Many of you have probably been reading the patch notes (and other information) for a while now regarding the changes to druids.
Some things from the patch that caught my eye:
Symbiosis (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 16%.
Coupled with some other changes to our talents, I see they are trying to make mastery a little more than a tank healing talent. I know I have been throwing on pieces that have more mastery on them, and if you look at the Valor Vendor, our gear is rife with it.
Making mastery work well takes some practice for me. I make the mistake of throwing rejuv on targets NOT affected by WG or not throwing WG down before Tranquility is up, etc. This will become easier once the fights have been done more (only a couple bosses are on farm for us, and we have been moving between 25 and 10s during the week).
Rejuvenation is now trained at level 3, down from level 8. In addition, its mana cost is now 20% of base mana.
Sad, but this was needed. You don't want to rejuv spam but at the same time, the change to Nature's Bounty would be moot if the cost was too high.
The instant Rejuvenation heal from Gift of the Earthmother should no longer gain bonus healing from haste too soon, and should now correctly benefit from Symbiosis
Somehow I overlooked this piece of information a few weeks ago. I had dropped to 1 point in GotEM to tweak with things, but if it will work with Mastery then perhaps adding back a point may be worth it.
Glyph of Regrowth now causes the heal-over-time effect to refresh itself on targets at or below 50% health, up from 25%.
This makes me want to take the glyph again. With my current progression, I am still not convinced I would get much use out of it. I mainly heal for 25's, and with our two holy priests, shaman and other resto druid, most folks don't stay at that critical level for very long. Perhaps later on in progression, this may make more sense. For 10s, I could see this getting more use as their are less people to draw from and tighter mana restrictions.
Tree of Life duration has been reduced to 25 seconds, down from 30.
With talents, this will last 31 seconds. There are quite a few people upset by this but I think it will pass.
Omen of Clarity can no longer trigger from helpful spells (aka heals), unless the Restoration talent Malfurion’s Gift is chosen.
If you didn't already have Malfurion's Gift before, this probably affects you a great deal.
Also note:
Mandala of Stirring Patterns now increases Intellect instead of mastery rating.
This sounds great. However, reports on PTR suggest that is is not procing off hots or dots which puts this at a really low priority for me. I know that I saved up tokens to get this but after reading the findings, I will be spending my tokens on stuff for tanking.
The tauren racial trait War Stomp can now be used while shapeshifted.
War Stomp-ing in Bear makes me sqeee! Getting myself to remember I can do that will take getting use to. Hell, some days I forget I can use a pot or healthstone in bear since I haven't actively tanked since early Burning Crusade. At least we will be closer toward Warriors and their shockwave.
What this means for my spec
I thought I had my spec set up nicely so I wouldn't have to worry about changing anything after the patch, but Efflo seems weak even in 25s. GotEM will be stronger, in theory anyway.
This is what I will probably be taking later today. I keep Nature's Cure because I still run a fair number of Heroics for the guild and I don't over gear the content so much that I want to just heal through it all. In addition, if you heal BH without Nature's Cure, you are asking for trouble.
I will drop Efflo. After a couple weeks worth of parses, I find it doesn't seem to be as effective as I wish it could be. And, as most of us know, being linked to Living Seed is just terrible. Even with Nature's Bounty and such, Living Seed still did pitiful healing. For the love of leafy things, unlink the two talents please!
Given that Healing Rain and Sanctuary are already in use for our raids, I find the green circle is not as needed. Our other tree will probably keep it, so it won't disappear from our raids entirely.
Interestingly, I find that it actually hinders me. Knowing that swiftmending will throw down a circle which may or may not be correctly placed means that I hold back quite a bit. Removing that from the equation will probably mean an increased usage of Swiftmend. And, one of our tanks thanked me when I told him I won't have green circles. I do admit that green circles with other nasty green stuff can be confusing for some to interpret (silly tanks).
There's also a ton of changes to ferals (why did you nerf bear threat?) and moonkin which are met with interesting responses on the forums.
Enjoy patch day!
Showing posts with label Raid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raid. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 8
Thursday, January 13
What I signed on for
I am the floater; the one who says "Sure thing" when a spot needs to be filled. The implications of this was felt right off the start before last night's raid.
Not the first night! sigh
A healer for Team Martin had lost power for several hours and we didn't expect to see her online in time. I mentally though I had prepared for myself to be filling her spot, then panicked. I had no food, no flasks, no mana pots. My bags were filled with tanky stuff. Twenty minutes before raid time, I am scrambling to get my crap together... and just before we zone in poor snowed-in healer logged in. Yay!
Tonight, we are out other healers for Team Charlie, which means more shuffling. At least this time I will have my consumables prepared, but now the task is to get caught up on what fight and strats the other team was working on. Thankfully, my finance was a tank for Charlie so I was able to at least understand what progress they had made.
All of this opens my eyes to the big picture. While we run these 10s in preparation for 25s, my job is to be aware and prepared for anything and possibly fit myself into a team that had worked on something for a night already without screwing up their flow.
As things move further down the road, we will be shuffling everyone around in order to keep things fair, which means at some point our fights will be reexplained to more people than just myself.
Balancing act
I have points to spend, but I am at a loss of how to spend them. My job as the tank is hopefully a short one because it means we can move to 25s. But, when we get to 25s I want to be on par with the rest of our healers. I currently am at a loss for how to walk this tight rope. I can just hear my raid leader saying to not stress about it, we are still early into raiding, but I am a planner. I need to have something scribbled out as a framework. I think it helps that the RL is also doing the bouncing thing like I am (dps to tank and back).
Words of wisdom?
For those who are also playing dual roles actively, I say "Wow, you are a crazy person". I also say, stay on your toes and be patient and flexible. Communicate to your officers about what they expect of you. If you are an officer, like I am, refer to crazy statement and hang on for the ride.
Not the first night! sigh
A healer for Team Martin had lost power for several hours and we didn't expect to see her online in time. I mentally though I had prepared for myself to be filling her spot, then panicked. I had no food, no flasks, no mana pots. My bags were filled with tanky stuff. Twenty minutes before raid time, I am scrambling to get my crap together... and just before we zone in poor snowed-in healer logged in. Yay!
Tonight, we are out other healers for Team Charlie, which means more shuffling. At least this time I will have my consumables prepared, but now the task is to get caught up on what fight and strats the other team was working on. Thankfully, my finance was a tank for Charlie so I was able to at least understand what progress they had made.
All of this opens my eyes to the big picture. While we run these 10s in preparation for 25s, my job is to be aware and prepared for anything and possibly fit myself into a team that had worked on something for a night already without screwing up their flow.
As things move further down the road, we will be shuffling everyone around in order to keep things fair, which means at some point our fights will be reexplained to more people than just myself.
Balancing act
I have points to spend, but I am at a loss of how to spend them. My job as the tank is hopefully a short one because it means we can move to 25s. But, when we get to 25s I want to be on par with the rest of our healers. I currently am at a loss for how to walk this tight rope. I can just hear my raid leader saying to not stress about it, we are still early into raiding, but I am a planner. I need to have something scribbled out as a framework. I think it helps that the RL is also doing the bouncing thing like I am (dps to tank and back).
Words of wisdom?
For those who are also playing dual roles actively, I say "Wow, you are a crazy person". I also say, stay on your toes and be patient and flexible. Communicate to your officers about what they expect of you. If you are an officer, like I am, refer to crazy statement and hang on for the ride.
Thursday, September 30
Sexy wings, Cynical Brit, and a survival guide.
News has been trickling in that the release of Cata will be December instead of November. For some, this is great news because they have more time to purge their banks, level those alts and complete those achievements. For others, it means another two months of stalling in ICC.
As a reminder of the expansion blues, one of our members last night made a telling comment.
He has 33/50 shards for his legendary. When it was pointed out that he didn't have much more to go, he replied something similar to I'd rather see new content than finish the sword.
Ouch.
Yay Tree Bark Jacket!
I have been trying to keep up on the talent changes and new abilities in the mean time. I kind of feel lost, much like I did when WOTLK was arriving. Of course, Keeva is going to save the day with a guide to 4.0.
As confusing and scary as it may seem, it is important to pay attention to the writing on the wall and begin to adjust your play style. For myself, I know I use rejuv like it's bottomless, but in a raid I use all my spells just some more than others depending on the encounter (For example, nourish was my top spell last night on Dreamwalker but not so on Sindi). I know there are some druids who just Rejuv and WG. Others never really thought about when to roll LB and when to let it pop. With Blizz leveling the field once again between all types of healers, it is also crucial for us to be mindful of where we can excel and make the best use of our tools. If there is one thing that stands out with being a player of a druid is that we are flexible and quick to adapt. Hmm... game imitating life or the other way around?
Tier 11
Despite being in favor of changing our tree form model opposed to making it a cooldown, I do care about what the armor looks like. It could be that I spent months and many hours getting my first set which gave me a dead bird on my head. Then antlers and horns and more dead animals.
But, check this out!
Oh Blizz, I know this is just to help appease me and my anger over losing a permanent form. I have to admit, you had me at the wings. In your face wings. With sexy feathers floating down. Still a dead bird on my head, but the animation is HOT. What I don't quite get is three different colors. I see silvery green, brown, and dark blue sets. Everything is subject to change so I will keep an eye out for it, because I am obsessive like that.
Finally, if you follow MMO champion at all, you may have noticed Cynical Brit and his Cata videos. I am a new fan and highly encourage you to check his Youtube channel here. I respect those who want to remain spoiler free. I initially watched his Worgen vids largely because I knew I wasn't going to have time to make one right off the bat- not when I have a goblin to make! And a new troll! If you don't watch any of them, watch the Heroic Wipe video :)
As a reminder of the expansion blues, one of our members last night made a telling comment.
He has 33/50 shards for his legendary. When it was pointed out that he didn't have much more to go, he replied something similar to I'd rather see new content than finish the sword.
Ouch.
Yay Tree Bark Jacket!
I have been trying to keep up on the talent changes and new abilities in the mean time. I kind of feel lost, much like I did when WOTLK was arriving. Of course, Keeva is going to save the day with a guide to 4.0.
As confusing and scary as it may seem, it is important to pay attention to the writing on the wall and begin to adjust your play style. For myself, I know I use rejuv like it's bottomless, but in a raid I use all my spells just some more than others depending on the encounter (For example, nourish was my top spell last night on Dreamwalker but not so on Sindi). I know there are some druids who just Rejuv and WG. Others never really thought about when to roll LB and when to let it pop. With Blizz leveling the field once again between all types of healers, it is also crucial for us to be mindful of where we can excel and make the best use of our tools. If there is one thing that stands out with being a player of a druid is that we are flexible and quick to adapt. Hmm... game imitating life or the other way around?
Tier 11
Despite being in favor of changing our tree form model opposed to making it a cooldown, I do care about what the armor looks like. It could be that I spent months and many hours getting my first set which gave me a dead bird on my head. Then antlers and horns and more dead animals.
But, check this out!
Oh Blizz, I know this is just to help appease me and my anger over losing a permanent form. I have to admit, you had me at the wings. In your face wings. With sexy feathers floating down. Still a dead bird on my head, but the animation is HOT. What I don't quite get is three different colors. I see silvery green, brown, and dark blue sets. Everything is subject to change so I will keep an eye out for it, because I am obsessive like that.
Finally, if you follow MMO champion at all, you may have noticed Cynical Brit and his Cata videos. I am a new fan and highly encourage you to check his Youtube channel here. I respect those who want to remain spoiler free. I initially watched his Worgen vids largely because I knew I wasn't going to have time to make one right off the bat- not when I have a goblin to make! And a new troll! If you don't watch any of them, watch the Heroic Wipe video :)
Wednesday, September 15
New Expansion Blues
Maybe you are in this situation:
Cata beta is trickling in, SC2 is in full swing, and you have done ICC for almost a friggin' year. Real life stuff starts to invade, seeing the opening created by your waning enthusiasm.
Maybe you are in school and spend a little more time on homework than you did in the spring. Maybe you are a working stiff and decide that you are too tired to have dinner in the 15 minutes between getting home and the raid starting and just say "Screw it!"
Or, maybe you aren't dealing with any of the above and are pissed off that not enough people are showing up to the raids.
Either way, the expansion blues are hitting guilds hard right now, even my own.
The sad thing is, I haven't been online in a month to really feel it's effects. I am one of those people that is pissing off others (though I hope not! I have a very legit reason for not being online).
Last week, I was suckered in to doing a boss fight (sucked is the right word, as in, I sucked) and stayed to listen to officer chat.
Recruitment is a good ole standby route to take in order to fill our thin ranks, as long as there are enough good folks left playing on the server to recruit. Then there is hope- hope that people will come back from their breaks and be ready to tackle the expansion.
With the tenative release of November 2 it is still a long way to go while dealing with low attendance numbers.
Are you hit with the blues and if so, how are you handling it?
Cata beta is trickling in, SC2 is in full swing, and you have done ICC for almost a friggin' year. Real life stuff starts to invade, seeing the opening created by your waning enthusiasm.
Maybe you are in school and spend a little more time on homework than you did in the spring. Maybe you are a working stiff and decide that you are too tired to have dinner in the 15 minutes between getting home and the raid starting and just say "Screw it!"
Or, maybe you aren't dealing with any of the above and are pissed off that not enough people are showing up to the raids.
Either way, the expansion blues are hitting guilds hard right now, even my own.
The sad thing is, I haven't been online in a month to really feel it's effects. I am one of those people that is pissing off others (though I hope not! I have a very legit reason for not being online).
Last week, I was suckered in to doing a boss fight (sucked is the right word, as in, I sucked) and stayed to listen to officer chat.
Recruitment is a good ole standby route to take in order to fill our thin ranks, as long as there are enough good folks left playing on the server to recruit. Then there is hope- hope that people will come back from their breaks and be ready to tackle the expansion.
With the tenative release of November 2 it is still a long way to go while dealing with low attendance numbers.
Are you hit with the blues and if so, how are you handling it?
Thursday, July 8
Team Edward and mass rezing.
(First off, I know I haven't been active here. Let's just say that I had to move to a new city 2 hours away from where school was and finish finals at the same time. It's over and done with now, whew! Now, for some furious blogging in effort to catch up.)
I am totally outing this idea, but I won't share who thought it up. Say your guild is doing Ruby Sanctum. The laser beam thing is called Twilight Cutter. Now let's say your guild has a rank called "Team Edward" where those who fail to laser beams get sent to. I love this idea and can't wait to see it implemented! Of course, one of our officers is not happy about this idea since as a standing in place healer, he has issues in the twilight. Great time to be a tree!
LK dead on ten man, working on LK for 25 man (baby steps!) and RS was down the first day. It's a shame that Tirion, while being a paladin and has an OP mass rez, couldn't call Jaina to port the freaking raid out of the throne room. Dropped the ball there Alliance.
Now that I have gotten some fluffy stuff of the way, time to get the serious writing done.
Kids, don't let your friends be on Team Edward.
I am totally outing this idea, but I won't share who thought it up. Say your guild is doing Ruby Sanctum. The laser beam thing is called Twilight Cutter. Now let's say your guild has a rank called "Team Edward" where those who fail to laser beams get sent to. I love this idea and can't wait to see it implemented! Of course, one of our officers is not happy about this idea since as a standing in place healer, he has issues in the twilight. Great time to be a tree!
LK dead on ten man, working on LK for 25 man (baby steps!) and RS was down the first day. It's a shame that Tirion, while being a paladin and has an OP mass rez, couldn't call Jaina to port the freaking raid out of the throne room. Dropped the ball there Alliance.
Now that I have gotten some fluffy stuff of the way, time to get the serious writing done.
Kids, don't let your friends be on Team Edward.
Saturday, April 10
/Facepalm pt 1
It was unveiled recently the druid changes for Cata and there are certainly mixed reactions within the community.
For the restos, a few things were announced. Some weren't wholly unexpected and some where a little "meh".
Tree Form
Let's just get this one out of the way. A few months ago, Blizz said they regretted having their players not show off their armor designs and hide behind forms. The rational behind making tree form a cooldown instead of a shapeshift was not only designer ego (imo) but also to give restos offensive capabilities like all the other healers. I disagree with this line of thinking. Maybe because of the pvp aspect it is cumbersome, but for a pve player I do not find it all that bad, especially since they made slight changes to the overall mechanic already.
So let's take a look at what is actually stated:
"Tree of Life is changing from a passive talent to a cooldown-based talent, similar to Metamorphosis. Mechanically, it feels unfair for a druid to have to give up so much offense and utility in order to be just as good at healing as the other classes who are not asked to make that trade. We are exploring the exact benefit the druid gets from Tree of Life. It could strictly be better healing, or it could be that each heal behaves slightly different. You also will not be able to be banished in Tree of Life form (this will probably be true of Metamorphosis as well). Additionally, we would like to update the Tree of Life model so that it feels more exciting when you do decide to go into that form. Our feeling is that druids rarely actually get to show off their armor, so it would be nice to have at least one spec that looked like a night elf or tauren (and soon troll or worgen) for most of the time."
Every time this topic comes up, I think back to the Shadow Priest. Now, I don't wish to screw the SPs over; Blizz has been doing (enter sarcasm here) a good enough job fiddling with the class already . What strikes me is the line of reasoning applied to druids is not conversely applied to the SP. Is it not "unfair" to the Shadow Priest to not be able to dps and help heal like an Elemental Shaman? Or is the Moonkin form trumping that altogether?
Regrowth and an interactive mechanic
"Restoration druids will have a new talent called Efflorescence, which causes a bed of healing flora to sprout beneath targets that are critically healed by Regrowth."
Hmm, so they wish to bring back regrowth into a larger prominence? Some of us knew that a forced use of regrowth was happening, but without more information, it is hard to see what exactly this mechanic may do. It is a HoT? Is it an PBAOE thing? Actually, now that I think about it, I think it would be awesome to have a PBAOE mechanic into our hots. Shamans get a Heal Rain spell so having something that is a tight, small radius hot that acts differently than WG would be neat and be great into the Tank Healing or Melee Healing role.
Haste and Crits
"All heal-over-time spells (HoTs) will benefit from crit and haste innately in Cataclysm. Hasted HoTs do not reduce their duration, but instead add additional HoT ticks. Haste will also benefit Energy generation while in cat form."
This, I like a lot. Not much more to say about this except yay for the kitties! I expect though this will not be a huge amount of love for the Cats as Blizzard has a tendency to want to keep Cats in the middle of the pack (pun not intended) as far as dps meters. I expect this haste to be balanced out by something else later.
New Spells?
Nope.
"Unlike the other healers, Restoration druids will not be receiving any new spells. They have plenty to work with already, and our challenge instead is to make sure all of them have a well-defined niche. A druid should be able to tank-heal with stacks of Lifebloom, spot-heal a group with Nourish and Regrowth, and top off lightly wounded targets with Rejuvenation."
We do have a lot of tools in our tool boxes and am happy there won't be something new to add. However, they do need to keep the class fresh or we will start to get bored. I am curious about the wording used, though.
Tank-heal with stacks of Lifebloom reminds me of BC days and rolling. What I think actually makes greater tank healing is the use of managed hots with Nourish.
Spot healing a group with regrowth and nourish. Now I am starting to get a complex and think maybe I am doing things wrong. Spot healing a group for me means a combination of WG along with something else, depending on the type of damage and the situation. It is strange to me that Wild Growth isn't really mentioned at all. Maybe I am reading too much into things.
Top off lightly wounded targets with Rejuv. Again, interesting wording choice here. Rejuv is very powerful right now. Depending on the Glyph and gear etc, Rejuv can be a great blanket for consistent damage or solid fast hot for heated encounters. If I wanted to top off a lightly wounded target, I would use Nourish or WG, not Rejuv because of wasted ticks. Again, I am beginning to think I am doing things all wrong now if this is how they see the roles of our spells.
And lastly, Dispels
"Druids will lose Abolish Poison with the dispel mechanics change, but Restoration druids will gain Dispel Magic (on friendly targets) as a talent. All druids can still remove poisons with Cure Poison and remove curses with Remove Curse"
Of of the things Abolish Poison had going for it was its ability to be sustained. This seems rather vital in a pvp situation as hunters and rogues can apply a variety of poisons in quick sucession.
Cure poison is just one poison "counter" and yet costs the amount of mana as the Abolish version. In addition, it is not a cure over time so for encounters similar to Naxx, you will not be able to cast and leave it which would normally free you to do other things.
So, more spamming, more mana drain. Color me excited... no.
Adding dispel magic is interesting. The dispel changes actually require its own post, so refraining from addition comments for now.
Finally, a message to Blizzard, with many thanks to Keeva
For the restos, a few things were announced. Some weren't wholly unexpected and some where a little "meh".
Tree Form
Let's just get this one out of the way. A few months ago, Blizz said they regretted having their players not show off their armor designs and hide behind forms. The rational behind making tree form a cooldown instead of a shapeshift was not only designer ego (imo) but also to give restos offensive capabilities like all the other healers. I disagree with this line of thinking. Maybe because of the pvp aspect it is cumbersome, but for a pve player I do not find it all that bad, especially since they made slight changes to the overall mechanic already.
So let's take a look at what is actually stated:
"Tree of Life is changing from a passive talent to a cooldown-based talent, similar to Metamorphosis. Mechanically, it feels unfair for a druid to have to give up so much offense and utility in order to be just as good at healing as the other classes who are not asked to make that trade. We are exploring the exact benefit the druid gets from Tree of Life. It could strictly be better healing, or it could be that each heal behaves slightly different. You also will not be able to be banished in Tree of Life form (this will probably be true of Metamorphosis as well). Additionally, we would like to update the Tree of Life model so that it feels more exciting when you do decide to go into that form. Our feeling is that druids rarely actually get to show off their armor, so it would be nice to have at least one spec that looked like a night elf or tauren (and soon troll or worgen) for most of the time."
Every time this topic comes up, I think back to the Shadow Priest. Now, I don't wish to screw the SPs over; Blizz has been doing (enter sarcasm here) a good enough job fiddling with the class already . What strikes me is the line of reasoning applied to druids is not conversely applied to the SP. Is it not "unfair" to the Shadow Priest to not be able to dps and help heal like an Elemental Shaman? Or is the Moonkin form trumping that altogether?
Regrowth and an interactive mechanic
"Restoration druids will have a new talent called Efflorescence, which causes a bed of healing flora to sprout beneath targets that are critically healed by Regrowth."
Hmm, so they wish to bring back regrowth into a larger prominence? Some of us knew that a forced use of regrowth was happening, but without more information, it is hard to see what exactly this mechanic may do. It is a HoT? Is it an PBAOE thing? Actually, now that I think about it, I think it would be awesome to have a PBAOE mechanic into our hots. Shamans get a Heal Rain spell so having something that is a tight, small radius hot that acts differently than WG would be neat and be great into the Tank Healing or Melee Healing role.
Haste and Crits
"All heal-over-time spells (HoTs) will benefit from crit and haste innately in Cataclysm. Hasted HoTs do not reduce their duration, but instead add additional HoT ticks. Haste will also benefit Energy generation while in cat form."
This, I like a lot. Not much more to say about this except yay for the kitties! I expect though this will not be a huge amount of love for the Cats as Blizzard has a tendency to want to keep Cats in the middle of the pack (pun not intended) as far as dps meters. I expect this haste to be balanced out by something else later.
New Spells?
Nope.
"Unlike the other healers, Restoration druids will not be receiving any new spells. They have plenty to work with already, and our challenge instead is to make sure all of them have a well-defined niche. A druid should be able to tank-heal with stacks of Lifebloom, spot-heal a group with Nourish and Regrowth, and top off lightly wounded targets with Rejuvenation."
We do have a lot of tools in our tool boxes and am happy there won't be something new to add. However, they do need to keep the class fresh or we will start to get bored. I am curious about the wording used, though.
Tank-heal with stacks of Lifebloom reminds me of BC days and rolling. What I think actually makes greater tank healing is the use of managed hots with Nourish.
Spot healing a group with regrowth and nourish. Now I am starting to get a complex and think maybe I am doing things wrong. Spot healing a group for me means a combination of WG along with something else, depending on the type of damage and the situation. It is strange to me that Wild Growth isn't really mentioned at all. Maybe I am reading too much into things.
Top off lightly wounded targets with Rejuv. Again, interesting wording choice here. Rejuv is very powerful right now. Depending on the Glyph and gear etc, Rejuv can be a great blanket for consistent damage or solid fast hot for heated encounters. If I wanted to top off a lightly wounded target, I would use Nourish or WG, not Rejuv because of wasted ticks. Again, I am beginning to think I am doing things all wrong now if this is how they see the roles of our spells.
And lastly, Dispels
"Druids will lose Abolish Poison with the dispel mechanics change, but Restoration druids will gain Dispel Magic (on friendly targets) as a talent. All druids can still remove poisons with Cure Poison and remove curses with Remove Curse"
Of of the things Abolish Poison had going for it was its ability to be sustained. This seems rather vital in a pvp situation as hunters and rogues can apply a variety of poisons in quick sucession.
Cure poison is just one poison "counter" and yet costs the amount of mana as the Abolish version. In addition, it is not a cure over time so for encounters similar to Naxx, you will not be able to cast and leave it which would normally free you to do other things.
So, more spamming, more mana drain. Color me excited... no.
Adding dispel magic is interesting. The dispel changes actually require its own post, so refraining from addition comments for now.
Finally, a message to Blizzard, with many thanks to Keeva
Wednesday, April 7
Ghostcrawler brings me out of the woodwork, again.
In a couple days, the druid Cataclysm announcments will be in, but there are a few tidbits of information that sheds light on what Blizz thinks of the healing role.
First up, spell spaming:
"Most healers spam one heal now. Druids for all of their spells can do very well with just Rejuv and Wild Growth. Disc priests spam PW:S and Holy priests spam CoH on cooldown. We want to carve off niches for other spells. Flash Heal can be awesome if it runs you out of mana to hit nothing but Flash Heal."
To some extent, I see why GC thinks healers spam one heal. When we think of each class, there is an iconic spell. But, I hope that Blizz isn't saying that the healers just rely on these iconic spells in order to be great players. If so, that is just insulting.
Thankfully, GC added this:
"Even a cursory glance of the forums should suggest that a lot of healers like managing their mana and like picking the right heal for the job. It makes them feel smart, which is rewarding."
So, with this comment, perhaps the spamming comment could be read that they understand there is an iconic spell, but that the players also understand there is a smart way to play and this because they understand their respective classes. And this, I feel is true. Even paladins, for all their Beaconing and Holy Light spam, have to pay attention to what is going on.
Perhaps my experiences are different than the general raid population, though. My guild prides itself on a balanced healing team. Every role is filled and we have at least one of every type of healer. Within these healers, we play on the strengths of the individual and match that to the needs of the encounter. I personally can't say if this is boring to the players, but consider that during a best case scenario, each healer knows they will be doing X on Y encounter. This eases the stress of raiding and puts more focus on execution.
This leads to the next GC comment:
"The FSR provides some interesting gameplay (but at a pretty high complexity cost). We think we can engineer similar gameplay where choosing spell A over spell B is a mana-based decision rather than casting vs. standing still doing nothing is a (less fun) mana-based decision."
At first glance, this idea made me want to /rage. Consider the fact that almost every encounter in ICC has some sort of running around mechanic and then think about the five second rule. Now take ICC's insane amount of raid damage littered through out the dungeon and I wonder if people are really just standing around to get mana. It is a choice though and always has been. Standing to get mana- no heals go out and risk wiping. No standing- force oneself to use a consumable, mana talent, beg for innervate (drink a pot, noob), whatever.
I feel we have already had this discussion with Blizzard before. Remember when WotLK came out (ok, maybe not Naxx, but Ulduar)? At first, the encounters are a little too rough for the majority of the healing population and mana management becomes a priority. Then, as gear improves and the encounters become easier, mana is less of an issue. They also changed Replenishment, Innervate, and Consumables all in effort to make the mana game more engaging. I always felt that blizz bases their changes on things that happen toward the end of a content expansion or dungeon, rather than focusing on the whole timeline of healer role, but that is just me, I think.
I believe the most bold move out of all was the General V fight. This is not to say I want ALL encounters to be like that, but such a simple removal of the mana regen added complexity and challenge to the role of the healer. I can see where they may build on that idea.
I think we all will be keeping a close eye on what this Spell A Spell B choice will eventually mean for us. I don't think sky is falling quite yet. We still have more announcements to watch out for.
First up, spell spaming:
"Most healers spam one heal now. Druids for all of their spells can do very well with just Rejuv and Wild Growth. Disc priests spam PW:S and Holy priests spam CoH on cooldown. We want to carve off niches for other spells. Flash Heal can be awesome if it runs you out of mana to hit nothing but Flash Heal."
To some extent, I see why GC thinks healers spam one heal. When we think of each class, there is an iconic spell. But, I hope that Blizz isn't saying that the healers just rely on these iconic spells in order to be great players. If so, that is just insulting.
Thankfully, GC added this:
"Even a cursory glance of the forums should suggest that a lot of healers like managing their mana and like picking the right heal for the job. It makes them feel smart, which is rewarding."
So, with this comment, perhaps the spamming comment could be read that they understand there is an iconic spell, but that the players also understand there is a smart way to play and this because they understand their respective classes. And this, I feel is true. Even paladins, for all their Beaconing and Holy Light spam, have to pay attention to what is going on.
Perhaps my experiences are different than the general raid population, though. My guild prides itself on a balanced healing team. Every role is filled and we have at least one of every type of healer. Within these healers, we play on the strengths of the individual and match that to the needs of the encounter. I personally can't say if this is boring to the players, but consider that during a best case scenario, each healer knows they will be doing X on Y encounter. This eases the stress of raiding and puts more focus on execution.
This leads to the next GC comment:
"The FSR provides some interesting gameplay (but at a pretty high complexity cost). We think we can engineer similar gameplay where choosing spell A over spell B is a mana-based decision rather than casting vs. standing still doing nothing is a (less fun) mana-based decision."
At first glance, this idea made me want to /rage. Consider the fact that almost every encounter in ICC has some sort of running around mechanic and then think about the five second rule. Now take ICC's insane amount of raid damage littered through out the dungeon and I wonder if people are really just standing around to get mana. It is a choice though and always has been. Standing to get mana- no heals go out and risk wiping. No standing- force oneself to use a consumable, mana talent, beg for innervate (drink a pot, noob), whatever.
I feel we have already had this discussion with Blizzard before. Remember when WotLK came out (ok, maybe not Naxx, but Ulduar)? At first, the encounters are a little too rough for the majority of the healing population and mana management becomes a priority. Then, as gear improves and the encounters become easier, mana is less of an issue. They also changed Replenishment, Innervate, and Consumables all in effort to make the mana game more engaging. I always felt that blizz bases their changes on things that happen toward the end of a content expansion or dungeon, rather than focusing on the whole timeline of healer role, but that is just me, I think.
I believe the most bold move out of all was the General V fight. This is not to say I want ALL encounters to be like that, but such a simple removal of the mana regen added complexity and challenge to the role of the healer. I can see where they may build on that idea.
I think we all will be keeping a close eye on what this Spell A Spell B choice will eventually mean for us. I don't think sky is falling quite yet. We still have more announcements to watch out for.
Saturday, January 30
Debuffs and uberness
GridStatusetcetc
So I finally broke down and got GridStatusDebuffs this week out of curiosity. I recall having it in Ulduar but it tracked way more things than was worth having (like Hodir effects).
However, it is wonderful in ICC. Another healer asked me if there was anything I could think of to turn off for this and to be honest I couldn't think of anything. Maybe the debuff from the Dark Nuclei on the Princes fight, but it hasn't annoyed me yet.
I would recommend it, especially if you weren't sure about it before.
What the heck do I want to get?
I have been sitting on a fair number of frost emblems recently and every time I go to the vendor, I can't figure out what to get. I use Lootrank and Rawr, but I get stymied looking at my options. I think I looked long and hard at the Purified Lunar Dust, which as I understand is getting a boost soon. I believe this will bump it above Sliver of Pure Ice in both MP5 and Spell Power, which is good news for those who don't have Solace of the Fallen or Arthor's Abacus. In light of this information, I believe I will buy this, as I am a trinket hound.
After stealing the Spindle from the rest of the raid the other night, my haste is now stupidly higher than it was last week which means I can finally start looking at new things. Perhaps, even the tier gear. Crusade aside, I am not seeing the upgrades as fast as I would like, and I am patiently holding out for the Abacus. Why? I get a little narrowly focused when I see an item that calls to me. As a raid healer, I see large potential for it, but I digress.
Going through the list, my choices are rather limited in certain areas like neck and bracers but I do see some potential in other areas. I guess it's another round of gear comparing for me.
I will tree punch you in the face!
Actually, my ranting and subsequent boozing during a raid has lessened quite a bit lately. A large part of that has to do with the fact that I am kept so busy I don't have time to watch what other people are doing. The healing assignments generally go like this:
Priest 1 heal xxx, Pally 1 heal xxx Pally 2 heal xxx... Kir run around like mad and heal everyone.
Yes, we do have another druid healer but some fights call for all three tanks to be active, which means he also gets the fun of single target healing, while I do my best to keep the raid alive. Thankfully, the other healers are rescuers like myself and sometimes toss a heal to someone nearby if there's time, but it often falls on my shoulders. I am not complaining though, I do get enjoyment out of it (Princes is my favorite fight so far). There is a sort of thrill running from one end of the room to the other while avoiding all the bad things. I find myself thinking outloud "White swirly thing, avoid. Crap, New Year's Ball will drop soon, better moonfire it on the way to the melee..." and so forth. It is a thrill for me and I am glad to get the assignment each time.
Alright then, I think I have put off homework long enough. Well, maybe one more look at Lootrank...
So I finally broke down and got GridStatusDebuffs this week out of curiosity. I recall having it in Ulduar but it tracked way more things than was worth having (like Hodir effects).
However, it is wonderful in ICC. Another healer asked me if there was anything I could think of to turn off for this and to be honest I couldn't think of anything. Maybe the debuff from the Dark Nuclei on the Princes fight, but it hasn't annoyed me yet.
I would recommend it, especially if you weren't sure about it before.
What the heck do I want to get?
I have been sitting on a fair number of frost emblems recently and every time I go to the vendor, I can't figure out what to get. I use Lootrank and Rawr, but I get stymied looking at my options. I think I looked long and hard at the Purified Lunar Dust, which as I understand is getting a boost soon. I believe this will bump it above Sliver of Pure Ice in both MP5 and Spell Power, which is good news for those who don't have Solace of the Fallen or Arthor's Abacus. In light of this information, I believe I will buy this, as I am a trinket hound.
After stealing the Spindle from the rest of the raid the other night, my haste is now stupidly higher than it was last week which means I can finally start looking at new things. Perhaps, even the tier gear. Crusade aside, I am not seeing the upgrades as fast as I would like, and I am patiently holding out for the Abacus. Why? I get a little narrowly focused when I see an item that calls to me. As a raid healer, I see large potential for it, but I digress.
Going through the list, my choices are rather limited in certain areas like neck and bracers but I do see some potential in other areas. I guess it's another round of gear comparing for me.
I will tree punch you in the face!
Actually, my ranting and subsequent boozing during a raid has lessened quite a bit lately. A large part of that has to do with the fact that I am kept so busy I don't have time to watch what other people are doing. The healing assignments generally go like this:
Priest 1 heal xxx, Pally 1 heal xxx Pally 2 heal xxx... Kir run around like mad and heal everyone.
Yes, we do have another druid healer but some fights call for all three tanks to be active, which means he also gets the fun of single target healing, while I do my best to keep the raid alive. Thankfully, the other healers are rescuers like myself and sometimes toss a heal to someone nearby if there's time, but it often falls on my shoulders. I am not complaining though, I do get enjoyment out of it (Princes is my favorite fight so far). There is a sort of thrill running from one end of the room to the other while avoiding all the bad things. I find myself thinking outloud "White swirly thing, avoid. Crap, New Year's Ball will drop soon, better moonfire it on the way to the melee..." and so forth. It is a thrill for me and I am glad to get the assignment each time.
Alright then, I think I have put off homework long enough. Well, maybe one more look at Lootrank...
Tuesday, January 12
I miss the days of keeping your head down.
There is a growing problem on our server, and maybe it's on yours, too. It's folks who don't keep their heads down and their mouths shut.
See, being a part of a guild should be a little like a job. You apply, get signed on, then have to go through a process before the rest of the group feels you can be a part of their team. The guild app process is no different.
We used to have initiate ranks, a trial period, and such when we invited new members. Without that, we just give folks time to prove themselves to us that they can do what is expected of them. We take comments from other raiders and perhaps even members of former guilds.
The problem is, more and more people are coming into guilds (not just ours) thinking they are the shit and know exactly what is going on.
What ever happened to just staying quiet? *que old man voice* Back in my day... impressing your new guild meant following instructions, listening to the raid leader, keeping your nose out of other's people's business. How are you expecting to see if the guild works for you if you keep badgering them about how they run their guild? If you don't like it, either choose to put up with it or gtfo.
Also, impressing your new guild does not always mean being the highest on whatever meter. You can be number one on dps, and the guild still can put you on ignore/mute. That's not a good sign.
Seems that my server is going through a huge rash of this: "I don't like this, let's gquit and form our own guild of asshats like us!". Another officer and I constantly check our bookmarked guilds, only to find out that they disbanded or server moved. Guilds splinter and die. It's amazing that we have prospered despite being a merger guild. Going on two years now (I need to start planing our anniversary party, come to think of it) while most don't make it past 6 months or less.
All of this is killing our server, in a way. I used to be able to sit in Org, scope the other druids, give them props on a piece of gear or congratulate them on a boss kill. Now, the main "celebrities" on the server are loudmouths in trade chat. Folks who stir up shit for attention.
Call me old school, but I miss the quiet.
See, being a part of a guild should be a little like a job. You apply, get signed on, then have to go through a process before the rest of the group feels you can be a part of their team. The guild app process is no different.
We used to have initiate ranks, a trial period, and such when we invited new members. Without that, we just give folks time to prove themselves to us that they can do what is expected of them. We take comments from other raiders and perhaps even members of former guilds.
The problem is, more and more people are coming into guilds (not just ours) thinking they are the shit and know exactly what is going on.
What ever happened to just staying quiet? *que old man voice* Back in my day... impressing your new guild meant following instructions, listening to the raid leader, keeping your nose out of other's people's business. How are you expecting to see if the guild works for you if you keep badgering them about how they run their guild? If you don't like it, either choose to put up with it or gtfo.
Also, impressing your new guild does not always mean being the highest on whatever meter. You can be number one on dps, and the guild still can put you on ignore/mute. That's not a good sign.
Seems that my server is going through a huge rash of this: "I don't like this, let's gquit and form our own guild of asshats like us!". Another officer and I constantly check our bookmarked guilds, only to find out that they disbanded or server moved. Guilds splinter and die. It's amazing that we have prospered despite being a merger guild. Going on two years now (I need to start planing our anniversary party, come to think of it) while most don't make it past 6 months or less.
All of this is killing our server, in a way. I used to be able to sit in Org, scope the other druids, give them props on a piece of gear or congratulate them on a boss kill. Now, the main "celebrities" on the server are loudmouths in trade chat. Folks who stir up shit for attention.
Call me old school, but I miss the quiet.
Saturday, January 9
Rankwatch, some thoughts
Not long ago, MMO-Champion featured the Rankwatch mod on their site and with the pugging and such, many folks have downloaded it.
I am no exception.
I actually enjoy this mod, though I don't really care about it in a 5 man situation. I know some folks were asking the author to add a cross realm feature but it is not an issue for me. Sure, it would be nice to know why the mage who is better geared than me can't get above the tank, but I figure as long as I don't die I call the run a win.
What I was hoping for with this mod was to figure out possible weaknesses in our raiders now that the new wing is open. The gear checks are tight, and it was baffling to me why we had folks who barely dps'd better than me in my offspec.
Caught one of our hunters in a guildie 5 man using a downranked Steady Shot. I have to say we both were embarrassed; me for the spamming and her for the downranking. I have now decided to turn off announcements during 5 mans and leave it on for actual raids, but that's neither here nor there.
Several of us run with the mod now and catch not so surprising folks downranking. One even left the raid to train during a break. As expected, it is not solving all problems. There is still lag, framerates, and general coordination that every raid suffers from occasionally, but the mod does weed out one potential source of whatever issue you are trying to solve.
If you do have the mod, I would stress that it does not give you licence to be a jerk. Calling someone out who as a noob does not help the matter. This is largely why I don't run with it on 5 mans because the potential for abusive behavior is already high in those situations.
I will note that it is great for alts. I was running with a rank 1 SW:Pain, forgot to train in the frenzy of emblem farming, and promptly smacked my forehead when I got the messages again. It is very easy to miss things on alts and the mod does a great job of "fixing" you.
Can find the mod at the curse website.
I am no exception.
I actually enjoy this mod, though I don't really care about it in a 5 man situation. I know some folks were asking the author to add a cross realm feature but it is not an issue for me. Sure, it would be nice to know why the mage who is better geared than me can't get above the tank, but I figure as long as I don't die I call the run a win.
What I was hoping for with this mod was to figure out possible weaknesses in our raiders now that the new wing is open. The gear checks are tight, and it was baffling to me why we had folks who barely dps'd better than me in my offspec.
Caught one of our hunters in a guildie 5 man using a downranked Steady Shot. I have to say we both were embarrassed; me for the spamming and her for the downranking. I have now decided to turn off announcements during 5 mans and leave it on for actual raids, but that's neither here nor there.
Several of us run with the mod now and catch not so surprising folks downranking. One even left the raid to train during a break. As expected, it is not solving all problems. There is still lag, framerates, and general coordination that every raid suffers from occasionally, but the mod does weed out one potential source of whatever issue you are trying to solve.
If you do have the mod, I would stress that it does not give you licence to be a jerk. Calling someone out who as a noob does not help the matter. This is largely why I don't run with it on 5 mans because the potential for abusive behavior is already high in those situations.
I will note that it is great for alts. I was running with a rank 1 SW:Pain, forgot to train in the frenzy of emblem farming, and promptly smacked my forehead when I got the messages again. It is very easy to miss things on alts and the mod does a great job of "fixing" you.
Can find the mod at the curse website.
Saturday, December 19
Rocket packs are not toys.
So, it's been another rousing week of raiding in Icecrown, doing both the 10 man and 25 man versions.
Looking back, there are a few things I would like to share.
Curses!
For goodness' sake, please stop yelling in vent you have the curse. By the time it reaches my ears, I have already taken it off you. STFU.
If you have the curse, and can remove it, try it. It just might work.
FFS Listen!
When the person giving instructions says "Ok, wait for Lum (our main tank) to go over to the other boat, then when he says to, follow." he means just that. Somehow, that was translated into something like "Hey, there's the boat, weeeeee!" followed by death, which ensued the comment akin to "I died from something horrible."
Or, after explaining the strat for the third time for the instructional impaired, the raid leader asks "Are there any questions?" we hear: "No, but I have a comment. I am on top of the boat!" /facepalm
But before all that...
"I have to stand right next to Lum or I die." Which led me to think to myself, Funny, you die next to Lum, so maybe there's a flaw with this strategy.
/rage
More Five Man Stuff
Despite having other alternatives, I have been farming HoR for the off hand with no luck. We brought a warlock who has been away from the game for some time and needed gear ups.
Me: "If you roll against me on [the heart] I will hunt you down and kill you."
Warlock: <--- Not afraid
Luminas: "I am going for coffee while the tree vents her murderous rage."
Sadly, the lock got a wand, and the Shriveled Heart didn't drop. Here's to hoping something comes out of ToC later.
Songs from Icecrown
Here are some tunes to infect your group mates with...
For Halls of Reflection, Gauntlet: I Ran by Flock of Seagulls
For the trash before Lord Marrowgar: Shout by Tears for Fears
(Works best if the raid calls "Shout!" and you respond with "Let it all out!")
And finally, courtesy of Anti and our gmotd: All my ex's live in Nexus
Looking back, there are a few things I would like to share.
Curses!
For goodness' sake, please stop yelling in vent you have the curse. By the time it reaches my ears, I have already taken it off you. STFU.
If you have the curse, and can remove it, try it. It just might work.
FFS Listen!
When the person giving instructions says "Ok, wait for Lum (our main tank) to go over to the other boat, then when he says to, follow." he means just that. Somehow, that was translated into something like "Hey, there's the boat, weeeeee!" followed by death, which ensued the comment akin to "I died from something horrible."
Or, after explaining the strat for the third time for the instructional impaired, the raid leader asks "Are there any questions?" we hear: "No, but I have a comment. I am on top of the boat!" /facepalm
But before all that...
"I have to stand right next to Lum or I die." Which led me to think to myself, Funny, you die next to Lum, so maybe there's a flaw with this strategy.
/rage
More Five Man Stuff
Despite having other alternatives, I have been farming HoR for the off hand with no luck. We brought a warlock who has been away from the game for some time and needed gear ups.
Me: "If you roll against me on [the heart] I will hunt you down and kill you."
Warlock: <--- Not afraid
Luminas: "I am going for coffee while the tree vents her murderous rage."
Sadly, the lock got a wand, and the Shriveled Heart didn't drop. Here's to hoping something comes out of ToC later.
Songs from Icecrown
Here are some tunes to infect your group mates with...
For Halls of Reflection, Gauntlet: I Ran by Flock of Seagulls
For the trash before Lord Marrowgar: Shout by Tears for Fears
(Works best if the raid calls "Shout!" and you respond with "Let it all out!")
And finally, courtesy of Anti and our gmotd: All my ex's live in Nexus
Tuesday, December 15
Pugging, Raiding, Running like a mad cow
Pugging
So myself and many others are finding the LFG tool to be very handy. There are hiccups, like punks who feel they screwed up enough on their server that they need to spread the love... but they are few and far between. I started queing this weekend as a dps to give me a change of pace... and found that pace was slooow. Makes sense: less healers than dps means if I qued as the healer role I would fill it much faster than if I was competing with every other dps out there.
Something to note: my server has thing about scrub dps. I am sure it's not just my server, but we regularly scan gear and check the dps meter to see if people are pulling their weight. I have found that sometimes the stuff is dead too soon or the fight is favored toward some classes than others (ie, melee suck on WW stuff and boomkin suck at constant moving). Basically I won't vote to kick someone unless they constantly afk or pull jack ass moves.
The one thing I did notice about the tool is remember to watch your altitude. I used the "teleport out of dungeon" feature, only to find myself falling in Dragonblight and managed to shapeshift inches off the ground. Talk about panic. "Oh crap oh crap! Switch! Switch!"
Rejuvenation
I found it difficult to find information on exactly how the new rejuv works and in conjunction with the glyph. It was bugging me for days why I had a 12 sec rejuv even with the talents.
Here is what I have noticed so far:
Without any glyphs or talents- 15 secs
Without the Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation but with Nature's Splendor- 18 secs
With Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation and Nature's Splendor- 12 secs
I don't know if that's intended, but it seems the glyph overrides the talent. Because of this, I am now packing several copies of Rapid Rejuv, Nourish, Rejuv and Regrowth Glyphs. Possibly a little overkill, but I like to cover my bases. All reports were right in that the Rapid Rejuv glyph may not be the ideal for all situations.
A note about Regrowth: it will suck your mana if you rely on it too heavily. Ideally, Nourish is your best option. I have copies because our guild bank needed cleaning out and I am packrat.
My computer sucks
Still testing out things in a raid setting. I raid with such abysmally low frame rates that it's amazing I get anything done. Seriously, I can't wait until next month. I will have enough money to get a whole new computer then, but in the meantime I am working the gimp.
So myself and many others are finding the LFG tool to be very handy. There are hiccups, like punks who feel they screwed up enough on their server that they need to spread the love... but they are few and far between. I started queing this weekend as a dps to give me a change of pace... and found that pace was slooow. Makes sense: less healers than dps means if I qued as the healer role I would fill it much faster than if I was competing with every other dps out there.
Something to note: my server has thing about scrub dps. I am sure it's not just my server, but we regularly scan gear and check the dps meter to see if people are pulling their weight. I have found that sometimes the stuff is dead too soon or the fight is favored toward some classes than others (ie, melee suck on WW stuff and boomkin suck at constant moving). Basically I won't vote to kick someone unless they constantly afk or pull jack ass moves.
The one thing I did notice about the tool is remember to watch your altitude. I used the "teleport out of dungeon" feature, only to find myself falling in Dragonblight and managed to shapeshift inches off the ground. Talk about panic. "Oh crap oh crap! Switch! Switch!"
Rejuvenation
I found it difficult to find information on exactly how the new rejuv works and in conjunction with the glyph. It was bugging me for days why I had a 12 sec rejuv even with the talents.
Here is what I have noticed so far:
Without any glyphs or talents- 15 secs
Without the Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation but with Nature's Splendor- 18 secs
With Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation and Nature's Splendor- 12 secs
I don't know if that's intended, but it seems the glyph overrides the talent. Because of this, I am now packing several copies of Rapid Rejuv, Nourish, Rejuv and Regrowth Glyphs. Possibly a little overkill, but I like to cover my bases. All reports were right in that the Rapid Rejuv glyph may not be the ideal for all situations.
A note about Regrowth: it will suck your mana if you rely on it too heavily. Ideally, Nourish is your best option. I have copies because our guild bank needed cleaning out and I am packrat.
My computer sucks
Still testing out things in a raid setting. I raid with such abysmally low frame rates that it's amazing I get anything done. Seriously, I can't wait until next month. I will have enough money to get a whole new computer then, but in the meantime I am working the gimp.
Tuesday, December 8
A non patch post
Why yes! A post not related to the patch. Of course, tomorrow or even later today will be a different story, of course, but for now I wanted to write about something different.
Last night we lacked some tankage for our 25 man heroic ToC, so instead split the raid into a 10 man normal and heroic.
The heroic did rather well, considering we expected to die in horrible ways. MVP award goes to Dee for being a shadowpriest who healed like a pro and gave me a run for my money. We got so lucky to find a player who can switch specs on a dime and still do well.
A big thank you to Kae from Dreambound for the post on Jaraxxus. During the first couple attempts, I was getting really pissed about this ability but didn't have time to look at my debuff bar to see what it actually did besides silence me. I asked the raid leader if I could look it up. He said it wasn't on wiki but I had a feeling one of my fellow bloggers would have had this covered and you didn't dissapoint!
Faction champions took some creative switching, with our main tank becoming an all around player by healing, killing totems and slowing down the rogue as it was gunning for squishies.
We had our doubts about the twins. Again, our raid leader did a fantastic job covering our strat (Ranged stacked as one color, melee stacked as another with the tanks positioning between). If only all the ranged got the memo and didn't decide to stand off in no man's land only to die.
Anub. Well, I died spectacularly to shadow strike and with a few minutes left of raid time, we decided to rest on our laurels there.
Great work guys and grats on your loots!
Now time to get one last bit of studying in before my finals. Happy downloading.
Last night we lacked some tankage for our 25 man heroic ToC, so instead split the raid into a 10 man normal and heroic.
The heroic did rather well, considering we expected to die in horrible ways. MVP award goes to Dee for being a shadowpriest who healed like a pro and gave me a run for my money. We got so lucky to find a player who can switch specs on a dime and still do well.
A big thank you to Kae from Dreambound for the post on Jaraxxus. During the first couple attempts, I was getting really pissed about this ability but didn't have time to look at my debuff bar to see what it actually did besides silence me. I asked the raid leader if I could look it up. He said it wasn't on wiki but I had a feeling one of my fellow bloggers would have had this covered and you didn't dissapoint!
Faction champions took some creative switching, with our main tank becoming an all around player by healing, killing totems and slowing down the rogue as it was gunning for squishies.
We had our doubts about the twins. Again, our raid leader did a fantastic job covering our strat (Ranged stacked as one color, melee stacked as another with the tanks positioning between). If only all the ranged got the memo and didn't decide to stand off in no man's land only to die.
Anub. Well, I died spectacularly to shadow strike and with a few minutes left of raid time, we decided to rest on our laurels there.
Great work guys and grats on your loots!
Now time to get one last bit of studying in before my finals. Happy downloading.
Monday, December 7
Are we there yet?
Part of is getting pumped for ICC, especially now that my vacation is coming up. Then a strange thing happened: I said to my boyfriend that I was worried the patch was coming this week. I didn't feel ready, in gear or in energy to tackle a new place. As an officer, a new place means new loot distribution and new headaches on our schedule. I haven't gone over all the gear and plotted my wish list. All in all, I am not ready for the new dungeon and I won't be until finals are over.
Ok, I am just one person, and that is why we have an officer team. There goes one worry.
My boyfriend says I shouldn't be worried about the gear. I am not in the top gear, but I am certainly not hurting. And it won't be hard to put together a wish list.
And really, I don't need any more stresses placed upon me than I already have.
With vacation coming soon, I can log back in the game now to do some fishing for mats. I also spent a ton on pets recently with no real time to gain the cash back and I can start gaining my "learning new fights" fund.
Nothing new, as I have been part of new additions to the game for several years now but the panic never really gets any better.
Ok, I am just one person, and that is why we have an officer team. There goes one worry.
My boyfriend says I shouldn't be worried about the gear. I am not in the top gear, but I am certainly not hurting. And it won't be hard to put together a wish list.
And really, I don't need any more stresses placed upon me than I already have.
With vacation coming soon, I can log back in the game now to do some fishing for mats. I also spent a ton on pets recently with no real time to gain the cash back and I can start gaining my "learning new fights" fund.
Nothing new, as I have been part of new additions to the game for several years now but the panic never really gets any better.
Wednesday, December 2
Preping for the new instance
I've said this before, but it seems to warrant mentioning again... I am tired of chasing the tier gear. I stopped during Ulduar sometime and never looked back.
From a healing standpoint, I was not thrilled with the crit on the set gear, regardless of how cool the bonuses were. For me, I am a raid healer first, and a tank healer second. Even during 10 man hardmodes, I tried to strike a decent balance between the two.
So before the haste change was announced, I stayed around 500 haste. I had dropped some talents in order to get the Empowered Touch. Overall, worked well.
After coming back from academically induced WoW hibernation, I realized that I would need something like 700 to 800 haste. Yikes, right?
On my server, the top druids are sporting 200 to 300 haste. I imagine they may have some tough choices to make for the Citadel. Dropping the t9 would be one of them. Picking up Celestial Focus is another.
In this, I blame blizzard, to a point. Favoring Crit on our gear over haste, then changing GotEM seems a little harsh. It seems to be the pattern that with each new set bonus, they tweak slightly how they would like to see us heal. GC has been quoted to suggest that blizzard thought Rejuv was too powerful and haste was a little overdone (huge paraphrasing).
Right now, I am way over the haste number I should for the content we are doing, and I haven't even grabbed CF yet. I have a crappy computer, so the haste is great if I didn't have the fps I have. Hopefully, that will change next month.
Most likely, I will be dropping a couple points I have in tranquil spirit and Revitalize in order to pick up CF. We don't have a bunch of elemental shaman or moonkin (read: we have one of each), so I can't rely on those buffs too much and need the boost CF provides.
Overall, I just feel a little bad for the crit druids who have to make radical changes in order to keep up.
From a healing standpoint, I was not thrilled with the crit on the set gear, regardless of how cool the bonuses were. For me, I am a raid healer first, and a tank healer second. Even during 10 man hardmodes, I tried to strike a decent balance between the two.
So before the haste change was announced, I stayed around 500 haste. I had dropped some talents in order to get the Empowered Touch. Overall, worked well.
After coming back from academically induced WoW hibernation, I realized that I would need something like 700 to 800 haste. Yikes, right?
On my server, the top druids are sporting 200 to 300 haste. I imagine they may have some tough choices to make for the Citadel. Dropping the t9 would be one of them. Picking up Celestial Focus is another.
In this, I blame blizzard, to a point. Favoring Crit on our gear over haste, then changing GotEM seems a little harsh. It seems to be the pattern that with each new set bonus, they tweak slightly how they would like to see us heal. GC has been quoted to suggest that blizzard thought Rejuv was too powerful and haste was a little overdone (huge paraphrasing).
Right now, I am way over the haste number I should for the content we are doing, and I haven't even grabbed CF yet. I have a crappy computer, so the haste is great if I didn't have the fps I have. Hopefully, that will change next month.
Most likely, I will be dropping a couple points I have in tranquil spirit and Revitalize in order to pick up CF. We don't have a bunch of elemental shaman or moonkin (read: we have one of each), so I can't rely on those buffs too much and need the boost CF provides.
Overall, I just feel a little bad for the crit druids who have to make radical changes in order to keep up.
Wednesday, September 16
Overdue update
Ugh, it's been to long since I posted. Crap happened in game, Aion week-long beta came around, and projects at work/home all sucked up my time.
Drama Llama
The shake ups in the guild have been an interesting roller coaster. It seems like when one drama starts, everyone else feels like it's a good time to add to it. After the asshat move from some members mentioned previously, two other long time members left, which had us feeling disoriented and confused. Their reasons for leaving were mixed and not expressed well. In addition, they didn't say good bye to the guild, just a little note to the officers. It left us sad, but knowing a little bit about what is going on behind the screen, it is understandable to a point. We wish them well, and hope that things work out for them.
But we have some new folks who seem to be doing well and more on the way. I'd pimp my blog to say we are recruiting but then you would have to deal with me on a regular basis, and that will probably turn you off. :)
Around the Corner
So while poking around for some writing fodder this morning, I ran across a potentially new achievement: BB King. It says you have to pelt the enemy leaders, presumably with a BB gun.
This, made me laugh out loud for a good couple minutes. I'm sure the youngin's may not get the reference but I had flash backs of A Christmas Story. (Omg, it came out in 1983? I am getting old.)
And I am sure everyone has seen the Pandaren Video. A couple guildies are already rabid for it, and others guess it will be a Cataclysm CE pet. Not sure how it fits into Cataclysm, but since it's BoA it is the closest thing that makes sense since we will already be getting a broodling pet for the anniversary. If only the Kung Fu Fighting music plays a little when it's summoned...
And of course, let us not forget the Ony fight that is coming. From what I was able to see, via videos, not much about the mechanics were changed, which given that spells and abilities have changed drastically since she came out, I worry that it will be a snoozefest. But that's my limited armchair opinion which holds no weight.
And now, for something completely different
I have a scifi lit class this term and I got all giddy when I saw the booklist. Some I have already read which should make my work load a little easier, eh? Now, to pull a Hermione and crack open Snow Crash again. Should be able to get it read before the term starts.
Drama Llama
The shake ups in the guild have been an interesting roller coaster. It seems like when one drama starts, everyone else feels like it's a good time to add to it. After the asshat move from some members mentioned previously, two other long time members left, which had us feeling disoriented and confused. Their reasons for leaving were mixed and not expressed well. In addition, they didn't say good bye to the guild, just a little note to the officers. It left us sad, but knowing a little bit about what is going on behind the screen, it is understandable to a point. We wish them well, and hope that things work out for them.
But we have some new folks who seem to be doing well and more on the way. I'd pimp my blog to say we are recruiting but then you would have to deal with me on a regular basis, and that will probably turn you off. :)
Around the Corner
So while poking around for some writing fodder this morning, I ran across a potentially new achievement: BB King. It says you have to pelt the enemy leaders, presumably with a BB gun.
This, made me laugh out loud for a good couple minutes. I'm sure the youngin's may not get the reference but I had flash backs of A Christmas Story. (Omg, it came out in 1983? I am getting old.)
And I am sure everyone has seen the Pandaren Video. A couple guildies are already rabid for it, and others guess it will be a Cataclysm CE pet. Not sure how it fits into Cataclysm, but since it's BoA it is the closest thing that makes sense since we will already be getting a broodling pet for the anniversary. If only the Kung Fu Fighting music plays a little when it's summoned...
And of course, let us not forget the Ony fight that is coming. From what I was able to see, via videos, not much about the mechanics were changed, which given that spells and abilities have changed drastically since she came out, I worry that it will be a snoozefest. But that's my limited armchair opinion which holds no weight.
And now, for something completely different
I have a scifi lit class this term and I got all giddy when I saw the booklist. Some I have already read which should make my work load a little easier, eh? Now, to pull a Hermione and crack open Snow Crash again. Should be able to get it read before the term starts.
Wednesday, September 2
So many hard modes
Last night was a great night for our 10 man hardmode work. We are almost done with them and the end is within our grasp for the proto-drake.
I Choose You, Steelbreaker
I honestly expected that one to go a lot worse. Big Kudos to Anti for setting it up and explaining it so well. Basically, we had Brundir and Steelbreaker tanked very close together. This way when the overload hits, the bulk of the raid moves to the other side of Steelbreaker to avoid it. How well that went, I couldn't really tell but people didn't die so I assume it was OK.
The reason why I couldn't tell is because I was one of the Static charge people. Myself and two others were at a longer range from Steelbreaker to soak the charges. We were supposed to be a rather evenly spread, but because of luck on positioning, Steelbreaker was too close to the wall and I couldn't get a good spot. Despite it not going exactly as planned, it was a clean execution and finished him off before the second tank exploded (though he still wanted to give us hugs and take us all down with him before loot went out! Bad pally.)
Between static charges, the usual aoe damage and the fact that Steelbreaker hits like a truck, all the healers were busting their arses. Amazing job everyone!
Crazy Cat Lady
Not a hard mode per se, but doing the achievement for the Glory meta was a bit rough. The tanks had a lot on their hands with the Sentries, and the dps did a great job keeping themselves in check as to not over do it. Overall, this is one fight where if one thing goes wrong, it has the potential to spiral down to a wipe.
As with our 25 mans, we try to use a shaman totem for the pull. Our DKs did a great job pulling off additional mobs out of the group, and the healers busted out the can of whup ass to keep everyone alive.
Lose your Illusion
This one wasn't new to most of us last night, but we had some folks who went away for Blizzcon, so there was some catching up to do. Once again, I was in the arena group. And, once again, somehow we lose some steam toward the end and one of the tanks died. As I am scrambling to catch up on the health bars, I battlerezed one of the dps while we had 20 seconds to spare before enrage. Whew!
The only real tough part about the hard mode is if someone is either frost bolted or caught in the blizzard when the skittles come. That, and our melee are always at risk of the chain lightning. And some day, some freaking day, I would like to see the Don't Stand in the Lightning achievement.
Knock, Knock, Knock on Wood
Ok, I may bitch about some other bosses but Freya was downright exasperating. We hadn't even tried the other versions of this hard mode; we jumped right in with three elders up.
As far as difficulty, I would say that the Sunbeam things are the easiest to deal with. Affected player just moves out of the way. Not only are they pretty easy to see, but DBM gives you a warning to move. Other things hit harder, but that is to be expected.
Next in difficulty would be the Iron Roots. Most of our players don't have to move around all that much except for our life tree people and the tanks occasionally. Worst case senario is someone who has roots and is stuck in a clump of people when they have Nature's Fury. Beyond that, some extra healing on the rooted person and some dps.
Lastly, Ground Tremor. This one is rough. Through bad luck on one attempt, we had ground tremor happen right as people were exploding the small flowers. Oh yes, they died quick. There was just too much damage happening at once to even save them. As a druid, I didn't have too much issue with the tremor. I only got caught once, and believe me, that was a scary few seconds.
As a healer, this is the hardest encounter I have faced yet. Relatively high situational awareness and careful watch of all on the raid is needed. I used my Idol of Awakening and the mana restore trinket from ToC. Even then, I had to use a mana pot and innervate.
Most of my mana issues sprang from Regrowth. I used this much more liberally than I have in the past. In addition, I also spammed WG+Nourish combo. Basically, I used every trick I had in the book.
Because the tank actually takes a fair bit of damage on hard mode, tank healers have their hands full, so raid healing is absolutely essential. At anytime, someone could get a ground tremor plus Freya's other abilities nearly back to back and if they aren't reasonably topped off, its over.
Next week is Mim, General and Yogg as we extended the raid lock out. GO GO GO
I Choose You, Steelbreaker
I honestly expected that one to go a lot worse. Big Kudos to Anti for setting it up and explaining it so well. Basically, we had Brundir and Steelbreaker tanked very close together. This way when the overload hits, the bulk of the raid moves to the other side of Steelbreaker to avoid it. How well that went, I couldn't really tell but people didn't die so I assume it was OK.
The reason why I couldn't tell is because I was one of the Static charge people. Myself and two others were at a longer range from Steelbreaker to soak the charges. We were supposed to be a rather evenly spread, but because of luck on positioning, Steelbreaker was too close to the wall and I couldn't get a good spot. Despite it not going exactly as planned, it was a clean execution and finished him off before the second tank exploded (though he still wanted to give us hugs and take us all down with him before loot went out! Bad pally.)
Between static charges, the usual aoe damage and the fact that Steelbreaker hits like a truck, all the healers were busting their arses. Amazing job everyone!
Crazy Cat Lady
Not a hard mode per se, but doing the achievement for the Glory meta was a bit rough. The tanks had a lot on their hands with the Sentries, and the dps did a great job keeping themselves in check as to not over do it. Overall, this is one fight where if one thing goes wrong, it has the potential to spiral down to a wipe.
As with our 25 mans, we try to use a shaman totem for the pull. Our DKs did a great job pulling off additional mobs out of the group, and the healers busted out the can of whup ass to keep everyone alive.
Lose your Illusion
This one wasn't new to most of us last night, but we had some folks who went away for Blizzcon, so there was some catching up to do. Once again, I was in the arena group. And, once again, somehow we lose some steam toward the end and one of the tanks died. As I am scrambling to catch up on the health bars, I battlerezed one of the dps while we had 20 seconds to spare before enrage. Whew!
The only real tough part about the hard mode is if someone is either frost bolted or caught in the blizzard when the skittles come. That, and our melee are always at risk of the chain lightning. And some day, some freaking day, I would like to see the Don't Stand in the Lightning achievement.
Knock, Knock, Knock on Wood
Ok, I may bitch about some other bosses but Freya was downright exasperating. We hadn't even tried the other versions of this hard mode; we jumped right in with three elders up.
As far as difficulty, I would say that the Sunbeam things are the easiest to deal with. Affected player just moves out of the way. Not only are they pretty easy to see, but DBM gives you a warning to move. Other things hit harder, but that is to be expected.
Next in difficulty would be the Iron Roots. Most of our players don't have to move around all that much except for our life tree people and the tanks occasionally. Worst case senario is someone who has roots and is stuck in a clump of people when they have Nature's Fury. Beyond that, some extra healing on the rooted person and some dps.
Lastly, Ground Tremor. This one is rough. Through bad luck on one attempt, we had ground tremor happen right as people were exploding the small flowers. Oh yes, they died quick. There was just too much damage happening at once to even save them. As a druid, I didn't have too much issue with the tremor. I only got caught once, and believe me, that was a scary few seconds.
As a healer, this is the hardest encounter I have faced yet. Relatively high situational awareness and careful watch of all on the raid is needed. I used my Idol of Awakening and the mana restore trinket from ToC. Even then, I had to use a mana pot and innervate.
Most of my mana issues sprang from Regrowth. I used this much more liberally than I have in the past. In addition, I also spammed WG+Nourish combo. Basically, I used every trick I had in the book.
Because the tank actually takes a fair bit of damage on hard mode, tank healers have their hands full, so raid healing is absolutely essential. At anytime, someone could get a ground tremor plus Freya's other abilities nearly back to back and if they aren't reasonably topped off, its over.
Next week is Mim, General and Yogg as we extended the raid lock out. GO GO GO
Friday, August 7
New Eclipse and other things.
Solar, Lunar, Both?
Just when I thought I had the whole spam wrath till Solar proc thing figured out, a surprising thing happened to me in VoA last night: I got to see how the new Eclipse mechanic worked.
Wow. It's odd, feels weird, but kind of nice all at the same time. Not sure how I want to handle it though in the next raid I dps for, however. I just recently changed my spec to drop some points in Meditation, but realized it was too easy to burn through my mana while maintaining the Solar-Lunar cycle consistently. I will say that once I figured out what was going on, my dps did see an improvement but time will tell as more experimentation goes through. The new change to innervate may help on some fights, and of course, I still have a healthy supply of mana pots.
Empowered Touch
On the healing side of things, I have not changed my spec to take advantage of the new Empowered Touch. This is largely because of my raid role and, frankly, I haven't healed in a raid yet. Our guild took a week off of regular raiding while folks were dealing with the patch and the 10 man we did play around with, I was boomy. In a five man situation, I could see it being very effective, as Nourish is my second most effective spell in ToC.
I am just not quite ready to give up GotEM or Revitalize yet. I may move some points away from Gift into Empowered Touch, but again, I need to see things in a real raid setting.
OMGZ! I HAF OVERHEALZ?!
I recently read on Restokin that our HoT overhealing are now being shown in the combat logs, which means people will finally see how much our hots are NOT doing. I for one will not change how I play and really, any druid worth their salt shouldn't either. As a raid healer, I use hots very preemptively. I toss them on before I big aoe, I toss them on in between waves, etc. Rejuv is going even though I know my target will be snap up by the disc priest or pally because it will still be there when they have moved on.
To change how we heal just to look good on the numbers would be a mistake. HoTs have always been the buffer between direct heals, and just because they now have a numerical, definitive value attached to the overhealing, doesn't mean we should hold back.
However, I read that someone suggested that this overhealing will cause agro. This makes me scratch my head and ask "It does?" And honestly, I do not know. I play a Disc priest and a Resto druid, and while I never looked for it before, I didn't notice anything regarding this mechanic. Perhaps on the next raid it might show up. But, I have my doubts about this claim or else our Pally healers would have been snapping up agro left and right.
I look forward to us coming back from our raid break to test these things out.
Just when I thought I had the whole spam wrath till Solar proc thing figured out, a surprising thing happened to me in VoA last night: I got to see how the new Eclipse mechanic worked.
Wow. It's odd, feels weird, but kind of nice all at the same time. Not sure how I want to handle it though in the next raid I dps for, however. I just recently changed my spec to drop some points in Meditation, but realized it was too easy to burn through my mana while maintaining the Solar-Lunar cycle consistently. I will say that once I figured out what was going on, my dps did see an improvement but time will tell as more experimentation goes through. The new change to innervate may help on some fights, and of course, I still have a healthy supply of mana pots.
Empowered Touch
On the healing side of things, I have not changed my spec to take advantage of the new Empowered Touch. This is largely because of my raid role and, frankly, I haven't healed in a raid yet. Our guild took a week off of regular raiding while folks were dealing with the patch and the 10 man we did play around with, I was boomy. In a five man situation, I could see it being very effective, as Nourish is my second most effective spell in ToC.
I am just not quite ready to give up GotEM or Revitalize yet. I may move some points away from Gift into Empowered Touch, but again, I need to see things in a real raid setting.
OMGZ! I HAF OVERHEALZ?!
I recently read on Restokin that our HoT overhealing are now being shown in the combat logs, which means people will finally see how much our hots are NOT doing. I for one will not change how I play and really, any druid worth their salt shouldn't either. As a raid healer, I use hots very preemptively. I toss them on before I big aoe, I toss them on in between waves, etc. Rejuv is going even though I know my target will be snap up by the disc priest or pally because it will still be there when they have moved on.
To change how we heal just to look good on the numbers would be a mistake. HoTs have always been the buffer between direct heals, and just because they now have a numerical, definitive value attached to the overhealing, doesn't mean we should hold back.
However, I read that someone suggested that this overhealing will cause agro. This makes me scratch my head and ask "It does?" And honestly, I do not know. I play a Disc priest and a Resto druid, and while I never looked for it before, I didn't notice anything regarding this mechanic. Perhaps on the next raid it might show up. But, I have my doubts about this claim or else our Pally healers would have been snapping up agro left and right.
I look forward to us coming back from our raid break to test these things out.
Wednesday, August 5
Does Gear determine who is a good player anymore?
Is the game too easy mode?
Some how I had forgotten that Emblems of Triumph were the new tokens to get until I did the heroic daily to finish off my Proof of Demise achievement. Then I was like "Sweet, I wonder how many it will take to get a new helm?" A lot. As in, some heroic dailies won't quite get me there. I will still have to raid, and that is totally fine with me.
But it got me thinking, after looking at the rash of applications we got recently, that just looking for purples don't cover our needs anymore. VoA, emblems, the new dungeon offering item level gear similar to Naxx means that folks who are up and coming now are getting geared faster.
This is great news for our newly invited folks. We take the approach of Low Maintenance, meaning as long as you keep your head down and do what needs to be done, we are willing to over look some lack luster dps and carry you. With the changes to how gear is acquired, we expect to see those guys start to catch up in some areas.
Double Edged Sword
One thing about some other MMO's is once the population is out of your level bracket, it becomes difficult to get anything done. Without a guild or some friends, it is like pulling teeth to even get a group going. WoW is not immune to this problem, but they tackle it with Recruit a Friend. The normal on my server at least is running noobies through dungeons they have no real right to be in. Quests are easier, traveling is easier, acquiring gear is all much easier than when I first started playing. This is not saying a whole lot since it was pretty easy compared to my EQ days of leveling off rats for a week.
Many players don't even set foot in dungeons at the lower levels. Some of it is because of the community and some of it because it's slower and the gear that is there will just be out leveled in a few days. Many folks don't see a dungeon until they hit 80. I don't know how many VoA's I've seen with people in greens. Some who have done dungeons are hitting VoA in T4 or T5, which boggles my mind.
This leads to a severe lack of understanding of the game and one's role in it. I recall a blue poster (and I believe it was GC) who said that players are getting smarter. Really? Which players was he referring to, because as I see it, the general population is not. It does not help that Blizz rehashes some mechanics, but I see more and more people choosing to ignore their surroundings or even take a moment to think critically about an encounter. It is a pet peeve of mine to hear over vent "OW, what killed me?" Sigh. Do me a favor and look through your logs or recount before spewing that. Even the question "What happened?" is starting to annoy me. But I will stop there before I start to digress.
Many PuG leaders are stepping up and trying to tackle this problem. Setting requirements like "If you are not pulling 2 or 3k dps by the time we get to the boss, you will be booted." Then folks QQ. But is is a start, even if it's a rather blanket requirement. If you can pull those numbers in your greens, then props to you. I met a druid who did as much healing as I in blues which made me step up my game. It was healthy competition.
Instant Gratification
I had opened trade channel to get some pug time in (yes, on my server, trade is the LFG channel), and after the patch I had to shut it down. The amount of lame ass questions was large. So many people didn't either look at the patch notes or research any of the information that has been out for a month. Why bother when you just ask in open channels what you need to do. Hell, don't know how to update your addons? Ask the channel (true story).
Playing in Aion Beta did make me miss WoWhead. After running around for 20 mins looking for a quest item, my boyfriend said "I bet it will be right under our noses" and sure enough, after asking, we realized we walked right past it. Some things in various games are pretty vague, and for that some help is appreciated and given out willingly. Simple things are not.
Taking the good with the bad
The many minor improvements the game has made since launch I wouldn't ask to be taken away (Remember when we didn't have marks and people had assist macros? How did we kill anything?). With the game being as old as it is, and some servers just as old (mine is one of the early ones) you need something in place in order to allow the new folks or rerollers a way to catch up to their friends. But the downside to that is the dumbing down of the game on many levels which I feel is a slippery slope.
Some how I had forgotten that Emblems of Triumph were the new tokens to get until I did the heroic daily to finish off my Proof of Demise achievement. Then I was like "Sweet, I wonder how many it will take to get a new helm?" A lot. As in, some heroic dailies won't quite get me there. I will still have to raid, and that is totally fine with me.
But it got me thinking, after looking at the rash of applications we got recently, that just looking for purples don't cover our needs anymore. VoA, emblems, the new dungeon offering item level gear similar to Naxx means that folks who are up and coming now are getting geared faster.
This is great news for our newly invited folks. We take the approach of Low Maintenance, meaning as long as you keep your head down and do what needs to be done, we are willing to over look some lack luster dps and carry you. With the changes to how gear is acquired, we expect to see those guys start to catch up in some areas.
Double Edged Sword
One thing about some other MMO's is once the population is out of your level bracket, it becomes difficult to get anything done. Without a guild or some friends, it is like pulling teeth to even get a group going. WoW is not immune to this problem, but they tackle it with Recruit a Friend. The normal on my server at least is running noobies through dungeons they have no real right to be in. Quests are easier, traveling is easier, acquiring gear is all much easier than when I first started playing. This is not saying a whole lot since it was pretty easy compared to my EQ days of leveling off rats for a week.
Many players don't even set foot in dungeons at the lower levels. Some of it is because of the community and some of it because it's slower and the gear that is there will just be out leveled in a few days. Many folks don't see a dungeon until they hit 80. I don't know how many VoA's I've seen with people in greens. Some who have done dungeons are hitting VoA in T4 or T5, which boggles my mind.
This leads to a severe lack of understanding of the game and one's role in it. I recall a blue poster (and I believe it was GC) who said that players are getting smarter. Really? Which players was he referring to, because as I see it, the general population is not. It does not help that Blizz rehashes some mechanics, but I see more and more people choosing to ignore their surroundings or even take a moment to think critically about an encounter. It is a pet peeve of mine to hear over vent "OW, what killed me?" Sigh. Do me a favor and look through your logs or recount before spewing that. Even the question "What happened?" is starting to annoy me. But I will stop there before I start to digress.
Many PuG leaders are stepping up and trying to tackle this problem. Setting requirements like "If you are not pulling 2 or 3k dps by the time we get to the boss, you will be booted." Then folks QQ. But is is a start, even if it's a rather blanket requirement. If you can pull those numbers in your greens, then props to you. I met a druid who did as much healing as I in blues which made me step up my game. It was healthy competition.
Instant Gratification
I had opened trade channel to get some pug time in (yes, on my server, trade is the LFG channel), and after the patch I had to shut it down. The amount of lame ass questions was large. So many people didn't either look at the patch notes or research any of the information that has been out for a month. Why bother when you just ask in open channels what you need to do. Hell, don't know how to update your addons? Ask the channel (true story).
Playing in Aion Beta did make me miss WoWhead. After running around for 20 mins looking for a quest item, my boyfriend said "I bet it will be right under our noses" and sure enough, after asking, we realized we walked right past it. Some things in various games are pretty vague, and for that some help is appreciated and given out willingly. Simple things are not.
Taking the good with the bad
The many minor improvements the game has made since launch I wouldn't ask to be taken away (Remember when we didn't have marks and people had assist macros? How did we kill anything?). With the game being as old as it is, and some servers just as old (mine is one of the early ones) you need something in place in order to allow the new folks or rerollers a way to catch up to their friends. But the downside to that is the dumbing down of the game on many levels which I feel is a slippery slope.
3.2 is here!
After an awesome weekend on the Aion beta, filled with pizza rolls and coffee, it was time to jump into 3.2 on WoW.
Of course, it was laggy, I crashed a few times, and there were too many people on the JC vendor, but I managed to at least get my Orphan quest done and try for one of the pet raptors in WC. All this while others in my guild tried the new 10 man and 5 man versions of the instance.
New forms
Apparently, everyone was going to be a black bear/cat which disappointed me. Kir has been a black cow since the start of the game and I must admit I was little upset and sad to have to change her.
However, I like the white versions of the forms and I will be sticking with them for a while. MMO Champ has a good graphical layout of what you will look like with each color scheme.
Pets
I grabbed the raptor in Dalaran and finished up my orphan week quests to get my very own Wolvar.
See, I when the expansion first came out, I thought I would get one from doing their dailies, but I guess better late than never :)
He's so cute.
Only took me 20 runs or so to get the new Raptor from WC.
JCing
Now that everyone is off the freaking vendor, I can buy my patterns without too much pain. Our guild is separating out the patterns so some are taking tanking some are taking caster stuff, etc. in order to make sure the love is spread through the guild.
Nothing yet from the new instance, as our server practically died as folks were stuck in death and could not release. Hopefully tonight's run will be smoother.
Of course, it was laggy, I crashed a few times, and there were too many people on the JC vendor, but I managed to at least get my Orphan quest done and try for one of the pet raptors in WC. All this while others in my guild tried the new 10 man and 5 man versions of the instance.
New forms
Apparently, everyone was going to be a black bear/cat which disappointed me. Kir has been a black cow since the start of the game and I must admit I was little upset and sad to have to change her.
However, I like the white versions of the forms and I will be sticking with them for a while. MMO Champ has a good graphical layout of what you will look like with each color scheme.
Pets
I grabbed the raptor in Dalaran and finished up my orphan week quests to get my very own Wolvar.
See, I when the expansion first came out, I thought I would get one from doing their dailies, but I guess better late than never :)
He's so cute.
Only took me 20 runs or so to get the new Raptor from WC.
JCing
Now that everyone is off the freaking vendor, I can buy my patterns without too much pain. Our guild is separating out the patterns so some are taking tanking some are taking caster stuff, etc. in order to make sure the love is spread through the guild.
Nothing yet from the new instance, as our server practically died as folks were stuck in death and could not release. Hopefully tonight's run will be smoother.
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