Since I've finally done a good amount of raiding on my druid, having a lot of fun, I can now be truly upset with the patch 4.3 changes. And while, as my boyfriend has pointed out, it is still very early in the PTR and a lot could change, I can't help but feel extremely pessimistic about the whole ordeal.
I R NOT AMUSED
It might be because I finally got a chance to heal with my fellow members. One night, I remember making a remark about how one of our healers complained a lot about damage. While I can understand that sometimes the raid is not doing what they can to minimize damage done, his complaints were excessive, and in my opinion, an excuse to his poor healing. Yeah, if you can't tell, I am not impressed with this guy. Especially after last night.
We also took a still fairly poorly geared shaman healer, and he did almost, if not more than the pally, whose in decent gear. Better than mine I think. And while, the number show that yes, druids have much better throughput then other healing classes (because face it-it's all we have), I can't imagine the gap being that high.
Perhaps I was wrong because in the second night of raiding, I healed with our priest and the pally. My heals would start lower, but I would eventually overtake everyone by 150%. I lost to her only once, and it was because I was having a hard time gaining the buffs from Baleroc. Still, the gap was immensely large, to the point that even I have to think...okay I'm probably OP...
I R NOT A FAN
Speaking of throughput, I can now honestly be concerned about the 4.3 changes. The most frustrating of all is Ghostcrawler's flippant response to why they're doing what they're doing. I can't imagine someone like Ghostcrawler having such a limited memory, or knowledge of what is available to druids. That is why I am completely surprised when he believes we are too powerful and need to be balanced. Weren't we given that extra power to counteract not having any utility or unique damage mitigation?
Okay okay, he said he just felt that we were too powerful with a one button heal aoe. I understand that. Wild Growth is too easy to use, heals for far too much. But. It. Is. All. We. Have. Tranquility is awesome, but it's only so much. We have no real way to combat AOE damage without Rejuvenating the hell out of everyone. Efflorescence only heals three people, and although stronger, perhaps not strong enough. We're HoT healers, yet we're expected to use a casted heal to make use of our really great mastery. Lifebloom is hard to use sometimes, especially if you want to switch tanks. We are, in general, really clunky as healers. Wild Growth is not the only problem, but it's the only one they're looking at.
I can take the Wild Growth nerf. I can even swallow the glyph's nerf. But only if these are not the only changes. Druids need another healing tool to counteract raid damage. We need more glyphs to replace the Wild Growth glyph because face it, we have nothing better. We need an overhaul.
It's just frustrating because, it feels like we're going in a stupid circle.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Way the F Back.
At the beginning of Cataclysm, druids suffered from poor utility and the inabilty to deal with raid damage. We were given a weak excuse of a fix in the Wild Growth buff. Now we're getting thrown back into the same position of where we once were. In fact, even a few steps back. We now are probably gonna drop the glyph in 10 mans, to take...what....uh....um...Barkskin?....Fuck...
I'm an elitist jerk.
Progression raiding. It involves wiping a lot. It involves a lot of time. It involves less complaining, talking about food and mroe on strategy, fixing our mistakes. It's actually a sometimes serious atmosphere and it's not always fun. But the reward is worth it; and finally getting there with a group of people you are friends with is rewarding.
This may not be the case for my current guild. It might be my fault entirely. I am a complete elitist jerk-who comes from a string of progression guilds that were much more disciplined and focused. They did not start conversations about food and as a result wipe 5 times from the same mob because they were not paying attention. We did not, after two wipes, proclaim the boss too hard and start whining about going to the easier boss over there. I did not have to handhold a healer, tell them what to do with one of their abilities that they SHOULD know how to use already. I was not mocked for making an incredibly small mistake, that resulted in NO wipes, NO damage to anyone else, and only affected Efflorescence.
It makes me really wonder what I'm doing here. I don't feel welcomed by most of the guild. I hate feeling like I'm carrying the guy whose getting all the gear (which won't help him at all because his gear is not the problem). I hate that no one shows up on time.
AND I really hate the Valor Point cap. After a night of annoying raiding, I don't get a single drop, nor a drop of VP either. It makes me want to smash my face in. Is there no reward? Since there apparently isn't, I will write this blog with an elitist perspective and complain my ass off. OMG RAGE!
Transmogrification
I decided to go with the T5. The shoulders have flowers sprout from them, and they match my choice staff, Staff of Ferocity from Mt Hyjal. This is all Burning Crusade stuff which, in my opinion is the pinnacle of Blizz weapon and armor design.
Something Positive
I am STILL working on my I <3 Garrosh Hellscream entry, but on this note, thanks to WoWinsider, I discovered this blog, a roleplaying of Garrosh Hellscream. It's hilarious, mostly because it plays on how people see Garrosh, Warriors, and Orcs in general. ME SMASH RAWR!
I admit, my biggest draw to Garrosh is his weaknesses, and the fact he's Blizzard's scapegoat. I have this odd love/hate relationship with Blizzard (and Ghostcrawler and Metzen) that involves me thinking they are idiots for the direction they take the game I oh-so-love. So to see a part of him that I love a lot, played out, is incredibly entertaining to me. Check it out yeah!
The Warchief's Command Board
Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Best Decision Ever?
Take my money Blizz!!!!
So I ponied up the money and transferred my old main, Covington the druid, over to Deathwing. I have to admit. Probably one of the best decisions I've made in Wow lately. I am so incredibly happy to have my druid back on my active side. I forgot how active I used to be on her (Troll man now a pretty Night Elf female). Max fishing and cooking (score!) and I can dig again, in places where pretty stuff has a chance to drop, instead of greys. My gear looks AMAZING on her. I am sorry, but I love the tier 11, even if only for the winged shoulders. I might just use this as my transmog outfit because I am so attached to it!
It's been weird adjusting to the new mastery. Harmony is a lot different in thought then Symbiosis, and I admit I was obsessed with making good use of Symbiosis back then, but now all I got to do is make sure I have a direct heal being used every 10 seconds. Not hard for my healing style.
Yesterday we did all of Baradin Hold. My heals were pretty meh until I was forced to pop Tranquility. Wow, did my numbers pop up. I think Tranquility is what they need to be nerfing. O.o
Tonight will be my first time in BoT since the nerf on my druid, and then we're off to Firelands. I hope I'm up to game and can flex my power. I'm really excited to get back into this healing thing!
I might update my guide since I'm back healing. Maybe post it on our guildsite forums. r
Blizzcon
My bf is super excited because they announced Foo Fighters for Blizzcon. It's nice that we're getting a concert for the price we paid for our tickets. I'm a convention goer, and Blizzcon is by far the most expensive ticket I've ever bought. Even Comic-con isn't this expensive. However, I've never been and I'm sure it's going to be really fun.
So I ponied up the money and transferred my old main, Covington the druid, over to Deathwing. I have to admit. Probably one of the best decisions I've made in Wow lately. I am so incredibly happy to have my druid back on my active side. I forgot how active I used to be on her (Troll man now a pretty Night Elf female). Max fishing and cooking (score!) and I can dig again, in places where pretty stuff has a chance to drop, instead of greys. My gear looks AMAZING on her. I am sorry, but I love the tier 11, even if only for the winged shoulders. I might just use this as my transmog outfit because I am so attached to it!
It's been weird adjusting to the new mastery. Harmony is a lot different in thought then Symbiosis, and I admit I was obsessed with making good use of Symbiosis back then, but now all I got to do is make sure I have a direct heal being used every 10 seconds. Not hard for my healing style.
Yesterday we did all of Baradin Hold. My heals were pretty meh until I was forced to pop Tranquility. Wow, did my numbers pop up. I think Tranquility is what they need to be nerfing. O.o
Tonight will be my first time in BoT since the nerf on my druid, and then we're off to Firelands. I hope I'm up to game and can flex my power. I'm really excited to get back into this healing thing!
I might update my guide since I'm back healing. Maybe post it on our guildsite forums. r
Blizzcon
My bf is super excited because they announced Foo Fighters for Blizzcon. It's nice that we're getting a concert for the price we paid for our tickets. I'm a convention goer, and Blizzcon is by far the most expensive ticket I've ever bought. Even Comic-con isn't this expensive. However, I've never been and I'm sure it's going to be really fun.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Shaman vs. Druid
You know, my blog used to be titled, the indecisive healer?. This is why.
I present to you a case. I have been asked to gear up a healer for our raid-we have very spotty healer attendance, and have lost 2 of 5 healers that were spotty as well. I find myself surprisingly conflicted with this, for many reasons.
First, which class?
The biggest choice is the class. We currently have a regularly available paladin, usually a priest (sometimes unable to show up). We no longer have a druid and our shaman healer has spotty attendance because his real life is very busy (understandably so).
The initial choice is the druid. I have plenty of healing experience as a druid, and it's the only healing class we no longer have. My use as far as tank healing or raid healing goes can be flexible (although I can almost guarantee that I will be a raid healer). And, in general, I like druid healing, know what to expect, and that general comfort is good for me.
But that ends it. There are plenty of negatives too. If I am asked to dps, I will not enjoy it. I do not like Balance/Moonkin at all, and Feral is far too complex for me. I'm horrible at melee ranged stuff too. As far as raid utility goes, I bring almost none. We are running with a druid tank at the moment, so Mark is covered. I am no longer useful as a brezer because we have 2 DKs. Innervate is purely for me now, since it's pretty much one spell for anyone whose not me. I have just realized I do bring Replenishment. So that's a nice thing, especially for the healers. So that might be a good enough reason. But, as far as the future goes? There's a chance my raid healing capabilities are going to be nerfed. A big fat nerf. That involves me crying.
The PTR notes for 4.3 have announced not only a 20% reduction on the druid spell, Wild Growth, which some druids account to being 30-40% of their overall raid healing, but also a nerf to the glyph, creating a drawback of adding 2 more seconds cooldown. I could go into why this is just BS, but Jaslya says everything much better than I. With a lot more thought. I really hope Ghostcrawler reads her post.
Anyways. Those are some reasons I'm leaning more towards
SHAMAN!
My shaman is 30% away from 85. I have to gear her for BoT/BWD in one day too. This is not a lot of time and will probably involve me breaking things. However there are a lot of benefits to perhaps taking on this challenge.
Shaman is the only class we will probably be missing most of the time. Our only shaman is usually the one missing from our regular group. If he is there, I can be Elemental, which will give us the 5% crit buff we will be missing since I will no longer be on my hunter.
Shaman is a class I will love to play if I'm dpsing. I love both Elemental and Enhancement. They are some of my favorite dps classes to play, probably Enhancement only second to Arms Warrior. I also do enjoy Shaman healing. Its unique and even if you're not spamming it anymore, nothing beats those laser beams of healing.
However, I do not know, nor know what to expect from Shamans in a Cata raid setting. I've heard stories of Shamans struggling and being on the low end of the throughput. This could very well be untrue, and I would have to see how I feel about healing to make a judgement myself.
Although, it might be druid.
I'm seriously thinking about transferring my original druid over. Despite the fact that I hate the realm, I am seriously missing my druid, and everything he brings with him. He'll have a new name and a new look, but he'll be the original, and I think, I want to go back to him. It's a hefty price, but it might be worth it. Plus he's geared. Well.
We'll have to see what happens.
I present to you a case. I have been asked to gear up a healer for our raid-we have very spotty healer attendance, and have lost 2 of 5 healers that were spotty as well. I find myself surprisingly conflicted with this, for many reasons.
First, which class?
The biggest choice is the class. We currently have a regularly available paladin, usually a priest (sometimes unable to show up). We no longer have a druid and our shaman healer has spotty attendance because his real life is very busy (understandably so).
The initial choice is the druid. I have plenty of healing experience as a druid, and it's the only healing class we no longer have. My use as far as tank healing or raid healing goes can be flexible (although I can almost guarantee that I will be a raid healer). And, in general, I like druid healing, know what to expect, and that general comfort is good for me.
But that ends it. There are plenty of negatives too. If I am asked to dps, I will not enjoy it. I do not like Balance/Moonkin at all, and Feral is far too complex for me. I'm horrible at melee ranged stuff too. As far as raid utility goes, I bring almost none. We are running with a druid tank at the moment, so Mark is covered. I am no longer useful as a brezer because we have 2 DKs. Innervate is purely for me now, since it's pretty much one spell for anyone whose not me. I have just realized I do bring Replenishment. So that's a nice thing, especially for the healers. So that might be a good enough reason. But, as far as the future goes? There's a chance my raid healing capabilities are going to be nerfed. A big fat nerf. That involves me crying.
The PTR notes for 4.3 have announced not only a 20% reduction on the druid spell, Wild Growth, which some druids account to being 30-40% of their overall raid healing, but also a nerf to the glyph, creating a drawback of adding 2 more seconds cooldown. I could go into why this is just BS, but Jaslya says everything much better than I. With a lot more thought. I really hope Ghostcrawler reads her post.
Anyways. Those are some reasons I'm leaning more towards
SHAMAN!
My shaman is 30% away from 85. I have to gear her for BoT/BWD in one day too. This is not a lot of time and will probably involve me breaking things. However there are a lot of benefits to perhaps taking on this challenge.
Shaman is the only class we will probably be missing most of the time. Our only shaman is usually the one missing from our regular group. If he is there, I can be Elemental, which will give us the 5% crit buff we will be missing since I will no longer be on my hunter.
Shaman is a class I will love to play if I'm dpsing. I love both Elemental and Enhancement. They are some of my favorite dps classes to play, probably Enhancement only second to Arms Warrior. I also do enjoy Shaman healing. Its unique and even if you're not spamming it anymore, nothing beats those laser beams of healing.
However, I do not know, nor know what to expect from Shamans in a Cata raid setting. I've heard stories of Shamans struggling and being on the low end of the throughput. This could very well be untrue, and I would have to see how I feel about healing to make a judgement myself.
Although, it might be druid.
I'm seriously thinking about transferring my original druid over. Despite the fact that I hate the realm, I am seriously missing my druid, and everything he brings with him. He'll have a new name and a new look, but he'll be the original, and I think, I want to go back to him. It's a hefty price, but it might be worth it. Plus he's geared. Well.
We'll have to see what happens.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
I got the blues
Trapmaster
I've been feeling pretty down on myself lately. The other night in Firelands, I really struggled with trapping moving mobs that are walking in a square formation. Mainly it's the one in the back corner. When I wasn't failing at that, I accidentally used the wrong trap. Then my trap launcher expired just as I pressed the trap, so it didn't launch. Basically full of fail. I wish I could say that my guild was patient and understanding, but that would be a lie. I'm sure with some practice I can do this better, but people, including myself, have taken for granted targeting. It's a different story when you're trying to line up moving mobs, the arc of the trap, and where and when it will land. Then some smartass had to put on my note The Trapmaster, which I'm not sure was meant in fun or just being a plain jackhole. It's sad that I can't even tell. (I nicely changed my note to F*ck off :)) The whole ordeal has made me really heartsick for my old guild, for many reasons outside this incident. I just miss them all; their personalities, our inside jokes. I hope they are all doing well.
I miss you druid Covington!
Besides feeling sorry for myself, I'm kind of getting sick of this DPS thing. I would really like to try and heal raids again, but we have a pretty full roster, and it's well balanced as far as classes go. I don't know who I'd heal on or who I'd force to dps. I'm thinking of talking to my GM to see if there is anyway or anyone who wanted to start dpsing or something. I'm already kind of the "backup" healer in case someone falls into a ditch, but I'd like to be more than that. I would really like to get back into healing.
Shaman Blankets
I'm kinda freaked out. I've been leveling my Shaman and running instances on her, healing. Man, do I never go oom. This must be some kind of imbalance between my level, my mana pool, and the costs of spells. I did not go to 50% once. I probably didn't even hit 75%. But from what I have seen and what I can tell, I have a feeling this won't be the case at level 85, so I'm trying to be really cautious about this security blanket that's forming around me. Man the mastery is kind of cool though. With the points I have, my heals will do up to 47% more depending on how low my target's health. Talk about one cast healing. My Greater Healing Wave crit for 50k and brought our tank full up. Man my jaw dropped. To the floor. All the way down. I'm really liking Shaman heals.
Oh oh! I tamed something!
I FINALLY tamed Solix. It took me two attempts and some dying. And some of him dying. But I finally got him! I'm really excited. But now I need more slots. I let go of Aotona because I think he will be easiest to get back. I do have some normal pets, such as a Seagull and the ghost saber from Darkshore, but they have some sentimental value. My boyfriend is attached to the Seagull which he named Mine (Finding Nemo reference). And my ghost saber was a product of me, my old friends Naee and Abarai, journeying to Darkshore at low levels and getting in a duel fight with some Alliance paladin. It was good times.
Anyways, Solix involves kiting him until his energy bar is around 30 ish or so. If it reaches zero, he will die. The best thing to do, is drop a Frost Trap, Concussive Shot him every cd, and just run. When he is tameable, just drop another Frost Trap, Concussive Shot and tame.
He's really pretty, and besides the red lava spider, he is my favorite look for the lava spider. I think Orange is a very good color for one. The Green one, Kirix, who I also have, is a weird color for one, if you ask me. Because you know. lava is orange. I'm thinking I would like Dethalic, blue lava spider, but he is the hardest to come by. I have yet to see him (and I've now seen them all). We'll see. I really can't do much with no slots left :(
Brewfest!
First one of the night, after the whole raid trap debauchery, and I received, in my keg, a nice shiny Brewfest Kodo. Karma? I hope so. Maybe it's Blizzard trying to make me not quit.
I hope I feel better
To be honest, most of these bad feelings may stem from being REALLY tired. I am still working 30 hours a week and on my off time, heading to class. I've had tests, assignments, photo shoots and the like to do.
Garrosh Hellscream
I have been working on blog about Garrosh Hellscream. He's quite the interesting character, and from my perspective, extremely misunderstood. A lot of it has to do with Blizzard and what they want you to see, and what they end up showing you. Most people dislike him, but I think people dislike him for the wrong reasons. There are a lot of misconceptions about his role in the current Horde, which can be easily dispelled by a simple lore lesson. Anyways, I hope this explains my current obsession with him. In my best scenario, I would hope that Blizzard would give him a book, the way they did Varian, and build his character, humble him a little and make him the leader he has the potential to be. Of course, he won't be. He'll probably die some death that Blizzard will hope we will see as heroic, but most people will be excited he's dead. Blizz is too busy building Thrall up.
Anyways, I hope I can get the entry up soon. It will take a while because I really want it to be well written.
I've been feeling pretty down on myself lately. The other night in Firelands, I really struggled with trapping moving mobs that are walking in a square formation. Mainly it's the one in the back corner. When I wasn't failing at that, I accidentally used the wrong trap. Then my trap launcher expired just as I pressed the trap, so it didn't launch. Basically full of fail. I wish I could say that my guild was patient and understanding, but that would be a lie. I'm sure with some practice I can do this better, but people, including myself, have taken for granted targeting. It's a different story when you're trying to line up moving mobs, the arc of the trap, and where and when it will land. Then some smartass had to put on my note The Trapmaster, which I'm not sure was meant in fun or just being a plain jackhole. It's sad that I can't even tell. (I nicely changed my note to F*ck off :)) The whole ordeal has made me really heartsick for my old guild, for many reasons outside this incident. I just miss them all; their personalities, our inside jokes. I hope they are all doing well.
I miss you druid Covington!
Besides feeling sorry for myself, I'm kind of getting sick of this DPS thing. I would really like to try and heal raids again, but we have a pretty full roster, and it's well balanced as far as classes go. I don't know who I'd heal on or who I'd force to dps. I'm thinking of talking to my GM to see if there is anyway or anyone who wanted to start dpsing or something. I'm already kind of the "backup" healer in case someone falls into a ditch, but I'd like to be more than that. I would really like to get back into healing.
Shaman Blankets
I'm kinda freaked out. I've been leveling my Shaman and running instances on her, healing. Man, do I never go oom. This must be some kind of imbalance between my level, my mana pool, and the costs of spells. I did not go to 50% once. I probably didn't even hit 75%. But from what I have seen and what I can tell, I have a feeling this won't be the case at level 85, so I'm trying to be really cautious about this security blanket that's forming around me. Man the mastery is kind of cool though. With the points I have, my heals will do up to 47% more depending on how low my target's health. Talk about one cast healing. My Greater Healing Wave crit for 50k and brought our tank full up. Man my jaw dropped. To the floor. All the way down. I'm really liking Shaman heals.
Oh oh! I tamed something!
I FINALLY tamed Solix. It took me two attempts and some dying. And some of him dying. But I finally got him! I'm really excited. But now I need more slots. I let go of Aotona because I think he will be easiest to get back. I do have some normal pets, such as a Seagull and the ghost saber from Darkshore, but they have some sentimental value. My boyfriend is attached to the Seagull which he named Mine (Finding Nemo reference). And my ghost saber was a product of me, my old friends Naee and Abarai, journeying to Darkshore at low levels and getting in a duel fight with some Alliance paladin. It was good times.
Anyways, Solix involves kiting him until his energy bar is around 30 ish or so. If it reaches zero, he will die. The best thing to do, is drop a Frost Trap, Concussive Shot him every cd, and just run. When he is tameable, just drop another Frost Trap, Concussive Shot and tame.
He's really pretty, and besides the red lava spider, he is my favorite look for the lava spider. I think Orange is a very good color for one. The Green one, Kirix, who I also have, is a weird color for one, if you ask me. Because you know. lava is orange. I'm thinking I would like Dethalic, blue lava spider, but he is the hardest to come by. I have yet to see him (and I've now seen them all). We'll see. I really can't do much with no slots left :(
Brewfest!
First one of the night, after the whole raid trap debauchery, and I received, in my keg, a nice shiny Brewfest Kodo. Karma? I hope so. Maybe it's Blizzard trying to make me not quit.
I hope I feel better
To be honest, most of these bad feelings may stem from being REALLY tired. I am still working 30 hours a week and on my off time, heading to class. I've had tests, assignments, photo shoots and the like to do.
Garrosh Hellscream
I have been working on blog about Garrosh Hellscream. He's quite the interesting character, and from my perspective, extremely misunderstood. A lot of it has to do with Blizzard and what they want you to see, and what they end up showing you. Most people dislike him, but I think people dislike him for the wrong reasons. There are a lot of misconceptions about his role in the current Horde, which can be easily dispelled by a simple lore lesson. Anyways, I hope this explains my current obsession with him. In my best scenario, I would hope that Blizzard would give him a book, the way they did Varian, and build his character, humble him a little and make him the leader he has the potential to be. Of course, he won't be. He'll probably die some death that Blizzard will hope we will see as heroic, but most people will be excited he's dead. Blizz is too busy building Thrall up.
Anyways, I hope I can get the entry up soon. It will take a while because I really want it to be well written.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Respec, Reforge, Respec! Haste! Mastery! (4.06)
Also a look at Haste Breakpoints
Well, it was bound to happen. I had to respec and reforge after the big (but really exciting) changes for resto druids. It's cost a lot of gold and staring at a Talent Calculator. I also had to do math (ack!). After a couple nights and bosses, I think I found a good place to be at.
Well, it was bound to happen. I had to respec and reforge after the big (but really exciting) changes for resto druids. It's cost a lot of gold and staring at a Talent Calculator. I also had to do math (ack!). After a couple nights and bosses, I think I found a good place to be at.
Monday, January 31, 2011
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