological, artistic, and societal advancement.

The woman's grave stands out from normal Natufian burials. Her burial involved much care. She was placed inside a rock lined pit and buried underneath a large limestone slab. The body was positioned so that she was lying on her side with an ornate arrangement of animal remains including parts of eagles, leopards, martens, wild pigs, cows, and a human foot. Fifty turtle shells radiate away from the body. (Boy, this is starting to sound like the gathering quest from hell!) The presence of these animal fetish objects strongly indicate that the woman held a high societal position and that she likely served as an intermediary between humans and the natural world. Skeletal evidence shows that she was almost tall and likely walked with a pronounced limp.

As I heal the new WoTLK instances on my restoration shaman, Dharmageddon, my thoughts still turn to the life of a wizened old shaman from the Levant who intermediated the natural and supernatural worlds 12,000 years ago.

She should have used her ankh and self-rez'd!

WoW Interupted: Real life intrudes . . .

2008-11-17T11:45:00.006-05:00

After two years, the American political machine lurched to the end of another presidential campaign season. Though it might sound cliche, this campaign truly was historic. Both major parties considered women for high positions in the executive branch. The Internet enfranchised millions by encouraging voter participation and facilitating the large scale fund raising. And, of course, the nation elected Senator Obama, our first African American president. Even in an immigrant nation, Obama's life history stands out. He's a true child of the world who posses cultural ties to the Midwest, Hawaii, Asia, and Africa.

I spent election night raiding Black Temple with my guild. NPR droned early return projections in the background. Our guilds efforts met with great success that night. We were on our way to clearing 6 bosses without a wipe. Way to go raid nerfing! Somewhere between Bloodboil and good ol' Mom Sharaz, the press consensus called the election for Senator Obama.

Guild officers had strongly encouraged people not to talk about politics in guild chat. The last thing we needed was the Blue state versus Red state rivalry to divide the guild. Still, there came some hew and cry when the Obama victory became a mathematical inevitability. One of our teenage members exclaimed "There's gonna be Niguaz in the White House." We were all shocked. Officers and rank and file members quickly condemned the remark. The kid was booted from the guild. His only defense was that he had not spelled out the n-word explicitly. Lame.

Casual use of the n-word in pop culture has desensitized many to the word's ugly history. Rappers bandy the word all too easily. Apologists might claim that such usage empowers through re-appropriation. I would beg to differ. The slur is an ugly relic of our nation's long struggle with slavery, segregation, and African American disenfranchisement. I'm proud that our guild's officers run a tight ship where slurs are not tolerated. Still, the ex-member's outburst was an unpleasant reminder of how far our society still has to go.

Yo! Sacred and Profane Raps! Seriously.

2008-10-20T10:00:00.010-04:00

Few musical genres are as parody-worthy as Rap. Typical tropes — hyper-masculine braggadocio, ultra-consumerist fronting, and lametastic attempts at rebellion — present an all too easy target. Streetwise authenticity went out the window years ago. After all, how gangsta can you really be if your music is proffered by multinational media concerns?

Here are some of our favorite rap parodies:

This WOW-addled rapper shows us his epic skills in an oldie but a goodie. Maybe the new barber shop will afford him a chance to look even more thugalicious!

Here's a video of Chinatown Hustler from the Notorious MSG. Think Beastie Boys meets Chinatown gangsta with a soupçon of Weird Al. Catch 'em live if you can. They put on a terrifically funny show with a truly funky beat. Fabulous rap parody. Peace out mouthasucaks!

And if you missed it, here's the notorious Sarah Palin rap from SNL. Unfortunately, we aren't treated to Rapin' Palin. I think I would have mildly respected the Governor more if she had actually rapped. Alas, lost opportunities!

Yes, this election has set new lows for silliness. Just think of Alaskan vistas of Russia, vice presidential pornography, Joe the Plumber (who apparently isn't a licensed plumber), aging reformed 60's radicals, legislative impotence, porcine cosmetics, maverickiness, and caribou barbie. Just check out this heady guild drama!

And here's a little somethin somethin from the mac daddy of musical satirists, Weird Al. The polyhedral dice are a nice shout out to old school gamers!

White & Nerdy from waymoby on Vimeo.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still waiting for Megan the PvP goddess at Out of Mana to put together her own rap video. We know she has the lyrical chops!

My journey into vanity pet obsession.

2008-10-14T10:30:00.006-04:00

Take your pets to dangerous, exotic places like Black Temple and Utgarde Keep. They'll still love you when you wipe!

Things to do in WoW — quest, farm, pvp, collectd non-combat pets, raid. Wait!? Collect non-combat pets?

Yes – I admit. I am a serial pet collector.

I want one of everything! I have farmed rep for the Nether Ray Fry and Tiny Spore Bat. I fish for hours a week hoping to get the Magical Crawdad which continues to elude me, not even allowing me wishes from Mr. Pinchy. I do the fishing daily a minimum of 5 days a week hoping for just one of the crocolisk pets in my reward pouch. I take my hunter out farming for those BOE pets that drop from killing a specific mob (much faster than trying it as a healer!). I keep an eye on the Neutral AH and have picked up almost all Horde BOE pets; just waiting to find the Black Tabby cat.

Tiny Spore Bat also doubles as a nightlight.

I am, as of this writing, at 48 pets and growing! Every collector should visit www.warcraftpets.com. It is a great website for those in all stages of pet collection. It lists all pets available through Burning Crusade with a section about projected pets in Wrath of the Lich King. Also, it has a feature to track which pets you have gotten! My favorite pet that I currently have is the Tiny Spore Bat from Sporeggar rep because he glows orange, not many have it, and it is just too darn cute!

image courtesy of warcraftpets.com

As you can guess, I am beyond excited about getting a Pet tab with Patch 3.02. I am going to gain so much bank space, but it has been well worth giving the space up for all my pets.

The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks.

Many say that to put this much effort into collecting non-combats is crazy. I'd just say that I'm just crazy in love!

As an added note, I'd like to point out that non-virtual animals deserve some love too! Take a gander at Charity Navigator's listing of most effective animal welfare organizations and wildlife conservation organizations.

What vanity pets really think about us when we wipe.

Community Spotlight: Preparing for Patch 3.0

2008-10-08T09:55:00.003-04:00

It's coming in a week . . . Patch 3.0 gives us a taste of what's to come in the expansion. We'll all receive free respecs and we'll be confronted with a new set of talents and a new profession, inscription. Raids will probably go through significant adjustments. Thank goodness we're receiving a raid boss nerf! Our web scanning gnomes have identified some must read resources to help you prepare for Patch 3.0.

Dwarf Priest's provides the clearest, most comprehensive review of upcoming priest changes complete with a cogent analysis of relevant glyphs, builds, and spells. This compendium applies to Holy, Discipline, and Shadow priests alike. A must read!

Having a good plan is a must for profitable AH trading!

WowEconomist will soon have a nifty guide to the new Inscription profession up. In the mean time, do read his posting about profiting from the upcoming rush to level Inscription by purchasing herbs before the patch drops. I've already built up positions ahead of the tradeable event and the finance part of me is chortling at the impending profit! Kek.

Kali the Destroyer pwns in AV.

Megan aka the PvP goddess at Out of Mana has authored handy guides for warlock and druid arena builds in 3.0. Even if you don't play these classes, it's always good to understand your opponent's bag of tricks. With her boundless PvP blood thirst, I sometimes wonder if Megan is some WoW manifestation of the Hindu goddess Kali. I guess it wouldn't hurt to sacrifice a few gnomes to her!

I can assure you that all of the aforementioned pieces will be infinitely more pleasant reading than the sad reality of the global financial meltdown. Sigh. At least, we'll always have virtual WoW economic soundness.

Could financial crisis ever hit the WoW economy?

2008-10-05T22:56:00.022-04:00

Just another day at the office!

By day, I work at a major investment house. No, I'm not one of those corrupt Wall Street fat cats whom populist politicians love to blast. My life is hardly that glamorous! My day involves a lot of complicated investment decisions. The job brings me in touch with a lot of smart people who have to think about world financial trends.

Over the past 18 months, I have watched the credit crisis spread throughout the global financial system. What began as a problem with US bad mortgages soon became a contagion that would plague the mightiest financial behemoths such as AIG, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. In the current phase of the financial collapse, banks have stopped lending activities to each other. Previously ho-hum debt markets such as commercial paper have seized up. Capitalism's lifeblood has stopped flowing. Businesses and individuals cannot borrow money for routine activities. Let's hope the technocrats at the Treasury can successfully engineer the most significant governmental intervention in US economic history. It is not hyperbole to contend that we risk a major global economic collapse. Money needs to flow again for the world's economies to return back to some semblance normal functioning.

Who is to blame for this mess? It's complicated. An incomplete list of culprits would include: Democrats, Republicans, Wall Street Executives, individuals who had no business buying housing, mortgage brokers, Fannie/Freddie leadership, regulators, central bankers around the world, commercial bankers, and investors large and small. Ugh!

WoW game designers must contend with ever growing money supply in the economy.

As the financial crisis has intensified over the past three weeks, I have played WoW for a respite from financial crisis news overflow. It does a feel a bit surreal that WoW life continues seemingly unaffected by financial crisis. Guilds still raid. Trade channel remains cringe worthy. And the WoW economy still hums. Which leads me to wonder . . . Could the WoW economy ever suffer a debilitating crisis?

The answers is: highly unlikely. The WoW economy is simple even by MMOPRG standards . . . just ask any veteran corporate privateer who plays EVE Online. The folks at Blizzard, unlike CFO's who attempted to oversee risk at investment banks, have complete visibility into all aspects of the WoW economy. They can see the overall supply of money in each server's economy. They can easily calculate the rate at which people people are generating money. Introduction of money sinks such as 5,000G epic mounts (1000G gigantique bag, anyone?) and expensive craftable items help to forestall out of control inflation. Adjustments in commodity yield rates such as motes per elemental, ores per node, and herb frequency can temper commodity bubbles before they start. Alas, the gnomes who run the WoW economy have perfect insight into everything that goes on. If only our central bankers possessed such fine control and omniscience.

Let's hope we can rebuild our global financial system.

It takes a village to raise a blogger.

2008-10-04T12:10:00.010-04:00

Many moons ago, K and I were negatively inspired by a WoW blog that shall go nameless (WBTSGN). We were both acquainted with the author. The blogger constantly used his WBTSGN as a bully pulpit to criticize, kibbutz, complain, and cajole. We decided that we wanted to author a blog with a positive focus!

After our first few posts in August, we began to reach out to various established members of the WoW community for advice and publicity. We are pleased to say that the response has been tremendously positive. Rohan over at Blessing of Kings was very supportive and even added us to his blogroll. A wonderful honor! I recently received some nice comments from Phaelia, one of the authors of Resto4Life. We're delighted that she's chosen to feature us in her current community spotlight. Thank you for the treemendous (oh!) support. And a big Sacred and Profane shout out goes to the folks at Warcraft Bloggers for including our humble blog in their compendium.

Thank you WoW blog community for welcoming us so warmly. We look forward to continuing our mission to edify and delight.

All's fair in Love, Politics, and War(craft)

2008-09-24T12:02:00.011-04:00

Normally, we here at The Sacred and Profane shy away from politics, in-game or otherwise. We're saddened that the level of political discourse isn't too much more elevated than what passes for banter in capital city trade chat. After all, excess attention to porcine cosmetic products does nothing to catalyze meaningful discussions on real issues such as global warming, planetary financial implosion, and national energy policy.

Still, we're not above the occasional bit of good-natured political satire as the election silly season draws to its close. So we have chosen to republish the following posting from the WoW general forums concerning some pretty heady guild drama:

[General] [Hillary] <The Democrats> are now recruiting new players. No experience necessary. PST for more info.

From [Obama]: I would like to join
To [Obama]: ok 1 sec
[Guild] [Hillary] : Anyone know a rogue named Obama?
[Guild] [Gore]: Yeah, saw him talking in trade chat once. He is pretty noobish but shows a lot of promise.
[Guild] [Hillary]: Ok I'm gonna invite him then

You have invited Obama to join the guild!

Obama has joined the guild

[Guild] [Hillary]: Welcome. You be on a 2 year trial and we will help you learn everything along the way.
[Guild] [Obama]: Cool...when are we going to SWP??
[Guild] [Hillary]: SWP?? We just started Karazhan!
[Guild] [Obama]: so no SWP?
[Guild[ [Hillary]: We are not ready for that...especially since you just joined the guild and are still in all greens.
[Guild] [Obama]: Oh.....1 sec.

Obama is now the Guild Master

[Guild] [Hillary]: WTF!!!!!! How did you do that!!??!
[Guild] [Obama]: ok gaiz...we are going to SWP!!!
[Guild] [Hillary]: PASS ME BACK GM!!!! YOU HAVE NO END GAME EXPERIENCE!!! YOU HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT END GAME RAIDING!!
[Guild] [Obama]: I don't need it...i have hope and change.
[Guild] [Hillary]: ...
[Guild] [Obama]: oh...almost forgot..

Hillary has been kicked from the guild by Obama.

And, just in case you've missed it, here's the funniest skit that SNL has done in years:

If the Horde takes WSG, then the terrorirsts have won.

2008-09-21T07:48:00.016-04:00

Imagine a group of heavily armed people drawn from disparate backgrounds to attack launch a carefully coordinated attack against a heavily defended target. A grizzled veteran meticulously assigns specific tasks to subgroups . . . armored shock troops to lead the charge . . . stealthy operatives to subvert the enemy defenses . . . ranged assets to launch a heavy barrage from afar. Another typical guild raid night in Black Temple? Or dastardly terrorist plot? Who can tell these days?

Apparently, certain members of our intelligence community are having troubles differentiating between Warcraft and a direct attack on our nation. Dr. Dwight Toavs, a professor at the Pentagon's National Defense University, recently presented to members of Congress and the military, the possibility of terrorist usage of Warcraft as a planning mechanism for an attack.

Check out the following slides from his presentation:

ZOMG. It's a guild attack in the Stonetalon mountains. Hmm. Who leads an attack in the middle of nowhere?

Dragon Fire? Do you mean Dragon's Breath? OK. It's AOE time.

Hmm. But if I whip out my Google Earth overlay of Washington DC, it all starts to make sense. Oh noes! There goes teh White House!

So what can we glean from this presentation? Not much. WoW is a communications medium. Any means of conveying information can be subverted. Even smoke signals and messenger pigeons.

I'm sobered now that I know that terrorists could be infiltrating WoW. Clearly, all those trade channel advertisements seeking DM/VC runs for 5G must be stealth recruitment for terrorist cells. Everything makes sense now!

Personally, I'd be worried about anyone who plays Hello Kitty Online.

The new face of 21st Century terrorism.

Arathi Basin: A Happy Bollywood Ending

2008-09-09T12:58:00.018-04:00

I have something to confess. I sometimes watch Bollywood movies . . . Hindi films produced by India's domestic movie industry. There's something about the need to punctuate every scene with giddy song and dance that makes me smile. And the quaint chasteness of the romances recalls American MGM musicals of yore. Most people in the West don't realize that Bollywood actually churns out more movies than Hollywood does!

What does this have to do with WoW? A few months ago, K and I enjoyed an epic battle in Arathi Basin that concluded in the happiest Bollywood-style dance number. K's husband, K, and I had just weathered several rounds of successful AB action. K and I decided to stick around for one more AB game since we were on a roll. And as you can see from the following screen shots, we were blowing away the Horde.

K and I often wind up stuck on guard duty because most people seemingly neglect defense in BG's. To help pass the time, I whipped out my newly acquired picnic basket. We started to dance around the picnic basket with an alliance rogue. All of a sudden, we saw a heavily PvP geared Tauren druid. Before we could mount a defense, he started to dance with us. One hordie soon became several. Before you knew it, we had a party going on! It was the best AB ever. The spirit of detente could be felt everywhere! And soon members of both sides gathered around my virtual hibachi to dance! K's husband was looking over her shoulder, falling over with laughter!

What a lovely day for a picnic!

Unexpected guests show up.

A cross faction PvP dance party breaks out!

PvP battlegrounds are usually a PUGalcious mess. Throw in 10-40 people on each side. Hope for a modicum of coordination. Shake, mix, blend and wait for the goopy mess to lurch towards its inevitable conclusion. This one was so delightfully different!

What a great way to end a victory for the Alliance . . . A denouement truly worthy of a Bollywood musical. Thank you Hordies for having a sense of humor! And a big shout out goes to Mmsteak of Kalecgos for kicking the party into overdrive! Next time, I'll be sure to break out my Disco ball. If only we could ask Aishwarya Rai to grace our next BG . . .

Of course I'll come to your next BG. For sure!

6 questions answered on shadow priest play!

2008-09-02T14:27:00.004-04:00

Alright, now its Mugglebane's turn for the torture of the dreaded 6 QUESTIONS! After a crazy 2 weeks at work, I finally got to ask Muggs my 6 questions on playing a shadow priest. First, we have a little video to show how the life of a shadow priest really is, then on to how Mugglebane responded.

Why did you try out a shadow spec?

I leveled my priest as shadow to speed the process of reaching 70. I had every intention of going holy to make up for out guild's lack of healers. However, I learned to really enjoy playing a shadow priest. I love dotting up the opposition and the survivability granted by Pyschic Scream and Power Word: Shield. Soon, I found I was able to grind several mobs at once by juggling dots and fear effects.

How is it for pvp?

The shadow priest is much maligned for its PvP viability. A few knocks are obvious: SP's lack the burst damage that a mage or boomkin can dish out; we don't have the efficient crowd control that a mage or druid possesses; and our buffs can easily be dispelled.

While it is true that we are underrepresented in top Arena teams, we can be quite viable in Arena and in BG's when played correctly. Psychic Scream is one of the most effective disruption spells in PvP. There's nothing quite like dropping a fear bomb on a massed enemy as your flag carrier makes his or her getaway in WSG! In Arena's we can be quite lethal when matched with classes that complement our capabilities. In 2v2, SP's are commonly seen with rogues for high CC and disruption. I currently run a 2v2 with K's hunter that works out quite nicely. 3v3 with K's priest and her husband's warlock takes advantage of the natural synergies between warlock and shadow priest. Between the three of us we have multiple spammable fear effects! I've benefited considerably from reading some of the insights on boards like shadowpriest.com and Arena Junkies.

What is it like raiding as a shadow priest?

The SP can be extremely fun to play in a raid situation. The tremendous utility gained from the Vampiric Touch's mana regen and the heal over time (HOT) benefit of Vamiric Embrace have made SP's a staple of all high-end raiding. However, this utility comes at a price. As a SP, you're a huge aggro generator because you DPS and regenerate health/mana. A good SP must constantly push against the tanks threat level without pulling aggro...quite a difficult feat given our threat profile.

As an SP, you're popular with mana-based DPS and healers alike. I've come to really enjoy the compliments that I've received on keeping my raid group fully supplied with mana. There's nothing quite like seeing healers and DPS fight over being grouped with you during raids! It's good to be the belle of the ball!

Do you use the same build for raiding and pvp?

Yes, I use the same build for raiding and PVP. Here's my build (17/0/44). Improved mana burn and Silence are absolutely crucial for PVP as they give you key tools to neutralizing opposing casters. I've chosen to avoid Improved Vampiric Embrace to lower my threat generation so I can do more damage and generate more mana for my group.

What specifically do you look for when gearing up a shadow priest?

Gearing up a starting SP is pretty simple. Your goal should be to get to the hit cap which is 76 with 5/5 points in Shadow Focus. Compared with other casters, the SP hit cap is pretty easy to reach. Your next step is to focus on increasing your spell damage bonus stats. Unlike other casters, your available mana pool is ultimately a function of how much damage you can do. At roughly 1200 bonus damage, your mind flay returns as much mana as it consumes. Any spell damage above this level naturally yields a mana surplus. Pretty cool, eh?

I cannot stress how good tailoring is for newly fledged level 70 SP's. The Frozen Shadoweave set's stats cannot be easily beaten until you're into T6 gear. The boots are still best in slot. Yes, they're that good.

What would you like to change about the shadow builds?

I would love to have greater PVP survivability versus rogues. We're particularly vulnerable to melee DPS if they can evade our dots and shrug off our fears. Also, Blizzard would totally make my day if they could significantly lower respec costs so I could heal on my priest more often. For now, I just heal on my resto shaman.

6 questions answered on discipline priest play!

2008-08-17T22:35:00.003-04:00

Today, we introduce a new feature at The Sacred and Profane. In this new column, K and I will pose each other a set of questions on some aspect of WoW. We'll do our best to edify, delight, and impress. Your feedback is welcome!

Our topic du jour is discipline play. No, I'm not talking about being subjected to the local dominatrix's collection of ball gags, riding crops, and tasteful restraints! I'm referring to heavy discipline priests builds for PvP and PvE. Here are K's responses to my queries on discipline priest play.

Why did you try out a discipline spec?

I have heard so many people say how much more survivability you get as Disc without loosing much in the way of +healing or mp5. Increased survivability as a clothie always sounds appealing! Here's my spec (43/18/0).

How is it for pvp?

My priest has just under 400 resilience. I could tell a difference in survivability as my resilience went up, but still was not great. Once I respec'd to Disc in bg's I became a healing machine because I was able to live so much longer! There have been numerous times in bg's where I will be running in circles shielded and throwing heals with horde running right behind me, but not killing me! I enjoy it a lot more now! ;-P

What is raid healing like with the build?

As Disc spec, I am more of a single target healer, not a party healer like a full holy spec'd priest with Circle of Healing. My +healing and mp5 really didn't decrease, but my health in pve gear went up by about 1.2k while my mana pool increased by 2k. I use less mana pots than before and when most other healers are oom, I still have plenty to let me keep healing!

What was unexpected about the build?

When I first tried raiding with a Disc spec, I instantly noticed of course the stats, but then when I started casting heals I was VERY disappointed in my crits, or lack there of. I was use to getting crits of almost 5k on Flash Heal and it was down to barely 3k. I had to change the spec a little to get my crit back up. It was also hard to get use to not having my angel form after I die. There are versions of a Disc spec where you still get that, but it's too deep into the Holy tree for my preferences.

Has the build met your expectations?

Once I tweaked with the build, I have been very satisfied with it. It has changed the whole dynamic of priest healing for me. I now have Pain Suppression and other new toys to play with that I feel really help the raid out.

What would you like to change about the discipline spec?

I would absolutely love to have my angel form back after death and Circle of Healing! If I was able to have those two talents back, I truly feel that almost all healing priests would run with a deeper Disc spec!

Mugglebane's guide to offensive caster stats.

2008-08-12T20:03:00.000-04:00

With this posting, I hope to dispel some of the confusion concerning spell crit, spell hit, and spell penetration. I have experience with a raiding mage and a raiding / pvp shadow priest as well as fledgling shaman and warlocks. I am happy to go into all of the theorycrafting detail for all those who are interested. The game employs a two roll system that involves a spell miss calculation (governed by spell hit) and a damage calculation modified by spell crit if applicable and spell penetration when calculating resist mitigation

Here’s the executive summary for those who don’t want all the gory detail.

Spell Crit is useful for classes that generate damage bonuses that significantly benefit from landing a crit. These would include: destruction warlocks, arcane mages, arcane/fire hybrid mages, and fire mages. Spell crit isn’t all that useful for any class that uses a lot of damage over time spells since these can’t crit. These classes include: affliction warlocks and shadow priests.

Spell Hit is a useful stat to for all caster classes since not landing a spell obviously gimps DPS. Please keep in mind that spell hit can be overdone as there are levels at which spell hit no longer helps. This level varies by class.

For a nice discussion of spell hit maximums, please consult this nice WoWwiki entry.

Spell Penetration is factored into mitigation of a target’s innate resistance to one’s spells. For most PvE applications, spell penetration winds up being a waste of gem socket space because few mobs have inordinately high spell resists. For pvp purposes, many have found spell penetration to 40 to be sufficient to overcome player’s buff-enhanced resistances. But for pvp purposes, penetration becomes more important particularly with higher-end arena combat.

Conclusion: Spell hit should be a priority for most damage caster classes. You don’t have to go overboard with the stat but mitigating a several percentage points of miss probability can go a long way to boosting effective DPS. Spell crit should only be employed with classes and builds that use crit-based procs to boost damage. If you’re a shadow priest or an affliction warlock, don’t worry about crit. Period. For all caster classes, spell penetration should receive last priority.

For those with a desire to aggressively theorycraft, please check out the excellent discussions at Elitist Jerks.

How I got into playing a holy priest...

2008-08-11T20:29:00.000-04:00

Funny you should ask.

My husband had been playing WoW for about 7 months before I started playing. He would be online for hours on end and I never understood what could be so exciting about a computer game!

Well, he finally convinced me to make a toon and I picked a wonderful female night elf hunter with long purple hair! I loved her! I got to about level 15 or so, had my first pet when my husband says to me, "I have this (male) human priest at level 5 you should try out. You will love it! And, our guild could really use a holy priest. It will be so fun - you get to run around healing me and rezzing people if they die..." you get the picture.

Well, now I am stuck all game looking at a gray haired male with Willie Nelson braids! After being 70 for almost a year on the priest, I only then finished getting my hunter to 70 about 3 months ago.

Separated at birth? You make the call!

Hello world!

2008-08-11T12:06:00.000-04:00

(above: Sacred and Profane Love by Titian)

Welcome to The Sacred and Profane – A blog meditation on life and World of Warcraft from the perspective of two raiding priests. My friend K and I hope to start a lively conversation on all aspects of WoW. We’re both avid players who serve as officers in Defiant, an Alliance raiding guild on Greymane.

By day, I’m a MBA who works at a major Wall Street firm as a buyside investment analyst. I live in Manhattan. During my non-WoW leisure time, I love to work out (fencing, boxing, running, squash) and sample the rich cultural life of this wonderful city. By night, I play Shamhat, a level 70 shadow priest. I also play Mugglebane, a fire mage, and a raiding restoration shaman named Dharmageddon.

My blogging partner is K (aka Holy One) who plays a raiding holy priest named Kevorkianphd. In addition, she plays Hebejebe, a fearsome night elf huntress. K lives outside of Denver with her husband and dogs. K’s husband is also an officer in our guild and plays a formidable destruction warlock and protection paladin.

K and I both look forward to interacting with the rest of the blogosphere!