ZugGaming.com LF1M, You!

When I launched ZugGaming.com July of 2007 I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was I loved playing WoW and needed a place to just vent. I didn’t know much about building web sites, writing well versed strategy articles or the general workings of what all goes into maintaining a blog.

Since those humble beginnings over a year ago the site has really exploded. ZugGaming.com now serves close to 4,000 unique visitors daily and is approaching the top 100,000 ranked global sites.

Currently nearly all of the strategy articles and new content for the site written by myself, along with some help from Shadowscythe and a few others along the way who have contributed their own strategy articles. I would love nothing more than to write 5-6 different strategy articles and guides all day long, but obligations of school and work take up large portions of my time each day.

For this reason, and my unyielding desire to see ZugGaming become the best World of Warcraft strategy site on the web, I am looking for additional authors and contributors to assist me with producing the daily posts and strategies on ZugGaming.com

Now a lot of players are the under the impression that they aren’t qualified to write about WoW for a website.Well, this just isn’t true. Quite frankly, you don’t have to play arena at 2400 rating or clear Sunwell in 2 nights. There is a wide ranging spectrum of skill sets and expertises across this game that you could contribute strategies on.

I need writers who can…

• Post about WoW news, including patch notes, upcoming expansions, blue posts, etc.
• Write arena strategy articles, this includes all 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 comps. You don’t have to be 2400 rating, so long as you understand the comps you are discussing through experience and reasoning you’ll be great! Write about all comps or just the one’s you feel more comfortable with.
• Contribute PvE / Raiding Guides, these include virtually all realms of PvE and instanced raiding. 5, 10, and 25 mans are all needed. This is one area I’m really out of loop in, as I haven’t raided anything beyond 10 mans since Pre-BC. All instances for BC and WOTLK are needed.
• Humor Aritlces, are you always up on the viral WoW videos, songs, pictures or other humorous media? This is a great place for you to share those stories with the world! (lol@ World of wifecraft)
• Other Guides, reputation farming, professions leveling, user interface, making videos…the only limit here is your imagination. If you think you’ve got a resource or guide that can help other players this will be a perfect fit for you!
• Many many more!

If you just love to write then this is your chance to be heard. Thousands of gamers from all across the globe read ZugGaming on a daily basis and they are waiting for you!

It’s my greatest dream to see ZugGaming continue to grow and thrive as the expasnion prepares to come out, and I don’t want to see it held down due to my avaialbe time to write.

So if you think you’re ready to step up to the plate and help ZugGaming propel itself to bigger than better things just drop me a note on my contact form or send an email to support (at) zuggaming (dot) com

One final note, and I probably don’t say this enough, but I just want to say thanks for all the great support I’ve received over the past 13 months from all my readers. More than once I’ve thought about just giving up on this site, but just knowing my contributions here can help other players break through and improve their game makes it all worth it.

Aldor vs. Scryer Comparison Guide

One of the first major decisions you’ll have to make after entering the Outlands is your choice of the Aldor or Scryer faction. The various items, enchantments, quests, and other rewards will play a huge factor in your choice. And believe me, it’s important you choose correctly the first time.

So let’s get right down to it. There are many rewards available from each faction, for this comparison I am going to detail all of the big hitters from each faction.

Aldor Shoulder Enchants:
Greater Inscription of Warding
Greater Inscription of Vengeance
Greater Inscription of Faith
Greater Inscription of Discipline

Scryer Shoulder Enchants:
Greater Inscription of the Blade
Greater Inscription of the Knight
Greater Inscription of the Oracle
Greater Inscription of the Orb

Now, statistically speaking the shoulder enchants provide the same benefit. For this one it really comes down to personal preference. In all honesty I think most players make a much bigger deal about the shoulder enchant differences than can really be made.

Shattered Sun Offensive Rewards:
Shattered Sun Pendant of Acumen
Shattered Sun Pendant of Might
Shattered Sun Pendant of Resolve
Shattered Sun Pendant of Restoration

While all of these necklaces are better than many blue rewards, the big hitters are for healers, specifically aldor. The proc on restoration neck provides a direct heal on your current target for just over 600…good, yes, but for aldor it gives a +220 healing buff for 10 seconds. From a PvE perspective this is simply amazing, and I’d argue it’s the best neck outside of Sunwell loot.

If you’re a healer this neck is reason enough to choose Aldor, and generally speaking the Aldor procs are superior to the Scryers. As all of the aldor procs provide buffs (the scyrer provide instant procs), meaning the aldor procs scale much better with gear.

Scryer Tailoring Pattern Rewards:
Mystical Spellthread
Runic Spellthread

Aldor Tailoring Pattern Rewards:
Silver Spellthread
Golden Spellthread

This may or may not be a deal breaker for you. As aldor you’ve got the better healing leg enchants, as scryer you’ve got the superior damage. Once again, I wouldn’t determine your reputation choice based on tailoring patterns alone, but they will play a factor in your decision.

Aldor vs. Scryer Reputation Rewards Comparison:
Obviously I haven’t listed off every single item available from each of these respective factions. The above items I have listed are the ones that I consider to the biggest factors in your decision. While many of the other rewards and items will have short term influence on your decision the above items will be long lasting.

If you’re looking for additional information on the items available from each reputation or how to most efficiently level each faction check out these other helpful guides.

Scryer Reputation Guide
Aldor Reputation Guide

Best Professons for Arena

Professions are without a doubt one of the most overlooked aspects of arena and pvp. Too often players are so concerned with gear, enchants, and gems that they completely overlook just how much professions can add.

3. Enchanting
So why enchanting? Simply put, the ring enchants. What we’re looking at here is:

+2 melee damage
+12 spell damage
+20 healing power
+4 all stats

Now, a lot of people just flat out overlook these, or don’t consider them worth dropping one of their current professions for enchanting. For a melee player I can see the argument, +2 melee damage is pretty lackluster and +4 stats isn’t stellar either.

That said, for casters I don’t think there is a better option. +40 healing or +24 damage is just insane.

In addition (though it’s not related to pvp), you have a ton of potential to make some serious gold with the profession. Tuesdays are great for offering your services in Shattrath City, as there are always people needing new enchants for their newest piece of arena gear.

2. Jewelcrafting
With the addition of the badge vendor through Sunwell Island dailies a whole new realm of gem socketing was opened up to the masses.

Beyond the fact that we can all get epic gems cut, any jewelcrafter with a bit of time and gold can have the best gems in the game…

Melee Gems:
+24 Attack Power
+12 Critical Strike Rating

Caster Gems:
+14 Spell Damage
+12 Spell Critical Strike
+26 Healing

Defensive Gems:
+12 Defense Rating
+18 Stamina

Since these gems are BoP you’ll only be able to use a couple of them depending on your spec and class. But even so, this gives you just that extra edge that could be the deciding factor in a game.

In addition, you’ve got various figurine trinkets for each spec and class.

And quite frankly, if spending gold equates additional wins, then I’m more than willing to take on the expenses, and considering how easy it is to farm gold so should you!

1. Engineering
When the burning crusade released I was very disappointed in engineering. They basically destroyed everything that I loved so much about the profession pre-BC.

However, I think we can all say engineering is back and better than ever. While some of the items aren’t really viable for arena, there are a few in particular that really make the profession worth it.

• Rocket Boots Extreme | Rocket Boots Extreme Lite
• T5 / T6 equivalent goggles (depends on accessibility and talent spec)

The two I’ve listed above are just straight up domination for arena, the goggles specifically. With those type of stats and improved stealth detection! That’s just insane.

On top of that you’ve got the Nigh-Invulnerability Belt, sheep trinket, goblin rocket launcher, and a host of grenades and other misc. items.

Rogue Arena Gem Guide

Schools of thought for proper gem selection have basically completed a 180 degree turn from arena season one as compared to arena’s today. Previously, players were forced to gem very defensively, stacking stamina and resilience.

However, do to continued stat inflation, defensive stat stacking is no longer required. Without any defensive gems you can still sit comfortably at nearly 11,000 HP and 400 resilience unbuffed. This opened the door for rogues, allowing increased amounts of offensive stats to be gained and exploited, vastly increasing damage output.

Assuming you are using a complete set of PvP gear you’re sockets are going to look like this.

Helm - 2 sockets (1 meta, 1 red)
Necklace - 1 socket (1 yellow)
Shoulders - 2 sockets (1 yellow, 1 red)
Chest - 3 sockets (1 yellow, 2 red)
Bracer - 1 socket (1 yellow)
Total - 1 meta, 4 yellow, 4 red

In choosing your gems you will want to consider a few basic guidelines. First, try to get all of the socket bonuses, especially bonuses which offer additional offense. If you miss out on a resilience or stamina bonus, no big deal, but if you can pick it up without sacrificing your desire gem, go for it.

First and foremost we are going to want to get all 3 of the PvP gems. Beyond the fact that they do not cost you any gold, they are equivalent to Black Temple gems. These are an absolute must for every rogue.

Bold Ornate Ruby - Cost: 6885 Honor Points
Smooth Ornate Dawnstone - Cost: 6885 Honor Points
Insirbed Ornate Topaz - Cost: 8500 Honor Points

Keep in mind, all of these gems are “unique-equip”. Meaning even if you currently are using them in gear, you can have extras sitting in your bank in preparation for the next season.

This immediately takes care of 3 of our 9 total gems we need.

From this point we have a few options, the most ideal and the path I strongly suggest is to purchase epic gems from your badge vendor on Sunwell Island. The gems are sold from Shaani, the jewelcrafting supplies vendor on the island.

While she sells all epic gems found in high end raiding instances, the one we are most concerned with is Crimson Spinel. The cost to acquire this gem is just 15 badges, and we are going to have it cut into a bright crimson spinel.

In reality, you may be done at this point. Get your 3 honor vendor gems, 5 crimson spinels, and your meta.

…Brief Interlude
Socketing Strategy
One socketing strategy I am contemplating is…

1. Helm - 24 AP / Run speed meta + 1 Crimson Spinel
2. Necklace - 1 Crimson Spinel
3. Shoulders - 1 Bold Ornate Ruby + Smooth Ornate Dawnstone
4. Chest - 2 Crimson Spinel + Inscribed Ornate Topaz
5. Bracer - 1 Crimson Spinel

Socketing like this maximizes offensive stats and still picks up all but 2 of the socket bonuses (2 resilience and 3 HP, marginal increases at best).

Meta Gems
For most rogues, the Swift Skyfire Diamond is going to be the best option. Having run speed on your helmet allows you to get surefooted enchant on your boots. Once again, we add offense without sacrificing too much defense.

Mutilate rogues should go with a Enignmaic Skyfire Diamond. This option is available due to the fleet footed talent that you have in the assassination tree. Stacking the talent, surefooted, and the meta allows you to have a 20% resistance to snare effects, which as you may already know is huge!

Poor / Lazy Man’s Version
The above gem selection will take time and a fair bit of gold to complete. So, in the event you do not have the badges or time to farm the honor, I’d suggest just socketing with bright living rubies in place of the crimson spinels.

For your yellow slots you can use wicked noble topaz