LFR and Stupidity
Feng.
I hate you.
I remember a long time ago I was flabbergasted by the easiness of LFR and wondered if Blizz really thought players were that stupid. Then I did Feng and realized they may have been right. Can people just simply not run out of the raids when DBM yells at them?!?!?!?!?!? Can they not spread out? Can they not realize that big explosions are bad?!?!?! WHY!?
Every LFR I've done has involved a wipe on Feng. Good groups have only wiped once. Bad groups never get past it. Other crippling factors include low dps and low heals. And if I see one more DPS Bear I might stab them.
Grinding. Grinding. Grinding.
I'm worn out. And not because the game sucks or has no content. It has too much content. Everyday I log on and feel pressured to do dailies. The dailies are varied enough, but it's a hour long chore session no matter how I look at it. Some of the dailies are fun though. The Rolling one...OMG. I did it over and over again, giggling because it was some of the best fun I'd had in a while. I also enjoyed the Onyx Serpent one where you jump from drake to drake. It reminds me of Northrend, but it's still fun to be grappling around.
Raiding
I'm in a very close knit guild, who has seen rough times and thinning ranks. A few of us want to start raiding but we're having problems getting some people to commit. They either keep changing their main, won't run dungeons unless we are running them (and they do horrible dps), or say they'll be on but not show on. It's frustrating and is making one point clearly obvious- we are going to have to start recruiting.
I don't know how I feel about this, if it's at all possible. We don't even have a set raid going on, how can we build our ranks with nothing.
My problem is more on trust. I have a hard time trusting new people in game, especially those who are not friends of friends. I've been burned too many times for being open, and I'll be damned if that happens again. We haven't had to recruit in a real long time, so it'll be interesting to see if how this all pans out.
That guy
Have you ever had someone in your group/guild/raid who is just a bad player?
And you can't just exlude him because he's also a close friend of someone vitally important in the guild. So you're basically stuck with him.
I've never really considered myself an elitist, but I definitely have my moments. I did a long time ago when I was raiding with a group of friends. We had a healer who was not exactly very good. Part of it was he just didn't care as much as the rest of it. I'm not sure what part was exactly skill. His numbers were far below mine and our priest, but he still did enough that it wasn't entirely hopeless. That and the priest was a great healer too. I think my only real problem with him was that he always asked who to beacon. Hell if I know, I'm a druid.
This new guy is a whole set of different problems. He is the definition of tunnel vision, but even when that's okay, he still doesn't pull off the numbers he needs to be. What's even more disturbing is that instead of trying to fix the problem, he immediately blames the class and decides to level another alt. He has about 6 alts or so.
I'm trying to convince my raid leader/his friend that it might be best to have him DPS...as a mage...in a corner. But he thinks that as a healer, he'd be less of a problem. As a healer being told that I think I almost faceplanted on my keyboard.
It's also bad enough that during a LFR run, said bad player was called out in the raid and then effectively and loudly kicked. In LFR...
At least it's not all in my head.
When we do finally start raiding, I'll get to see how it all plays out. I'm pretty much in charge of healers, but I've been in this position before, and I almost lost my mind. I'm not good with people not doing their part.
Ultimately, there is a plus side. The player this time is actually dedicated (last guy wasn't so much, which was part of the reason why he sucked), and willing to help. And I can appreciate that.
But is there a line to draw in the sand?
Carrying people is no fun for the people involved.
Farming Master
I farmed up and fished up and finally got my Master of the Ways title. Basically you must master every branch of cooking to gain the title. This is done by leveling the branch from 550-600 and it's a separate skill level outside of cooking. There's one for each main stat, so there's five of them. The amount of meat, veggies and fish needed for each one was quite a bit, and even converting extra meat and veggies to Ironpaw tokens to get what you need is an inefficient method. So I farmed and fished and got this badass title that I think fits a monk perfectly.
I'm actually impressed with the fluidity of the Tillers and the extensiveness of the Cooking this time around. It's a bit of a grind, but now I'm faced with getting 50 Ironpaw tokens to buy my Cooking Bell, which supposedly has MORE dailies, as I teach another the ways of the kitchen. Kinda cool. Just gotta get them damn tokens. :(
Reputation Update
So I am exalted with the Cloud Serpents, Tillers, and Golden Lotus. I did realize that I had worn myself out a lot by doing so many dailies, so I only do three, which may seem like a lot, but it mostly feels like just 2 long ones. The Anglers and the August Celestials are not that long so together they equal one Golden Lotus imo. Man that daily chain was a drag. So glad to be done with that. Shado-pan are okay. They're a but long just because there's a decent amount of traveling. I don't particularly enjoy them, but the ultimate reward will be worth it.
Hopefully, when we start raiding, I'll be feeling happier.
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
Personal or Vague? The Single Player MMO Experience
It's almost an oxymoron: MMORPG. A genre defined by the social aspect of Massively Multiplayer, but also the personal aspect of Role-Playing. You want to be your own, make your own story, feel like you own something. But you also want to play with a bunch of people. And while, yes, interactions with others will further this experience, you have to remember that by accepting to play with others you are sharing you story with them.
Then we have SWTOR.
We enjoy a personal story, develop our own decisions and defend our own choices. Or we just hit the space bar and press random numbers unless they have Light/Dark side choices. Then we may or may not make calculated decisions. Or flip a coin, like my boyfriend sometimes does. This is the SWTOR MMORPG experience.
I find it really difficult to know I am sharing this experience with everyone out there. How do you create a personal one when everyone is doing the same thing. Everyone is the leader of the most prestigious trooper group, Havoc Squad, or the Barens'thor (apologies for the butchery of that spelling) of the Jedi, a position not given out for years. We are all the Emperor's Wrath or Cipher Nine. We are all special.
We all create (albeit pre-plotted) relationships with certain NPCs, and some of these we romance and even marry. Yet the reality is, that we share these with everyone else. Not only am I married to Kira Corsen, but so is my guildie, that person over there I ran by, and my brother.
Perhaps I'm being a tad possessive. But hey, this is "my" story after all. Shouldn't I be. Like my druid. I am extremely possessive of MY druid. I would never give away my account, even if you paid me a bajillion dollars, because it is MY druid (...if it was a bajillion dollars I might cave though). My boyfriend doesn't even play MY druid. He runs stuff on my Sage plenty of times, but MY druid is MY druid. MINE! (mine! mine! mine!)
But that's the difference between SWTOR/Bioware storytelling and other MMO's I've played.
In WoW, we are all the "adventurers," who rise above the oh so powerful NPCs and slay internet dragons. Sure we're all "Destroyer's End" or "Bane of the Fallen King," but we aren't really given ownership of those stories. In canon, a "group of adventurers" take them out. Vague, slightly anonymous.
In SWTOR, it's a different story. A single person is singled out and does a single feat. They are given a singular title, given singular praise, and the illusion that they are in fact, a singular hero. But the reality is, that everyone around you is also enjoying this singular story. And while that is the magic of Bioware and their storytelling, I can't help but wonder if this reason explains my inability to become attached to my characters.
Don't get me wrong. The storylines in SWTOR are awesome. It's probably the reason I'm still playing. At this moment, I am completely engulfed in the Sith Warrior storyline and it's NPCs, Vette and Malavai Quinn (how do I love thee? let me count the ways). And I hope to eventually try out the Imperial Agent and maybe finish the Sith Inquisitor storyline. But the reality is that all these enjoyments are far from the MMO enjoyments I usually experience. Dungeons, raiding, group play. PvP even. I don't do these things and I usually don't want to. I've started to look at SWTOR as a single player RPG more so than an MMO. And while, in the short end, that is a good thing, in the long run, it's a bad thing. After I finish the storylines, I'll probably quit until new content rears its head. Then I'll take a month or so to try it out before I leave again. Such a strange relationship this will be.
A singular experience is important in many cases for any MMO. It's what keeps us coming back for more. We become attached to our characters, create ownership and possession of them, and want to continue our stories as them. Whether we fulfill this through gearing, gaining achievements, completing quests or raids is entirely up to us. But that personal experience is eclipsed by the pre-plotted out storyline that we all partake in. In its attempts to make it as personal as possible, SWTOR has at the same time, created a small box that I wish to live in as my own, without the outside interferences of knowing that I am, after all, not that special.
Then we have SWTOR.
We enjoy a personal story, develop our own decisions and defend our own choices. Or we just hit the space bar and press random numbers unless they have Light/Dark side choices. Then we may or may not make calculated decisions. Or flip a coin, like my boyfriend sometimes does. This is the SWTOR MMORPG experience.
I find it really difficult to know I am sharing this experience with everyone out there. How do you create a personal one when everyone is doing the same thing. Everyone is the leader of the most prestigious trooper group, Havoc Squad, or the Barens'thor (apologies for the butchery of that spelling) of the Jedi, a position not given out for years. We are all the Emperor's Wrath or Cipher Nine. We are all special.
We all create (albeit pre-plotted) relationships with certain NPCs, and some of these we romance and even marry. Yet the reality is, that we share these with everyone else. Not only am I married to Kira Corsen, but so is my guildie, that person over there I ran by, and my brother.
Perhaps I'm being a tad possessive. But hey, this is "my" story after all. Shouldn't I be. Like my druid. I am extremely possessive of MY druid. I would never give away my account, even if you paid me a bajillion dollars, because it is MY druid (...if it was a bajillion dollars I might cave though). My boyfriend doesn't even play MY druid. He runs stuff on my Sage plenty of times, but MY druid is MY druid. MINE! (mine! mine! mine!)
But that's the difference between SWTOR/Bioware storytelling and other MMO's I've played.
In WoW, we are all the "adventurers," who rise above the oh so powerful NPCs and slay internet dragons. Sure we're all "Destroyer's End" or "Bane of the Fallen King," but we aren't really given ownership of those stories. In canon, a "group of adventurers" take them out. Vague, slightly anonymous.
In SWTOR, it's a different story. A single person is singled out and does a single feat. They are given a singular title, given singular praise, and the illusion that they are in fact, a singular hero. But the reality is, that everyone around you is also enjoying this singular story. And while that is the magic of Bioware and their storytelling, I can't help but wonder if this reason explains my inability to become attached to my characters.
Don't get me wrong. The storylines in SWTOR are awesome. It's probably the reason I'm still playing. At this moment, I am completely engulfed in the Sith Warrior storyline and it's NPCs, Vette and Malavai Quinn (how do I love thee? let me count the ways). And I hope to eventually try out the Imperial Agent and maybe finish the Sith Inquisitor storyline. But the reality is that all these enjoyments are far from the MMO enjoyments I usually experience. Dungeons, raiding, group play. PvP even. I don't do these things and I usually don't want to. I've started to look at SWTOR as a single player RPG more so than an MMO. And while, in the short end, that is a good thing, in the long run, it's a bad thing. After I finish the storylines, I'll probably quit until new content rears its head. Then I'll take a month or so to try it out before I leave again. Such a strange relationship this will be.
A singular experience is important in many cases for any MMO. It's what keeps us coming back for more. We become attached to our characters, create ownership and possession of them, and want to continue our stories as them. Whether we fulfill this through gearing, gaining achievements, completing quests or raids is entirely up to us. But that personal experience is eclipsed by the pre-plotted out storyline that we all partake in. In its attempts to make it as personal as possible, SWTOR has at the same time, created a small box that I wish to live in as my own, without the outside interferences of knowing that I am, after all, not that special.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Let Down...Again.
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
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
Friday, May 13, 2011
Oh hai! I'm alive!
Oh Hai!? I’m alive!: The Super Duper Update Extravaganza!
I've been missing in action because of college. It's basically taken over my life. I'm on the home stretch though and I've got a couple days off to just relax. Even though I'm not relaxing. I think, every second, I'm forgetting something aren't I.
BTW, I’m writing this on Word because Blogger is down! I didn’t know Blogger could go down D:. I’m itching to write, and I can’t get on my blog. It’s sad really. What I don’t understand is the status page. On Monday, they announced a maintenance day on Wednesday for an hour starting at 10:00 pm. It’s Friday, almost 2:00 am, and I can’t get on. I don’t get it. I want to blog.
I've been missing in action because of college. It's basically taken over my life. I'm on the home stretch though and I've got a couple days off to just relax. Even though I'm not relaxing. I think, every second, I'm forgetting something aren't I.
BTW, I’m writing this on Word because Blogger is down! I didn’t know Blogger could go down D:. I’m itching to write, and I can’t get on my blog. It’s sad really. What I don’t understand is the status page. On Monday, they announced a maintenance day on Wednesday for an hour starting at 10:00 pm. It’s Friday, almost 2:00 am, and I can’t get on. I don’t get it. I want to blog.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
people are starting to disturb me
Let me just say that I am an animal lover. While I'm not a huge dog lover, I have 4 cats, who I love deeply. I buy them silly toys and those expensive Fancy Feast Appetizers for them. I spent a week watching my new kitten because we rescued her and were worried about her health. I also rescued my cat staying with my dad. I had to put up with my best friend freaking out as he drove us home, afraid she had rabies. I had to walk to Petsmart because my family was on a trip, to buy cans of kitten milk for her. I cried when she wouldn't eat because I didn't want something to happen to her.
And I am not a big dog lover, but I oo'd and awe'd when I saw those cute puppies on Game of Thrones, and I thought, I wouldn't mind one of them. And when Lady met her gruesome, fateful end, I was saddened by it all, hoping Ned would figure something out at the very end.
However, this recent controversy has disturbed me quite a bit. And it's only been a couple hours.
Game of Thrones is causing a little bit of hoo haa after the killing of Lady. Her death consisted of: shot of her face, shot of Neds, shot of dagger, shot of sad puppy dog eyes, shot of Ned's face, doggy yelp. The end.
This subtly violent scene has apparently caused a lot of mad animal lovers, who are enraged by the killing of this animal. Apparently, it's gone as far as letters being sent to HBO to stop the madness.
I love Game of Thrones, so I've been diligently following this story. I actually read the comments from the original EW post that reported on this, and added my own 2 sense. Yet, the more and more I read the comments the more I come to a freakish understanding. Has media desensitized us to human deaths.
Many of the arguments for the animal outrage express hate of animal killings, but seem to be unmoved by human killings.
In fact, one of the comments that sparked this whole thing says:
“[They can] sleep with as many people as they want, but don’t kill [animals]. Or I’m done!”
Comments following the post include some pretty harsh ones.
As I pointed out in my post, one commenter simply shows ignorance in how children are treated, and justifying human depictions of death with a simple:
"Dogs are innocent. People are not."
He then follows up with: "It’s more emotional for a lot of people because animals are mistreated exponentially more than kids are in the world. People are allowed to care about whatever makes them the most emotional."
I would almost respect his opinion if his ignorance wasn't so disturbing.
Other comments include some from an article about the EW article on Sodahead.com.
This commenter mentions a person who is writing/wrote a letter to HBO expressing their rage.
"I agree with the one fan who wrote HBO to complain, saying she'd rather see people killed off than the animals. I'm like that, too. While watching a movie, when characters die, I'm not as bothered as when animals suffer and die in the film. But hey, this is TV -- FANTASY TV, to boot -- so the producers and writers of "Thrones" can always pull a rabbit out of the hat and somehow make it so that the wolf didn't REALLY kick the bucket. Maybe it was all just a dream, like that entire season of "Dallas!"
I really don't understand this person. How can watching people die be less painful then watching animals. They do realize that when they eat a hamburger the animal had to be KILLED for them to eat it. And don't get me started on their delusional hopes of keeping the animal alive...
Back to EW, which has reached 250 comments in a few hours.
"The fact of the matter is a thousand thousand Ladies die every day, butchered by their masters in order to feed human beings. These people who whine about one animal or pet dying in a medieval-style fantasy television show are simply people who are far too protected from the reality they exist in. They’re sheltered from the blood and guts of the butcher shop they buy their meats from, sheltered from the septic tank their crap goes into, sheltered from the pin pricks and starving kids from where their sweatshop clothes come from. These people whining about Lady being killed are a legion of Lady Sansas who think that life is as pretty as a song, only to find out that heroes get their heads cut off and there is no such thing as justice in the end."
I don't know if PETA is going to get involved with this. Honestly, if they do, I will start respecting them less. I don't like the way they go about some things, like throwing flour on celebrities. Good motives, but some shady ways of going about it.
"I’m not really sure why its okay to kill “just an animal” and not a human. Humans ARE “just another animal”. Some humans are civilized and some humans are more savage and cruel than the most savage four legged animal. And in general animals are not intentionally cruel in their kills while humans very well can be."
I don't really know how to react to this. I think she has some good points, but at the same time, this is incredibly insensitive. Humans are cruel because they have emotions. That is what sets us apart from "just another animal" for better or for worse.
"I don’t care about the people being killed, but don’t kill the animals, it really puts me off watching programs and films when animals are killed. If any more animals are killed in the series, unnecessarily, I won’t be watching any more, it isn’t that good up till now, so it won’t be any great sacrifice."
Again. Don't care about people?!?
What is worse is that either these people are REALLY stupid, and think they actually killed the dog, or they really don't care about when people being killed. I know it's all fantasy, but I can't watch brutal shows/movies like Saw. I cringed when Will was decapitated in the beginning of Episode 1. I hate violence of a realistic nature. Silly nonsensical violence that is impossible is one thing. But maybe its scenes like that, that are the problem.
Are we desensitized by the media?
And I am not a big dog lover, but I oo'd and awe'd when I saw those cute puppies on Game of Thrones, and I thought, I wouldn't mind one of them. And when Lady met her gruesome, fateful end, I was saddened by it all, hoping Ned would figure something out at the very end.
However, this recent controversy has disturbed me quite a bit. And it's only been a couple hours.
Game of Thrones is causing a little bit of hoo haa after the killing of Lady. Her death consisted of: shot of her face, shot of Neds, shot of dagger, shot of sad puppy dog eyes, shot of Ned's face, doggy yelp. The end.
This subtly violent scene has apparently caused a lot of mad animal lovers, who are enraged by the killing of this animal. Apparently, it's gone as far as letters being sent to HBO to stop the madness.
I love Game of Thrones, so I've been diligently following this story. I actually read the comments from the original EW post that reported on this, and added my own 2 sense. Yet, the more and more I read the comments the more I come to a freakish understanding. Has media desensitized us to human deaths.
Many of the arguments for the animal outrage express hate of animal killings, but seem to be unmoved by human killings.
In fact, one of the comments that sparked this whole thing says:
“[They can] sleep with as many people as they want, but don’t kill [animals]. Or I’m done!”
Comments following the post include some pretty harsh ones.
As I pointed out in my post, one commenter simply shows ignorance in how children are treated, and justifying human depictions of death with a simple:
"Dogs are innocent. People are not."
He then follows up with: "It’s more emotional for a lot of people because animals are mistreated exponentially more than kids are in the world. People are allowed to care about whatever makes them the most emotional."
I would almost respect his opinion if his ignorance wasn't so disturbing.
Other comments include some from an article about the EW article on Sodahead.com.
This commenter mentions a person who is writing/wrote a letter to HBO expressing their rage.
"I agree with the one fan who wrote HBO to complain, saying she'd rather see people killed off than the animals. I'm like that, too. While watching a movie, when characters die, I'm not as bothered as when animals suffer and die in the film. But hey, this is TV -- FANTASY TV, to boot -- so the producers and writers of "Thrones" can always pull a rabbit out of the hat and somehow make it so that the wolf didn't REALLY kick the bucket. Maybe it was all just a dream, like that entire season of "Dallas!"
I really don't understand this person. How can watching people die be less painful then watching animals. They do realize that when they eat a hamburger the animal had to be KILLED for them to eat it. And don't get me started on their delusional hopes of keeping the animal alive...
Back to EW, which has reached 250 comments in a few hours.
"The fact of the matter is a thousand thousand Ladies die every day, butchered by their masters in order to feed human beings. These people who whine about one animal or pet dying in a medieval-style fantasy television show are simply people who are far too protected from the reality they exist in. They’re sheltered from the blood and guts of the butcher shop they buy their meats from, sheltered from the septic tank their crap goes into, sheltered from the pin pricks and starving kids from where their sweatshop clothes come from. These people whining about Lady being killed are a legion of Lady Sansas who think that life is as pretty as a song, only to find out that heroes get their heads cut off and there is no such thing as justice in the end."
I don't know if PETA is going to get involved with this. Honestly, if they do, I will start respecting them less. I don't like the way they go about some things, like throwing flour on celebrities. Good motives, but some shady ways of going about it.
"I’m not really sure why its okay to kill “just an animal” and not a human. Humans ARE “just another animal”. Some humans are civilized and some humans are more savage and cruel than the most savage four legged animal. And in general animals are not intentionally cruel in their kills while humans very well can be."
I don't really know how to react to this. I think she has some good points, but at the same time, this is incredibly insensitive. Humans are cruel because they have emotions. That is what sets us apart from "just another animal" for better or for worse.
"I don’t care about the people being killed, but don’t kill the animals, it really puts me off watching programs and films when animals are killed. If any more animals are killed in the series, unnecessarily, I won’t be watching any more, it isn’t that good up till now, so it won’t be any great sacrifice."
Again. Don't care about people?!?
What is worse is that either these people are REALLY stupid, and think they actually killed the dog, or they really don't care about when people being killed. I know it's all fantasy, but I can't watch brutal shows/movies like Saw. I cringed when Will was decapitated in the beginning of Episode 1. I hate violence of a realistic nature. Silly nonsensical violence that is impossible is one thing. But maybe its scenes like that, that are the problem.
Are we desensitized by the media?
Friday, November 5, 2010
The State of Patch 4.01: Confusion
Because Cataclysm is supposedly making everything different as far as the way we all play our roles, it makes sense that patch 4.01 would drastically change everything in hopes of preparing us for these inevitable changes. But either no one is getting the hint (cough dps cough) or we are being led to go one way, and read that Cataclysm will want us going the other way. There's a bit of confusion among my guildies and I as we explore the patch content within ICC.
"But if healer mana doesn't matter, our whole combat design collapses. Healers won't value cheap heals. Since mana won't constrain them, overhealing will be common, so they may start devaluing crit as well. DPS specs won't value talents that help them stay alive. And the only way to challenge raids will once again be to clobber tanks so hard that any missed heals will result in tank death. It doesn't have to be this way, and in fact it wasn't this way for much of the game."
Ok. So here's the problem with this blue post, as of 4.01 in WotLK.
"But if healer mana doesn't matter, our whole combat design collapses."
As far as druid heals are concern after 4.01, mana is not an issue. I also know that priests and shamans are not having issues as well. Pallies were, but it got hotfixed, and they are doing okay now. So. In essence, mana doesn't matter. Many people I know are bypassing mana talents for other talents because, why waste talents for mana you're never going to spend. Blizzard missed the ball with this one.
"Healers won't value cheap heals."
Blizzard decided it was important we start working with the new healing style. Unfortunately, ICC boss fights and the proposed Cataclysm boss fights rely on completely different strategies. And these so called cheap heals are long and ineffective. And because, mana is NOT an issue, who uses them? Yes, Regrowth spamming does hurt you in the end, but Nourish is far more ineffective and a long cast time. For the types of heals we are expected to pull out in ICC (intense, reflexive heals), we don't have time to sit on our butts and wait for 2.5 second (with talents and 1k haste, its still almost 2 seconds).
For shamans, Healing Surge is said to be a quick, but costly heal. This is very true. It is about as expensive, although slightly cheaper, then Greater Healing Wave. It's also about half the speed to cast. Shamans can now bypass using GHW in favor of Healing Surge.
"Since mana won't constrain them, overhealing will be common, so they may start devaluing crit as well."
This is untrue. In most guides, people do place value in crit. I'll be honest though. Relying on crit is a mistake, especially for a healer. A chance to hope for a 10k heal instead of a 5k is just plain stupid. I don't understand why they think we value or devalue crit neways. It's a risky it's completely based on chance. As a healer, I have never ever placed a huge amount of value on Crit.
With their changes to intellect now giving spellpower and spell crit, i think players are forced to get some crit rating anyways. Thanks to all my intellect, I am sitting on 30% crit rating. I am not going to drop some intellect because I want to get rid of crit. So in essence, Blizzard is making me value crit anyways.
Overhealing happens because healers are in a race to top everyone off. I can hot people up, but a shaman will top them off before my hots have a chance. This has nothing to do with mana constraint.
" DPS specs won't value talents that help them stay alive."
Blizzard wants DPS to also watch their threat more. Unfortunately, Blizzard does not understand their players very well. Most dps who can pull numbers like that are going to be obsessed with doing those numbers (I want to say this isn't the case with everyone, but I've yet to meet a dps who isnt proud of their high numbers). They don't watch their threat now, and I truly don't believe they will watch it later. I've personally had DPS blame healers for their death. I've also had a lock tell me that because he pulled threat, nearly died, but survived, that it was okay that he pulled threat. This is just ridiculous. DPS don't value talents that keep them alive; they expect healers to save their asses, or say that tanks are bad because they can't hold their ridiculous threat.
I think the concept is good. DPS should have more responsibilities, and we've seen this happen with fights like Freya, where you don't just stand there and dps, or watch out for fire. But unfortunately, no one is really listening, and it's ruining the game for others.
Tanks are complaining because dps can't keep their fingers off their keyboard for a couple seconds. Healers are complaining because they are obligated to heal unnecessary damage. And while we could just all be dicks and let them die, when you're doing endgame hardmodes, every person counts. Including that 10k dps mage. So you have to keep them a live. I wish they saw value in us, the way we see value in them.
"And the only way to challenge raids will once again be to clobber tanks so hard that any missed heals will result in tank death. It doesn't have to be this way, and in fact it wasn't this way for much of the game. "
I don't think this is true. While yes, in ICC the tanks get smacked around in the face a lot, Blizzard has been successful at creating boss fights that aren't reliant on keeping the tanks alive. They are reliant on many factors that include cooperation with dps, healers, and tanks. I do not understand why they are claiming that the only way for raids to be challenging is to clobber the tanks. Have they done their raids before? A lot of raid wipes have nothing to do with, oh the tank is dead." Can we start talking about Defile? How about DPS not taking care of oozes the correct way in Professor Putricide?
I am definitely frustrated with Blizzard when it comes to them justifying the changes they are making in raiding. Some of their claims just seem really far stretched. I still don't understand (and yes, I know they've been doing this for expansions in the past) why they have to release patches early. I never raided in BC so the changes from BC to WotLK were not much of an issue for me. I don't know if this was the way it was beforehand.
But if Blizzard wants us to learn to raid with the new style BEFORE Cataclysm comes out, they're going to have to change WotLK content, or release Cataclysm content for us to play with.
Healing is supposed to no longer be about topping a player off. It's just about keeping people alive. Blizzard claims that we'll survive fights with 50% of our health left. So they've tailored heals to be this way; less about urgency, more about efficiency and longevity. But we're not fighting in fights like this; we're still fighting in WotLK. So it's confusing that Blizzard wants us to learn a new style of raiding, but I guarantee you, everyone is tailoring a spec to ignore the things Blizzard wants from us for Cata, and make us useful in ICC. Healers don't have mana problems for some reason, thus they can use expensive heals and be successful healers. Is this Blizzard's way of making ICC doable for us?
If so, why bother releasing the patch anyways. I am currently sporting a spec based entirely off of Rejuvenation, yet a lot of the T11 bonuses and talents point towards druid's turning into tank healers. Am I preparing for this? No. Am I practicing for this? No. I am far more effective at raid healings.
hm...so we have
Healers with no mana problems
DPS who are still threat whores and can't control themselves
and Tanks who can't compete with it.
Bravo.
(Speaking about RNG deaths; tanks getting killed after 2-3 hits)
"This is also something we have set out to change. I understand that you personally don’t believe we will change it, and since your vision of what the world will be like is at odds with our vision, it is unsurprising that the changes we make to bring about our vision might not make sense to you."
I'll hold you to that then...
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Post-4.01: Closing Remarks (Assorted Cheers and Jeers)
Bravo!
-Glyphs: I love the new glyphs. I love the way they look. I love the way prime and majors are utilized. I like all the choices. I don't quite understand the use of Vanishing Powder as something an inscriptionist can make, but everyone can buy from the vendor anyways. Kinda dumb. I thought perhaps vanishing powder was a way for Blizzard to try and help Inscriptionist make gold after everyone has their glyphs, but that is apparently not the case. Anyways, I personally am not that concerned with Inscriptionist, I have one just to have one and to make some glyphs when I need them. The new glyph system is pretty nice and I don't have to carry stacks of three or four glyphs with me now, just vanishing powder.
-Talent and Leveling Overhaul: I love the way the new talent builds are. I like the simple design and I like the opening page where you select your spec. It just simplifies something that shouldn't need to be overly complicated. It's simple enough to jump into, but full of options and enough complexity to keep things fresh. Some of the talents are kinda silly at the moment, and a hint of things to come, but I'm sure this will all change when Cata hits. Getting certain key dps talents early on also makes leveling easier, and I can appreciate that considering its a long trek to 80 (85). I know a few people who lose steam after some time. I love having Mutilate at level 20. It's amazing.
Die...
-DPS and Tanks: My biggest complaint as far as raids and groups go is the massive amounts of threat dps are now generating. And this isn't so much a problem with Blizzard. DPS should watch their threat. But no one does, and it's really annoying. It doesn't help that tanks now have a slower time generating threat. I have to be careful right at the beginning because even I can pull threat with heals. Luckily it's never been a problem. But when you're going into raid fights and dps are dragging bosses all around the room, its really f*ckn annoying. And some dps are just plain ignorant and expect to be healed through everything. While in guild raids, there's a level of discipline and eventually, the raid leaders will yell at them, but I have encountered this as a huge problem in PuGs. Torovan is a nightmare if you have a well geared caster. What makes me mad is that if they don't die (but barely get out with low health), they don't seem to care. We even asked this one lock to please watch his threat, and when he pulled (as predicted) but survived, he smuggly told us "Well I survived, so who cares?" Um. Sorry. Not good enough. It is not just this one person. Everywhere I go, if I see a dps that isn't a new 80, I know I'm in for healing 2 or 3 "tanks" this run. As a healer, I am sick of unnecessary healing caused by reckless dps. Just because you want your numbers to be high isn't going to help us out in the long run if your wiping us. Having to have tanks run around a room because a dps pulls is frustrating. I'm getting to the point where I won't heal the dps if it's not boss damage.
It is a dps's responsibility to watch their threat. They can hold off 5 seconds to let the tank get some decent threat. We were running H Festergut and we wiped a couple times because our highest dpsers got killed within the first couple of runs. This also messed up our Vile Gas.
-Tooltips: Does anyone else feel that a lot of the new tooltips are like "WoW for Dummies." Some of them, especially the dps abilities, have the normal attack base and etc. They even scale when you receive buffs. That's neat. The healing ones are kinda dumb. Not only do some of them not tell you how much healing they do, but they also tell you when to use it.
for example:
Healing Surge (Shaman): A fast yet inefficient heal. Use if you need to heal during combat, when there isn't enough time for Healing Wave.
Does anyone else feel that this is a tad...useless. While the tooltip does tell you the mana cost and when Blizzard thinks you should use it, you really don't listen to him. It's actually one of the most efficient heals Shamans have now. It is a tad expensive, but Healing Wave is long but not potent, and Greater Healing Wave is strong but long and about the same cost of Healing Surge. Blizzard needs to stop putting their goals into tooltips...
-Bugs: the amount of bugs is understandable. the fact blizzard is aware of them and hasn't fixed nething is unbelievable.
The worse bug for me is the rez bug, where you sometimes rez at the spirit healer with incredibly little health. I have died an excessive amount of times because of this, whether it's because I simply don't realize it and run off the ledge, or get dismounted under ICC and die from the falling damage. I heard people on PvP realms are being killed by asshole players, and I'm surprised this hasn't pissed people off. Isn't this called griefing?
We're having problems with the bug for buying Northrend Spices. It's unfortunate because Northrend Spice prices have skyrocketed too. We are all now forced into our cooking dailies and sending one guildie all our spices to keep him from buying them at ridiculous amounts. I guess it's not a bad bug, just a huge annoyance
-Addons: Not blizzard's fault, but addons are always one of the worst parts of new patches. DBM wasnt working and the first part of Festergut's pungent blight makes it near impossible to see the green of the Malleable goo on the ground. we were unable to finish it because of that. Healbot and Grid literally hid from me, so I had to learn the annoying and new raid UI. It's usable, but I don't like it.
In the end, these are all expected. It's not blizzard's responsibility to figure out addons. But some of the in game stuff is really annoying. They've had their hands full with Blizzcon and the Cata release, but I really wish they would fix some of these things.
-Glyphs: I love the new glyphs. I love the way they look. I love the way prime and majors are utilized. I like all the choices. I don't quite understand the use of Vanishing Powder as something an inscriptionist can make, but everyone can buy from the vendor anyways. Kinda dumb. I thought perhaps vanishing powder was a way for Blizzard to try and help Inscriptionist make gold after everyone has their glyphs, but that is apparently not the case. Anyways, I personally am not that concerned with Inscriptionist, I have one just to have one and to make some glyphs when I need them. The new glyph system is pretty nice and I don't have to carry stacks of three or four glyphs with me now, just vanishing powder.
-Talent and Leveling Overhaul: I love the way the new talent builds are. I like the simple design and I like the opening page where you select your spec. It just simplifies something that shouldn't need to be overly complicated. It's simple enough to jump into, but full of options and enough complexity to keep things fresh. Some of the talents are kinda silly at the moment, and a hint of things to come, but I'm sure this will all change when Cata hits. Getting certain key dps talents early on also makes leveling easier, and I can appreciate that considering its a long trek to 80 (85). I know a few people who lose steam after some time. I love having Mutilate at level 20. It's amazing.
Die...
-DPS and Tanks: My biggest complaint as far as raids and groups go is the massive amounts of threat dps are now generating. And this isn't so much a problem with Blizzard. DPS should watch their threat. But no one does, and it's really annoying. It doesn't help that tanks now have a slower time generating threat. I have to be careful right at the beginning because even I can pull threat with heals. Luckily it's never been a problem. But when you're going into raid fights and dps are dragging bosses all around the room, its really f*ckn annoying. And some dps are just plain ignorant and expect to be healed through everything. While in guild raids, there's a level of discipline and eventually, the raid leaders will yell at them, but I have encountered this as a huge problem in PuGs. Torovan is a nightmare if you have a well geared caster. What makes me mad is that if they don't die (but barely get out with low health), they don't seem to care. We even asked this one lock to please watch his threat, and when he pulled (as predicted) but survived, he smuggly told us "Well I survived, so who cares?" Um. Sorry. Not good enough. It is not just this one person. Everywhere I go, if I see a dps that isn't a new 80, I know I'm in for healing 2 or 3 "tanks" this run. As a healer, I am sick of unnecessary healing caused by reckless dps. Just because you want your numbers to be high isn't going to help us out in the long run if your wiping us. Having to have tanks run around a room because a dps pulls is frustrating. I'm getting to the point where I won't heal the dps if it's not boss damage.
It is a dps's responsibility to watch their threat. They can hold off 5 seconds to let the tank get some decent threat. We were running H Festergut and we wiped a couple times because our highest dpsers got killed within the first couple of runs. This also messed up our Vile Gas.
-Tooltips: Does anyone else feel that a lot of the new tooltips are like "WoW for Dummies." Some of them, especially the dps abilities, have the normal attack base and etc. They even scale when you receive buffs. That's neat. The healing ones are kinda dumb. Not only do some of them not tell you how much healing they do, but they also tell you when to use it.
for example:
Healing Surge (Shaman): A fast yet inefficient heal. Use if you need to heal during combat, when there isn't enough time for Healing Wave.
Does anyone else feel that this is a tad...useless. While the tooltip does tell you the mana cost and when Blizzard thinks you should use it, you really don't listen to him. It's actually one of the most efficient heals Shamans have now. It is a tad expensive, but Healing Wave is long but not potent, and Greater Healing Wave is strong but long and about the same cost of Healing Surge. Blizzard needs to stop putting their goals into tooltips...
-Bugs: the amount of bugs is understandable. the fact blizzard is aware of them and hasn't fixed nething is unbelievable.
The worse bug for me is the rez bug, where you sometimes rez at the spirit healer with incredibly little health. I have died an excessive amount of times because of this, whether it's because I simply don't realize it and run off the ledge, or get dismounted under ICC and die from the falling damage. I heard people on PvP realms are being killed by asshole players, and I'm surprised this hasn't pissed people off. Isn't this called griefing?
We're having problems with the bug for buying Northrend Spices. It's unfortunate because Northrend Spice prices have skyrocketed too. We are all now forced into our cooking dailies and sending one guildie all our spices to keep him from buying them at ridiculous amounts. I guess it's not a bad bug, just a huge annoyance
-Addons: Not blizzard's fault, but addons are always one of the worst parts of new patches. DBM wasnt working and the first part of Festergut's pungent blight makes it near impossible to see the green of the Malleable goo on the ground. we were unable to finish it because of that. Healbot and Grid literally hid from me, so I had to learn the annoying and new raid UI. It's usable, but I don't like it.
In the end, these are all expected. It's not blizzard's responsibility to figure out addons. But some of the in game stuff is really annoying. They've had their hands full with Blizzcon and the Cata release, but I really wish they would fix some of these things.
Post 4.01: The Dpsing Healer (Shaman)
Shaman heals were the one thing I felt comfortable with when heading into the new patch. The changes weren't dramatic; the dpsing healer mechanic was pretty neat. And most importantly it made sense. Unlike Resto druids, dpsing as a resto shaman gives returns worth the extra time. Unfortunately, we don't have much time.
My current problem with my shaman is severe mana issues during healing intensive fights. (more specifically, Torovan, Vault)
I could contribute the struggles to my half decent gear, which isn't even close to my druid's. And I have yet to test out the heals on my better geared ally shaman. So this could be ill-informed at the moment.
But at the same time, I have to consider that:
-I have great reflexes as a healer. It's the reason I am a healer in WotLK. I can far exceed the limitations of my gear. I'm not trying to sound elitist; it's just true.
-The WotLK style of raiding is far different from the proposed Cata raiding style. There isn't much time for dping in ICC. Except maybe Lootship, cuz that s a joke.There is constant damage auras to heal through and tanks, despite the (if u ask me, slight) health/stamina increase, can still easily be two-shotted.
But unfortunately, with this patch and my shaman:
-I am sometimes unable to overcome the limitations of my gear, namely due to mana pool/ mana regens.
-Blizzard has created an environment where they want us healing for the future, while still in the present.
And that is how I sum up the weaknesses of (my) shaman heals.
I will later point out in my Priest post, that there are ways to make the DPSing healer correct. Blizzard did a wonderful job when implementing this new healing style to the Discipline Smite/Archangel build.
They did not do this for the Resto Shaman.
For Telluric Currents, long lightning bolt cast times and no hit rating makes for poor dpsing and mana return.
-While dungeon fights may give us lots of free time, raids present us with fights where we are on the go and need to heal some sort of constant damage. I have not found time to cast a 2 second Lightning Bolt.
-I also seem to find myself missing quite a bit. Which makes casting the Lightning Bolt not only completely useless, but also a waste of my time.
Focused Insight is easy to pull off. My complaint is that it does miss sometimes, but for the most part it is decent and effective.
Finally, with everything switched to spirit, my mana regen took a weird hit. I did rely on Mana Tide Totem, which increases our spirit by 250%, to keep my mana up, but now, it is completely ineffective. I dropped it during a Torovan fight, stood there, didn't heal and barely saw my mana return. The change from return of mana pool, to increase spirit has completely made it a waste for me. Because a lot of shamans probably didn't focus on scrounging for MP5 the way druids and priests might have done for spirit, I find that my gear had very little spirit on it. And reforging crit or haste for spirit is out of the question, especially considering our crit took a hit (I lost 15% on both shamans), and our haste stayed the same.
In the end, I am very dissatisfied with Shaman heals, specifically longevity within raids. I can only hope that this is currently, my personal gearing issue, and will be fixed as I begin upgrading my gear on my troll Shaman. It will ultimately be something that will be fixed by Cataclysm, assuming Blizzard stays with their plan and produces more downtime for LB and Shock castings.
But only time will tell. For now, we fight in ICC.
My current problem with my shaman is severe mana issues during healing intensive fights. (more specifically, Torovan, Vault)
I could contribute the struggles to my half decent gear, which isn't even close to my druid's. And I have yet to test out the heals on my better geared ally shaman. So this could be ill-informed at the moment.
But at the same time, I have to consider that:
-I have great reflexes as a healer. It's the reason I am a healer in WotLK. I can far exceed the limitations of my gear. I'm not trying to sound elitist; it's just true.
-The WotLK style of raiding is far different from the proposed Cata raiding style. There isn't much time for dping in ICC. Except maybe Lootship, cuz that s a joke.There is constant damage auras to heal through and tanks, despite the (if u ask me, slight) health/stamina increase, can still easily be two-shotted.
But unfortunately, with this patch and my shaman:
-I am sometimes unable to overcome the limitations of my gear, namely due to mana pool/ mana regens.
-Blizzard has created an environment where they want us healing for the future, while still in the present.
And that is how I sum up the weaknesses of (my) shaman heals.
I will later point out in my Priest post, that there are ways to make the DPSing healer correct. Blizzard did a wonderful job when implementing this new healing style to the Discipline Smite/Archangel build.
They did not do this for the Resto Shaman.
For Telluric Currents, long lightning bolt cast times and no hit rating makes for poor dpsing and mana return.
-While dungeon fights may give us lots of free time, raids present us with fights where we are on the go and need to heal some sort of constant damage. I have not found time to cast a 2 second Lightning Bolt.
-I also seem to find myself missing quite a bit. Which makes casting the Lightning Bolt not only completely useless, but also a waste of my time.
Focused Insight is easy to pull off. My complaint is that it does miss sometimes, but for the most part it is decent and effective.
Finally, with everything switched to spirit, my mana regen took a weird hit. I did rely on Mana Tide Totem, which increases our spirit by 250%, to keep my mana up, but now, it is completely ineffective. I dropped it during a Torovan fight, stood there, didn't heal and barely saw my mana return. The change from return of mana pool, to increase spirit has completely made it a waste for me. Because a lot of shamans probably didn't focus on scrounging for MP5 the way druids and priests might have done for spirit, I find that my gear had very little spirit on it. And reforging crit or haste for spirit is out of the question, especially considering our crit took a hit (I lost 15% on both shamans), and our haste stayed the same.
In the end, I am very dissatisfied with Shaman heals, specifically longevity within raids. I can only hope that this is currently, my personal gearing issue, and will be fixed as I begin upgrading my gear on my troll Shaman. It will ultimately be something that will be fixed by Cataclysm, assuming Blizzard stays with their plan and produces more downtime for LB and Shock castings.
But only time will tell. For now, we fight in ICC.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back (Maybe Not)
I've made it entirely very clear that I am upset with a lot of what is going down in Patch 4.01 and Cataclysm. Unlike major patches in the past which I have complained about (namely making gear incredibly easy to obtain by having all instances drop Conquest/Triumph badges and nerfing Lifebloom and "fixing" Rejuvenation), I think Blizzard has finally broken me.
And while yes, change is good, I was always completely satisfied with what I had. New content is exciting; I am so excited to make a Worgen and fight alongside Stormrage. I can't wait to fly around Azeroth and enter the depths of the ocean to chill with the Naga. I can't wait to get Guild achievements and rewards.
But there's definitely a limit to how much gameplay change I can take. I haven't played any beta or anything, and we're not sure how all these changes are all going to play out. There's also still plenty of time for Blizzard to change their minds.
First we're being told to dps more. They're putting dps talents in the restoration/holy trees. Then we're also being told that healing isn't about topping off anymore, but keeping people "alive". We need to be more conscious of who gets our heals, when and how much, specifically because of spell's mana costs (now by percentage). We re apparently getting a shit ton of intellect, but that will greatly effect our mana (or lack of) output. Spirit is mana regen. (I do like this simpler approach to stats. Honestly.) And we're getting tons of mana regen Cds and Meditation-like moves.
I feel like I'm getting mixed signals.
The idea of healing rotation (due to dps-type talents that affect mana regen and healing) is something not entirely out of the ordinary. It'll remind me of my Resto Shaman strategy for Valithrea. But that is a pure heal-the-crap out of one target. I wonder how this will play out in raids. Clearly, I will have to test out healing rotations.
According to Raid RX (WoW Insider), Joe, the shaman columnist is using a rotation in the beta that takes advantage of the new dps talents in the resto tree. And what he proposes (2 heals, Dps, 2 heals, Dps) does make sense, and it will allow for some excellent mana regen. I wonder what kind of damage we will be facing in fights, and whether heals will be easy to keep a basic strategy, or if they require some quick reflexes, like WotLK raiding has taught us.
The fact that increase in health pools will assure us that tanks won't get two shotted is comforting. It also changes healing roles (or perhaps more clearly defines them and makes them what they always were supposed to be). It allows for healers to keep everyone at 50% then move on (to perhaps dps. cuz Ghostcrawler says so...). It does also make me think that druids can toss out hots and top them off. I always feel like my druid's hots are kinda pointless, especially in big raids. People are so reflexive and want to top health off that even when I time hots to say, fend off the aoe damage in an incredibly short amount of time, it either becomes overhealing or causes the other healers to overhealing. I suppose this is why people do healing assignments, but I have yet to do a PuG or run with actual healing assignments. Maybe healing instructions, but not really assignments.
Perhaps this is what Blizzard always wanted from healers. But I admit that the thing I love most about healing is the reflexiveness of it. It looks like Cataclysm will kinda milk that a little bit. Looks like meters aren't going to be reliable any more (they really never are, but people still live and die by them)
I feel like my healing days are numbered. I'm already throwing in the towel for my Tree. I don't care how cool the Tree cd is.That's a blow I'll never come back from. Efflorescence (bed of flowers under target crit by Regrowth) is the only mechanic that I think is cool in theory.
I've definitely grown into loving Shaman heals as of late. And the changes for resto shamans are definitely exciting to look forward to. Healing Rain just sounds cool. The idea of it is cool, but again I won't be able to make my decision until Cata comes. The changes to Healing Wave and adding of Healing Surge is something I can easily adjust to.
I haven't read up on Priest or Pally heals. To be honest, I have focused on druid and shaman for a reason. When Cataclysm hits, I don't plan to rush to 85. I plan to enjoy the new content. I find that I lose my flare with WoW when I raid too much. Life isn't always about getting gear. I plan to level a Worgen (not sure what kind though), maybe a horde warlock, although I'm not sure which race I will choose.
Cataclysm is releasing on December 7th, with Patch 4.01 due any week now. Change will always be imminent as long as Blizzard keeps earning money from WoW. I just don't know when I'll finally snap.
(Can I just say that the new move for Balance Druids, the Wild Mushroom, is the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard of. What a load of useless bullshit...)
And while yes, change is good, I was always completely satisfied with what I had. New content is exciting; I am so excited to make a Worgen and fight alongside Stormrage. I can't wait to fly around Azeroth and enter the depths of the ocean to chill with the Naga. I can't wait to get Guild achievements and rewards.
But there's definitely a limit to how much gameplay change I can take. I haven't played any beta or anything, and we're not sure how all these changes are all going to play out. There's also still plenty of time for Blizzard to change their minds.
First we're being told to dps more. They're putting dps talents in the restoration/holy trees. Then we're also being told that healing isn't about topping off anymore, but keeping people "alive". We need to be more conscious of who gets our heals, when and how much, specifically because of spell's mana costs (now by percentage). We re apparently getting a shit ton of intellect, but that will greatly effect our mana (or lack of) output. Spirit is mana regen. (I do like this simpler approach to stats. Honestly.) And we're getting tons of mana regen Cds and Meditation-like moves.
I feel like I'm getting mixed signals.
The idea of healing rotation (due to dps-type talents that affect mana regen and healing) is something not entirely out of the ordinary. It'll remind me of my Resto Shaman strategy for Valithrea. But that is a pure heal-the-crap out of one target. I wonder how this will play out in raids. Clearly, I will have to test out healing rotations.
According to Raid RX (WoW Insider), Joe, the shaman columnist is using a rotation in the beta that takes advantage of the new dps talents in the resto tree. And what he proposes (2 heals, Dps, 2 heals, Dps) does make sense, and it will allow for some excellent mana regen. I wonder what kind of damage we will be facing in fights, and whether heals will be easy to keep a basic strategy, or if they require some quick reflexes, like WotLK raiding has taught us.
The fact that increase in health pools will assure us that tanks won't get two shotted is comforting. It also changes healing roles (or perhaps more clearly defines them and makes them what they always were supposed to be). It allows for healers to keep everyone at 50% then move on (to perhaps dps. cuz Ghostcrawler says so...). It does also make me think that druids can toss out hots and top them off. I always feel like my druid's hots are kinda pointless, especially in big raids. People are so reflexive and want to top health off that even when I time hots to say, fend off the aoe damage in an incredibly short amount of time, it either becomes overhealing or causes the other healers to overhealing. I suppose this is why people do healing assignments, but I have yet to do a PuG or run with actual healing assignments. Maybe healing instructions, but not really assignments.
Perhaps this is what Blizzard always wanted from healers. But I admit that the thing I love most about healing is the reflexiveness of it. It looks like Cataclysm will kinda milk that a little bit. Looks like meters aren't going to be reliable any more (they really never are, but people still live and die by them)
I feel like my healing days are numbered. I'm already throwing in the towel for my Tree. I don't care how cool the Tree cd is.That's a blow I'll never come back from. Efflorescence (bed of flowers under target crit by Regrowth) is the only mechanic that I think is cool in theory.
I've definitely grown into loving Shaman heals as of late. And the changes for resto shamans are definitely exciting to look forward to. Healing Rain just sounds cool. The idea of it is cool, but again I won't be able to make my decision until Cata comes. The changes to Healing Wave and adding of Healing Surge is something I can easily adjust to.
I haven't read up on Priest or Pally heals. To be honest, I have focused on druid and shaman for a reason. When Cataclysm hits, I don't plan to rush to 85. I plan to enjoy the new content. I find that I lose my flare with WoW when I raid too much. Life isn't always about getting gear. I plan to level a Worgen (not sure what kind though), maybe a horde warlock, although I'm not sure which race I will choose.
Cataclysm is releasing on December 7th, with Patch 4.01 due any week now. Change will always be imminent as long as Blizzard keeps earning money from WoW. I just don't know when I'll finally snap.
(Can I just say that the new move for Balance Druids, the Wild Mushroom, is the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard of. What a load of useless bullshit...)
Monday, October 4, 2010
WoW. Hello! ...You're already here...Oh Shift!
Puns intended.
Patch 4.01 either Tuesday or next Tuesday. Crap.
So now what? I still don't have Lich King. I still don't have Undying.
DOES THIS MEAN I NEED TO RAID MOAR??? (FML)
Tonight, I ran with my guild's group 2 on an alt, and we were all ready to kill LK. It made me upset. Cuz I still don't have LK on my main and this group (25% alts) was all gung-ho about taking him down. :(
Can't I get KS on my main first. D:
I know my GM wishes to get KS for everyone, but I can't help but feel a tad jipped, since my group ends up with an alt in an important role (a healer or a tank.), whose either slightly undergeared or unfamiliar with the role. Or we get the dps who likes to stand in defile, or run the entirely longest way possible out of the stupid goo. Or who has a 5.9 gs, but can't do 5k dps for the life of him. Or both. Usually all three.
I get the sense that the group they took first was the most qualified. And while my GM may argue otherwise (i mean, I've argued with him before over this), there is clearly something not working for us. Our raid composition is always a little shakey. We either have one aoe healer with two pallies, one really good one, one decent one, so that when I get pulled into Frostmourne (which I usually do cuz I'm special) I return from it to a massive raid wipe and get to jump off the ledge for funsies. Or we have one, maybe two people capable of slowing, so that when that person (because this is what usually happens) gets picked up, we're screwed.
Then, there is the problem of our luck. When we have good raid composition, one of our highest dps tends to lag out. And not in a safe spot (well this is LK. there is no safe spot) He tends to lag out right in the middle of defile.
Then we always get the Valkyrie carry off the person with the best stuns (Warrior/Rogue), and then our second stunner gets defile and can't stun the Valkyrie. There are other slows, but if I remember correctly, the Warrior and the Rogue (we usually have a tank warrior and a rogue) are the best we tend to have. We don't have any DKs, or priests. I take that back. Good raid composition. hahahaha.
We're really good at pushing into 1.5 when LK starts to summon more ghouls.
Frostmourne really likes me, and leaves our two pallies alone.
Our tanks try and eat the Vile Spirits. Grab will drop a frost trap in the middle and then get defile at the same time, thus rendering his trap, and the "eating" completely useless.
I get out of Frostmourne, and dumped into a defile.
I could go on. I think every possible thing that could go wrong has happened to us in the past 4 days we have attempted this piece of crap fight. It is so exhausting. And you might not believe me, but I swear to you, our guild is a group of very good players; we may not be decked out in 277 gear because we are not a hardcore raiding guild, but this is kinda stupid.
Anyways (hello, 5 paragraph off topic rant), 4.01 is closer then I want it to be. And while some changes are kind of cool ( I guess the Tree Form Cd is epic), I'm still not ready to have to stare at the back of my stupid tauren. I want to get KS, so I can truly be rid of being a healer. I'm not ready to say goodbye. I loved being a tree. Blizzard took this from me.
With the stupid reason of , please shift more.
Fine. I'll shift into a shaman and say goodbye to my tree.
Patch 4.01 either Tuesday or next Tuesday. Crap.
So now what? I still don't have Lich King. I still don't have Undying.
DOES THIS MEAN I NEED TO RAID MOAR??? (FML)
Tonight, I ran with my guild's group 2 on an alt, and we were all ready to kill LK. It made me upset. Cuz I still don't have LK on my main and this group (25% alts) was all gung-ho about taking him down. :(
Can't I get KS on my main first. D:
I know my GM wishes to get KS for everyone, but I can't help but feel a tad jipped, since my group ends up with an alt in an important role (a healer or a tank.), whose either slightly undergeared or unfamiliar with the role. Or we get the dps who likes to stand in defile, or run the entirely longest way possible out of the stupid goo. Or who has a 5.9 gs, but can't do 5k dps for the life of him. Or both. Usually all three.
I get the sense that the group they took first was the most qualified. And while my GM may argue otherwise (i mean, I've argued with him before over this), there is clearly something not working for us. Our raid composition is always a little shakey. We either have one aoe healer with two pallies, one really good one, one decent one, so that when I get pulled into Frostmourne (which I usually do cuz I'm special) I return from it to a massive raid wipe and get to jump off the ledge for funsies. Or we have one, maybe two people capable of slowing, so that when that person (because this is what usually happens) gets picked up, we're screwed.
Then, there is the problem of our luck. When we have good raid composition, one of our highest dps tends to lag out. And not in a safe spot (well this is LK. there is no safe spot) He tends to lag out right in the middle of defile.
Then we always get the Valkyrie carry off the person with the best stuns (Warrior/Rogue), and then our second stunner gets defile and can't stun the Valkyrie. There are other slows, but if I remember correctly, the Warrior and the Rogue (we usually have a tank warrior and a rogue) are the best we tend to have. We don't have any DKs, or priests. I take that back. Good raid composition. hahahaha.
We're really good at pushing into 1.5 when LK starts to summon more ghouls.
Frostmourne really likes me, and leaves our two pallies alone.
Our tanks try and eat the Vile Spirits. Grab will drop a frost trap in the middle and then get defile at the same time, thus rendering his trap, and the "eating" completely useless.
I get out of Frostmourne, and dumped into a defile.
I could go on. I think every possible thing that could go wrong has happened to us in the past 4 days we have attempted this piece of crap fight. It is so exhausting. And you might not believe me, but I swear to you, our guild is a group of very good players; we may not be decked out in 277 gear because we are not a hardcore raiding guild, but this is kinda stupid.
Anyways (hello, 5 paragraph off topic rant), 4.01 is closer then I want it to be. And while some changes are kind of cool ( I guess the Tree Form Cd is epic), I'm still not ready to have to stare at the back of my stupid tauren. I want to get KS, so I can truly be rid of being a healer. I'm not ready to say goodbye. I loved being a tree. Blizzard took this from me.
With the stupid reason of , please shift more.
Fine. I'll shift into a shaman and say goodbye to my tree.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
A Cry for Help (Teen Mom)
I have to really get this off my chest.
I'm incredibly disappointed in MTV right now. They need to really drop Amber from their Teen Mom show. And even report her to Child Services...
Today's episode (2.10, Hello and Goodbye) was just a second show of Amber's domestic abuse against her baby daddy Gary. And I'm not just talking about the punch she threw at him on today's episode, which is the second time she was physically abusive towards him. Nor am I talking about the shocking first time she was in episde 1.03, Fallout, where she threw him against a wall, choked him and then hit him. I'm talking about her constant yelling, her abusive language, and her horribly bad, but horribly obvious anger management problem.
Amber is a constant hot mess. She is always yelling at her child, always yelling at Gary, then sits around wallowing in self pity when she doesn't get her way. And while Gary isn't daddy-of-the-year, he has a lot more patience (although possibly because of lack of balls) when dealing with Amber. She really doesn't show remorse for her actions.
She throws Gary out of her apartment (screaming the entire time) and then tells her daughter that her daddy abandoned her...that just makes me sick.
Then we have the season 1 reunion episode with Dr Drew, where he confronted Amber about her attack on Gary, and she just laughed about it. Laughed. And then acted like it was no big deal. Only when Dr. Drew pointed out that this was domestic abuse did she give a half-assed apology to Gary.
I hate when Amber cries (granted...I'm laughing at her when she cries because she looks so fuckn hilarious).
I think she enjoys the attention that Teen Mom gives her. She really needs to go.
No matter how many pathetic little "domestic abuse" mini PSAs they add during the commercial breaks after Amber's tyrants, it's wrong to allow her to continue this way. How can MTV not do something about this, beyond just some stupid little infomercial at the end?
I hate that I wasted this time writing this about a person who doesn't deserve our attention. But that poor child certainly does.
You can show someone whose shitty (like Farrah), hate her, but then feel better as you watch her grow and start taking responsibility. Then you have someone like Amber, whose antics may seem great for Jersey Shore, but not for a show called Teen Mom. That child deserves better.
Video (courtesy of Youtube) showing Amber choke and hit Gary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_HvDNlhiWE
I don't care if she s a girl and his a big huge man. This is completely and utterly wrong. (and domestic abuse...)
I'm incredibly disappointed in MTV right now. They need to really drop Amber from their Teen Mom show. And even report her to Child Services...
Today's episode (2.10, Hello and Goodbye) was just a second show of Amber's domestic abuse against her baby daddy Gary. And I'm not just talking about the punch she threw at him on today's episode, which is the second time she was physically abusive towards him. Nor am I talking about the shocking first time she was in episde 1.03, Fallout, where she threw him against a wall, choked him and then hit him. I'm talking about her constant yelling, her abusive language, and her horribly bad, but horribly obvious anger management problem.
Amber is a constant hot mess. She is always yelling at her child, always yelling at Gary, then sits around wallowing in self pity when she doesn't get her way. And while Gary isn't daddy-of-the-year, he has a lot more patience (although possibly because of lack of balls) when dealing with Amber. She really doesn't show remorse for her actions.
She throws Gary out of her apartment (screaming the entire time) and then tells her daughter that her daddy abandoned her...that just makes me sick.
Then we have the season 1 reunion episode with Dr Drew, where he confronted Amber about her attack on Gary, and she just laughed about it. Laughed. And then acted like it was no big deal. Only when Dr. Drew pointed out that this was domestic abuse did she give a half-assed apology to Gary.
I hate when Amber cries (granted...I'm laughing at her when she cries because she looks so fuckn hilarious).
I think she enjoys the attention that Teen Mom gives her. She really needs to go.
No matter how many pathetic little "domestic abuse" mini PSAs they add during the commercial breaks after Amber's tyrants, it's wrong to allow her to continue this way. How can MTV not do something about this, beyond just some stupid little infomercial at the end?
I hate that I wasted this time writing this about a person who doesn't deserve our attention. But that poor child certainly does.
You can show someone whose shitty (like Farrah), hate her, but then feel better as you watch her grow and start taking responsibility. Then you have someone like Amber, whose antics may seem great for Jersey Shore, but not for a show called Teen Mom. That child deserves better.
Video (courtesy of Youtube) showing Amber choke and hit Gary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_HvDNlhiWE
I don't care if she s a girl and his a big huge man. This is completely and utterly wrong. (and domestic abuse...)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Preparing for Cataclysm. (bye bye Undermine)
The reality is this.
Im really upset about the Tree of Life changes.
Namely. Not being in Tree of Life whenever the f**kn hell i feel like it and forever.
Im one of those idiots who will purposely transform into Tree of Life, run around dalaran, do craftings, just cuz i like that little root waddle.
I could also give the reasons losing tree of life is fuckn retarded, but this person does it a lot better than I.
http://treebarkjacket.com/2010/06/15/cataclysm-hobbl-fail/
Im really upset about the Tree of Life changes.
Namely. Not being in Tree of Life whenever the f**kn hell i feel like it and forever.
Im one of those idiots who will purposely transform into Tree of Life, run around dalaran, do craftings, just cuz i like that little root waddle.
I could also give the reasons losing tree of life is fuckn retarded, but this person does it a lot better than I.
http://treebarkjacket.com/2010/06/15/cataclysm-hobbl-fail/
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