Power Word: What?

This Six Thing

2012-02-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

I'm finally able to get around to doing this. Cymre over at Bubbles of Mischief tagged me in this post to participate in the new 'thing' that's been going around lately.

Unfortunately all the really cool screenshots I had have been wiped when my PC died a few weeks ago, so I really had no motivation to do this. But I figured why not, and decided to check what screenshots I did have.

The rules:
1. Go into your image folder (or screenshot / WoW folder)
2. Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image (or if you’re like some others with one huge folder, try six down and six across)
3. Publish the image! (writing a word or two about it wouldn’t go astray either)
4. Tag six new bloggers and watch them squirm (GL with finding six who haven’t been tagged yet)

I checked out my WoW folder and found this:

This is my hunter Missdirect doing an LFR with a few friends of mine.

Not too interesting so I checked my image folder:

My druid in her transmog set (feral)

Finally, I checked my desktop background folder and BAM:

Glorious Mass Effect

Quick edit here; I won't be tagging anyone else with this - the people I would have chosen have already done this by the time I got these up.

Wetlands; In-Game and Out

2012-01-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

Midday in the Wetlands

Here's something you might not have known about the World of Warcraft; the zones are pretty similar to real world environments. Or maybe you did know it, but didn't know that there was actually some scientific/geographic explanations for it. I don't mean similar just in looks, I mean they are similar in ways that make me think they must have a Geography major working with them. It is something I noticed while playing through Swamp of Sorrows a few years ago and again while I was participating in the Pilgrim's Bounty achievements on my druid this year.

I'm on my way towards earning a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies - specifically Geography, and in the fall term I took a course titled "Wetlands". It's one of the required 4th year courses and it was a large step up from other courses I'd previously taken. This course teaches the basics AND the advanced knowledge of wetlands and their inner workings, so it is a lot to absorb in four months. What I'm going to try to do is give you a crash course on things I learned that translated into seeing WoW environments in a more appreciative light.

Every country has their own Wetland Classification System, even provinces and states can have their own as well. For example, Canada has the Canadian Wetland Classification System and within Ontario we use the Southern Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (SOWES) to determine different wetland values. A wetland in Canada is not the same as one in the United States. More specifically a wetland in the Hudson Bay Lowlands is not the same as the Everglades in Florida. All wetlands are different, no matter where they are.

There are many types of wetlands, and wetlands themselves are split into subsections of peatlands and mineral wetlands. These two categories are again split up into more classes. Bogs, fens and marshes are peatlands, while swamps are considered mineral wetlands. Peatlands are wetlands that build up what is known as 'peat'. This peat is formed from decaying organic matter (leaves, animals, wood, plants), and decays slow enough that it builds up over time (a long time - think 100s of years). A mineral wetland has minimal to no peat build up, but still follows the general rule of being wet for most of the year - a swamp for example has water flowing through it, and is completely saturated for most of the year giving organic matter not enough access to oxygen to decay.

Huuuuuge... swaths of cattails. Spongy Lake, Ontario

In addition to having unique ecosystems and groundwater patterns, there are plants that are indicative of what type of wetland you're looking at, and that show you what is going on in the soil. For example, cattails are an indication that there is some sort of disturbance going on. Usually that means that there is an influx of Nitrogen or Phosphorous which is commonly seen around agriculture areas when the fertilizer runs off into another area - think about where you see cattails, you also have a multitude of the plant around roadways. There will be a swath of cattails around where the disturbance is occurring. The presence of plants along the water channels can also be an indication of 'terrestrialization', a process that happens in wetlands when plants begin to infill areas that were previously open water.

Why is this important? Peatlands (particularly bogs, certain types of fens and marshes) are nutrient poor - in layman's terms this means that the environment in wetlands is not good for plants that need a lot of nutrients to survive and that the plants IN a wetland are adapted to living in an environment where they don't always get the nutrients they need. Cattails need more nutrients than what is supplied so when you see them, you know something else is going on.

The Wetlands zone in World of Warcraft is strikingly similar to a real world wetland. Did you know that cranberries require a specific acidic (high ph) environment to grow and that the plant has seeds that can float when the water rises? Cranberries only grow in a wetland environment, and during Pilgrim's Bounty you can (on Alliance side) pick up Tangy Wetland Cranberries. I did some sleuthing and found that the Horde pick up Tangy Southfury Cranberries. Not wetland cranberries, but I'll assume these particular cranberries grow along the Southfury River.

The most recent iteration of the zone has the Loch Modan dam broken into pieces which likely ended up in an influx of water to the Wetlands. This is a problem in real life because wetlands aren't designed to have a huge amount of water run through them unexpectedly. It's a common misconception that wetlands act as flood controls. While it's true that yes, certain types of wetlands do actually help flood control, most of them do not. This is because wetlands are already saturated, to the point that sometimes while walking in them the ground squishes, or moves because it's actually buoyant.

Look closely, you can see the cattails.

The Wetlands zone is no exception. This sudden influx of water from Loch Modan looks like it caused some serious damage. There are cattails all along the channels of water, indicating a massive nutrient influx. Trees are knocked over or drowning in water that is now much too deep. The environment is not equipped to deal with that kind of disturbance.

The really cool part of the zone is that it seems to be a mishmash of different types of wetlands. It's got trees, so that could be a swamp or marsh. There's standing water that appears to be there year-round so that's swamp or marsh again. Near the edges, close to the sea the proper name would be a tidal wetland. There also seems to be some boggy parts too. This can happen in real life, too. One of the wetlands we visited had open water in the center, with a marshy area surrounding it, and became very swampy right around that. In another wetland, the middle was mostly bog and the transition area (also known as a lagg, har har) lead to a forested ring around it.

Swamp of Sorrows is similar in that the game zone has wonderful nuances that are like a real swamp. Many plants have certain adaptations to survive these harsh environments (like cranberries, mentioned earlier). Trees are no exception. In a very wet environment trees can still survive if time and evolution allow. This adaptation is called 'adventitious roots' and this allows the trees to still have most of the root mass below the soil surface, but are still able to receive oxygen while the root zone is flooded. What happens is the roots of the tree are actually exposed to the air instead of in the ground as usual. This means that even with flooding or in extremely wet environments trees can still thrive.

Adventitious roots!

Buttressing in Swamp of Sorrows

Buttressing in real life - Spongy Lake, Ontario

Along with adventitious roots there is an adaptation known as 'buttressing'. It's the same kind of idea where the tree needs to get its roots above ground so that it can receive enough oxygen since it isn't getting it from the soil. The trees actually have space underneath the roots, or the bases become wider to increase support. Recall earlier what I said about swamps; they are flooded for most of the year and have standing bodies of water as the ground and surface water flows through.

The more I learned in class, the more I wanted to go back to the game to check and see if enough attention had been paid to these zones. Wetlands are extremely sensitive ecosystems with fascinating adaptations, biology, and chemistry. Sometimes it takes a really good 4th year course to properly appreciate all the design work that goes into one of your favourite games. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found, and I hope you learned something new today that will encourage you to just go look at the game. I catch myself looking intently at other zones checking for real world similarities all the time. I'm constantly amazed by what is in this virtual world that we spend so much time in.

Sunset in Swamp of Sorrows

Heroic Beth'Tilac: On top of the web

2011-11-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

I love Beth'Tilac. Not just because she's this awesome-looking giant spider, but because I am challenged beyond the usual scope of what I can do on this fight. My typical assignments throughout the night look like this; Shannox, Kal - tank #1, Rhyolith, Kal - tank #2, Alysrazor, Kal - tank #1, Majordomo, Kal - tank. But when we get to Beth'Tilac, oh boy, do I get a full plate - and I walk away feeling satisfactorily full.

As you can see, I am primarily a tank healer but on this fight it is my job to go up on Beth'Tilac's web and heal the group there. My responsibilities still include the tank, but in this case I have to worry about myself and (usually) five melee dps. How does a discipline priest manage this, you may ask?

First, we make sure that the melee are in one group together to facilitate Prayer of Healing while up top. Then we organize who takes what thread first; the tank, then myself and then the rest of the melee. After that, it's just rinse and repeat for the web group.

I'll be honest, I have almost zero idea what happens on the ground in this fight. Apart from something about hitting spiderlings before they hit the raid, and killing the drones and stuff, I don't really pay attention to that part since I don't need to, and never had to. Check out the links at the bottom for a video with a good ground perspective.

Like I said, this fight makes me really excited to be a priest and I'm never quite so proud of what I can do except on this fight (and occasionally Baleroc when I can beat our Death Knight tank /shakes fist). I've wanted to write down what I do on this fight for some time, and now that I have some free time I'm finally able to.

What I'll do is take you through how I heal this fight as a discipline priest, keeping in mind that I only ever go up top* on the web.

Beth'Tilac Heroic How-To**

Phase One:

Healing this fight as a discipline priest isn't too bad, and there are multiple opportunities to use all your cooldowns.
On the pull, run in and drop your Power Word: Barrier to help mitigate some of the Venom Rain going around, toss out some shields, and some PoHs to help your raid healers.

Many webs! Photo: ready4raiding.com

After a couple webs have been dropped, you and your tank can go up. It's helpful to call out your web on Vent/Mumble so that your dps know when they can follow. Keep in mind that you always want your tank to go up first, and have your finger ready for Fade, just in case Beth decides to have you for dinner.

Once you're up top, ensure that your tank and yourself are stable. A couple Binding Heals will sort you both out and you'll be able to take better care of your melee. What I do when I get up top is Fade, heal up my tank and myself, by that time the melee are up and it's time to worry about them. I pop Power Infusion, (usually my Jaws of Defeat as well), throw a couple Binding Heals out, Prayer of Mending, PoH, go crazy!

When the melee are up top with me, I like to position myself behind Beth'Tilac so that I can benefit from the enhance shaman's Healing Rain and so that I'm nice and close to my tank in case he has to make an emergency move for a meteor. Don't be afraid to leave your melee at about 50% health, they don't need to be topped up. I like to PoH the melee before her AoE pulses so that they have a nice Divine Aegis on them before it hits.

Healing Rain! So wonderful if you have it.

I have a system up top where I can safely leave my tank alone for a few casts of PoH on the melee group, and then get back to him with Penance, Shield and GHeal. Don't forget Prayer of Mending, either! This spell works wonders up top since it'll just bounce between the people on Beth's bum.

When it's time to jump down, try to jump into the middle of her web. If you can't - maybe you're too far away - use levitate to get down safely through one of the holes in the web. Your PW:B won't be up for the first Smoldering Devastation, so do your best to help out on the raid healing until it's time to go back up. When there's a couple webs down, get ready to go back up with your tank. If you need to, don't be afraid to use Pain Suppression. Pro-tip; you can cast this on your tank (along with other spells, like PoM) as your web string is moving, so that it's on him when he gets up on the web.


In this image you can clearly see who has the Fiery Web Silk debuff.

Essentially now it's just a rinse/repeat fight for you. Once Beth'Tilac does her second Smoldering Devastation, you should be on the ground and dropping your second PW:B of the fight. After the Spinners are taunted and there are enough webs, your group will go back up for a third and final web phase.

Some of your melee might jump down early to help make sure all the adds are dead in time for Beth's final descent, so don't panic when they lose their Fiery Silk debuff and move out of healing range. When you jump down for the last time, I find this to be an excellent spot to cast a Potion of Concentration if you need it.

Phase Two:

As soon as you're in position behind the boss, it's a race to beat her frenzy stacks before her AoE pulses kill you. I like to reserve my Divine Hymn to boost our resto druid's tranquility, or save it for when our shadow priest is using their hymn. Your Barrier will be back up in this phase, so feel free to drop it once the cooldown is up or when your raid leader has you assigned to do so. Since I'm assigned to tanks I always make sure they're okay before moving on to the raid. Our tanks have pretty stable health, and I have a paladin (Kurn!) who tank heals with me, so I'm usually safe helping out with PoH on the raid. The damage to the raid in phase two is substantial even after the nerf so be ready to empty that mana bar.

I've done this fight enough times that I have specific times to use my cooldowns throughout the fight. If you're curious and want to check for yourself, you can look at Apotheosis' WoL parse here. Or, check out this SS for the quick and dirty version***.

100% PoM uptime? Hot damn!

Some tips and tricks:

Make sure Fiery Web Silk is on your raid frames!
Tank cooldowns are important to show on your frames as well. (Guardian of Ancient Kings, Divine Protection, Ice-Bound Fortitude, Survival Instincts, et cetera.)
If you have an enhance shaman who doesn't mind dropping Healing Rain with a maelstrom 5 stack, it makes up top much easier - but it's not necessary and can be done without.
Barrier, PI, PS and multiple trinkets can be used at least 3 times, depending on when they are first used.
Levitate, Desperate Prayer and Healthstones save lives!
Potion of Concentration during the ground phases if needed.
Shadowfiend early so it's back up when you need it.

(I do have a video in the works, but I'm hopeless at video editing software. Without my s/o to help me out, I flail around and he is very busy this week. Keep an eye out for a Beth'Tilac movie with my PoV and narration!)

* That's what she said.
**If you need a refresher on the way this fight works, check out Icy Veins and for druids specifically you can look at Cannot Be Tamed, and Falling Leaves and Wings (which gives a great video perspective of the ground floor healing).
*** More CDs!

Home

2011-10-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

The ladies

This post is coming a little later than I wanted it to, butsince Cynwise posted “On Revelations” before a field trip, I ended up forgettingabout it until just recently. I originally wanted to reply to Cyn's post in the comments but it ended up morphing into something much larger.

Reading Cynwise and Vidyala’s stories (here and here) about what they enjoyplaying, and figuring out what they want to play was very interesting to me. I playa priest, and have played her for a long time; first as shadow back when weonly did 1400 dps but returned mana for the mages and warlocks, and now as ahealer. I also play a druid tank, who has been around as long as the priest. I've had many internal battles over which character I wanted to play, but there's just something about those two roles that I can't quite get anywhere else.

I played a really big support role in Burning Crusade, and Ihad requests from people to have me in their groups. I liked that. I liked thefeeling of being needed, of contributing in a very real way to killing the boss– regardless of my 1400 dps. My sense of accomplishment came from seeing the magesat the top of the meters and knowing that without me, they wouldn’t be there.When the changes to shadow priests happened (where we actually did decent dps)I couldn’t handle it. This was not the class I signed up to play, nor theplaystyle I wanted - I fell out of love with shadow priests.

I didn’t know what to do, or how to dps anymore so I did the nextbest thing; I started healing. It’s hard to pin down exactly why I startedhealing instead of moving to say, my druid tank. I think it had something to dowith how I identify myself in game. I’m Kaleri, a priest. Kaleri is who I amand I wasn’t ready to take on a leadership role as a tank.

I find I generally gravitate to a healing or tanking role over dps, and I thinkCynwise nailed it with:

"... I feel like I'm playing a critical part - thecritical part - in the success or failure of an activity." I was noddingalong and I had to stop and think about which characters I play andenjoy the most. I have Kaleri (priest), Kalbeari (druid tank, pvp healer) andthen a myriad of other characters.

Kalaura (my paladin) is holy because I didn’t want to playas retribution, but I’d never say never to her being protection at some point.Unlike my shaman, I like healing with this character. It’s a really goodchallenge for a priest to switch to a paladin and I enjoy that sort of thing.

My poor hunter who I rescued from deletion from my mother’saccount is my farming character that I occasionally run a couple dungeons onduring the week. I do like dpsing on her, but not in a larger group setting. Ialso enjoy collecting new hunter pets. I camped out Ghostcrawler a few monthsback and the thrill of pet taming is a whole other blog post I could write.

The other characters I can’t really get into. Maybe itsbecause they are pure DPS classes and for me that means giving up a lot ofcontrol. Or maybe five level 85 characters are enough for me. I don’t likeneglecting any of them.

I think it comes from the inherent need for myself tohave some kind of control over what is going on. I need to be healing ortanking to feel like I'm really contributing. That's not to say I don't like healing or tanking, I love those roles. I am enjoying my prot warrior very much, and she's level 65.

Take my shaman. Ihave a great time smashing things with windfury, but I get anxiouswhen the healer in the group can’t seem to do things right. I’ve beengetting her resto set in order so that I can queue for dungeons that way – eventhough I dislike the shaman-healing model - because I know I’m good at it andthat I can do it. I also don't like waiting for the absurd DPS queues. But are those reasons enough to play her as full-time resto with enhance as her offspec?

I occasionally get a little wanderlust when it comes to my priest. I considered leveling Kalbeari first in Cataclysm because I wanted to do something new. When Mists of Pandaria was announced, I had the same thought; I can swap to another class come Mists of Pandaria but I can't shake the feeling of "I want to stay with/as Kaleri". I have a lot of memories with Kaleri and most of my in-game accomplishments have been with her. The announcement that (certain) achievements might become account wide made it a little easier to think about.

Mists of Pandaria brings a brand new class to the table in the Monk. This class really appeals to me because it seems like a true support class (akin to my BC shadow priest). Contributing DPS and healing? I can't wait to test that out.

Play what you enjoy, play what makes you happy.

Vidyala made the difficult choice of moving to her paladinfrom her mage and then returned to it because that is what she loves to play. Iadmire that so much, first because she moved away from her mage to be able tocontribute to her group in a different way and second because she didn’t stayin a role she didn’t prefer over her mage and she was confident enough to say so.

I’ve been seriously considering swapping to anothercharacter for our alt raid. Our usual composition is; two mages, two priests, two druids (oneresto, one feral – that’s me), one pally, one warlock and one warrior. It’s achallenge and I feel like I need toswitch because I have a lot of characters that could help. I could gear up my shaman and heal or melee DPS. I could faction change my paladin and heal. I could bring my hunter. I could go feral cat and melee dps.

As I was thinking about all the things I could do to help, I never stopped to think about what I want to do.

I want to play my druid as a tank in Firelands; I don't want to dps. I don't mind healing, I prefer tanking. The rush I got from single tanking Shannox (by accident, on regular with 38 freakin' stacks) was like nothing I've felt in a long, long time. My druid gives me "that" feeling.

To quote Cynwise:

There's a pride to being the one to tank Drek, to tank the nightmare pulls of H-MgT well, to be the one where if you don't do your job right, you wipe.




*The song lyrics are from "Home" by Eward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. I thoroughly recommend a listen

What do I enjoy?

It's hard to say. My characters offer different roles and perspectives so it is hard to pin down which one I really enjoy the most. I know I'm attached to Kaleri, and I see her as my main but at the same time I feel like I could be a druid. I could be a tank, why not?

I have fun on Kaleri; I love being the only healer who goes up top on Heroic Beth'Tilac, I love being the healer that can keep the tanks alive, I love penance, I love Divine Aegis, I love being a part of the healing team in my guild. Healing dungeons and raids when Cataclysm first debuted was a great time for healers. There was so much more to healing than just "filling the bars" and I think I've lost that feeling of accomplishment that I felt earlier on.

As long as I still have the sense of playing a big part in a raid, I'll stick with Kaleri. She is where I feel at home. If I ever stop having fun on my priest it will be time to drop her, but for now I still feel like there are things I can do on Kaleri that no one else can, and that makes me feel awesome.

Helicopters

2011-10-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

I am a reality TV junkie. I watch Survivor, The Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad, The Amazing Race, Big Brother... you name it, I've probably watched it. There was an event on the Bachelor Pad where a couple received a private date, and they took a helicopter to get there. The were really excited and they were going on and on about this "once in a lifetime opportunity". I was watching this with my mother when I said, "I don't see why a helicopter is so special to these people. I mean, it's just a helicopter." To which she replied, "They've probably never seen one, let alone flown in it. You've been around a helicopter and flown in it before. A helicopter is probably pretty cool to them even though it's not that special for you."

My dad worked as a forest-fire fighter in Northern Ontario for quite a few years while he was getting his Bachelor of Education. We lived in Thunder Bay, Ontario at the time and the best way to get people out to the forest fires was by plane or helicopter. Dad used to take my brother and I to see the helicopters and the planes that dump water (I forget the name) and we used to be able to climb around in them and ask questions about them. I remember putting on the headset they use, and sitting in the pilot's seat. I remember the colour of the helicopter (bright yellow). It was a very cool experience.

This thought about helicopters and how other people see them has been floating around in my head for some time. I found myself comparing different life events, like going to Mexico, or flying across the country. I've never been to Mexico, and it would be awesome for me but probably not as exciting for someone who goes every year. I've flown across the country and it's not the most exciting experience anymore but for someone who has never flown in a 747, it's a big deal.

But this is a Warcraft blog, how does the idea of helicopters relate to that?

The Anonymous Redditor and Normal Firelands

The concept of a WoW-helicopter first presented itself when I created a comic about our alt 10man Shannox kill. My friend Sara posted it to a website called Reddit, where there exists a WoW 'subreddit' for people to chat about Warcraft. Using the format provided you can anonymously upvote and downvote and comment on every single post.

One of the first comments on the comic was, "I don't understand why people think normal Firelands is such a big accomplishment." This person didn't know that the guild we're in also runs heroic Firelands as a 25man group which is where (for me) my sense of accomplishment comes from. However, that doesn't stop me from feeling good that our 10man group killed normal Shannox after completely botching the pull. It doesn't stop me from being proud that we're finally 6/7 with that group.

I wanted to find this person and get impress upon him (or her) that what he (or she) might find stupid and lame was something that 10 people thought was hilarious and fun. This person was taking my helicopter moment and smashing it with his foot.

My dad; the Shaman, the Hunter, Normal Firelands

Spirit Beasts by DanisMuffins @ Deviant Art

My dad plays World of Warcraft. He's a very casual player but he enjoys raiding when he can, even though boss kills are few and far between. When the Firelands nerfs were announced, his reaction and my reaction were very different. He was excited. This meant that he'd get to go in and kill a couple bosses in the raid time he could squeeze in. My reaction was much grumpier. This meant we'd go in and kill bosses after other people after they'd been made easier.

He also enjoys playing his hunter and collecting Spirit Beasts. There are some people that just don't get that. He's actually woken me up before to tell me he tamed Loque'nahak in Sholazar Basin. He has a ton of these pets, and enjoys showing them off. Part of it is the thrill of the hunt, the other part is the accomplishment you feel after you've caught the elusive ones.

My dad's WoW-helicopters are normal modes in Firelands and Spirit Beast collection. He gets to raid with his friends and kill bosses after weeks of being unable to. He camps out and waits for these awesome looking pets to appear so he can tame them. How could I belittle anything he accomplishes just because they came after my own? How can I say to him that his experience is less cool than mine?

Everyone is Different

I play WoW to raid and to do that with people I enjoy being around. My dad likes to raid but he plays WoW to hang out with his friends and relax. There are people who play WoW as a job. There are people who play WoW to roleplay. People play WoW to participate in Arena teams or Rated Battlegrounds. There's even some people who love to level alts and play for the quests/leveling experience.

Each of us has our own helicopters, and it's not fair to say that my helicopter is better than yours just because I had my helicopter first. It's not fair for me to judge you because you have a green helicopter but mine is purple. My helicopter can fit 25 people in it on three nights a week while yours might only be able to handle 5 or 10, but that doesn't make those people any less important and it doesn't make my helicopter better than yours.

Everyone's had a time where someone else did something before you, or did something you can't. I find the attitude in WoW to be much different than real life where there are people who openly put down those who find joy in something they do not. You wouldn't walk up to someone and say, "You graduated in 2011? I did that 5 years ago. You're not that special." You don't tell people they don't deserve something just because it took them a little longer than you.

Our helicopters are our own, there are many like them but these are ours. What's your helicopter moment?

A Week of Raiding, Post-Nerf: Some Thoughts

2011-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

I wanted to chime in on the nerfs in Firelands but I chose to wait until I had two different perspectives in both the 10 and 25man version of the raid. I raid on my priest in the 25man version of FL and on my feral (sometimes resto) druid in the 10man version. The 25man group was 1/7 heroic modes before the nerf, and our (alt) 10man group was 3/7 regular.

Quick additions:
Jasyla (my druid buddy) over at Cannot Be Tamed just posted a similar topic, go check it out!
My GM Kurnmogh at Kurn's Corner also posted her thoughts a few days ago.

The big announcement:

When the nerfs were announced, I wasn't surprised that they were happening but I was surprised at how soon they seemed to be. I went through a myriad of emotions starting with anger. I was angry that I was being denied the chance to kill the heroic bosses as they were designed. I was angry that our guild was behind progression where I thought we should be. I used the blogosphere's opinions to buoy my own, and I was glad that there were so many people who felt the way I did.

On the other hand I was excited for our alt-run. We'd been having attrition problems, and composition problems which lead to us only being able to go 3/7 before the nerfs. The incoming nerfs to regular FL was going to mean we would be able to go maybe 5/7 over the next few weeks. Maybe it would mean we didn't need the perfect composition; we wouldn't need to specifically have two or three melee for Alysrazor, we wouldn't need to have the perfect combination of healers and maybe we could do better than we have been.

To catch you up on where my guild was before the nerfs, we killed heroic Shannox as our first heroic mode on September 6th. Apotheosis had been working on Heroic Rhyolith as our second heroic mode since September 8th. While we had been seeing some progression, phase two was where we would get wrecked. Our last attempts before the nerf were on September 18th.

A 25M group walks into a bar... er an instance:

Tuesday, September 20th Apotheosis went in to Heroic Firelands. We killed heroic Shannox. However, we killed him with one of our tanks having 16 or so stacks of Jagged Tear at the end. I heal the Riplimb tank, and he and I coordinate where we run for traps, he lets me know if he needs a Leap of Faith, I tell him when I'm running etc. Our Riplimb tank managed to drop his own stacks, but he and I failed so hard in trying to drop our MTs stacks. The MTs stacks never dropped and I could feel the stress we were putting on our other healers but the fact is, we still killed him while completely screwing up the mechanics.

Our MTs stacks.

We moved on to heroic Rhyolith and took six attempts to kill him, finally putting us at 2/7 heroic modes.

Then we moved through the rest of the instance on normal and let me tell you, I have never felt more guilty for killing bosses in a raid instance. I actually felt like I was cheating, or hacking the game and using some mod that made the encounters too easy.

Beth'Tilac melted. We actually had to STOP DPS on Alysrazor so that one of our elemental shamans could complete his charged focus quest. Alysra's initiates didn't need babysitting, the bird adds fell well before the tornadoes - and the tornadoes themselves were much slower. To give you some perspective, I avoided tornadoes like a champ before the nerf. After the nerf, they were so much slower than I was used to that I hit four tornadoes. I just ran right into them because I was used to the pace of the faster ones.

Let's not forget I also hit Brushfire and a Lava Spew.

Normal Baleroc was a joke. You could completely screw up the healing/shard rotations and still kill him with plenty of wiggle room.

Normal Staghelm made me sad. I spent 3/4 of the fight smiting because I was bored, and we killed him before he cast Burning Orbs.

We completely, totally, embarrassingly screwed up on regular Ragnaros. I smacked my face into at least two meteors. We had 10(?) people alive at the end and it was incredible that we could have multiple people hit Lava Waves, Meteors, etc, and still kill him. I felt cheap, I felt dirty and I hated it.

This week we went in and killed Heroic Beth'Tilac on the 27th after 37 total attempts after the nerf propelling us to 3/7 heroic modes. I have to admit, this fight was still relatively challenging, but I can't even imagine the difficulty level before the nerf - my hat's off to the people who did it before.

Next on the list is Alysrazor and Majordomo, both of which I'm looking forward to on heroic since their normal versions are ridiculously easy for the guild.

The 10M alt-run:

Bear tanking Shannox AND Riplimb after the FL nerfs.

This is where the nerfs were more apparent. When a group that had trouble getting 3/7 normal modes down in Firelands to going 6/7 in one night, something is wrong.

I was feral tanking for most of the evening and our first encounter with Shannox showed us that this evening would be an interesting one. I was under the impression that I would be tanking Riplimb, so I picked him up with Feral Faerie Fire, and went to town before I realized that Shannox came right behind him.

The other tank also thought he was tanking Riplimb so he was trying to pull it off me. Once I realized this I swapped to Shannox but by that time my Vengeance had stacked up and Shannox and Riplimb were nomming my bearface.

Our 10M group completely ignored Riplimbs mechanics and I tanked both the boss and the dog, increasing my stacks to 38 Jagged Tears by the time we killed him. Thankfully, bears have lots of cooldowns and I had Pain Suppression and Hand of Sacrifice at my disposal.

Thirty. Eight. Ugh.

We headed over to Beth'Tilac and made quick work of her, rode over to Rhyolith, disposed of him and came face-to-face with bosses that we hadn't done on these characters before.

We killed Baleroc with me eating dirt for the entire encounter, effectively single tanking him. We one-shot Majordomo without any real research into where to stand, so we followed the general strategy we employed in 25M.

Ragnaros proved to be just out of our reach, but I'm confident in saying that I believe our alt-run can go 7/7 in one night in the coming weeks.

Final thoughts:

The nerfs to Heroic Modes are good for my guild. They're still a challenge, and I think they are tuned perfectly for us.
The normal 25M encounters are just ridiculous. The fact that certain mechanics can be ignored or glossed over is insane. The fact that we can shave minutes off the time we take to down the bosses is just mind-blowing.
I don't have any perspective to give on heroic 10M, but the normal mode encounters feel cheapened.
If we can suddenly go from being a 3/7 one-night-a-week group to a 6/7 one-night-a-week group, that's great for us, but what about the mechanics?
What about the learning curve? I don't know about you but I enjoy learning a fight. I enjoy employing different strategies, and tweaking things until we get it right.

In the end, Blizzard has accomplished their goal of getting people into the heroic encounters faster, but at what cost? Like I said above, I felt cheap and dirty after I completed this raid week, and I can't shake that feeling of being undeserving of quite a few things I've done over that time.

But You Don't Look Sick!

2011-08-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

(A couple of recent posts by Beru over at Falling Leaves and Wings have got me thinking. She's been kind enough (and strong enough) to share her journey through multiple doctors and tests to figure out what is going on with her hands. I've felt a special connection to those posts because of my experiences with my own tests and doctors and they inspired this idea.)

My Windrider keeping busy in the hospital.

I've seen a few forum posts about playing World of Warcraft with a disability - whether that be a learning disability or a physical one - and how you may not know who is in your random group. I read a post on the official WoW forum in which the poster described how he was being teased in a random five man for "letting the group die" and how he wished people playing WoW would stop for a second and think about the person on the other side of the keyboard. You have no idea if the person on the other side of that keyboard is a war vet, or someone who can't type properly back to you, or if the person has a phobia and just can't interact.

These posts, along with Beru's continued look at her challenges, made me think about myself and finally write this post that's been in my head for a long, long time.

It's All About Me

I have what is known as Crohn's Disease. It's an inflammatory bowel disease (it is NOT Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and if you were to look at me, you'd never know I had it. On my off days, any problems I have usually occur in the mornings, and I can go about my day like normal. However, the usual problems – the problems people around you notice the most - with Crohn's are increased visits to the washroom. It's hard to gauge how your day is going to be and sometimes no matter how good you feel, you end up doing the washroom shuffle between various activities because your guts just won’t cooperate with your mind. Or you're stuck in the bathroom for an hour or more because if you get up, you're just right back where you started anyway.

I may be one of the few students who knows where every bathroom is on campus. I can make a mad dash from one class, to a washroom, and to my next class like a champion. I also know a few places I can stop on the way to and from the university while I'm driving.

Crohn's Disease can make you extremely tired. I used to get three-hour infusions every month, and I'd come home and sleep until the next morning. Since I don't absorb nutrients properly, I get tired faster in between meals, so I have to eat multiple smaller meals rather than three big ones. My energy levels tend to spike directly in relation to when I've eaten and how much sleep I've had. I nap at school in between classes because in the past I've fallen asleep during lectures.

Stress triggers my disease, and therefore it's very hard for me to work and go to school. I can't take a full course load, either. Five final exams and projects and all that work makes my heart beat faster just thinking about it. I used to get very, very sick around final exam time and I've missed exams and even had to medically excuse myself from two semesters so far - though I did get credit for four courses in one of those terms.

And of course, there can be a lot of pain. Right now I'm in a stage of recovery from surgery so I'm not experiencing much pain at all. Before the surgery, there was a spot in my stomach where I later found out was a near blockage of the small intestine. That particular spot was very painful, especially after meals, so much so that I'd have to sit, or lie down and do nothing for a few hours. With the pain came a lot of vomiting, since it was a blockage, and when you feel sick you don't want to eat, and when you don't eat you get tired. Lovely cycle there.

A chronic illness is an interesting thing. One day you can be fine, the next you're not - but your appearance (usually) doesn't change. It's not like Chicken Pox, or a broken arm, where you can see the effects of the illness or problem. Chronic illnesses tend to be 'invisible', and the person with it has to deal with it for months, years or even the rest of their lives - there's no cure for many of these (like Crohn's).

So how does all that fit into World of Warcraft anyway?

While I was writing this, I came across a really wonderful post by Wugan over at Resto Shaman Flow called "WoW as a Refuge". In it he talks about CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and how he had to cut back on work because of it. Any physical activity is draining, and he had to slow down doing what he usually did everyday (like mowing the lawn, or even going out with friends). Then he describes how WoW has fit into his life with CFS.

WoW, according to Wugan, is a way to:

...keep my mind active, to experience a sense of accomplishment, to work together with other people to complete difficult tasks, and to relax and take my mind off my symptoms. Although my body is tired and my mind can’t concentrate like it used to, I still need to feel challenged and engaged in something, and WoW provides that.

Another blogger I've followed who is very open about her health is Ophelie, author of The Bossy Pally. She occasionally talks about how she has Multiple Sclerosis and how WoW has fit into her life with it. She mentioned once that, "It’s no secret that escapism, and MMOs in particular, is used by many to cope with the limitations life has thrown at them." She even talked candidly about how one of the therapists at her school sent her home "with a prescription of emergency WoW time." Her post Finding that Balance is a great read just like Wugan's post, linked above.

But Back to ME

I found Wugan and Ophelie’s stories to be incredible likenesses to what I experience when I play this game. I related to Ophelie's quote on escapism because when my disease is in a flare, and I can't physically do anything or I just don't have the energy, I stay home. To keep myself from going crazy or feeling too sorry for myself, I'll log on to WoW and farm herbs, or run a few dungeons or level an alt.

This summer I had a long wait between the "You Need Surgery" appointment and the "Here's Your Surgery Date" appointment. Since I didn't want to pick up a job only to tell them that I'd need a month or so off for surgery and recovery, I stayed home and putzed around my house and my neighbourhood. There was a lot of time to kill this summer, and World of Warcraft was where I spent a lot of time. My in-game friends were right there, and I didn't have to go to the trouble of telling them that I couldn't make it because I was too tired to drive out, or that I was feeling really down and didn't want to go anywhere.

Crohn's can be pretty frustrating at times. Earlier I talked about how sometimes you do the washroom shuffle, and WoW is no exception to that concept. It's extremely annoying when I queue as a tank and there's that "Oh shit!" moment (no pun intended) where I have to cancel my insanely fast queue and run away from the computer. I feel a lot of pressure on my tank character to NEVER GO AFK during a heroic. Especially the troll heroics. People are really, really set on having very fast runs - I can't blame them, I hate the troll heroics - and the tank going afk is a no-no. Luckily, I've not been kicked on that character yet or had to go afk during those runs much.

However, going afk between pulls does happen. Once, I even ran afk during a tank n' spank in HoO (it was near the end, so I felt okay about leaving) and continued the run once I got back. I feel really safe when I play a DPS character and have to go afk, since my presence isn't required to move the run forward. I'll also go afk during a DPS queue. Sometimes I miss the queue pop, sometimes I catch it right on time, but it generally gives me plenty of time if I need to go afk - one of the unsung benefits of the ridiculously long DPS queues.

AFK'ing between pulls even happens in raids - usually only trash pulls - but sometimes between boss pulls and this is where it can get tricky. I'm fortunate that I raid with my boyfriend about two feet away from me, so he can run my ghost back to the instance and eat the feast and buff the raid for me. Sometimes he's not around because of work travel, and I'll run myself back really fast, click the feast and book it like a bat out of hell up my stairs to the washroom and back. (Sometimes I'm even ready before other people!)

Hell, I had surgery this summer and had to break from the game for a week or so, but when I got back I used sitting up in a chair as a way to help heal. Walking was a challenge, stairs were really tough, but sitting in a computer chair (while still very tiring) was a great way to speed up recovery.

But You (still) Don't Look Sick

The general statement that I hear a lot, "But you don't look sick!" really applies to the World of Warcraft. People who play WoW can't see you, and typing doesn't convey the emotion or tone that voice communication could. Unless you were part of my family, and saw me everyday you wouldn't know how stressed I get, you wouldn't know that I lose hair, weight, sleep and occasionally my mind.

If I'm having an off-day where I'm not feeling so great, I'd like to think that my guildmates can't really tell, but I know a few of the people I talk to on a regular basis have started picking up when I don't feel well. Crohn's generally doesn't affect my raiding performance (or, at least I don't think it does) but it does affect my attitude at times: I get frustrated easier, I'm tired during the raid and I'm much less chatty compared to my usual self.

I consider myself lucky that I have WoW as an option for a "getaway" or refuge. WoW lets me escape for a little while from my symptoms, my worries and my stress.

I love my circle of friends outside of WoW. But sometimes they don’t quite understand why I’m not as active with them as I once was. The Spoon Theory is an excellent way to explain to people how hard it can be just to go about your usual activities.

So when I can’t get out into the world, I look forward to chatting on Mumble with my guildmates, many of whom I consider good friends. I love the fact that they're so accessible, and if I just don't feel like going out with my friends to a bar, or a restaurant or a party, I always have the people in WoW to keep me company.

(Special thanks to Jasyla at Cannot Be Tamed, and Sara for proof-reading this for me!)

Dear SundayRaidKaleri

2011-08-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

We need to talk.

This is your TuesdayRaid self writing to you, and I want to talk to you about Ragnaros.

I know Sundays are the last raid day of the week. Does that mean you should put forth less effort than your raids on Tuesday and Thursday? No! I'm sure you thought you were playing to the best of your abilities, but it certainly seemed like you were less aware of the bad shit on the ground than usual.

For instance, attempt 3 on Ragnaros this is how you died:

Not good. Why on earth were you anywhere NEAR Engulfing Flames? Did you just not see the edge underneath other graphics? Was there too much going on? Food for thought. Watch out next time.

Attempt 6:

What is this I don't even. Watch your feet, seriously. (And stay away from the crap on the ground AFTER the hammer drops.)

Attempt 8:

This is where we group up right on the lip on the platform. You weren't close enough to the edge, and so you got smoked. Don't do this ok?

Attempt 12:


I remember this one. See that absorb? You tried to bubble yourself and RUN ACROSS THE SHIT. Don't do that again.

And for good measure, attempt 15:

More being hit by the hammer. Solution? Just move forward a little more!

Over all 18 attempts, you ate 4 lava waves. In the middle of the pack in the raid, but still - not good.

Was it all bad? No, not all of it.
We were without our usual healing roster, so we five-healed with relatively little difficulty. I know you missed the druid HoTs on your tanks but it wasn't so bad.

A mid-raid respec and changing of trinkets was a good idea, keep looking for new ways to try things.

You pre-potted on 15 attempts out of 18!
You cast Barrier at the appropriate time, in the right location!
Great use of Power Infusion (on dps and yourself!); could use a little more Pain Suppression though.

Some tips for you from Walks:

Final thoughts to you from your Tuesday self; just because it's the end of a raid week doesn't mean you should give any less of a damn than you do at the start of a raid week. You're trying to progress on Ragnaros! Get excited and get into the game - like those Majordomo attempts (and subsequent kills).

Keep watching your Power Auras, your timers and your surroundings and you'll do great!

(Oh, and watch your damn feet!)

Healing Webring 2.0!

2011-07-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

I wasn't around for the first incarnation of this, but I was tagged by Kurnmogh over at Kurn's Corner for this round of questions!

Here we go!

1. What is the name, class and spec of your primary healer?
Kaleri, discipline priest.

2. What is your primary group healing environment (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
25-man raids, Rated Battlegrounds, and recently Arenas.

3. What is your favourite healing spell for your class, and why?
This is a tough one... I'd say Penance, just because to me, that's the spell that most represents a disc priest. You see penance go off, and you know that person is discipline.

My second thought was Leap of Faith, though technically it's not a healing spell. It's incredible for things like Atramedes - pulling your gong ringer just a little further or pulling someone so that you can have extra seconds between gongs; I've used it to pull tanks further from Riplimb's spear point to help increase time for the bleed to drop. It's uses are many!

4. What healing spell do you use least for your class, and why?
Heal. I used to use it a lot, but now in raids it just doesn't cut it.

5. What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class, and why?
Versatility. Any priest can (and should be able to) heal the raid or heal tanks or support heal and do both. Priests are incredible in that they have two viable healing specs. There's even specs within specs for discipline where you take Archangel/Atonement and some that you don't.

We also have a TON of cooldowns to use. Discipline specifically has Power Infusion, Pain Suppression and Power Word: Barrier and Holy has Guardian Spirit and Lightwell. Both specs have Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope and Leap of Faith. Just look at all that utility!

6. What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class, and why?
Hmm... As discipline specifically I'd say I feel weakest when I have to move and heal. Particularly because I tank heal, and Greater Heal is my mainstay spell. I use Shield, PoM, the occasional renew if the tank and I need to move, but in general if the tank is moving my train of thought goes something like this; "Greater he- oh shit move, greater- oh moving again, Shield, PoM, great- fuck, moving."

7. In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?
Tank healing, without a doubt. It's something that I love doing, and I feel like I'm pretty damn good at it.

8. What healing class do you enjoy healing with most, and why?
Druids. When we were healing Heroic Chimaeron and I was paired with a resto druid to heal the tanks, I felt extremely comfortable knowing that the MT had Lifebloom and other HoTs, so I could focus on the Double Attack tank with my bomb heals.

In general, a good resto druid makes me feel like my tank will be safe if I miss a beat!

9. What healing class do you enjoy healing with least, and why?
Another disc priest. I hate it. Shields can be sniped off my tank (which effs my Rapture tracking), Barriers can "collide" and CDs like PS and PI can overlap if not co-ordinated properly.

10. What is your worst habit as a healer?
Not paying enough attention to my own assignment. I have a tendency to "help" when I think the group is in trouble and sometimes it costs me because my tank will die.

11. What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?
Another priests shields on my tank (holy or disc), people calling out for heals (duh, I can SEE you're taking damage), watching people die to stupid, avoidable shit.

12. Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?
Yes. Discipline is in a great place right now! With the change to crit in 4.2, we really lucked out. Disc can keep up with raid healers or we can smash the healing done with being assigned to one tank. Partly because DA is totally hax now, and partly because of the crit change to heals in 4.2.

13. What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?
I use WoL (World of Logs). I use it to check my own cooldown usage for Power Infusion, Pain Suppression, and Power Word: Barrier. I also use it to check for potions, shadowfiends and mana return from Rapture.

14. What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?
That disc priests can't raid heal and holy priests can't tank heal. Sure, Holy has great burst AoE healing to top a group back up via CoH and a Serendipity'd PoH and sure, Disc has mitigation and bomb heals for single target healing, but that doesn't mean one spec can't do what the other one can.

15. What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?
How and when to use all the cooldowns we have available to us. A lot of people are afraid to use cooldowns because they might need them later, but how silly would you feel if your cooldown never got used and someone died?

16. If someone were to evaluate your performace as a healer via Recount, what sort of patterns would they see? (i.e. lots of over healing, low healing output, etc)?
Lots of Greater Heal, probably a decent chunk of overheal with Gheal as well. Lots of cooldown usage of PI on myself, PS on the tank and Barrier too!

17. Haste or Crit, and why?
When 4.2 dropped, I was all about Crit. I recently swapped to a little more haste, and I feel much more comfortable with my GHeal casts. I'd have to say between the two stats there isn't one that I value WAY more than the other.

18. What healing class do you feel you understand least?
Shaman. I have one at 85, and she's geared enough for heroic dungeons but I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing on her anymore. (How the fuck to shaman regen mana for instance? JFC)

19. What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?
Grid+Clique, my "must have" for healing. I have Macros set up for Power Infusion and Pain Suppression so I don't tag the wrong people. I also have a few keykinds for things like Barrier and Mass Dispel.

20. Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others? Balance. For the main stats, I use Intellect as my main gearing stat.

For the three secondary stats, I find that the stats for Discipline are very synergistic.
Mastery increases the size or our shields, Crit increases the chance you'll get DA on your tank and Haste means you can pump out more heals which gives you more chances to crit!

Adventures "on the other side"!

2011-05-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have a paladin. Not JUST any paladin. A level 85 blood elf with pigtails, red hair and a metric ton of sass.

My paladin trials started a long time ago. I would create a human paladin (I've done this at least 5 or 6 times) and get to the point where I would get the resurrection spell questline and then my interest would die and the pally would sit on my character screen until I took pity enough to delete the poor thing.

I decided later to create a draenei, since I liked the starting zone. I leveled her to 23, put her in a Lovely Black Dress and Ruby Shades and forgot about her. Then I transferred to Windrunner, got bored and decided I wanted my pally there too. My interest stuck until about level 45 when I got bored again.

Level 43!

Then I transferred to Eldre'Thalas. Then Cataclysm hit. Then we started raiding. Then I leveled my Kalbear, shaman, and hunter. Then I got bored again. My boyfriend, Chronis, decided he'd pay for his warrior to be transferred along with my pally - if we went Horde. *shudder* I wasn't entirely okay with this, but he was paying and we could level together with me healing and him tanking.

Well, for some reason that I can't recall now, Chronis got way ahead of me level-wise and I was left to fend for myself in the low level Dungeon Finder as I quested along. I leveled ret/holy, and had an absolute blast ripping apart mobs in my BoA gear. During my leveling, Chronis and I discovered an old friend from Bronzebeard had made her way to E'T and we got an invite to her guild (hooray perks!!).

Level 57 - ALONE in the LFD :(

It didn't take too long to get Kalaura (formerly Auragasm) to 85, and it took even less time through guild perks to get enough Justice Points to be geared up enough for heroics! Pally healing is a BLAST. Kalaura is now Holy/Holy (one spec for PvE, one for PvP) and aside from how much fun I've been having lately with Beast Mastery huntering, it's one of the things I most enjoy right now in the game.

When I hit 85 on Kalaura the first thing I ran to do was train my ANGRY MAAAAN! What is the Angry Man? Technically, he's the Guardian of Ancient Kings, but that's too formal. I can't help but yell out "Summonin' mah ANGRY MAAAN" whenever I summon him, too. It really bugs Chronis, but it makes it more fun.

Ms.Sass with her Angry Man

I mentioned PvP too. PvPing Hordeside has been strange; I get turned around in AV, I try to cap Stables and hang around that area in AB, and I generally futz around until I get my bearings on the map. Blood elf holy paladins are particularly deadly in PvP I've noticed. Here's what we have; Arcane Torrent, Rebuke, HoJ. If you're prot you can have the Silence Frisbee as well. How scary(AWESOME) is that? I'm like, a pro CC'er/Silencer on Kalaura now, mwahaha!

Kalaura's nearly decked out in Bloodthirsty and occasionally comes across Kaleri's guild members in Tol Barad. Sometimes she runs like a little girl, other times she stays and dies spectacularly to people like Merkavah, Void, Merlee/Srsbusiness, and Gneiss/Fog. Most of the time my inner dialogue goes like this:

MERK! Cool! I can PvP with Merk! Oh shit. It's Merk. shit shit shit shit *bubble* *Void's Shattering Throw* shit shit shit /try to flee shiiiiii-dead

It's amazing and hilarious. and at the same time very frightening. The other day Ludde put a bounty on my pally's head (sadface) and I think Void ended up getting 500g for killing me.


LOL RAWR

Kalaura's also the proud owner of a Scorpion mount, by virtue of Apotheosis (Alliance) being a Level 25 guild and the mount being Battle.net Account bound. (Which I think is kind of cheating, but LOOK at how awesome that frigging scorpion is!)

Since the introduction of the Troll Heroics, Kalaura's received enough gear to be able to do some alt runs with the horde-side guild as well! It's been a lot of fun to see another healing class' perspective on certain fights, and let me tell you, there are times I miss having things like Aura Mastery and my bubble on my priest.

All in all, I've been rather pleased to have an alt on the Horde. I enjoy seeing things from a different perspective and the questlines have been wonderful. I still try to go places where I shouldn't, and occasionally Kaleri suffers because I'm used to going to a different flight path, or zone, but it's all in good fun!

There was a rather touching questline during Children's Week that I'm angry I didn't take a few screenshots for, but your Orc Orphan asks you to take him to Cairne's resting place. Once you arrive, Baine gives a small speech and you see the ancestors of the Tauren and Thunder Bluff welcoming Cairne. I really liked it, and after years of Alliance Children's Week quests it was a relief to do something completely different.

Maybe I'll level another Horde character...

For the Horde!

I mean...

Derp.

An Update!

2011-05-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello!

I feel awful about letting the blog slide, I meant to keep it updated - I really did - , but since my time in the hospital life's been pretty busy! Some real life updates; I finished up my school term - passed with flying colours, might I add -, went to my friend's wedding and loafed around eating everything in sight. Seriously, Prednisone makes you turn into this monster eater and you're like "WHERE ARE THE CRUNCHY/SALTY/SWEET FOODZ?!" and your family and boyfriend are afraid that they're next!

So I'm stuck at home, with a PICC line, (that's not being used, since I'm an eating machine) waiting on a date for surgery ("urgent" is anything from 4-8weeks). Which means I get plenty of WoW time, since I'm bored out of my tree.

To WoW;
I've been raiding with Apotheosis and we've done pretty well for ourselves. We're 2/13 Heroic Modes (Halfus/Chimaeron) and we're 9% from getting Maloriak!

I leveled a paladin (post to come about that)!

Kalbeari's been tanking some alt runs (likely a post inc about that), and I have to say, if I didn't love Kaleri so much I would gladly swap mains in a heartbeat.

Finally got my 100 mount achievement, reorganized my UI, did some housekeeping across all my toons... You know, sundry stuff.

At any rate, I *do* plan on writing a few posts soon, and actually have time for it now so there's no excuses!

AFK, Hospital!

2011-03-27T16:31:00.001-07:00

It's the end of March, and I'm certainly not where I thought I would be a couple months ago.

I saw March as the crazy time before exams, but still a time to play WoW, drink beer, get ready for being done my second last year of school but things never go as planned.

Here I am, in the hospital. I have Chron's Disease and I'd been feeling pretty shitty since October, losing weight since December and getting physically sick since the end of January. The tipping point was last weekend. We called my GI team and told them I was coming in to the ER. Mom and I packed up some things and we ended up getting a bed that day, and an MRI within the next two days.

Things aren't ideal, we have the results of the MRI back and it's looking like 2-4 weeks on IV nutritional therapy to prep for surgery. Four years ago I had emergency surgery for a similar trend of bad happenings, and the subsequent scarring from that surgery is where the active disease is which means, drugs can't fix that. So surgery it is.

April is a busy month for me. Exams. A wedding. Luckily, the surgeon is on my side for waiting because I'm pretty undernourished and he wants me to have the best recovery possible by prepping with IV nutrition for a while. That means I can do exams AND go to this wedding that I am so psyched for and do NOT want to miss.

Needless to say, I'm not actively raiding. If I'm able to have the IV therapy at home, I can raid! And the docs don't want me to have to be here for a month, so it's in my favour for having a sweet portable IV backpack machine! Mwahaha!

That's what's been going on. Hooray life? I'm bored out of my tree!

In other news, HIMYM is an amazing show that is excellent for watching back to back to back to back.

Pixellated acts of kindness.

2011-02-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

After posting my last blog entry, I logged into the game later on. I had mail from "unknown", so at first I thought it was a bot for a gold site. Imagine my surprise when I see that it's from a guildmate of mine and contained 6 flasks and a chunk of gold.

However, this person went to the trouble of making a level one alt, and then deleting it so that I didn't know who sent the care package.
If my boyfriend wasn't around while I was looking at it, I would have been crying. It's a small thing, to give someone something from within a game, but to me it was a big deal.

Today, a similar thing happened where I had mail from a guild member (name included this time). This person sent me a wrapped gift, and when I opened it the Darkmoon Card: Tsunami was in it. As if one gift wasn't enough to set me off, this one was definitely worth a couple of tears.

I feel lucky to be in a guild where the people care this much. To those two guildmates who sent me the mail, thank you. You don't know how much it means to me, even though it's all pixels.

An Update! I'm still alive!

2011-02-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of quiet around here for a while, so I figured I'd fill people in on what's been going on.

Real life has kicked me in the butt, health-wise. As some of you know (or don't know), I have Chron's Disease and while I was in a sort of "remission" - the disease isn't curable, and never fully goes away - for a time, I am now officially in a flare up of massive proportions. The last time it was this bad, I had emergency surgery after a perforated bowel. But we caught it quickly this time, so tests are in the works (MRI, both 'oscopys' and more blood tests) to find out if a) the current drug I am on is not working and I'm building an immunity OR that it is working then it's b) a stricture or blockage that may need surgical attention.

While all this is happening, I'm trying my best to get to school to attend classes and stay on time with assignments and tests that are beginning to crop up. Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time to play in Azeroth as I normally would have. I've been logging on sporadically during non-raid times and haven't missed a raid so far due to feeling shitty.
My Dad made the comment the other day that he's glad I have WoW to get my mind off things for a while!

On the WoW front, not too much has changed for Kaleri. We downed some new bosses and are now 5/6 Blackwing Descent, 2/4 Bastion and on a ten man raid, 1/2 Throne of the Four Winds. Since I can't be in the game very often, Kaleri is losing money. Fast. Flasks are expensive on ET (250g a pop, easily) so multiply that by 3 hours and then again for 3 days a week and it adds up. I recently moved my herber/alchemist to ET so help with that, but again, I'm not online as much as I was in the past. I need to find me a WoW sugar daddy.

I'm aiming to update this blog a little more, now that I have an action plan for my health! I plan on writing about my guild (the good and the bad), PuGs, my characters and more. Stay tuned!

Maintenance Day Musings... What to Wear?

2011-01-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

** Before I begin, I want to note that ZERO of this is based on my own math. I don't do math and I like to go by experience, and what works for me. What is good for me, might not work for others!**

I've been thinking for a while that I would make myself a BiS gear list. I just didn't know where to start. After doing some reading at Elitist Jerks, PlusHeal, Tales of a Priest and the WoW Priest forums I figured I'd set down some gear I'm looking for for MY role in raids. This'll give me a direction in where I want to go in terms of gear and stats, and it will also ensure I know which bosses I can swap out for and which ones I'd like to stay in for, if possible.

My role in raids so far this expansion is tank healing. I'm comfortable doing it and it's a nice challenge. It's a new thing for me, I used to raid heal via bubble spam but those days are (thankfully) long gone. I don't want to be limited in the roles I can perform in raids, either. If I'm needed to raid heal, then I want to be able to do it too. My gear needs to be versatile, and this is why I'll be trying to find a good balance between Haste, Mastery and Crit.

Critical heals will proc Divine Aegis, and those absorb damage. Our Mastery is Shield Discipline and more absorbs on your targets is always good. What's left? Haste. Right now, everything feels too slow, so haste is a priority for me. Our three main "secondary stats" are extremely synergistic with each one boosting the effect of the other. More crit means more absorbs, more mastery means more absorbed and more haste is more casts to get more absorbs!

I am not talking about gems, and I am not going into enchants (in this post!).

Ok, so what to remember?
Intellect: Always important.
Spirit: Not a usual stat for me, but it's definitely important now. Each piece of gear listed below will have spirit on it OR a good reason why it doesn't.

Haste: Faster Smites for Atonement. Faster casts in general helps with tank and raid healing.
Crit: More procs of Divine Aegis is lovely. Yes, please!
Mastery: Extra absorbs on Power Word: Shield, and Divine Aegis. Want.
Haste edges out Crit and Mastery, but not by a huge amount given that I use Borrowed Time. These stats are about even in importance.

Tier Eleven:

Our 2set bonus is this: Increases the critical strike chance of your Heal spell by 5%.

I checked my last WoL and I don't use Heal very often. Smite has almost overtaken my use of this spell. Unless this bonus gets changed to include Smite, it's not a priority for my needs.

The 4set bonus is: Each time your Penance spell heals a target with Weakened Soul you gain 540 Spirit for 10 sec, and being in a Chakra state grants you 540 Spirit for the duration of the Chakra.

A Discipline priest would have to watch their Penance cooldown AND make sure that the target has Weakened Soul to keep this up. Whereas a Holy priest enters a Chakra and they get a constant spirit buff. That's pretty incredible.

The way I see the 4set bonus working is this. Shield your target, Penance. Smite until Penance is off CD (works best if you have Train of Thought) and Penance again. Re-shield. Repeat. I'm not ecstatic about this. I can see it working, but eh.
I'm not actively searching for Tier pieces, but if the stats are what I need then I'm not opposed to picking them up. Tier is not BAD to snag, but it's not a glaring priority for me.

With that said, let's get to it!

The Gear:

Tier:

- Our T11 gloves and legs can drop from Pit Lord Argaloth in Baradin Hold OR can be purchased via Valor Points (2200 for legs, 1650 for gloves)
- Our T11 chest can be purchased via Valor Points (2200) (Kurn's Corner, 2011)

*Stamina and Intellect are the same values on comparable pieces unless otherwise stated*Choices are from most preferred to least*I left out loot from Throne of the Four Winds*

Helm:

Helm of Eldritch Authority (Valiona and Theralion), has 208 haste, 188 spirit and a red socket with a +30 haste bonus.
Crown of Burning Waters (Magmaw) has 168 mastery, 228 spirit and a yellow socket with a +30 spirit bonus.
Mercurial Cowl (Nefarian Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror) has 168 crit, 228 spirit, a blue socket and a +30 intellect.

Well, we have three very different helms. Since Nef is a ways away for my guild, I'll be picking up the first bullet here if I can.

Neck:

Wyrmbreaker's Amulet (Halfus)
Lightning Flash Pendant (Wildhammer Clan, Exalted)

There's no spirit on the second option, but it's still a solid option for pre-raiding and if you can't get the amulet right away - don't forget about reforging!. I'll be nabbing that as soon as my rep's there.

Shoulders:

Mercurial Mantle (Cho'gall Mantle of the Forlorn Conqueror) 169 spirit, a yellow socket with a +10 intellect bonus and 149 haste
Mantle of Nefarius (Nefarion) 164 spirit, a yellow socket with a +10 spirit bonus and 154 crit.
Mantle of Roaring Flames (Atramedes) No spirit, a blue socket with a +10 haste bonus, 169 crit and 149 haste rating.

I see these causing me some grief. No, no, lots of grief. There's been some talk about priests choosing gear that doesn't have spirit on it and it seems to be frowned upon by the other cloth casters in the guild. In terms of gear accessibility, none of these are available yet but Roaring Flames would be the first one. In terms of practicality I want the Mercurial Mantle. Just means I'd have to wait a little longer or wait for my chance to nab the Roaring Flames. We'll see what happens!

Cloak:

Drape of the Twins (Valiona and Theralion) 127 haste.
Heavenly Breeze (Valor Points, 1250) 127 mastery.

Same general stats, but a difference in haste and mastery. I don't see myself spending 1250 points on a mastery cloak when I can reforge for mastery on some other things. I'll be gunning for the Drape!

Chest:

Robes of the Burning Acolyte (Halfus) Red and blue sockets, a +20 mastery bonus, and 218 mastery.
Mercurial Robes (Valor Points, 2200) Red and yellow sockets, +20 spirit bonus and 218 crit rating.

Right now I'm wearing the first option, but eventually there'll be an influx of valor points and I might pick up the tier chest.

Belt:

Cord of Raven Queen (Guardians of Hyjal) 169 spirit, a blue socket with +10 intellect bonus and 149 mastery.
X-Tron Duct Tape (Omnotron Council) 169 spirit, a yellow socket with +10 intellect bonus and 149 crit.

Since I'm wearing Cord of the Raven Queen, I'll be set for some time.

Legs:

Breeches of Mended Nightmares (Tailoring) Red socket, +10 haste bonus and 214 crit, 216 haste.
Legwraps of the Greatest Son (Maloriak) 198 spirit, a red and yellow socket, +20 crit bonus and 218 crit.
Mecurial Legwraps (Valor Points, 2200) 228 spirit, a red and blue socket, +20 spirit and 128 mastery.

I need two more pieces of Dreamcloth and I'll have the Breeches, yus!

Hands:

Brackish Gloves (Chimaeron) Red socket, +10 haste bonus with 149 spirit and 169 haste.
Mercurial Handwraps (Valor Points, 1650) Blue socket, +10 intellect bonus with 169 spirit and 149 mastery.
Flamebloom Gloves (Earthen Ring, Exalted) No spirit, blue socket with +10 intellect bonus with 149 haste and 169 mastery.

For the time being, I think I'll pick up the third option so I can save some priority for bigger and better things.

Wrists:

Bracers of the Burningeye (Atramedes)

Not really any other options.

Rings:

Security Measure Alpha (Omnotron Council)
Band of Secret Names (Valor Points, 1250)
Twined Band of Flowers (Valor Points, 1250)

Band of Secret Names has no spirit, but it has 127 crit and 127 haste compared to the Twined Band's 127 spirit and 127 mastery.

Wand:

Finkle's Mixer Upper (Chimaeron)

The only option.

Staff:

Chelley's Staff of Dark Mending (Trash drop in Bastion of Twilight)
Staff of Ammunae (Archaeology)
Staff of Sorceror-Thane Thaurissan (Archaeology)

As much as I'd like to think I'm an archaeology buff, I don't think I'm good with farming for very obscure items. Even though they are really good... First choice here would be Chelley's staff, even over a main hand/off hand combination.

Main Hand:

Andoros, Fist of the Dragon King (Nefarian)
Twilight's Hammer (Cho'gall)
Incineratus (Magmaw)
Blade of the Witching Hour (Valiona and Theralion)

In terms of practicality and not ruffling feathers... I'd use the first option. In terms of what I would like to have... Twilight's Hammer all the way! But then, Cho'gall isn't too close yet so... Incineratus!

Off Hand:

Scepter of Ice (Ascendant Council) 127 spirit, and 127 mastery.
Heartbound Tome (BoE World Drop) 134 spirit, and 114 mastery.

Nearly the same stats, but the scepter might be a little easier to get my mitts on, if I need it. With the upcoming nerf to the 100 intellect enchant (changing to 40 intellect) this'll even out the difference between staves and a main hand/off hand combination.

Trinkets:
Makes my head hurt thinking about these.
The easiest options for me to obtain are in order from easiest to hardest.

Core of Ripeness (Valor Points, 1650) Not a big fan of the use effect, but timed with a Hymn or a Fiend if could prove useful.
Mandala of Stirring Patterns (Baradin's Wardens, Exalted, 125 commendations) Nearly there!
Jar of Ancient Remedies (Maloriak) Want.
Fall of Mortality (Cho'gall) Also want.

The Tsunami card would be my ideal trinket to pick up, but unfortunately I'm not a scribe, nor do I have one (on my current server) so this would be a LOT of gold to spend.

Darkmoon Card: Tsunami (Inscription, Darkmoon Deck)

This next one is great too, but again, it's time spent that I don't really have during the school term. If I happen to chance across the doll then great! But if not, it's all good.

Tyrande's Favourite Doll (Archaeology)

Whew! Was that a long one or what? I meant for this to be done on maintenance day, but classes caught me up and then I got tired of looking at gear.
To reiterate, this is gear that I think will work for me and what my role is in raids. It's not hard to hit up some websites and check out what the community is saying about pieces of gear, and it helps to hear a bunch of different points of view too!

In which twenty-five men and women raid an instance... and succeed!

2011-01-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

There you have it! Magmaw, Omnomnomotron Council and Half-ass Wyrmbreaker dead!

Apotheosis went into our first official 25 man on Tuesday. We hit Magmaw first, since most of the people in the raid had seen him on the 10 man version earlier. A couple tries let the unfamiliar people see Pillar of Flame and that it is bad to stand in. We finally had a good system for chains, and the priests set up a miraculous Hymn of Hope rotation to save our sanity. It didn't take too long to get it right, and eventually the worm bit the dust!

We moved on to the Trons and got a good amount of attempts in (37%!) before we had to call it for the night.

Thursday evening had us heading back to the Trons, and it went pretty smoothly, aside from the fact that we had 5-6 people alive at the end. But we got it!

We went over to Bastion of Twilight and hoooooo boy, was that interesting. The trash in there is an experience in itself! It took us about 45 minutes to get through that first section of trash before Halfus. I'm pretty sure most of the people had not seen that fight in real time yet, either. A few had seen it on 10man and some on the Beta but not like the Magmaw attempts.

After some attempts trying to get the three drakes straight we took a small break (at 11:30pm wtf?!), and were back at it to get him down before raid's end (midnight). We were SO close once. He enraged at 6 minutes, with 30% health left. Oh lawd. But! Combined with the stun that happens to the boss, and healer/pally cooldowns (I totally LifeGripped a tank away from the boss), he was down to 4% before we all bit the bust.

We can do it! It's just after midnight, and everyone is pressing for one more attempt! So we charge back in to kill him! Much smoother than the last attempt, we get him down to 15% before the enrage hits. Everyone is dpsing. I'm smiting, DoTing, my Shadowfiend comes back up and we're all givin' er! Finally! Finallllly! The boss drops after several tense minutes of "omgomgomgomg die die die alreadddddyyyyy!!!".

Very satisfying!

You have been removed from the group. ..."What?"

2011-01-03T06:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe how fast my time off from school has gone. Classes start tomorrow! Ah!
Since my last post I've driven my boyfriend to the airport, had Christmas, Boxing Day, picked him back up from the airport, had a birthday, and celebrated the new year. Ooof. Not to mention still having a good time in Azeroth doing heroics and getting that damn Magmaw kill (with an achievement, woo!).

My first story is this: Heroic Grim Batol.
I decided that before I went to bed one night that I would like to get my random heroic in for the day. "Couldn't be that bad", I thought. So I clicked my random queue and the dungeon pops In Progress. "No problem, can't be that bad", I thought. I zone in to Grim Batol (which I have not healed completely on regular OR heroic). Grand. The other four people here are in the same guild, and tell me that the last healer didn't have any gems or enchants. Alright, valid kick reason.

I'm staring Forgemaster Throngus in the face, and I turn to my boyfriend (who didn't want to do a random so I blame him for this run!) and asked what the hell this boss did. So he explained, and after a few attempts, we get him down. Gradually making our way to Dragha Shadowburner, I noticed the group used lots of CC, but that the tank liked to break it. No problem, I can power my way through a few shitty pulls. So I think I'm doing pretty damn good, being new to this place and all.

Enter boss-orc. Boyfriend again explains the boss fight to me, making note of the elementals (and that you should run from them, or die) and the fire cone from the dragon that eats almost the whole area BUT you can avoid it if you simply stand behind the boss when the fire announcement appears. Perfect! Two avoidable mechanics, we should be golden.

First pull, it's going well until a fire breath noms all three ranged dps. Okay... .
Next pull, it's going well until an elemental catches me during a fire breath because I'm too busy healing the stupid ranged who are still standing in the fire.
"Elemental got u", says the mage. Yes, I say, after the fire breath destroyed the three ranged. "Yeah". What do you MEAN yeah?! Do you mean "Yeah I know" or is that a whatever 'yeah'? UGH.

At this point, two of them linked some vent information. But didn't say anything about it. Just linked the server, port and password. Mkay. I'm not getting on some vent with four people who are probably all dudes and will just flip out when they hear a GIRL on vent.

Third pull, going well and then after a fire breath that clips the ranged to 20% health EACH some shadow bolts kill two of them while I'm healing the tank.
So now I'm getting angry. This is perfectly avoidable damage and not my fault. So I say (very politely, given my mood), "Could you guys move closer to the dragon? This way you can run behind her faster when she flame breaths. It'll save a lot of mana and make the groups health more stable." I resurrect the mage and warlock (since he ss'd me, it was polite, I thought) and eat my food buff while the others run back.

I notice something. Silence. Not that they were a talkative bunch, but when I ask a question or make a suggestion I don't like when it goes unanswered. Especially when I know I'm right, damnit. I'm about to type it out again when the party lead changes. Uh oh.

I knew what was coming. "They're going to kick me?!" Bam. You have been removed from the group.

No explanation, no "Sorry Kal, we don't think you can do this" or even "We have a guild healer who wants to come in". Nothing. I mean, I've kicked people before but I ALWAYS give them a reason why. Example; "Sorry <tank>, but you don't have the gear yet for Heroic SFK. Try running a few more of some other place and try again in the future." Something like that.
Unless they're a total douchenozzle, then whatevz, see you later.

I get the votekick option. It's a decent failsafe for shitty PuGs. But I am not a shitty PuG. I buff, have my own buff food, carry elixirs, heal dumbshit dps, heal undergeared tanks and I don't gripe. Much. I ask for CC if we need it. I ask for dps to not stand in the bad. But I have never, ever been kicked from a group for making the suggestion that they not stand in the bad shit.

I've had better starts to a new year.

In other news, 25 man raiding starts this week (TOMORROW) for Apotheosis. I cannot stress how excited and relieved I am to be starting to raid again.

Also, I have a camel. So cute!

Heroics...Raids...Reputation... and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

2010-12-23T23:23:00.000-08:00

First, Merry Christmas (Eve) to everyone! I hope your holidays are happy, healthy and filled with family (or, if family isn't your cup of tea, may you only see they for a day and not two weeks in a row).
I'm finally home for Christmas this year after being away for two years!

Let's get to it.

It's two and a half weeks since Cataclysm was released and where am I? In a pretty good position! I cracked exalted on my first target faction for a new belt (thank you Hyjal) and I'm six thousand rep out from my epic shoulder enchants. I'm burning through heroics and participated in my first Cataclysm raid (10man version), and Apotheosis has now killed Argaloth (in Tol Barad) and Magmaw!

My first heroic was Stonecore on December 14th. Holy crap, was I afraid. Luckily I'd gone in there with my boyfriend who acted as my support system when I was screaming at/swearing at the computer. (Maybe not so lucky for him...). We entered the dungeon through the random queue and discovered that we were right at the first boss. Great, no trash to deal with.

What I didn't know was that the tank had just spent time explaining the fight to the last healer and ranged dps who apparently failed spectacularly. So I drink my elixirs, get my food buff and ask for a few tips (run out of pink spikes, avoid burrow, live through adds, heal) and we get started.

WOW. I was not expecting so much group damage, and eventually I got smacked in the face by the burrow ability because I was too busy gawking at my EMPTY mana bar and wondering how to heal 5 people from 20%. I apologized and got the old "dot dot dot" from the tank. The boomkin in the group stood up for me, saying I was probably watching the health bars and freaking out (excellent observation Mr.Kin).
The tank tells me, and I quote, healing is hard now. Really? No shit, I replied. Yes shit, my main is a resto druid. Good for you. Why aren't you healing this run then? Oh right. You're tanking. Shut the hell up and do your job while I do mine.
I get another "dot dot dot" from him so I pulled up my socks and told him I was ready when he asked.

The second time was much better! We killed Corobus and made our way to the second boss and at some point the asshole tank left and we got a great Prot Paladin who didn't rush through pulls like a maniac.

There are some rock guys on the way to Slabhide that have this "Quake" ability. This ability hurts. And apparently there is a way to avoid it; you jump! I'm not kidding either. The melee dps told us that if you jump while he casts Quake you avoid the damage altogether.

We killed Slabhide on the first try thanks to the moonkin's great explanation. Really cool mechanics on that fight, very enjoyable!

We blew through trash on the way to Ozruk, and I remembered someone in guild saying something about how it would be a painful fight until the dps/healers realized they needed to DoT themselves to remove the paralyze debuff. So another explanation of the fight, and we killed him in two shots! More cool mechanics, I loved it.

The last boss in Stonecore is High Priestess Azil. She drops void zones, summons adds, lifts and drops your tank (interuptable!), and drops boulders on your head if you don't watch. Excellent. The adds hit hard on a cloth wearer, and it took us a few tries to get it right, but you can run the adds through the void zones to help kill the adds and shrink the bad shit on the ground. Eventually Azil died and I completed my first heroic of Cataclysm! With 3/5 being PuGs no less. I felt pretty good.

Since then I've completed every heroic dungeon save Blackrock Caverns, Grim Batol and Vortex Pinnacle.

I participated in my first Cataclysm raid on the 21st. This was designed to be an exploratory raid to check out various dungeons and get some experience with the bosses. Ten of us suited up and went to Tol Barad to kill Argaloth (who is a lot like Brutallus, but less of a badass). We ended up one-shotting him for a Guild Run achievement and we moved on to Blackwing Descent to kill Magmaw.

Well, it didn't go as smoothly as Argaloth. The ranged groups have to avoid this pillar of flame thing on the ground that will spawn parasites and infect anyone caught by it and cause them to spawn more parasites. I personally got hit a few times, but after seeing it I managed not to get hit after that. There were others who got hit more than I did. We had to worry about the chains to hold the boss down, and there's a pretty nasty debuff that goes on the tanks.
So I used my cooldowns; I dropped Barrier a LOT, I used Pain Suppression on the tank with Mangle, I used Power Infusion on myself, I managed my mana, used fiend if I needed and hymned.

After various attempts, I was asked to sit out to give another healer a chance to get some experience. And they ended up killing Magmaw. I was pretty upset, but I said my congratulations and listened in while they goofed off with the Omnitron boss-council thing.

I don't get replaced. I'm not used to it. I'm not the healer that gets dropped. Especially when I know I'm not having issues with fight mechanics. I got reassurance from my guild leader later on (after which I felt like a child needing to be pat on the back, derp) that it wasn't me being a shitty healer, it was just part of getting another healer more experience with a fight that we'll all see on 25man. Also, if I was sitting you're damn right I would want in, so I appreciate that she paid attention to those who were benched for the time being.

In the end, this is just part of playing with a big group of people. There are other people who are consistent, dependable, good players and we have a pretty full healing core in Apotheosis. I'm just going to have to get used to swapping out, and get used to not taking it personally because I know I'm doing a good job.

I'm really excited about hitting up some 25man raids soon and even more excited because that means more healer spots to fill rather than taking 3 healers with one person having the guaranteed spot. I'm also really excited to be healing with this group of healers. For the most part we're very good, and I can't wait to see how we mesh as a team in the future!

Merry Christmas!

Common Courtesy - Running Back

2010-12-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

I was healing a dungeon for a guild member today, when she remarked that a dps wasn't running back after a boss wipe. "Lazy", she said. I agreed with her in guild chat, and another guild member said that he only runs back for the first two wipes and then, if it wasn't his fault that the group wiped, he waits for a rez.

This is not OK to me.

First, he was being incredibly rude about it, as if it would be my JOB to rez him if he didn't fuck up the run/boss attempt. No. It's my job to heal the group and keep up the tank. My job is not rezzing you if we, as a group die. We run dungeons together, and not singularly. As a TEAM. Even if you personally didn't cause the wipe, you're still part of the group. I don't care if you're the best (or worst!) dps, you are one of five people, just like me.

It's akin to expecting a summon after being given ample time to arrive. Everyone else got there, why didn't you? What makes you more important than the 4/9/24 other people who arrived on time?

Second, it's polite and respectful to run back after the entire group has died. Nothing makes you more special than the other two dps who were in the party. In fact, not running back and being a dick about it can (and will) result in a group kick from me. Say hello to your 40minute queue again. Running back (in my mind) shows your commitment to the group, and if you're not running back "just because" then you're not part of the team.

A second guild member piped up and said that she SS's the healers if she wants a rez. That's fine by me. If you're the cause of me not running back, I'll return the favour.

If you're busy with a kid, or you need to afk for a minute or something after a wipe, a whisper to me asking for a rez is alright. The fact that you assume I will rez you is a no-no in my books. I do not appreciate you abusing my ability to rez. What if *I* had to run afk? Who would rez me? No one. I'd be expected to run back before or after I had to step away. (Unless there's a pally/shaman/druid/another priest - and I ASKED them).

To conclude; I don't care if you don't want to run back after a death. I'm not rezzing your lazy ass.

/end rant

The Cataclysm is nigh!

2010-12-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

It's December 5th.
I have a paper due tomorrow and a final on Friday, but all I can think about is logging on at 3:00am est and being one of the first people to play in the new world. My Dad pre-ordered the expansion for himself, me and my boyfriend (for Christmas! I love you Dadders!) so we are all set to go.

A guildie of mine posted what he's doing to prepare for the leveling grind:

1. Grabbed some flasks and Elixirs just to make things a bit easier.
2. Fill the quest log with Icecrown Dailies to turn in once the level cap is increased (its easy to have 25 ready to turn in).
3. Clearing bank space for new mats, food, fish, quest goodies.
4. Vendoring old gear that he won't realistically use (bye bye Frost Resist crap!)
5. Bought a Mining Bag to save ore.
6. Leveled Mining to 450.
7. Set Hearthstone to Stormwind so he can head to Vash'jir quickly
8. Started doing the new Cooking Dailies in SW for Cata tokens.
9. Maxed out Justice Points and Honor Points.

He's also really, really, into leveling. He was the first in my previous guild to 80, he was so close to being server first death knight too. Crazy man.

I can't afford to be a crazy fast leveler and it always seems to be some plot of Blizzard's to screw over every university student by releasing expansions during FINALS TIME, RAAAAAGGGHHHH. Ahem. Anyway, I'm planning on taking some time soon during a paper-writing break to look at some starter gear/reputation items but I'm unsure when I'll do that... hnnng research papers... .

I've got time to play Cataclysm after the 16th though! But... knowing me and my study habits, I'll be playing before then.

Curse you, Blizzard!

A New Home and First Impressions

2010-12-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

You're forewarned, this is a longer post and it's pretty rambly.

Kaleri has a new home.

After some thinking/soulsearching, I finally applied to Apotheosis. The application itself went well, I'm good at articulating my thoughts on paper and giving thorough answers. There were a million questions on it from another priest in the guild and I can't say I was expecting that, but I feel I answered the questions well too.

After the application was an interview on Mumble. This went well too! New voices, mostly women (unheard of!), asked me some more questions and I felt really at ease, but still nervous.
Near the end of the interview, my friend and now new GM asked me to transfer over ASAP!

I sent a PM on Premonition's forums to a few people I cared about (not many, considering the cut-throat atmosphere there), and put some money on my credit card, settled my Windrunner affairs and moved Kaleri for a second time.

Poor Premonition. The reason I left was because the guild master and raid leader (who are a couple) are quitting the game. They've found some wonderful real life opportunities and simply don't have time anymore. So, I decided to pack up my bags because I didn't think the guild would last very long once they made an announcement. I was sort of right. A guild member who had transferred 4 of his characters and faction changed them wasn't very happy. He stirred the pot on the forums and there was a meltdown. As far as I know, Premonition will be a 10man guild, or they will die. It's unfortunate, but what can you do?

Yesterday was my first official raid with Apotheosis. Oof. They saved a lockout from a week before with only the Lich King left. We got it, but man, did it hurt getting there.

The thing to realize about Apoth is that they haven't been together long for WotLK. This group raided some in Pre-BC and raided together throughout BC, killing Illidan. WotLK saw them splinter apart until just recently. Kurn (or as I know her best, Madrana) took up the task of reuniting this group of people to raid in Cataclysm.
A lot of this group hasn't been playing steadily through Wrath. Some are coming back from long breaks. Some are or were casual players. Some people have Kingslayer. Three people (that I know of) have the ICC Meta Drakes. Extreme variation in experience.

So when we brought the fight to the King himself, I think my expectations were too high. I knew of the differences in experience and I knew that they hadn't killed Arthas as a guild yet. I've been working on Heroic Lich King attempts for a long time, so I wasn't expecting a particularly rough night.

The DPS seemed low. There were (as I learned later) many inactive Meta Gems. Only a few people broke 10k dps.
The raid healing seemed lax in the beginning with lots of deaths to infest at first. I always feel infest deaths are my fault, but it's not a one person job. After a little bit of tinkering and discussion, the heals were much better, it was good!
Tanking was good, they had great communication and weren't too squishy ;).

Part of me being frustrated is the Rapture nerf. Discipline priests used to be able to blanket the raid with shields to clear infest AND maintain 100% mana if done properly. Now, multiple bubbles don't proc the mana return all at once. So here I was, bubbling the raid when I noticed that coming out of the p1 transition I had about 5k mana. What is this, I don't even... . Once I got the hang of it though, it wasn't so bad. I would pop Divine Hymn with a resto shaman's Tide totem. I popped my Shadowfiend every cooldown. I used the mana potions. It made a particularly boring fight (for me, as a disc priest) into something engaging and fun!

In the end, we killed Arthas, and got about 10-15 people their Kingslayer titles. Yay!
Afterward, 10 of us went to Ulduar to knock out the weekly and try our hand at Starcaller. I don't think that going in there with a bunch of inexperienced players was the best idea, so in the end, we called it because no one expected to be there long and it was late.

It hasn't all been difficult encounters and death by Arthas! This guild is much more social than Premo, so there's always someone to chat with. With the arrival of Deathwing coming along to kill people, I spent a lovely 8 hours in Wetlands with a few of the guild members and had a good time doing nothing with them.

I can already tell there will be some people I am going to butt heads with, there always are in any guild. I'm not sure how most of the guild regards me as a player yet, but there's plenty of time for that. New servers are scary places, especially when coming to a group like this where most people have known each other for a lonnnnng time.

Hooray rambly post! If you read this far, thanks for wading though my babbling ;).

Back into the fray... of Ulduar

2010-11-17T07:44:00.000-08:00

Last night, I skipped out on three hours worth of school assignment-time to come to a guildie's "Champion of Ulduar" run.

And you know, I wasn't expecting the run to be entirely clean but I did expect some level of competence when we got to the fights that people needed for their Champion title.

As it was, we had an early pull on Auriaya while trash was being pulled. A shadowpriest stood too close to the stairs that she walks up to and proximity pulled. Next, we had an overzealous fury warrior pull off the tank during frozen blows and then a holy priest who thought it would be a good idea to stand still. Mmmhmm.

So, I didn't get my title along with a few others who went. But it wasn't all a crapshoot!

We went to Algalon! I've never seen this guy and I wish I took a screenshot of how AWESOME it is during that fight. I honestly had no clue what was going on, I healed the raid, the tanks, jumped into black holes, generally ran around like a crazy person... and at the end, when we killed him, announced that I had no clue what just happened.
I got a few laughs ;)

Starcaller Kaler!!

New computer and a new post!

2010-11-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

Suppose I better get started on this blogthing.

I meant to get started much sooner, but my gaming computer got eaten by a virus... I found out that my boyfriend was planning on getting me a tower and then he'd give me his old monitor/videocard/powersupply.
So here I am, gaming computer and all.

Yes, those are Bose speakers+ subwoofer.

Of course, I'll still keep my macbook for school stuff, but this PC is my new toy. I don't really know anything about it other than it makes WoW look goooooood.
I don't really do technical things. I let the man handle that stuff.

Ahhh, beautiful!

What this meant then, was that I needed to redo my UI. Hnnnnnnng /dead.
But! After many hours of what should have been school assignment time, I have my UI configuerd to what I feel mostly comfortable with. Ta-Da!
I'll put a list of addons and the like up in my UI tab if anyone is interested. There's a few addons "missing" here, but I plan on taking a 'raid' screenshot sometime this week (ie; Friday).

Side note: I'm in the Beta but I haven't had much time to play on it. Once I have a minute, I'll post some thoughts and pictures. Maybe. We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fancy hat... er... blog time!

2010-10-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm in the process of making this look nice and starting to post things.

Won't be long!

Kaleri