I got Jarsus geared up for LFR yesterday, specifically the first half of LFR Mogu'shan Vaults. It's a little odd to step into a raid with some green gear left, but I was given to understand that LFR is relatively easy (as it should be - if they made LFR too hard not a single boss would be downed given the number of quitters.)
The only group I got into was on Feng the Accursed, which never got off the ground, as there were about ten people in the raid at any given time (it didn't help that some idiot Paladin tank accidentally hit his auto-run key and caused a premature pull... and that paladin was totally not me...) Anyway, the queue times for a tank at least are over an hour long at this point, so I just don't know if I can run them (while I imagine that on weekdays this will become less of a problem, it still bodes ill for me. Let's hope we can get the guild raiding regularly again!)
Today I simultaneously got Dynamic Duo and Double Agent, leveling Darsino, the undead rogue, to 90. While Tarbhad, the tauren shaman, has been my Horde main since late BC (though he and Darsino jockeyed for that position a bit around patch 3.3,) the fact that they finally made Subtlety a viable PvE spec has me overjoyed. Finally, the abilities are cheap enough, the buffs last long enough, and we're just straight-up producing enough damage to work. It's glorious.
That said, I'm not sure it's the best soloing spec. The fact that Backstab does so much more damage than Hemorrhage and at less cost makes the zippy, stabby playstyle you'll get to love in dungeons go a bit slower while soloing. As far as I know, only Feral Druids share our plight, though I haven't ever spent a whole lot of time with a Cat spec. Only one rogue spec still "does it from behind," and while they've made Hemorrhage our Sinister Strike replacement, I wonder if it wouldn't be a better idea to just rename "Backstab" to "Stab," and let us use Hemorrhage as just a debuff we keep on the target every CP-cycle.
One thing that does make leveling a rogue less painful is the Glyph of Deadly Momentum, which lets your Slice and Dice (which is key to Subtlety's energy regen) and Recuperate refresh every time you kill a high-level-enough enemy. The buffs last long enough that if you don't have to go searching too far for your quest objectives, you can stay topped off and energized pretty constantly.
Subtlety is very cool, though I worry a bit about the reliance on Expose Weakness. Shadow Dance lets you keep applying it over the course of a fight, but combining that with Master of Subtlety (which you will truly need Vanish for if you want it during a long fight) makes the spec extremely bursty. I think they've taken it to a great place, but I wouldn't mind if Blizzard kept an eye on the spec to see if they could find a way to keep the flavor of the spec that gets to use openers a lot while allowing for a bit more sustained damage. That said, I'm regularly topping the meters, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining.
Ok, onto other subjects: Namely, 5.1.
The Darkmoon Faire! They haven't forgotten about it! Granted, there has only been one major patch between now and when they introduced Darkmoon Isle (which, I should note, is my favorite zone in the whole game. Seriously, a Tim Burton-esque carnival with bits of Alice in Wonderland (not the movie. God, what a disappointment! It should have been so good!) and a dash of Carnivale (the HBO show.)
Some of the pavilions that have been closed off will finally be open. There will be a carousel (that grants a modest XP buff) and a Master Pet Trainer, who fights with, and grants you an opportunity to attain, a Darkmoon Eye pet (which I NEED to get.)
There's also going to be some major, Major, MAJOR lore developments coming in the patch. They're so big that I don't think I should really even hint at them. Ok, here's the gist: the Garrosh is going to do something horrible, and Jaina is going to do something rash. One more hint: Blood Elves are actually going to get some new lore. Mind? Blown. (Please bring on the Worgen/Draenei lore! Seriously, Worgen didn't even get nearly anything in their own introductory expansion!)
Actually, if I may step into the editorial side of this blog, I was thinking: there's this huge conflict between the Alliance and the Horde, but it's mostly framed as Garrosh vs. Varian. We know Garrosh is going down at the end of the expansion, and while I doubt that there will be a lasting peace between the factions (because of game mechanics, if nothing else,) I imagine that the all-out furious war is going to die down a bit. However, there's another very big player in all of this: Sylvanas.
Sylvanas has arguably jumping off the deep end even more than Garrosh (though she was already pretty far out there to begin with.) I don't really know what she's going to be doing, but I imagine that in the power vacuum left behind by Garrosh, Sylvanas is going to take back what she has before the Wrath Gate, and then some. If nothing else, I want to see Abominations guarding the halls of the Undercity once again.
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