Warlocks and Stormrage Alliance Policies

[Alram]

1. I finished the level 50 quest. I am wondering which reward item to select. Both the staff and the chest armor would be upgrades, but eventually they will be replaced. The trinket is irreplaceable, but of limited utility. I tend to use the VW very selectively and prefer to have the imp or succubus out.

quest reward
Soul Harvester
Staff
118 - 178 Damage Speed 3.30
(44.8 damage per second)
+16 Stamina
Equip: Improves your chance to hit with spells by 1%.
Equip: Increases damage done by Shadow spells and effects by up to 24.
current gear
Sword of Serenity
One-Hand Sword
46 - 86 Damage Speed 2.20
(30.0 damage per second)
+9 Stamina
+4 Spirit

Umbral Crystal
Held In Off-hand
+5 Stamina
Equip: Increases damage done by Shadow spells and effects by up to 17.
Robes of Servitude

quest reward
Chest
75 Armor
+15 Stamina
+10 Intellect
Equip: Increases damage done by Fire spells and effects by up to 23.
Equip: Increases damage done by Shadow spells and effects by up to 23.
current gear
Enchanted Gold Bloodrobe
Chest
55 Armor
+10 Stamina
+17 Intellect

quest reward
Abyss Shard
Trinket
Use: Casts your Summon Voidwalker spell with no mana or Soul Shard requirements.
Cooldown: 30 min
10 sec cast
current gear
Trinkets--I won't bother listing these. I am an engineer and currently have more trinkets than I use.

2. How much fire resistance should I have before I shoot for MC and BWL (and Ony?)? Aside from fire resistance and level 60 what else do I need to join these raids?

3. I am currently specced to 31/3(improved imp)/8(heading for Shadowburn).
What do you sugest for an end game build? End game goals for this toon are raiding, only as much soloing as is really needed and some BG. I really would like a build where I can contribute as much as possible to the raid.

My current thoughts are:
a. 31(dark pact)/0/20
b. 30/0/21(ruin)
c. some sort of combo of the above, but also with 3 points in Demonology for improved imp.


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I have a few Stormrage specific questions. Some should no doubt be asked on the Carpe Aurum forums, but I know you guys and don't mind appearing noobish here.

1. On the Carpe Aurum forums there is a board entitled

"ZG, AQ20, and other smaller raid signups which are not covered by ARP or managed by ARC."

What is ARP? What is ARC? And how does it matter to me?

2. I have read over the point system on Carpe Aurum.
a.

"5. Loot found on a raid has a fixed point cost. This cost is determined by the raid leaders. Costs for known items will be posted. If costs are determined to need adjustment either up or down all changes will be retroactively applied to all raid participants."

Where is it posted? During the raid itself?"

b.

"6. Need: everyone who is interested in a particular loot item declares interest. Whomever has the highest point total wins the item and pays the cost. We are setting a 1 point cut off for highest points. Anyone within 1 point of the highest point total that wants the item will be included in a random roll for that item. This cut-off is to help deal with rounding erors and smooth things out. Please note you can win even if your point total is negative, as long as you are highest total that wants the item.
7. The points spent are then divided among everyone in the raid with the exception of the person who won the loot. If an item was worth 100 points and there are 40 people on the raid, each person who didn't win an item receives 2.56 points. Points will be tracked to two significant figures."

So it will be impossible for me to win the 1st item that drops as I will have zero points. How many raids will I need to attend before I have any hope of winning something? Or could it possibly be a case where everyone else already has the same or better, and so I win a lot of stuff and go deep into negative points?

4. What are the usual and customary loot rules for 5 man runs of high level instances?

5. What other questions should I be asking? Incidentally I have read Mirajj's post on raiding published here at the LL.

Thank you for all the help I have been given to date on Stormrage.