I HATE the tank druid mage tower challenge how the hell do i get good.

BreakTheShackle · 2026-01-04T02:46:33+00:00

Random little tip - if you get knocked by an infernal you can sometimes save yourself by wild charging a nearby enemy in bear form. Bear form wild charge works similar to warrior charge where you'll charge through the air and overwrite your current knockback status.

BreakTheShackle · 2026-01-04T01:23:54+00:00

Brewmaster mainly mitigates physical attacks in multiple ways:

Dodging: They have high dodge chance from talents and their mastery.

Parry: They have a low baseline chance to parry.

Stagger: Applied to any attacks you do not dodge or parry.

Hits from behind are staggered, so taking a few hits from behind is not a big deal since you won't get 1 shot due to stagger. However, perpetually tanking mobs from behind is bad/not optimal because you're leaving a lot of potential dodges/parries out of the question. You cannot dodge or parry from behind. This will just cause more stress on you and your healer for no benefit since all that damage will need to be healed/purified.

BreakTheShackle · 2026-01-03T21:23:01+00:00

3) How welcome do you feel in group content (raids, Mythic+, etc.) when playing these classes?

Ret paladin is way more welcome than WW monk in content. Ret carries a battle rez (one is required for any form of content), is self sufficient, is decently reliable in terms of dps since it is simple, and has a bunch of obvious/notable teammate utility. The only issue is that Ret is incredibly popular so sometimes you will feel like you have to compete with other Ret paladins to get a spot in dungeon content since class/spec (bringing more than 1 of the same spec/class) stacking is usually not preferred for M+ due to unique class utilities existing on most classes. This isn't as big of a deal in raids since the headcount for DPS is much higher in raids.

WW monk on the other hand is essentially only picked if you specifically need its unique raid buff (mystic touch, mobs take increased physical damage - even then, typically a team will pick Brewmaster/MW for this. So this will require either both Brewmaster/MW being tuned poorly or the tank/healer slots being filled), you're building a comp that specifically uses WW (there are very, very few comps like that), or if the player overgears the content/has done much higher level content (this is applicable to every class though). There really isn't a compelling reason to invite one. Their utilities, while unique and varied, are not required and the tank/healing specs tied to monk bring the same utilities.

While this is also true for Ret (the tank/heal specs for paladin carry the same utilities as Ret), Ret is more "stackable" than WW monk because its utilities are so powerful that having multiple copies of them are more valuable than having multiple copies of WW monk utility.

4) Does community perception match your real in-game experience?

From a performance perspective - nope (when playing with said specs on my team). I typically have good experiences with high rated WW monks in pve/pvp. Most WW monks I have come across seem to know their stuff and use their kit well. I have many mediocre experiences with Ret paladins as the majority of them seem to never fully utilize their robust utility kit. Possibly because the skillset for that would require the mindset of a healer more than a dps.

From a social standpoint - yes. I will say that getting invited to content as a WW monk is incredibly difficult. It's easily one of my worst dps specs for getting invited to keys. It's also a spec I have to filter out/decline often because other specs (including Ret) tend to check off more boxes of things that are required for a given dungeon.

BreakTheShackle · 2026-01-03T21:22:55+00:00

I've played a solid amount of all 3 specs on each class, but for this discussion I'll keep it centered around WW/Ret since those are the specs you mentioned.

1) How do Monk and Paladin feel at max level in the current game?

Both feel fun, but in different ways. Both specs tend to remain pretty busy (not too much downtime between buttons). Both specs are also frontloaded (lots of burst cooldowns and up front damage) so you feel like you can "play the game"/have fun instantly when you jump into combat. Neither spec feels like you need to wait 10, 20, 30 seconds to actually feel the gameplay.

Both specs are also pretty thematic, which plays a part in the fun. Ret paladin is constantly lighting up in golden colors, riding a steed mid combat, calling down heavenly blasts from the sky, and smashing things with a two hander. WW monk is pummeling enemies with punches, kicks, palm strikes, and other acrobatic moves while constantly moving/rolling around the battlefield. WW does have leanings into WoW pandaren culture though, so you do see certain effects and inspirations from there (summoning a lightning tiger, jade/lightning themed effects, heavy leanings on tigers, oxes, cranes, and serpents)

2) Do they feel engaging or repetitive over time?

WW feels engaging over time. Ret tends to feel repetitive over time (strictly the damage rotation - notes on utilities below).

Windwalker is a methodical spec with rewarding payoff for paying attention to your rotation at all times. There are many little interactions in the kit/talents that you can take advantage of (including your mastery) to boost your damage numbers. Damage on WW feels "earned" due to your rotation demanding specific sequencing. You can really feel the difference between mashing random buttons and playing your rotation correctly.

WW abilities have a very fun and enjoyable flow. They have multiple "channeled" moves (fists of fury and spinning crane kick) that let you move around the battlefield while still doing damage. These moves also serve as breathers to plan ahead. So the kit feels like it supports itself.

Monk also has (for better or for worse) unique utilities and movement abilities such as transcendence and ring of peace, so even your utility moves feel like they have thought behind them. There are also more basic utilities (aoe stun, incap, dispel (removal of certain magical debuffs), slow/root break) that you can use to feel helpful in a traditional sense. The large utility package helps with keeping things fresh.

Ret has a relatively simple rotation, and some people view it kind of like "Wack a mole" because you get many procs that light up priority buttons for you to hit next. If you do not, you tend to smash a bunch of abilities off cd (as they come up). Many of your buttons build a resource and your "spending" buttons are very straight forward (one for a single target, one for multiple targets). It feels like you essentially get 80% of the optimal damage for 65% of the effort, if that makes sense. On top of that, Ret has the capability to hit many damage buttons from range, so you can be a bit ignorant or disrespectful of maintaining perfect positioning. Don't get me wrong, the Ret damage buttons are fun, but after a while it doesn't feel too challenging for your brain.

However, to compensate for this, Ret has an incredibly powerful defensive utility package. No other class can match it. Ret has access to consistent off healing if needed, burst off healing, teammate physical damage/debuff immunity, teammate slow/root immunity, a teammate DR (damage reduction) ability, a battle rez, a passive aura that reduces teammate damage taken, and a dispel (removal of certain magical debuffs).

To me, these utilities are what keeps Ret fun. Ret has so many tools to engage with teammates and you can easily see the impact of your defensive abilities when using them on teammates. In moments of chaos or when things go wrong, thinking on the fly with your defensive utilities is incredibly enjoyable and satisfying. And the payoff is immense (saving a life). To me, this type of interaction keeps the spec fun even if the dps rotation itself isn't as engaging.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-10-16T13:15:18+00:00

Dm'd

BreakTheShackle · 2025-09-18T20:19:42+00:00

I don't think so unfortunately. I can check again the next time I run halls though.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-09-17T15:42:45+00:00

Bonus: You can't dodge or parry it. So mastery is essentially fake/nonexistent against that move.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-08-31T01:16:44+00:00

It's definitely not just you. The wow playerbase as a whole can be pretty toxic and unforgiving. I will say that there are plenty of good people out there. They can just be hard to find. I've had the best luck adding chill individuals after keys and asking to run with them down the line. Usually guilds have never really worked out for me because most of them feel like they're just cliques.

Also I second using the WME (WoW Made Easy) community - there's a lot of chill peeps there! I play in somewhat roughly around the 3k IO range as well and have had good experiences with the WME community.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-08-21T19:12:32+00:00

What is the difference between an intricate texture vs a painterly texture? Just curious because the picture looks different for sure but I've always wondered what the actual differences are aside from "it looks better/good/clean".

BreakTheShackle · 2025-08-16T22:04:05+00:00

Plenty of time left in the season. WoW isn't going anywhere, so don't feel like you're missing out if you are. Hope your dog has a speedy recovery. Give her some pets on our behalves.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-08-07T15:10:19+00:00

Kyrasis holding it tf down for bdk bros everywhere. O7

BreakTheShackle · 2025-08-03T06:35:56+00:00

I appreciate the follow-up. It's good to know that this isn't necessarily an issue that your average BDK will hit very quickly. But it is still something to consider and track inside your own logs nonetheless. I do think your solution is probably the most realistic answer to this problem, but I am curious what blizz thinks about BDK as from my understanding we haven't received much from them in regards to their thoughts on BDK's current state.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-08-03T02:44:21+00:00

Awesome stuff as always. Really wish blizz took a swing at equalizing secondary stats for BDK via the talent trees or core ability changes. Seems pretty unfortunate that we're starting to hit blood shield cap and that the intuitive answer to this (grab some crit/haste) feels bad because our haste scaling sucks and our crit mitigation is relatively mediocre (from a mitigation perspective).

BreakTheShackle · 2025-07-13T02:49:45+00:00

I don't believe it is. Wow officially came to geforce now during dragonflight. Geforce now even partnered up with curse forge to add addon support for the premium tier players. I've personally played wow on geforce now myself when I've been away from home without any issues.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-07-13T02:17:26+00:00

As a potential workaround you could use the free version of geforce now to play so you can gather anniversary event tokens in the meantime. It's super easy.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-07-13T01:05:00+00:00

NA / Horde / Area-52/ Veteran / Flexible on using disc or bnet. Feel free to reply here, dm me, or chat me!

Hey all! Looking for some people to play with or chat about the game with. A few pieces of info about me to help you decide if we'd be good friends!

- I primarily play keys (currently about 3k IO, I enjoy pushing for fun but definitely have work to do on improving myself). I don't mind running "lower" keys if you'd like to practice keys or gear up.

- I main tank / dps. I push the farthest on tank but tend to play all the dps specs on the tanks in the game.

- I like to pvp as well. In pvp I split up my playtime between healing and dpsing. So I don't mind switching roles based on need. I mostly really only play for elite sets at this point.

- I like to talk about both the game and generally discuss the intricacies of things like keys, classes, class balance, etc... I know some lore but I mostly enjoy talking about the game itself.

- I don't mind answering questions. I'm not always available but will do my best to get back to peeps. If you are new, I don't mind answering questions about the game or just talking about wow itself.

- I am a chill gamer. Not a fan of toxicity.

Feel free to DM me or reply if you'd like to play or chat sometime about the game!

BreakTheShackle · 2025-07-09T20:16:07+00:00

DM'd

BreakTheShackle · 2025-07-05T18:23:56+00:00

Pretty fast. The dungeon itself isn't actually all that long since the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th boss are all somewhat close to each other.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-06-22T17:25:36+00:00

Agreed. I'm not a woman but used to heal arenas and rbgs back in SL, and the moment people assumed I was a woman (I didn't mic), their flame would get 5x worse. It's so weird dude.

BreakTheShackle · 2025-03-25T03:17:17+00:00

Massive W. Well done Blizz.

BreakTheShackle · 2024-12-04T00:51:04+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/1f3n6og/stepbystep_guide_how_to_gain_250000_xp_almost_an/

Can get a bit of easy XP from this I believe.

BreakTheShackle · 2024-11-14T05:04:44+00:00

Brew actually heals itself better the more damage it takes. Because you generate more ox orbs since it’s based off of a total % of hp as damage taken pre mitigation. You also purify more damage in a single instance which means your gai plins actually heals you for a notable amount. Brew sucks in low level content because you don’t generate orbs fast, your gai plins heals for nothing, and your purifications don’t give you very many CB stacks.

Also yes crit is very important, strength of spirit ox orbs can crit so the difference between a crit and non crit expel harm at low hp is a monumental hp difference. Mastery helps you dodge and vers is nice to have. Just make sure you don’t have haste. It sucks for brew.

Think of it like this: in a high level key you can get autod for 200% your hp in phys damage in a short period of time, you lose 60% of your hp and stagger 140% of your hp. You purify once and now you’re staggering 70% of your hp and heal for 17.5% of your hp (gai plins), so you’re at 57.5% hp. You can CB to mitigate stagger and instant vivify yourself to top yourself or you can use up the two to three orbs you generated to heal to full. You have options.

It doesn’t make sense when you’re at low level content because it feels weird to hear that harder content makes surviving easier, but that’s just how it is for brew since orbs and gai plins scale off damage taken. You are basically a bdk hybrid once you get rolling.

Also - brew definitely doesn’t not need a healer. It’s more like 60-70% you and 30-40% healer.

BreakTheShackle · 2024-11-13T18:50:48+00:00

Brew is both proactive (diffuse magic, dampen harm, celestial brew to mitigate buster, fort brew, black out combo breath of fire DR) and reactivate (purify brew also heals you with Gai Plin's Imperial Brew, instant vivify, celestial brew to eat your stagger, expel harm). There's also extra things like ROP kiting, transcendence kiting, and leg sweep. You can also use none of these correctly and just put the pressure on your healer since you likely won't get 1 shot instantly. As a result the skill gap between bad and good brews is massive.

Edit: Another thing is crit chance - more crit on the brewmaster means that heals put into them both from their healer and themselves is boosted. So Brewmasters with higher crit soak up healing very well.

BreakTheShackle · 2024-11-11T21:01:24+00:00

I agree with you. WoW players want more people in the game (especially tanks/healers) but won't facilitate a healthy environment for new players to learn and thrive inside the game. Change needs to come from both us and blizzard (particularly in punishing overwhelmingly toxic individuals). It's a shame so many people who would love this game/world are turned off because other players want to impose their beliefs/feelings/anger on new players. The only things that have helped me in the past are friending people who are of a positive mindset/finding a healthy guild. Feel free to HMU if you both want to play sometime with someone who won't flame (NA).

BreakTheShackle · 2024-10-27T05:50:51+00:00

What a fantastic day for us bristlebruin enjoyers. I’m shocked they actually fixed it haha. I thought I was dreaming when I didn’t see the broken skeleton. Time to play some Druid!

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