Ghostwolves Progress and watching your toon Grow

Czcibor in the Beginning

I remember a little whisper of a dream for our guild. It was so fragile, with just the slightest hope of getting it to go anywhere. We came into the game not knowing what to expect, just looking for a good time. Then the magic of a team came together, and the Ghostwolves have been growing ever since.

Guilds in general ebb and flo in activity but of late The Ghostwolves have done a tremendous job in moving forward with the game. We recruited a few longtime veterans who have a wealth of experience but wanted to simply enjoy the game with low drama and less stress towards progression. Hmmm...guess we fit the bill on that one very nicely. So, on average I am seeing between 15-25 members on at all times, with a raiding crew of 12 regulars. Yes, that's not a full raid I know, but it's slowly getting up there. Actually, come to think about it, we had 14 last night when we went in and downed Wing 1 of BRC. Every Friday we do a T1 sweep as a regular event, and now Saturdays we are starting Wing 1's with one of my veterans leading the charge.

Small Victories

Guild renown has been averaging around 15 mil a week which has kept us in the top 3 rankings for overall renown 3 weeks in a row. Every day I see new amazing stuff coming out of my crew. They work hard and yet have a great time together. Even with the release of Diablo 3, I haven't seen a huge decrease in daily population or guild activity. Indeed, we seem to have picked up a few more folks to roll with us this weekend alone.

After a long road, Czcibor today!

Czcibor, my Bear Shaman has picked up a more dps intensive build with less focus on
 healing. I decided to make the change as my older spec just was way below par. I still tinker with his specs though. Rotation seems to work fine and slowly he is becoming more competitive with his peers. As you can see below, he has done a lot of growing, just as the guild has grown and evolved. You gotta love vanity tabs, they make things sooo nice! Anyways, this is just a small update on the game. My posting has been spotty since I've been working in game and balancing my real life at the same time. But I'm out there!


 Oh yeah, bought a Nostromo Razer game pad...SO CHOICE!! When you are handling a ton of combos and spells from a Bear Shaman, the Nostromo is such a sweet addition. I reccomend it for any AoC Gamer whether pvp or pve.

Nostromo, a definite must have!

Bear Shaman.... one of my Favorite Classes

Back in January when the Ghostwolves got their T3 Keep built I had been working on my
 Bear Shaman by the name of Czcibor. Oddly enough, one of my fellow Bloggers Slith informed me that the name as a whole meant "Worshiper of the Forest" in the Polish language I believe. Well, can't argue with destiny now can you? At any rate, I started leveling Czcibor when I wasn't involved with raiding on my barbarian Khadoc. Getting into the swing of handling a Bear Shaman is a bit of a challenge, especially with the numerous Manifestations, Claws, Combos and healing effects.

 As of this date, I got Czcibor up to 80, had him successfully participate in some T1 Raids and guild HoC runs. to work on his rotations, I did a bit of solo work in Khitai which was most helpful. My current build is pretty much a basic hit of Iron Hide/Booming Roar. To be honest, Booming Roar hasn't really had the huge effect I was looking for against casters in the PvE realm and I'm not sure I'll keep it on.

Key binding is the largest hassle out of setting up a BS on my UI. Rotations really aren't that hard to tell the truth. Everyone has a different technique, but so far I've set my basic keys as such:

1: Internal Bleed  2: Upper Mid Attack  3: Upper Right Attack 4: Ursine Brawl 5: Ferocious Smack
Q: Manifest Spirit W: Manifest Sun  E: Lyco Bite
A: Shrewd Blow 4 S: Crush A. 4 D: Crush A. 3 F: Crush A. 2
R: Blood Flow T: Renewal Y: Fierce Recovery
Z: Rune of Aggression X: Rune of Regrowth C: Ursine Crush V: Iron Hide

This isn't all encompassing but it's what I'm working with at the moment and I'm pretty happy with it over all.

Rotation wise solo I usually start out with Blood Flow and Renewal, then drop a Manifestation. I immediately slam into Internal Bleed to get the Vision effect on my targets. From there it goes to my crush armors followed up by my Shrewd Blows following up with the Ursine brawl as much as possible. Heals are dropped when needed but I keep renewal up all the time for the additional damage bonus and HoT. I also drop Lycanthrop bite the second I start taking damage, its a nice little life tap to work through.

I've only begun my AA tree, but currently working on that long haul of Steadfast Faith. I have a couple points in decisive strikes, and I'll also be working on Sleuth of Bears the second I can get my hands on it.

The class itself over all is good in just about any situation at hand. The great DPS along with healing skills is a bonus in any group or raid. When possible I try to team him with melee DPS to add into their damage pool.

Now some folks think the micro managing aspect is a negative factor. For me, I love the fact that I have to pay attention, be quick on my feet and have the right spell/manifest/rune or melee combo running at the right time. Now mind you I am still just learning what a Bear Shaman is really capable of doing. So all you long time vets can certainly chime in on what you see is successful in rotations and builds to post. I welcome all constructive criticism as it can only make my BS that much better.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for dropping by and till next time, may blood flow like ale, and may your belt be lined with gold!