Cataclysm is coming. And I have things I still want to do in wrath.
Milli-
- Kill Arthas (Sindragosa should go down this week!)
- See up to Yogg in Udular
- Stockpile some gold
- Make a kitty set
Sybb-
- Get Ambassador rep title
- Max out engenering
Q-
- Get to 80 and maybe enough gear to go to raid or two
- Get all the good rp tailoring patterns (should help with the stockpiling gold thing)
Bleeth-
- Pick a pair of professions
- learn how to rogue
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Screenshot with song lyrics!
Featuring my hunter, and a horse, with no name.
(I can't remember who started this meme... will link when I remember)
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Bubbly flavor
Something rather unusual happened to my druid. She has become my "raid only" main. I've got about 100 frost badgers that I'm not doing anything with, guildies to farm up herbs to make flasks, and a geared to the teeth healer. I'll duitifully take her to the weekly raids, but she's stopped doing dailies, I couldn't even really get into children's week with her. My hunter still has some mining and engenering to work on, and her gear would have been good last patch. But I have apparantly gone crazy and am leveling another healer.
Enter Q. No, not that Q. or the other Q. My Q. She's a bouncy disc bubble thrower priest. She's pretty much leveling using the dungeon finder, with a little bit of questing as shadow on the side. (Don't tell my guild's shadow priest, but I kinda like it. A lot better than I do balance on my druid. MOAR DOTS!!!) But she always has a constant goal, more levels. And then when she hit's 80, gear to do heroics, then gear to do basic raids, then gear enough to do ICC... etc. And I don't know, but come cataclysm, resto druids are losing tree form, not getting any new heals, but disc priests are getting power word barrier, and "life grip" and a new heal. So for right now, she's a back up plan.
Enter Q. No, not that Q. or the other Q. My Q. She's a bouncy disc bubble thrower priest. She's pretty much leveling using the dungeon finder, with a little bit of questing as shadow on the side. (Don't tell my guild's shadow priest, but I kinda like it. A lot better than I do balance on my druid. MOAR DOTS!!!) But she always has a constant goal, more levels. And then when she hit's 80, gear to do heroics, then gear to do basic raids, then gear enough to do ICC... etc. And I don't know, but come cataclysm, resto druids are losing tree form, not getting any new heals, but disc priests are getting power word barrier, and "life grip" and a new heal. So for right now, she's a back up plan.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Catacylsm changes... huntard edition
I have friends coming to visit this weekend (Hi Munckin!), but instead of cleaning, I've been refreshing WoW.com to find out about the new class changes.
Quick thoughts on the Hunter changes (because deep down, I still have a little bit of huntard in me)
The change from mana to focus- could be interesting, but it replenishes faster while casting steady shot/cobra shot. Mmmm... steady shot spam. The talent/ability that gains you focus when you land a critical hit should also help with focus regen, like a LOT. And I like the move away from Armor Penetration as a big hunter stat, and haste and crit applying to your DoT's as a standard.... yeeeeesssss.
Also, I need to liquidate my bullets.
I really like the idea of having pets provide ghetto buffs. My shadow priest last night was complaining about our melee heavy raid group and how he has no synergy with the buffs provided by them. It would have been nice if the hunter could just switch to a different pet and provide a missing buff.
Quick thoughts on the Hunter changes (because deep down, I still have a little bit of huntard in me)
The change from mana to focus- could be interesting, but it replenishes faster while casting steady shot/cobra shot. Mmmm... steady shot spam. The talent/ability that gains you focus when you land a critical hit should also help with focus regen, like a LOT. And I like the move away from Armor Penetration as a big hunter stat, and haste and crit applying to your DoT's as a standard.... yeeeeesssss.
Also, I need to liquidate my bullets.
I really like the idea of having pets provide ghetto buffs. My shadow priest last night was complaining about our melee heavy raid group and how he has no synergy with the buffs provided by them. It would have been nice if the hunter could just switch to a different pet and provide a missing buff.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
I, Jerkface
I have an in-game friend who recently came back to the game after being gone for a couple of months. She's lovely and nice, and plays a hunter well enough to not be a huntard.
Story 1: You are out numbered...
So, this friend, a couple of guildies and I decide to random for frost badgers one day. There's 4 of us, all from the same server, and 3 of whom are in the same guild. We zone into Old Kingdom and before we get the chance to go "ugh not this one, I hope the tank is good," the DK tank has gone "GOGOGO!" and sped off towards a pack of spiders. We do okay, until patrols start eating on me and the ranged dps, and the tank ignores the patrol and goes charging into the next pack of mobs. No one dies, but it's getting annoying.
I should note here that all 4 of us are on vent together.
So we get to after the vampire boss and he's still "gogogo! I have 5 minutes until wintergrasp!" Then several things happen at once. He jumps down off the platform, the hunter lags and goes down the stairs, and extra mobs get pulled. The hunter ends up dead, and I rez her. She says something in vent like "brb, really quick" and I say in party chat "Hey wait up a sec." The tank goes, "You're DPS, you don't matter, wintergrasp in 2 minutes!" We all go "WTF mate?" I go "Don't queue if don't have the time to complete the dungeon properly." He goes "Whatever, we'd have time if y'all weren't slow" or something like that. So, in vent we decide to be really slow, and jerks. On the boss, we just do nothing. No healing, no dps, just stand there and die. And then we started yelling stuff at him in party chat, while he was blowing cooldowns trying to solo the boss. Like "HOW I SHOT BULLIT?" "WUT AM TREE??" "DK RES ME!!!" "BREZ" "WHAT BUTTAN FOR DPS???"
It was amazingly fun. We ended up 4 manning the last boss after rezing, with resto-bear tank. That was also fun.
Story 2: The tank that didn't move (based off the red haired man that didn't move from "The Sweet Potato Queens" series)
So, the hunter and I are again throwing our selves to the mercy of the random dungeon finder. We both could use a few more triumph badges, her for gear (possibly heirlooms) and me for gems. We get FoS. We run in, buff up and stand in the little hallway that's perpendicular to the entrance and stare at the first set of mobs. The tank is still standing at the entrance. We wait a couple of minutes. I go "Tank (but I used his name because otherwise it's kinda rude in my opinon), are you there?" He goes "Yeah" but dosen't move. I wait another couple of minutes. I know I waited several minutes because my random dungeon cooldown was down to about 11 minutes. I ask "Are you coming?" He goes "I'm kinda busy right now."
The hunter and I boggle at each other. One of the other dps goes "I wish you'd just go away" at the tank, but he still dosen't move. I go at the hunter in vent "You know how to misdirect right?" She goes "Yeah...." and we misdirect the two skeleton things onto the tank, who still hadn't moved. In the ensuing chaos, one of the other dps dies, one drops group, then the hunter drops group. I'm in the process of dropping group, when I notice the tank isn't there. He stepped backwards out of the instance portal, and then says "Weren't expecting that were you?"
We ended up waiting the debuff out and queueing again.
So the morals of these stories are, even though I'm normally very nice, I can be a jerkface.
Story 1: You are out numbered...
So, this friend, a couple of guildies and I decide to random for frost badgers one day. There's 4 of us, all from the same server, and 3 of whom are in the same guild. We zone into Old Kingdom and before we get the chance to go "ugh not this one, I hope the tank is good," the DK tank has gone "GOGOGO!" and sped off towards a pack of spiders. We do okay, until patrols start eating on me and the ranged dps, and the tank ignores the patrol and goes charging into the next pack of mobs. No one dies, but it's getting annoying.
I should note here that all 4 of us are on vent together.
So we get to after the vampire boss and he's still "gogogo! I have 5 minutes until wintergrasp!" Then several things happen at once. He jumps down off the platform, the hunter lags and goes down the stairs, and extra mobs get pulled. The hunter ends up dead, and I rez her. She says something in vent like "brb, really quick" and I say in party chat "Hey wait up a sec." The tank goes, "You're DPS, you don't matter, wintergrasp in 2 minutes!" We all go "WTF mate?" I go "Don't queue if don't have the time to complete the dungeon properly." He goes "Whatever, we'd have time if y'all weren't slow" or something like that. So, in vent we decide to be really slow, and jerks. On the boss, we just do nothing. No healing, no dps, just stand there and die. And then we started yelling stuff at him in party chat, while he was blowing cooldowns trying to solo the boss. Like "HOW I SHOT BULLIT?" "WUT AM TREE??" "DK RES ME!!!" "BREZ" "WHAT BUTTAN FOR DPS???"
It was amazingly fun. We ended up 4 manning the last boss after rezing, with resto-bear tank. That was also fun.
Story 2: The tank that didn't move (based off the red haired man that didn't move from "The Sweet Potato Queens" series)
So, the hunter and I are again throwing our selves to the mercy of the random dungeon finder. We both could use a few more triumph badges, her for gear (possibly heirlooms) and me for gems. We get FoS. We run in, buff up and stand in the little hallway that's perpendicular to the entrance and stare at the first set of mobs. The tank is still standing at the entrance. We wait a couple of minutes. I go "Tank (but I used his name because otherwise it's kinda rude in my opinon), are you there?" He goes "Yeah" but dosen't move. I wait another couple of minutes. I know I waited several minutes because my random dungeon cooldown was down to about 11 minutes. I ask "Are you coming?" He goes "I'm kinda busy right now."
The hunter and I boggle at each other. One of the other dps goes "I wish you'd just go away" at the tank, but he still dosen't move. I go at the hunter in vent "You know how to misdirect right?" She goes "Yeah...." and we misdirect the two skeleton things onto the tank, who still hadn't moved. In the ensuing chaos, one of the other dps dies, one drops group, then the hunter drops group. I'm in the process of dropping group, when I notice the tank isn't there. He stepped backwards out of the instance portal, and then says "Weren't expecting that were you?"
We ended up waiting the debuff out and queueing again.
So the morals of these stories are, even though I'm normally very nice, I can be a jerkface.
Friday, March 19, 2010
I hate dual specs
Okay, hate is a strong word. I kind of want to get rid of mine. And sometimes I do like the ability to actually hurt something twelve seconds after healing.
But I don't like being asked to dps on a regular basis. I'm fine with doing VoA 10 as dps, because our shaman dosen't have a dps spec. I'm fine with doing the occasinal heroic as dps because our tank, his fiance is his healer.
Being the raid healer for the first wing of ICC and then being asked to switch to dps for the second wing? I don't want to! I want to get the healing experience. I won't get any better at healing if I don't heal anything that is kinda difficult.
It might take me a try or two to really realize what is going on in a fight. And to realize that the slimes really hurt, like 1-shot hurt.
I want to heal, I like healing, I just need practice, and don't get practice healing as a dps.
But I don't like being asked to dps on a regular basis. I'm fine with doing VoA 10 as dps, because our shaman dosen't have a dps spec. I'm fine with doing the occasinal heroic as dps because our tank, his fiance is his healer.
Being the raid healer for the first wing of ICC and then being asked to switch to dps for the second wing? I don't want to! I want to get the healing experience. I won't get any better at healing if I don't heal anything that is kinda difficult.
It might take me a try or two to really realize what is going on in a fight. And to realize that the slimes really hurt, like 1-shot hurt.
I want to heal, I like healing, I just need practice, and don't get practice healing as a dps.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Everything I learned about Healing I learned in Kindergarden
I was a lost little tree, until my guild master sat me down, yes I was on a little carpet square, and taught me how to be a better healer. (Look down for the whole story!) This is basically what he taught me. This is mostly for my reference, but if you find it useful great! I know I have NO readers.
So your a tree! Your role in a raid is to heal pretty much everyone that is not the tanks. And to help out the tank healer(s) as needed. Your spells tend to be Heal Over Times (HoTs) but you have a few just plain heals and other useful buffs and debuffs.
Spells you have:
Rejuvenation: A HoT that lasts for 18 seconds, ticks every 3 sec, and (for me) heals about 2000 every tick. Instant cast.
Regrowth: A HoT that has an instant heal attached to the begining. It casts in about 1.5 seconds for me (with a buttload of haste) and the instant heal heals for ~5k (can crit for about 8-9k) and ticks for 1kish.
Lifebloom: A HoT that lasts for about 8 seconds, stacks to three stacks, has an instant heal at the end, and gives you back mana when it expires. Yes it's that confusing. But useful.
Nourish: A just plain heal that (when glyphed) heals more if you have more HoTs on your target. It casts in ~1 second (again with a buttload of haste) and I've seen it crit for about 10k.
Wild Growth: A HoT that can affect 5 targets within 15 yards of each other. Ticks every second, but the amount healed starts off at about 1k, then decreases with every tick.
Swiftmend: An instant cast just plain heal that can only be cast if you have a regrowth or rejuv on the target, and the glyph keeps you from consuming the HoT when you cast swiftmend. Oh SPOON! button.
I'm not going to bother with healing touch, because it's huge it's slow, and you are not a Holy Pally. And because I somehow speced out of having Nature's Swiftness.
Spec:
This spec is what my GM and I came up with. It dosen't include Celestial Focus, due to having enough haste on gear, and Nature's Swiftness got left out due to being the lesser used Oh SPOON! button.
Rotation Priority List:
As a hunter I was told "you don't really have a shot rotation, you have a shot Priority List." You basically go by what the conditions are, what's off cooldown, and "are you having to move?"
So this is the Tree Druid Priority List as of this point:
One or two people taking damage:
Regrowth--> Rejuvenation --> Nourish (repeat as needed) --> Swiftmend
Don't use Nourish unless a Regrowth is on someone.
If mutiple (more than 3) people are taking damage (ie a decimate):
Wild Growth ---> Regrowth (person 1)--> Rejuvenation (person 2) --> Regrowth (person 3)---> etc etc. -->Nourish and Swiftmend as needed
Special cases:
- Just use Rejuvenation if someone is taking just a little damage, but kind of regullarly (ie the little lasers in HoS)
-Lifebloom is great for when you can anticipate a lot of damage is going to come in at a certain time (ie decimate, pound), get it stacked and let it expire after the damage is done.
You also may want to put Fairy Fire on the boss (after the tank pulls!) if there is no other druids in your group.
Vuhdo: (My favorite addon EVER)
Set it up so it looks how you like it, I like class colors, HoT icons instead of just little colored blocks, and I have the swiftmend showing.
I got the great piece of advice to put only your instant cast spells on just plain mouse buttons (with no modifier) so you can heal and run, or jump around like a tard. When you press a modifier key to cast your spell (ie Regrowth is Alt+left click) you don't have to hold down your modifier key until the cast is done. Really! You DON'T!
Also keep in mind your vent push to talk key when deciding on your modifier keys. Clicking into vent everytime you have to decurse gets annoying after a bit.
That is basically it.
So your a tree! Your role in a raid is to heal pretty much everyone that is not the tanks. And to help out the tank healer(s) as needed. Your spells tend to be Heal Over Times (HoTs) but you have a few just plain heals and other useful buffs and debuffs.
Spells you have:
Rejuvenation: A HoT that lasts for 18 seconds, ticks every 3 sec, and (for me) heals about 2000 every tick. Instant cast.
Regrowth: A HoT that has an instant heal attached to the begining. It casts in about 1.5 seconds for me (with a buttload of haste) and the instant heal heals for ~5k (can crit for about 8-9k) and ticks for 1kish.
Lifebloom: A HoT that lasts for about 8 seconds, stacks to three stacks, has an instant heal at the end, and gives you back mana when it expires. Yes it's that confusing. But useful.
Nourish: A just plain heal that (when glyphed) heals more if you have more HoTs on your target. It casts in ~1 second (again with a buttload of haste) and I've seen it crit for about 10k.
Wild Growth: A HoT that can affect 5 targets within 15 yards of each other. Ticks every second, but the amount healed starts off at about 1k, then decreases with every tick.
Swiftmend: An instant cast just plain heal that can only be cast if you have a regrowth or rejuv on the target, and the glyph keeps you from consuming the HoT when you cast swiftmend. Oh SPOON! button.
I'm not going to bother with healing touch, because it's huge it's slow, and you are not a Holy Pally. And because I somehow speced out of having Nature's Swiftness.
Spec:
This spec is what my GM and I came up with. It dosen't include Celestial Focus, due to having enough haste on gear, and Nature's Swiftness got left out due to being the lesser used Oh SPOON! button.
As a hunter I was told "you don't really have a shot rotation, you have a shot Priority List." You basically go by what the conditions are, what's off cooldown, and "are you having to move?"
So this is the Tree Druid Priority List as of this point:
One or two people taking damage:
Regrowth--> Rejuvenation --> Nourish (repeat as needed) --> Swiftmend
Don't use Nourish unless a Regrowth is on someone.
If mutiple (more than 3) people are taking damage (ie a decimate):
Wild Growth ---> Regrowth (person 1)--> Rejuvenation (person 2) --> Regrowth (person 3)---> etc etc. -->Nourish and Swiftmend as needed
Special cases:
- Just use Rejuvenation if someone is taking just a little damage, but kind of regullarly (ie the little lasers in HoS)
-Lifebloom is great for when you can anticipate a lot of damage is going to come in at a certain time (ie decimate, pound), get it stacked and let it expire after the damage is done.
You also may want to put Fairy Fire on the boss (after the tank pulls!) if there is no other druids in your group.
Vuhdo: (My favorite addon EVER)
Set it up so it looks how you like it, I like class colors, HoT icons instead of just little colored blocks, and I have the swiftmend showing.
I got the great piece of advice to put only your instant cast spells on just plain mouse buttons (with no modifier) so you can heal and run, or jump around like a tard. When you press a modifier key to cast your spell (ie Regrowth is Alt+left click) you don't have to hold down your modifier key until the cast is done. Really! You DON'T!
Also keep in mind your vent push to talk key when deciding on your modifier keys. Clicking into vent everytime you have to decurse gets annoying after a bit.
That is basically it.
Raid Healer Kindergarden was not as embarassing as it could have been
*Brushes dust off of blog* Yeah, between work, actually playing the game and my other hobbies, my blog has been neglected a bit.
So, since I last posted, I've changed guilds twice. The first change came when several of my in game friends and I went from our RP/maybe raiding/Where'd the GM go? guild to a guild that at the time was trying to casually progress through content. Not long, maybe 3 weeks, after we joined that guild they decided that they wanted to be more hardcore, and recruited a lot. There were some issues and it basically turned into a hardcore progression guild with loot issues, personalities that some of us didn't get along with, and some other things we just didn't agree with. So several people who had joined with the "casual, friendly and most of all fun" progression in mind split off and founded a different guild. It was an amicable split.
Yesterday was our first guild outing. We tried to do ToGC 10. That raid is HARD. We bashed our head into the beasts and got Gormuk the Impaler down one time, but couldn't get the worms down. There was even "Yeah, I died.... 'cause I stood in the fire like an idiot" coming from me. We ended up running out switching it to normal and roflstomping normal 10. It was fun. We even managed to get the speed kill achievement on the twins. I don't think I can ever do Anub right though. It was messy, but we got through it.
Afterwords, we tried to get a group together to do the weekly, but couldn't because about the guild was saved, and when you have about 13 people, that's not enough people to go kill Dragon in SPACE! A few people were going to go grab some level 70 alts (some people stayed on their mains) and go stomp Kara for the benefit of Paladin on dial up. I was about ready to say "Ooooh! Take me take me!" when our GM, who is a Boomchicken/Tree asked if I could hang around and talk for a bit. He then proceded to look at my spec, gear, and glyphs to figure out why I was not healing to my full potential. I knew I wasn't, and I had been reading and researching, and just not being able to figure out what I was doing wrong on my own, but too embarassed to ask.
Diversion story! My little sister has a friend that is home schooled. She is in a musical group with this friend. When the musical group has performances at school events or other such venues, I tend to notice something. This friend can't seem to wait in line, and could use a lesson in cafeteria etiquette. She is very smart and plays her musical instrument quite well. She's just a little behind socially.
That is how I feel as a healer. I basically "home schooled" myself as a tree. I read blogs, I read forums, I dungeon leveled, but in a raid, I am behind on social healing. I kinda made my "rotation" up out of thin air. It was basically Rejuv, Nourish, Nourish, Nourish, Swiftmend if things get hairy, and Wild Growth to top off the melee. I had the Rapid Rejuvination glyph, so I was casting rejuvination a LOT because I have a ton of haste. I'm gonna put his advice in another post so as to make this one longer (TOO LATE!), but I feel I have a better grip on what I'm doing now. My spec and glyphs and style now compliment each other instead of me trying to work around them. I rearanged everything in Vuhdo, so I'm still trying to use my old key combos and getting a "there is nothing to dispel!" or "That spell is not ready yet" far too often.
I think I'm going to try to pug the weekly to test everything out. It's Malygos this week, and the last time I went people had no idea how not to get one shotted coming out of the tornado thing. Should be fun.
So, since I last posted, I've changed guilds twice. The first change came when several of my in game friends and I went from our RP/maybe raiding/Where'd the GM go? guild to a guild that at the time was trying to casually progress through content. Not long, maybe 3 weeks, after we joined that guild they decided that they wanted to be more hardcore, and recruited a lot. There were some issues and it basically turned into a hardcore progression guild with loot issues, personalities that some of us didn't get along with, and some other things we just didn't agree with. So several people who had joined with the "casual, friendly and most of all fun" progression in mind split off and founded a different guild. It was an amicable split.
Yesterday was our first guild outing. We tried to do ToGC 10. That raid is HARD. We bashed our head into the beasts and got Gormuk the Impaler down one time, but couldn't get the worms down. There was even "Yeah, I died.... 'cause I stood in the fire like an idiot" coming from me. We ended up running out switching it to normal and roflstomping normal 10. It was fun. We even managed to get the speed kill achievement on the twins. I don't think I can ever do Anub right though. It was messy, but we got through it.
Afterwords, we tried to get a group together to do the weekly, but couldn't because about the guild was saved, and when you have about 13 people, that's not enough people to go kill Dragon in SPACE! A few people were going to go grab some level 70 alts (some people stayed on their mains) and go stomp Kara for the benefit of Paladin on dial up. I was about ready to say "Ooooh! Take me take me!" when our GM, who is a Boomchicken/Tree asked if I could hang around and talk for a bit. He then proceded to look at my spec, gear, and glyphs to figure out why I was not healing to my full potential. I knew I wasn't, and I had been reading and researching, and just not being able to figure out what I was doing wrong on my own, but too embarassed to ask.
Diversion story! My little sister has a friend that is home schooled. She is in a musical group with this friend. When the musical group has performances at school events or other such venues, I tend to notice something. This friend can't seem to wait in line, and could use a lesson in cafeteria etiquette. She is very smart and plays her musical instrument quite well. She's just a little behind socially.
That is how I feel as a healer. I basically "home schooled" myself as a tree. I read blogs, I read forums, I dungeon leveled, but in a raid, I am behind on social healing. I kinda made my "rotation" up out of thin air. It was basically Rejuv, Nourish, Nourish, Nourish, Swiftmend if things get hairy, and Wild Growth to top off the melee. I had the Rapid Rejuvination glyph, so I was casting rejuvination a LOT because I have a ton of haste. I'm gonna put his advice in another post so as to make this one longer (TOO LATE!), but I feel I have a better grip on what I'm doing now. My spec and glyphs and style now compliment each other instead of me trying to work around them. I rearanged everything in Vuhdo, so I'm still trying to use my old key combos and getting a "there is nothing to dispel!" or "That spell is not ready yet" far too often.
I think I'm going to try to pug the weekly to test everything out. It's Malygos this week, and the last time I went people had no idea how not to get one shotted coming out of the tornado thing. Should be fun.
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