And then came 1.3. I’m going to start out with this simple admission:

I DON’T LIKE CHANGE!

At least not drastic changes like what they did to cleric. It’s one thing for 1h/shield to be slightly more viable than 2h. It’s another for 2h to be practically worthless.

I spent at least an hour and a half trying to decide on how to do my soul tree after 1.3 hit. I eventually set up two builds (one for straight tanking, one more solo-friendly). I was so frustrated that I signed off for the night. I didn’t play for a couple days after that.

When I finally signed on again, I started going through my bank for the runes and gear I was saving for the 1h/shield switch for raids. I put my shield on. It’s not a very good one, but still a decent expert dungeon drop. Then it came time to put on a weapon. I didn’t have one in the bank, so I head over to the AH. VERY slim pickings, and the one weapon up was overpriced. It’s not like I can tank experts to get a new weapon.

I logged out, and haven’t logged back in since.

This has hit my passion for Rift hard. I’m stuck debating on making an alt my main. Maybe my warrior.

If it turns out as epic I as expect it to, I will probably try to attend the Raleigh event in August.

Here’s a little copypasta of the schedule:

StarCraft 2 Red

Friday

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM All-stream Pregame Show

5:15 PM – 5:30 PM Pregame Show with DJ Wheat and Day[9]

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM Pool Play – Idra vs. Bomber

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Pool Play – Naniwa vs. Moon

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Pool Play – Ret vs. Bomber

8:30 PM – 9:30 PM Pool Play – InControL vs. Losira (on both streams)

9:30 PM – 10:30 PM Pool Play – Idra vs. Ret (on both streams)

10:30 PM – 11:30 PM Pool Play – Haypro vs. Losira

11:30 PM – 12:30 AM Pool Play – InControl vs. Machine

12:30 AM – 12:45 AM Day Wrap with DJ Wheat and Day[9]

Saturday

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Open Winners Round 5 Pt 1 (on both streams)

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Open Winners Round 5 Pt 2

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Open Winners Round 6 (on both streams)

2:00 PM – 10:00 PM Pool Play

10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Championship Losers Round 2

11:00 PM – 11:15 PM Day Wrap with DJ Wheat and Day[9]

Sunday

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Championship Losers Round 3

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Championship Losers Round 4

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Championship Winners Semifinals A (on both streams)

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Championship Winners Semifinals B (on both streams)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Championship Losers Round 7

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Championship Losers Round 8

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM Championship Winners Finals

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM Championship Losers Finals (on both streams)

7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Championship Finals (on both streams)

8:30 PM – 8:45 PM Awards Ceremony (on both streams)

StarCraft 2 Blue

Friday

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM All-stream Pregame Show

5:15 PM – 5:30 PM Pregame Show with Tasteless and Artosis

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM Pool Play – Community’s Choice – Kiwikaki vs. MMA

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Pool Play – Community’s Choice Match – TLO vs. Losira

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Pool Play – Community’s Choice Match – Select vs. Idra

8:30 PM – 9:30 PM Pool Play- InControl vs. Losira (on both streams)

9:30 PM – 10:30 PM Pool Play – Idra vs. Ret

10:30 PM – 11:30 PM Starcraft 2 Blue Stream Update with Julie and Shibby

11:30 PM – 12:30 AM Pool Play – SeleCT- vs. Ret

12:30 AM – 12:45 AM Day Wrap with Tasteless and Artosis

Saturday

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Open Winners Round 5 (on both streams)

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Open Winners Round 5 Pt 3

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Open Winners Round 6 (on both streams)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Starcraft 2 Blue Stream Update with Julie and Shibby

3:00 PM – 10:00 PM Pool Play

10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Championship Losers Round 2

11:00 PM – 11:15 PM Day Wrap with Tasteless and Artosis

Sunday

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Championship Losers Round 3

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Championship Losers Round 4

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Championship Winners Semifinals A (on both streams)

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Championship Winners Semifinals B (on both streams)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Starcraft 2 Blue Stream Update with Julie and Shibby

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Championship Losers Round 8

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM Championship Losers Round 9

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM Championship Losers Finals (on both streams)

7:00 PM – 8:45 PM Championship Finals (on both streams)

8:30 PM – 8: 45 PM Awards Ceremony (on both streams)

Power supply:
Rosewill BRONZE Series RBR1000-M 1000W Continuous@40°C, 80Plus Bronze Certified,Modular Cable Design,ATX12V v2.3/ EPS12V,SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active PFC”Compatible with Core i7, i5″ Power Supply

I was little disappointed that not all the cables are modular. I still had 2-3 cables that I didn’t use that I couldn’t detach from the PSU. Otherwise it’s an extremely quiet 1000W PSU. Came with a cool little bag for all the extra cables. Bonus points for that.

Motherboard:
ASUS P8P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

The only thing I didn’t realize when ordering this mobo is that it doesn’t have an IDE slot. Not a big issue since I’m using SATA HDs, but I still had an old one in the tower just in case I need something off of it. I’ll just put it in my non-gaming desktop. Oh, oh, oh. I have to mention something. This is the first mobo I’ve owned that had a GUI interface. It is also the first THAT RECOGNIZES THE MOUSE! Such a simple thing, but so awesome at the same time.

RAM:
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

I’m a fan of the brand, and have no complaints so far. It’s functioning as it should.

CPU:
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core

The CPU works great. Awesome speed, and has a great base running temperature. I did a little bit of reading on the Sandy Bridge technology, and it’s pretty awesome.

Heatsink/fan:
Noctua NH-U9B SE2 92mm SSO CPU Cooler

Low temperatures. Nice installation. The clips to hold the fans onto the heatsink are annoying as hell. Very quiet without using the special cables it comes with.

GPU:
GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support

This GPU is awesome. I’ve had it for a while.

I was spot on with my predictions yesterday.

Mvp vs. Creator was a good series. Mvp won. No shame in losing to Mvp though. (Pretty sure this was 2-1)
Ganzi vs ButterflyEffect was pretty one sided. Ganzi won. (I think this one was 2-0)
Check vs SuperNoVa was alright. SuperNoVa won it easily. Check took an unnecessary risk with his cheese on the first match. 2-0
MMA vs. Lyn was the best series of the day. MMA took it 2-1.

I ended up doing 4v4 with some friends on the EU servers. We went 3-2 on our placement matches as a team. Ended up in gold. I had a lot of fun with it, even though my computer couldn’t handle it. It was so bad the first game, that I ended up WAY behind. We lost that game as well.

The next day I decided to suck it up and do my placement matches for 1v1. I went 3-2. My first loss was against a zerg who roach rushed me. It was a combination of the strat being weak against that sort of rush, and some bad micro on my part. I’m getting better with my forcefields (which are a must when a zerg is overrunning you with superior numbers). The second loss was against a terran who simply outpaced me. I’ve still got to watch the replays of the games to see what they did so I can start branching out my strats based on opponent. I ended up placed in gold. I wasn’t expecting higher than silver, and I foresee a lot of losses in my near future.

A different friend than before and I played some 2v2 on the US servers. We went 2-3 on our placement matches, and got placed in bronze. We went 1-2 after that before we called it a day. I think we make a good team, but we have to work on meshing strategies better. That and I need to not suck so bad. Cannon rushes suck as well. First time seeing one of those.

One of the 2v2 games was pretty epic. By the end of it, I had maxed food, and a HUGE colossi / stalker deathball. Needless to say, I rolled over our opponent. His teammate immediately left afterward. There was another game where the opponent left as soon as he saw a colossi approaching his base (early game).

I’m getting better with my macro. I’m having problems keeping up with my macro during micro as well. I need to work on memorizing the rest of the hotkeys as well. I’ve got the regular buildings down, but not the advanced ones yet. I also simply need more strategies. I need to be able to counter some of the strats that are killing me. Decision making.

Oh, and I REALLY hate playing against zerg. I went 1-3 against them (including a custom match against my friend).

What I’m really looking forward to is the Super Tournament that started just under 3 hours ago. Unfortunately, I can’t access the stream at work.

Today’s matchups are:
Mvp (T) vs. Creator (P)
GanZI (T) vs ButterflyEffect (T)
Check (Z) vs SuperNoVa (T)
MMA (T) v Lyn. (T)

My predictions:
Mvp (should be a good game)
GanZI
SuperNoVa
MMA (probably the best series of the day)

Tomorrow’s match ups are:
InCa (P) vs Ryung (T)
viOlet (Z) vs TheWinD (Z)
Rain (T) vs Keen (T)
jookTo (Z) vs anypro (P)

My predictions (these are tougher to do):
InCa (despite practically giving away the game in the last finals, he did impressive things to get there)
TheWinD (I expect this to go 2-1)
Rain (Keen is an unknown to me)
anypro

Wednesday’s matches are:
Trickster (P) vs YugiOh (Z)
TheBest (T) vs JJUN (T)
Genius (P) vs BoxeR (T)
Min (Z) vs July (Z)

My predictions:
Trickster (Both are unknowns to me. Gotta show my Protoss love.)
JJUN (Should be a great matchup)
BoxeR (First match of the series will either be a joke, or a close game. Which of those happens will determine if it’s 2-0 or 2-1.)
July (I expect this to be another close match up)

Thursday’s matches:
HongUn (P) vs Moon (Z)
RevivaL (Z) vs Ensnare (T)
FruitDealer (Z) vs AcE (P)
Squirtle (P) vs MarineKing (T)

My predictions:
Moon
RevivaL
FruitDealer
Squirtle (This should be a good set)

Friday’s matches:
Clide (T) vs RainBOw (T)
aLive (T) vs Leenock (Z)
Byun (T) vs LegalMind (P)
Alicia (P) vs MC (P)

My predicitions:
RainBOw
Leenock
Byun
MC

Saturday’s matches:
sC (T) vs Hyperdub (T)
Maka (T) vs Noblesse (T)
Polt (T) vs LoSirA (Z)
HuK (P) vs san (P)

My predictions:
sC
Noblesse
LoSirA
HuK

Early Saturday morning GSL May had it’s final, and then yesterday afternoon TSL3 had it’s final. If you haven’t watched either, don’t read any further.

I was very disappointed in the GSL final. Inca didn’t put up near as good of a fight as he should have. I didn’t expect him to win, but he practically rolled over for NesTea. I don’t want to take anything away from NesTea though, he’s a very good player.

TSL was MUCH better. As a Protoss player, I felt that I had to cheer for Naniwa. However, Thorzain put up a hell of a fight, and earned his win. Both players are incredible, and deserve their positions in the tournament. My mind is STILL blown by the match. Final result of 4-3 after Thorzain came back from being 0-3.

I ran a lot of dungeons over the weekend. The only ones to give us a problem were AP and RD. AP we couldn’t get past the first boss due to maelstrom attack that makes a player push away other players. This makes hiding from his attack more difficult. If we had kept trying, we probably would’ve cleared it, but I felt that we had wasted enough time on AP. RD we got to the final boss, and was having an issue with the ghosts. Again, a few more attempts and we probably would have had it. It was late, and I was frustrated. Otherwise the dungeons are pretty easy, and plaque farming is nothing but a mindless grind now.

The upgraded stats on the plaque gear is pretty nice. I took a look at the full sets on Alpha, and the resulting stats were impressive.

Otherwise, nothing has really changed for tanking, except that it is easier. I’m looking forward to raids and actually having a challenge again.

Throughout the “loop” of the dungeon, you’ll see packs of roamers. These guys aren’t a big deal unless they come with a regular pull. Fighting 7 elites at once rarely ends well. If that happens, do what you can to burn one down. It’ll at least make the next pull easier.

I typically start on the right side of the loop. It’s up to you though.

Matron Verosa is the first boss you come to this way. She has two other bosses with her, Lesch and Gurze. Lesch and Gurze start out with invulnerability buffs. This forces you to start on the Matron. There’s nothing special about her except an AoE (Death Storm) that does a couple ‘ticks’ of damage (it’s not a DoT, it just hits twice). Spam your AoE heal as soon as you see everyone take the first tick. It happens often, so make sure you don’t waste your convictions elsewhere. Death Storm cannot be interrupted.

After beating on her a bit, she’ll become invulnerable, and sic Lesch on you. He has a charge that he’ll use on random group members. Again, use your AoE heal to boost that person (or Righteous Mandate / heal if you’re quick enough), and give yourself a tad more healing. At 75%, he’ll become invulnerable, and you’ll have to focus on Gurze again.

After beating on him a bit, you’ll have to face both. Even Justice spam over and over and over and over. Oh, and you’ll toss some AoE heals into that ‘rotation’. They’ll go down quickly enough. Then you’ll be back to Matron. Nothing has changed since you started. AoE heal through Death Storm.

Surin Skenobar is the next boss. She’s annoying. When she teleports to a person, she places an explosive barrel underneath that person. Move, and move fast. Make sure you’re AoE healing and using your ranged attacks while she is at a distance. I didn’t realize she placed bombs the first time I did this. The tank can live through them just fine. The rest of the group isn’t as fortunate. We actually wiped on her last night because we lost 3 people at once to a bomb.

Sparkwing is flying around in the sky between Surin and Krasimir. Look up, and I’m sure you’ll see him flying around. This is about as basic a fight as you’ll get. His only major attack is an AoE with a knockback that occurs every 15 seconds or so. It only knocks you back like 5m, so just run back up and keep fighting. If you notice, you’ll have a debuff that ticks down from 30. Once it reaches ~20, you’ll get the explosion. Use it to time it, and know when to heal yourself or shield. Not a hard fight.

Krasimir Barionov summons three phases of mobs before he becomes vulnerable to damage. All of the mobs in the waves are vulnerable to stuns, roots, etc. Take advantage of that to protect your group on the pulls. The first wave is a group of 6. Use your AoE taunt to pull them. They’ll typically run straight past you, and to your healer otherwise. Even Justice them down, use your shields, and prepare for the next wave. The next wave is 3 mobs. They hit slightly harder. Use ranged attacks and your AoE heal to get their attention. After that, Even Justice them down. The last wave is 2 mobs. These hit significantly harder. Krasimir will routinely buff one of them. I like to use sovereignty’s stun at this point to put it out of commission for a few seconds.

After they’re dead, he’ll change into a different form. I tank him at the altar, and just wail on em. The boss is a joke from this point.

Before you fight Tephra Lord Maficros, you’ll have to do an earth rift event. Pull the mobs to a safe spot, and just take them out like you would any other group of expert mobs. Watch out for the random fire circles that appear. They hurt. Tephra himself isn’t very difficult.

Be VERY careful that you don’t accidentally aggro Vallnara when Tephra dies. That happened to us, and it was almost an instant wipe.

Queen Vallnara isn’t much different than in normal. She still spawns adds, still spews poisonous mist, and still wants to eat your face. Make sure you’re aware that more than two adds can be up at once. We had 5 at one point when both our DPS died (got her down to 20k health before dying with the trio that was left).

I like to kite (walk backwards) around one of the platforms around the center. This keeps you in range of the DPS and heals at all time. Make sure you don’t get too close though, or they’ll end up in gas. That’s how our DPS died on our only wipe. Your DPS should take down adds once you pull them to you. AoE healing while close to them will usually pull them off, and back to you. Keep an eye on your mana while spamming Even Justice. I had to use a pot at one point because I didn’t hit Purpose. She’ll eventually go down.

Overall, Foul Cascade is an easy T1. It’s great to get a feel for the increased difficulty, and isn’t much of a gear check.

Boss difficulty ranking:

Sparkwing
Tephra Lord Maficros
Surin Skenobar
Krasimir Barionov
Matron Verosa
Queen Vallnara

T1 Dungeon difficulty ranking:

Lantern Hook
Iron Tombs
Foul Cascade
Kings Breach
Realm of the Fae

First, be careful where you get out of the well. The first time I jumped out, I wiped the group. I thought I was far enough away.

Second, clear the entire room before going up the stairs. When you attack the mob at the top, anything left in the room will aggro.

Third, in the first area there are 3 roaming lizardmen. If they reach a ramp on the side, they will spawn mobs (they won’t go to the ramp until you aggro). If you use sovereignty and humility, you can keep them in place long enough to DPS them down. While the spawned mobs aren’t a big deal, you’re saving yourself a little bit of time. Make sure you pull the mobs on both sides of the entrance before dealing with the roamers.

Rorf is your first boss. If this is your first time through, focus entirely on him. There’s an achievement for not killing pets, and killing them makes him stronger. Wait until he’s closest to the tunnel entrance to pull. The reason for this is you want his back to the pillar. Throughout the fight he’ll teleport backwards. If you aim right, he’ll hit the pillar and not go anywhere for the rest of the fight. Make sure you get initial aggro on the pets. Once threat is established, it’s a simple tank-n-spank fight.

Pyromaster Cortilnald will spawn several mobs for you fight before actually teleporting down himself. These mobs are very weak. Pull them off your healers, but don’t worry too much if a DPS has one attacking them. The fight itself is VERY easy. To put it into perspective, I was able to duo him with my healer long enough to battle rez a DPS to speed the fight up. We could’ve finished the fight ourselves. Make sure everyone avoids the flaming pillars that appear during the fight. He teleports every few seconds. Using Interdict to interrupt Cinder Burst will help your healer out quite a bit.

A little bit further in, you’ll have a room with three mobs at portals. You’ll also have a patrol roaming around the middle. The patrol respawns shortly after killing it. I recommend killing the patrol first, kill a mage (which summons two mobs to help), kill the patrol, etc. Alternated between the portal mobs and the patrol. When you’re about to kill the last mage, make sure you’re not right next to the barrier. The next boss spawns in front of it.

Flamebringer Druhl is another simple boss. Make sure your groups spreads out. I prefer tanking right in front of the ramp. He pulls everyone in throughout the fight. As long as they’re quick to run out, it shouldn’t be too difficult. Use your AOE heal when they’re pulled in to mitigate some of the damage, and use your shield / self-heals to mitigate damage while your healer is getting back in position.

Emberlord Ereetu is still annoying. Tanking along the ledge will help, but he will constantly spawn crystals on the rest of your group. I don’t know if the mechanics are that random or if I haven’t figured out a hate mechanic. I don’t have an issue with threat on a single mob or boss anywhere else. Do what you can to keep the crystals along the edge. AoE heals will help keep your DPS and healers alive while avoiding crystals. The end of the fight can be pretty hectic, so stay on your toes.

After this you’ll have to race down to the bottom of LH. I’ve yet to make it, so good luck.

Once you’re back in, Oludare the Firehoof will be in the back of the room Rorf was in. I tank this where the two rooms meet. This way the rest of the group can spread out. The main healer is typically on the rock next to the pillar. I don’t know if this helps avoid the fire on the ground, but it doesn’t hurt to try. The boss will randomly charge people. Make sure you avoid the fire on the ground, but don’t LoS or out distance your group. Once the fire is gone, move in somewhat to give yourself breathing room. Overall an easy fight.

Boss difficulty ranking:

Pyromaster Cortilnald
Flamebringer Druhl
Oludare the Firehoof
Rorf
Emberlord Ereetu

T1 Dungeon difficulty ranking:

Lantern Hook
Iron Tombs
Foul Cascade
Kings Breach
Realm of the Fae