Heroic Beth'Tilac: On top of the web

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.

Helicopters

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?

A Week of Raiding, Post-Nerf: Some Thoughts

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.