It has begun.

Since the release, I spent hours playing WoW.  I wasn’t server first, or guild first, but I was among the first wave of new 85’s.  I quested with a 2h Frost DPS spec like I mentioned before, but as I hit 84 and ventured into Twilight Highlands, I switched to the 2h Unholy build.

Dungeons

Regular dungeons at the start weren’t THAT much of a pain.  For starters, it was a bit strange to not go in and “superman” the whole instance.  As a new 85 tank, even regular can be a bit challenging.  The environment of the new dungeons are amazing.  So far, my favorite would have to be Halls of Origination.  Not only are the boss mechanics are quite clever in that instance, but they are  rather challenging (actually that goes for all instances ;D ).

 

First boss in Halls of Origination ( Make sure you interrupt after pulling the levers ;D )

I have to admit, I’ve died to random damage that COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED :P.  In my defense, it was during the learning process of a boss heh, I atleast don’t constantly stand under falling rocks and what not.  In a way, I use this as a gauge to determine a player’s situational awareness.

Heroic Dungeons

CC’s are a must! IF YOU DONT LIKE TO USE YOUR CLASS MECHANICS TO DISPEL, INTERRUPT, SHACKLE, FEAR, STUN, POLYMORPH, HEX, SLOW, TRAP, ROOT, SLEEP,  OR SILENCE THEN GTFO… Healer’s are constantly either OOM or about 15% mana half-way through a boss encounter, so its imperative for us Death Knights to use Anti-Magic Shield, Icebound Fortitude, Death Pact,  and AoTD.

.AMS– Healers probably love us because this ability works like a charm when there is massive amount of any sort of magical AoE.

 

IBF– I tend to use it when there is a lot of damage being outputted by a boss and AMS is on CD.  Preferably I like to use both CD’s at the same time when I see a healer’s mana at 6% or lower.

Death Pact– Sacrificing your ghoul, [in which you lose a lot of  (unholy) DPS] it  is also a very helpful ability to lessen the load at those critical moments.  Not only is it recommended for DPS DK’s to sacrifice their minions [when actually needed], but also the proper DK tank should do this at very crucial healing intensive times.

Yup... I went Worgen.

AoTD– The mitigation of  damage is based off of a Death Knight’s dodge and parry chance.  This ability should be used as a tool for distraction though.  If the tank isn’t aware of AoTD, he would probably be pissed off at the DK who summoned them.  I have used AoTD to help our tank from getting a debuff that had constantly had him below 50% and was getting getting killed by the following attack.

That’s pretty much all I can write about right now, still trying to recover and get back on a regular sleep pattern.  Another topic I would like to write about it is raiding.  But so far, we don’t have any official raids planned until January of  2011.  We are doing benchmark raids where we asses our new recruits abilities, but I wouldn’t want to flame anyone…. yet [including myself ] ;).  Situational Awareness is key to success.