Hooff focused on channeling the light into the bruised body of the blood elf warlock in front of him. Having just cleaved an elemental in two, he was still in the retribution mindset. Just a few seconds ago his hands glowed with the white hot fury of the light, but now they had a softer, healing glow. Because his mind was not in a state attuned to the healing side of the light, a simple healing spell strained him more than it should. It would only take a few minutes to calm his mind and reattune but those minutes, the warlock did not have. Besides, there are bound to be more crazed elementals about, no use being a healer in a fight with no one to deal damage.
The felguard stood near the warlock, eyeing the paladin warely. Most people would assume that a demon would take this oppurtunity to run, or possibly kill the warlock and sever the ties of servitude that bind the demon. Hooff has quite a bit of experience with warlock demons, and was not surprised at the concern the felguard showed for the young warlock. The felguard had done its best to slow the onslaught of the elemental, but it wasn't powerful enough.
Hooff looked at the armor and robes of the young lock, Nuiitari was her name? They were high quality, but well worn. Definetly handed down as an heirloom. In fact the robes looked very familiar. They should look familiar, the armor he gave to a priest a few months back.In fact when Hooff was fighting, the robes is what caught his eye. As the elemental was bairing down on the young warlock, Hooff thought it was the priest he had saved back in Tarren Mill. Looking at the face of the young warlock, Hooff could see the family resemblance.
Unfortunately he wasn't able to get to her in time, and she was struck down by the elemental. The felguard did its best to shield the warlock, but it was just not powerful enough. The bruised and broken bodies of orcs, trolls, tauren and blood elves littered the grand courtyard of Orgrimmar. These are the bodies of those who had no business fighting such powerful elementals. Many were evacuated by mages shortly before the elementals attacked, but they couldn't get everyone. Those of the lowest rank were evacuated first, since they were the most vulnerable. These are bodies of those who were high enough rank not to be on the first few groups evacuated, but not high enough to protect themselves. This blood elf was surely low enough rank to have gone with the second, if not first group to be evacuated. Why did she stay?
Still they didn't sit idly by. Many took to putting out fires caused by the fire elementals, much more of Orgrimmar wouldn't be standing if it weren't for these Experts, or Artisans. Only those of Grand Masters rank could reasonably face even single elementals, and only the highest of Grand Masters could face more than one. Hooff was facing three at once when he saw Nuiitari being overrun. Her felguard faced the oncoming elemental but it was no match and was swept aside easily. The blood elf was struck and severely wounded before Hooff got to her.
Nuiitari wasn't doing well, his holy spells were able to heal her most critical wounds, but she was still very weak. The felguard phased in and out, obviously the warlock was losing her connection to the demon.
"Maybe I can solve both these problems at once" Hooff thought to himself.
"Demon, come here." Hooff motioned towards the felguard.
The demon looked at him, but didn't move. Obviously it doesn't take orders from anyone other than this warlock. Hooff would have to get the demon's attention another way.
"Felguard, I require your assistance to save your mistess" Hooff said, this time in demonic. The felguard snapped to attention. The grunts and clerics tending to the injured stopped and stared at Hooff. Not every day that you hear demonic speech come from the mouth of a Paladin. A few grunts instinctively grasped their weapons, waiting to see what happens next.
"Jhuutom." replied the felguard as he moved closer to the paladin. "Jhuutom is my name".
"I am Hooff, and I will bind you to your mistress, with a Soul Link spell. Are you familiar with it". Hooff said, still in demonic, as he placed one hand on Nuiitari's forehead.
"I am, Mistress has only successfully cast it thrice before." Jhuutom said. Hooff placed his other hand on the Felguards chest.
Hooff cast the spell quickly. It was a low level spell, learned at Journeyman level by warlocks specializing in the Demonology. It has unexpected results when a warlock of another specialization tries to cast the spell. The fact that Hooff can cast the spell was almost impossible.
Hooff finished casting the spell, it was a short spell, but required an extreme amount of effort on Hooff's part. Spent, Hooff leaned against a wall to gather his wits.
Color returned to Nuiitari's skin, and she seemed to be stable. The spell linked her mind and body with the felguard. They could now share each other's strength.
"How are you able to cast this spell Paladin?" questioned the felguard. The felguard no longer needed to speak, since a side effect of the spell was that now all three of their minds were linked, in a manner.
"My people are ... adept ... at manipulating fel energy, and I was taught this spell by an old Warlock." answered Hooff with a thought. No need to cause more of a scene by speaking.
"You are not an elf." Jhuutom stated.
"No, I'm not." Hooff answered.
"You are an Eradar?" Jhuutom questioned.
"Hold your tongue Demon." Hooff scowled.
"A Draenei then." Jhuutom concluded.
"Yes, from ... very far away. Keep that to yourself" commanded Hooff.
"I shall not repeat it to any mortal" Jhuutom promised.
Satisfied that Nuii was stable for now, he waved over an Orgrimmar Cleric to finish the healing. Though the scene was horrific, Orgrimmar had powerful clerics and many of these heroes will live. All but the most lifeless of corspes can be brought back with the power of the light.
Hooff then picked up his mace and took a contingent of Grunts to finish the job of driving the elementals out of the city.
Showing posts with label WoW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WoW. Show all posts
Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
[WoW non-IC] What happened to Hooff?
This is my first crack at writing a story, but not in first-person point of view. Lately it was difficult for me to have an "exciting" story, told in the past tense, so I thought I'd give this a shot.
"We have news of Hooff" exclaimed Rohan.
"How?" Questioned Hotplate.
Hotplate looked around the room, taking in the strange scene in front of her. The concern in her voice seemed out place on her normally stoic and, understandably cold expression.
While not particularly close, she did deeply respect the old Draenei. When they first met, they were already at odds. Hooff's draenei roots and training with the light gave him an automatic aversion to Hotplate's unholy ways. None of the "family" accepted her easily. She was only allowed to stay in the manor by decree of Bob. While Hooff mistrusted Hotplate a great deal, he trusted in Bob's judgement more. Strange to hear that a Paladin would trust the judgement of a Warlock in regards to a Death Knight, but these are strange times. How Hooff came to judge Bob's judgement so completely, is a story only Bob and Hooff seem to know, and neither are considered "chatty".
Eventually in battle, Hooff came to respect Hotplate. Many times Hotplate would charge in, standing toe to toe against a hulking monster, adeptly dodging and parrying its attacks while simultaneously keeping its attention. Hooff would be behind her, calling upon the healing powers of the Light to mend whatever strikes Hotplate was not able to dodge. They made a good team, eventually developing a deep mutual respect. Hooff came to think of her as younger sister.
In the room was Rohan, the archmage that had cast the spell to send Hooff off, a few other nameless mages, and Waash the night-elf druid. Zoee was understandably absent, her and Waash had had a falling out, and she left the manor shortly after. Even if Hotplate wanted to contact her, it'd be next to impossible. The only thing harder to find than a druid that didn't want to be found, is a Rogue that does't want to be found. A glowing eye wandered around the room on occasion, Hotplate recognized it as Bob's Eye of Kilrogg. The old warlock was rarely ever seen in person. Any time his presence was required someplace, either the Eye or sometimes one of his minions would go in his stead.
"As you all know the teleportation spell I cast worked, too well." explained Rohan.
"Instead of sending Hooff to the future, I sent him to another dimension. The dimensions seem to be linked by the twisting nether. There's still quite a bit about the twisting nether that we know nothing about".
"How did you find him? How's he doing?" Hotplate asked again, with more concern in her voice than she meant to show.
A blink of light and Thantomm ( or Tom as he's called around the manor) appeared next to the Eye. He was Bob's Felguard minion, his Axe still had the blood of whatever he had last killed.
"A felguard mentioned his name to me, in the twisting nether" Tom said.
"How would another felguard know about Hooff" replied Hotplate.
"Apparently, he was summoned by a young Warlock. During an elemental attack, they were saved by a Paladin. The Paladin had a strange accent, and his eyes looked strange", continued Tom.
"None of what you said makes me think that it was Hooff" Hotplate replied, clearly loosing patience.
"The felguard and the warlock were stil very young. The Warlock, Nuiitari is her name, was still just an Apprentice, and thus her connection to the felguard wasn't fully established. Normally an Apprentice Warlock does not have the power to call upon a felguard. Imps and Voidwalkers are considerably less... straining. Nuiitari was losing the connection because of her injuries, the paladin cast the Soul-link spell that kept the connection and allowed Warlock and Felguard to share each other's strength".
"I didn't know paladins had such a spell" remarked Waash.
"They don't." answered Tom.
The Eye of Kilrogg moved and settled nex to Tom.
"An Apprentice Warlock can cast that spell, but only to herself and her minion. To cast the spell to bind another Warlock, to its minion, requires a fairly higher level Warlock. To have a paladin cast the spell is very rare". an eerie voice, seemingly out of nowhere explained. Some of the nameless mages looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. Hotplate and Waash simply listened, they were used to hearing from Bob in this way.
"I've only known a handful of Paladins with enough power to cast the spell, enough knowledge about shadow magic to invoke the spell, and enough familiarity with demons to attempt the spell. Hooff was one of those paladins." Rohan added.
"We've known that Hooff was a powerful paladin, but I never knew he knew so much about shadow and demons". Waash said.
"He learned from me." said the voice.
"Indeed, a side effect of the third-party Soul Link is that the demon has access to the caster's mind, if only bried glimpses" Tom said, continuing his story.
"Within the paladin's mind the felguard so images of a human warlock, a human death knight, a night-elf priest, and twin draenei, a shaman and a hunter. He tracked me down when he saw an image of me in the Paladin's mind"
"Ok, thats more convincing" Hotplate finally said.
"How'd he know it was you? All of you felguards look the same to me" asked Waash.
"We can tell" retorted Tom.
"Well there is a bit of a problem... all this happened in Orgrimmar". Tom added.
"What would Hooff be doing in Orgrimmar, helping a Horde Warlock?" asked Waash.
"The Paladin, was a Blood Elf" Tom said.
"We have news of Hooff" exclaimed Rohan.
"How?" Questioned Hotplate.
Hotplate looked around the room, taking in the strange scene in front of her. The concern in her voice seemed out place on her normally stoic and, understandably cold expression.
While not particularly close, she did deeply respect the old Draenei. When they first met, they were already at odds. Hooff's draenei roots and training with the light gave him an automatic aversion to Hotplate's unholy ways. None of the "family" accepted her easily. She was only allowed to stay in the manor by decree of Bob. While Hooff mistrusted Hotplate a great deal, he trusted in Bob's judgement more. Strange to hear that a Paladin would trust the judgement of a Warlock in regards to a Death Knight, but these are strange times. How Hooff came to judge Bob's judgement so completely, is a story only Bob and Hooff seem to know, and neither are considered "chatty".
Eventually in battle, Hooff came to respect Hotplate. Many times Hotplate would charge in, standing toe to toe against a hulking monster, adeptly dodging and parrying its attacks while simultaneously keeping its attention. Hooff would be behind her, calling upon the healing powers of the Light to mend whatever strikes Hotplate was not able to dodge. They made a good team, eventually developing a deep mutual respect. Hooff came to think of her as younger sister.
In the room was Rohan, the archmage that had cast the spell to send Hooff off, a few other nameless mages, and Waash the night-elf druid. Zoee was understandably absent, her and Waash had had a falling out, and she left the manor shortly after. Even if Hotplate wanted to contact her, it'd be next to impossible. The only thing harder to find than a druid that didn't want to be found, is a Rogue that does't want to be found. A glowing eye wandered around the room on occasion, Hotplate recognized it as Bob's Eye of Kilrogg. The old warlock was rarely ever seen in person. Any time his presence was required someplace, either the Eye or sometimes one of his minions would go in his stead.
"As you all know the teleportation spell I cast worked, too well." explained Rohan.
"Instead of sending Hooff to the future, I sent him to another dimension. The dimensions seem to be linked by the twisting nether. There's still quite a bit about the twisting nether that we know nothing about".
"How did you find him? How's he doing?" Hotplate asked again, with more concern in her voice than she meant to show.
A blink of light and Thantomm ( or Tom as he's called around the manor) appeared next to the Eye. He was Bob's Felguard minion, his Axe still had the blood of whatever he had last killed.
"A felguard mentioned his name to me, in the twisting nether" Tom said.
"How would another felguard know about Hooff" replied Hotplate.
"Apparently, he was summoned by a young Warlock. During an elemental attack, they were saved by a Paladin. The Paladin had a strange accent, and his eyes looked strange", continued Tom.
"None of what you said makes me think that it was Hooff" Hotplate replied, clearly loosing patience.
"The felguard and the warlock were stil very young. The Warlock, Nuiitari is her name, was still just an Apprentice, and thus her connection to the felguard wasn't fully established. Normally an Apprentice Warlock does not have the power to call upon a felguard. Imps and Voidwalkers are considerably less... straining. Nuiitari was losing the connection because of her injuries, the paladin cast the Soul-link spell that kept the connection and allowed Warlock and Felguard to share each other's strength".
"I didn't know paladins had such a spell" remarked Waash.
"They don't." answered Tom.
The Eye of Kilrogg moved and settled nex to Tom.
"An Apprentice Warlock can cast that spell, but only to herself and her minion. To cast the spell to bind another Warlock, to its minion, requires a fairly higher level Warlock. To have a paladin cast the spell is very rare". an eerie voice, seemingly out of nowhere explained. Some of the nameless mages looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. Hotplate and Waash simply listened, they were used to hearing from Bob in this way.
"I've only known a handful of Paladins with enough power to cast the spell, enough knowledge about shadow magic to invoke the spell, and enough familiarity with demons to attempt the spell. Hooff was one of those paladins." Rohan added.
"We've known that Hooff was a powerful paladin, but I never knew he knew so much about shadow and demons". Waash said.
"He learned from me." said the voice.
"Indeed, a side effect of the third-party Soul Link is that the demon has access to the caster's mind, if only bried glimpses" Tom said, continuing his story.
"Within the paladin's mind the felguard so images of a human warlock, a human death knight, a night-elf priest, and twin draenei, a shaman and a hunter. He tracked me down when he saw an image of me in the Paladin's mind"
"Ok, thats more convincing" Hotplate finally said.
"How'd he know it was you? All of you felguards look the same to me" asked Waash.
"We can tell" retorted Tom.
"Well there is a bit of a problem... all this happened in Orgrimmar". Tom added.
"What would Hooff be doing in Orgrimmar, helping a Horde Warlock?" asked Waash.
"The Paladin, was a Blood Elf" Tom said.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
[WoW] Holy Cooldowns... use them!
Holy Paladin Healing Cooldowns
Recently I've noticed that I don't make near enough use of my
cooldowns while healing. Making good use of cooldowns is very
important to performing at the top of your game. If you're not using a
cooldown that gives you +20% haste for 15 seconds every 2 minutes, why
bother worrying about that extra +10 Haste you got from upgrading
gear?
Paladins have 6 major healing related cooldowns available to us. There
are also "Hand" spells that could help with healing, or preventing
damage as well. I'll go over both and hopefully give suggestions on
when and how to use them.
Cooldowns
Avenging Wrath
This is probably the most iconic paladin ability ( next to the bubble). "Wings", this provides 20% more damage and healing done for 20 seconds. This is on a 3 minutes ( 2 mins with talents) cooldown.
This can be used pretty often. Some people ( me included) tend to "save" it until healing gets intense. Unfortunately this means it doesn't get near the amount of use it should. I personally tend to try to save it so much that I end up rarely using it. That's 20% less
healing i'm doing every 2 minutes.
People have suggested that it should be macro'd to something like Holy Radiance or even Divine Light, the justification being that if you're casting either of those spells, then you'll probably be casting more in the near future. I partially agree, at least for my usage. I really only hit Holy Radiance when 1.) I need massive tank heals, 2.) Everyone is taking damage and I need to pile on the healing. Both of these situations would do well with Avenging
Wrath.
On the other hand, my usage of Divine Light is a bit different. I mainly use it when it would cost too much mana to do multiple Holy Lights or Flash of Lights. In fact with Cata-level health pools, Holy Light does almost nothing at this point. I may or may not be in a furious healing state.
Divine Favor
According to ElitistJerks, Divine Favor is actually more useful or powerful in many situations than Avenging Wrath. This adds 20% more haste and crit for 20 seconds ( +10 with the glyph) every 3 minutes.
With such a short cooldown, I would macro this with heals as well. Holy Radiance is a good candidate, for the same reasons as above. Plus since its basically a mobile HOT, more haste means more ticks and more crit means each tick has more chance to crit. I definitely need to make more use of this cooldown.
Aura Mastery
This is more of a damage prevention talent. "It will give you 6 seconds of "enhanced" auras every 2 minutes. 4076 extra armor, double damage retribution aura, silence and interrupt immunity, 195 extra fire/frost/shadow resistance or extra mount speed" - ElitistJerks thread. Personally I'd recommend the 195 resistance. This is a major boon on fights where you know that a boss is about to hit everyone for major damage. 6 seconds is just enough time to mitigate that one big hit.
Lay on Hands
This is the BIG heal on a LONG cooldown. It will heal the target equal to the max HP of the casting paladin. It will also return 10% of the heal to the paladin as mana. Note: If cast on yourself, it will trigger forberance. Cooldown is 10 minutes ( 7 with the glyph). Very useful for when the tank is going down, and you can't keep him up. This is instant "oh-shit" button. Gives you a bit of mana to boot. The cooldown is long enough that its one use per fight, probably saved for boss fights only.
Guardian of Ancient Kings
This spawns our newest tool, a angel looking pet. It will duplicate all heals done by the paladin. The heals go to the same target the paladin healed. It will also splash heal all targets within 10 yards for 10% of the amount healed. Lasts 30 seconds or after 5 heals. Cooldown is 5 minutes, 3 with prot talents, but that doesn't apply to us.
Some people like to macro this to Avenging Wrath, to power up the heals done by the Guardian. That seems like a good idea to me. I'd be hesitant trying to macro this to other, heals though. The cooldown is just long enough that I wouldn't want to "waste" it. Plus my usual "oh-shit" button Holy Radiance, isn't duplicated by the Guardian.
I personally macro'd this up with Avenging Wrath, and left it as them as something I can press when I need that extra oomph.
Divine Plea
When mana is as much of an issue as it is in Cataclysm, any kind of mana-regen abilities will be used. This ability returns 10% ( +5% with the glyph) of total mana over 15 seconds. Penalty is that it reduces healing by 50%. Cooldown is 2 minutes. Definitely useful for times when damage isn't so intense. But be careful, if you have to do more heals to make up for the healing penalty, then the 15% mana returned will do no good. With the cooldown at 2 minutes, its possible this could be used more than once in a boss fight.
I personally like to hit this in between fights on trash, instead of drinking. I also hit it at the movement portions of some fights (such as during Firestorm in Baradin Hold).
Divine Shield
I'm including this because, while it doesn't raise healing throughput, it reduces the number of players that need healing by one, the holy pally. This helps immensely when shiet hits the fan, so you're not worrying about running around, or getting interrupted because of damage.
Hands
Hands are very short term buffs than can go a long way towards making the target's life easier.
Hand of Sacrifice
Think of this as a bubble with teeth. When cast on a friendly it transfers 30% of all damage done TO the target to the paladin, up to 100% of the Paladin's HP. This lasts 12 seconds or until total damage transfered equals 100% of the paladin's HP. Cooldown is 2 minutes.
A good hand to use on a tank when a boss enrages. With the 100% limit, plus Tower of Radiance talent, as long as the healer is still healing other targets then the healer shouldn't have to worry about dying. This coupled with Divine Shield would mitigate the entire 30% damage.
Hand of Protection
This is the poor man's bubble. You bubble a team member. All damage is prevented, but they cannot attack or use physical abilities. 5 minute cooldown, causes forberance on the target.
This is useful if a DPS, or even another healer's health is dropping way too fast to get a big heal, or taking so much damage that a Holy Shock+WoG can't keep them alive. It also helps DPS that are standing in fire.
I've also used this to calm over-active DPS. If they pull aggro, you HoP them and the boss will go to the next person in line on their aggro table (hopefully is the tank). Hand of Salvation is really designed for this, but sometimes its not enough. Plus this has the added benefit that it cannot be ignored, and their DPS takes a nose-dive. This is bad in a DPS race type fight, but handy to wake up auto-piloting DPS.
Hand of Salvation
Reduces threat of the target by 2% every second for 10 seconds. So after 10 seconds, they've lost 20% of their threat, if they stopped attacking. This is useful if the DPS out-gears the tank and the tank is having trouble staying ahead of the DPS in aggro. 2 minute cooldown.
Hand of Freedom
More of a PVP talent, removes all snares and slowing spells on the target. Useful for the tank if they're having trouble moving. Also useful for dps who might be slowed or snared during movement heavy fights.
Hopefully this little run-through of our major cooldowns has helped someone out there. I've personally macro'd quite a few of the cooldowns to my "big" heals, Flash of Light and Divine Light. Reasoning being that if I'm casting either of those mana-intensive spells then major healing is probably called for. If not, the cooldowns are short enough that they'll come up again.
Even if I do end up wasting the cooldowns half the time, thats still 50% more usage I'm getting out of it than I normally would. Now off to try it out in some dungeons.
Cheers.
Monday, January 17, 2011
[WoW]Nuiitari's first PVP kill
This is a comment I left on Miss Mediocre's blog in response to her post Hell hath no Fury
Haha nice story. I suck pretty bad at PVP but I will get into tussle if the need arises. I don’t usually nerd rage from being camped or dying in PVP. Though getting called out as a “bad healer” from a loud mouth in a dungeon will rile me up good.
My own little story:
I was on my lowbie lock, female belf level 36 or so? I was just questing feralas when I notice I was getting dotted up. I noticed a female human lock, level 38 was sending in her voidwalker on me. There was some distance between us so I ran and hid through the thicker part of the forest. Eventually I got far enough away that I was out of combat. I felt a bit betrayed that another lock would try to kill me, the whole honor among deranged, sadistic, demon wielders and all. I said so in guild chat and healed up. Got some laughs and an 85 guildie that offered to help, I said no I would do it myself. Switched out my own void walker for the fel pup ( for spell lock). Mounted up and searched for the lock. Found her questing in an area. Smart play would have been to get her while whe was fighting a mob, but I’ve never had an overabundance of brains. She was at full health and so was I. I sent in the puppy and started with dots. I am destruction spec, so the dots don’t hit as hard as an affliction lock’s. She sends in her void after me. I’m not being dotted up so I guessed the spell lock worked. I hit immolate and a quick conflag. She’s at half health. That’s when the dots start coming. Good thing her void hits like a wet noodle, but the his are interrupting my longer casts. I run in close and hit Arcane Torrent ( idea having just popped in my head a second earlier). By then the dots were widdling her health down to 25%. Conflag came off cool down and another shadow bolt seals the deal. The [An Honorable Kill] achievement pops up in guild chat and the grats start coming in. I don’t stay to revel in my victory in case she calls in friends.
And that’s the story of baby lock’s first PVP kill. My 80 lock on another server would have been so proud.
I'm not sure, maybe I'll rewrite this in character when I get some time/inspiration.
Haha nice story. I suck pretty bad at PVP but I will get into tussle if the need arises. I don’t usually nerd rage from being camped or dying in PVP. Though getting called out as a “bad healer” from a loud mouth in a dungeon will rile me up good.
My own little story:
I was on my lowbie lock, female belf level 36 or so? I was just questing feralas when I notice I was getting dotted up. I noticed a female human lock, level 38 was sending in her voidwalker on me. There was some distance between us so I ran and hid through the thicker part of the forest. Eventually I got far enough away that I was out of combat. I felt a bit betrayed that another lock would try to kill me, the whole honor among deranged, sadistic, demon wielders and all. I said so in guild chat and healed up. Got some laughs and an 85 guildie that offered to help, I said no I would do it myself. Switched out my own void walker for the fel pup ( for spell lock). Mounted up and searched for the lock. Found her questing in an area. Smart play would have been to get her while whe was fighting a mob, but I’ve never had an overabundance of brains. She was at full health and so was I. I sent in the puppy and started with dots. I am destruction spec, so the dots don’t hit as hard as an affliction lock’s. She sends in her void after me. I’m not being dotted up so I guessed the spell lock worked. I hit immolate and a quick conflag. She’s at half health. That’s when the dots start coming. Good thing her void hits like a wet noodle, but the his are interrupting my longer casts. I run in close and hit Arcane Torrent ( idea having just popped in my head a second earlier). By then the dots were widdling her health down to 25%. Conflag came off cool down and another shadow bolt seals the deal. The [An Honorable Kill] achievement pops up in guild chat and the grats start coming in. I don’t stay to revel in my victory in case she calls in friends.
And that’s the story of baby lock’s first PVP kill. My 80 lock on another server would have been so proud.
I'm not sure, maybe I'll rewrite this in character when I get some time/inspiration.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
[WoW] Cataclysm Heroics: Halls of Origination
Just ran this HEROIC with the guild. Yesterday I got enough upgrades from normal dungeons to qualify for Heroics ( iLvl 329 average). I barely squeaked by. I didn't consider myself at all ready to actually heal heroics. Today some guys from the guild asked if I'd heal a heroic for them. I told them that I just got to 329 and that I probably wasn't geared for it yet, but said I'd give it a shot anyway. We ended up in Halls of Origination, which I hadn't even run on normal yet!
It went very well. We one-shot all bosses. In fact our only wipe was 3 trash pulls into the instance. I lagged or had a brain fart and tried to keep a dying DPS up. The tank got an extra mob on him and started dropping fast. A dps and the tank dropped, while we had 2 mobs still up. We ping-ponged one of the mobs between DPS until it was dead ( it was pretty close already), then the mage polymorphed the other mob. We were then able to wait until the tank and 2 dps were able to run back in. Guess technically we didn't wipe, but other than that it was groovy.
Impressions
My first impressions of heroics? They're SOO much harder than Wrath heroics. To be honest Wrath heroics were hard at first, but these are at the level of Wrath raids. I truely felt like I was in a raid ( and not just cause it took 2+ hours to do the heroic). The trash pulls had to be CC'd, and I was on my toes the whole time.
Interrupts are crucial. In one of the fights (Temple Guardian Anhuur) its absolutely required that there be an interrupt capable DPS to do the fight well. We happed to get a compitent PUG DK with us. He did very well and stayed up on the platform on his own. He was even able to keep himself up with Death Strikes until the ground phase was done and I could sprint back to heal him up. To Riakk of Wyrmrest Accord, you were awesome. He did very well considering that was also his very first heroic.
A lot of fights required more twitch healing than I thought it would. A few times I absolutely had to use Flash of Light because anything other than a Holy Shock + 3HP Word of Glory wouldn't have been quick enough and hit for hard enough to make it.
Mana
Mana was a much bigger issue in Heroics than in Normals. With casting Judgement on every CD, and heavily favoring my mana-efficient spells, I was able to heal pretty well. I'd have around 30% of my mana left at the end of a fight. But if ever started to neglect casting Judgement my mana would plummet and I would be OOM very quickly.
Also, if I ever let the tank get too far down, it takes an extraordinary amount of mana to catch up. I had to do it a few times and it wasn't fun. Good choice in healing spells was important as well. Sometimes everyone is just taking so much damage that you NEED to use your AOE heals. Being a pally healer having AOE heals is new to me and as such under stress I go back to the furious whack-a-mole style healing that's ingrained in my muscle memory. In some situations this was simply not an option. Holy Radiance was very very useful. When everyone was getting low and I just absolutely needed to do a crazy amount of healing, there's nothing popping Guardian of Ancient Kings, Avenging Wrath, Holy Radiance, then a 3HP Light of Dawn towards a melee heavy group. The entire screen lights up with green number and the little green bars shoot up like jack's beanstalk. Its a sight to see. Of course you hope this is towards the end of the fight because its difficult to regen enough mana to be useful much longer.
All in all it was a good experience, and I gained some upgrades. There really is nothing than a trial by fire to hone your skills and see how you do. If Heroics are already so epic-ally raid like, how are the raids going to be?
It went very well. We one-shot all bosses. In fact our only wipe was 3 trash pulls into the instance. I lagged or had a brain fart and tried to keep a dying DPS up. The tank got an extra mob on him and started dropping fast. A dps and the tank dropped, while we had 2 mobs still up. We ping-ponged one of the mobs between DPS until it was dead ( it was pretty close already), then the mage polymorphed the other mob. We were then able to wait until the tank and 2 dps were able to run back in. Guess technically we didn't wipe, but other than that it was groovy.
Impressions
My first impressions of heroics? They're SOO much harder than Wrath heroics. To be honest Wrath heroics were hard at first, but these are at the level of Wrath raids. I truely felt like I was in a raid ( and not just cause it took 2+ hours to do the heroic). The trash pulls had to be CC'd, and I was on my toes the whole time.
Interrupts are crucial. In one of the fights (Temple Guardian Anhuur) its absolutely required that there be an interrupt capable DPS to do the fight well. We happed to get a compitent PUG DK with us. He did very well and stayed up on the platform on his own. He was even able to keep himself up with Death Strikes until the ground phase was done and I could sprint back to heal him up. To Riakk of Wyrmrest Accord, you were awesome. He did very well considering that was also his very first heroic.
A lot of fights required more twitch healing than I thought it would. A few times I absolutely had to use Flash of Light because anything other than a Holy Shock + 3HP Word of Glory wouldn't have been quick enough and hit for hard enough to make it.
Mana
Mana was a much bigger issue in Heroics than in Normals. With casting Judgement on every CD, and heavily favoring my mana-efficient spells, I was able to heal pretty well. I'd have around 30% of my mana left at the end of a fight. But if ever started to neglect casting Judgement my mana would plummet and I would be OOM very quickly.
Also, if I ever let the tank get too far down, it takes an extraordinary amount of mana to catch up. I had to do it a few times and it wasn't fun. Good choice in healing spells was important as well. Sometimes everyone is just taking so much damage that you NEED to use your AOE heals. Being a pally healer having AOE heals is new to me and as such under stress I go back to the furious whack-a-mole style healing that's ingrained in my muscle memory. In some situations this was simply not an option. Holy Radiance was very very useful. When everyone was getting low and I just absolutely needed to do a crazy amount of healing, there's nothing popping Guardian of Ancient Kings, Avenging Wrath, Holy Radiance, then a 3HP Light of Dawn towards a melee heavy group. The entire screen lights up with green number and the little green bars shoot up like jack's beanstalk. Its a sight to see. Of course you hope this is towards the end of the fight because its difficult to regen enough mana to be useful much longer.
All in all it was a good experience, and I gained some upgrades. There really is nothing than a trial by fire to hone your skills and see how you do. If Heroics are already so epic-ally raid like, how are the raids going to be?
Monday, December 20, 2010
[WoW IC] Lunitari out on her own
Lunitari, Apprentice Mage, - Sunstrider Isle
Taking a break today from working. Thats right, I'm working. I decided that I'm not going to let Nuii or Soli have all the fun. I'm gonna strike out on my own. Of course I haven't TOLD them this, but they're both away for work for at least a week so I can do what I want. I decided to start out slow, so I made my way back towards the Mage School, on Sunstrider Isle. This time I took the Windrunner service, got there in fraction of the time.
Currently I'm doing odd jobs, tending to whatever needs tending. The scourge are still everywhere so there's plenty to do. I've also done some training from Magi Sunstriker. My power has steadily improved, and yesterday I decided to focus on the Frost aspect of magecraft. The first spell I trained for was to summon my own Water Elemental. Unlike the Earth and Fire Elementals that Shaman's are able to conjure, mage summoned Water Elementals are allowed to stay on our plane for much longer. Whether this is an inherent ability of Water Elementals or because of the Mage summoning, I don't know.
Communicating with the Water Elemental seems almost harder than learning to summon. As far as I can tell, its the same Elemental every time. He ( or she? ) seems to be able to pick up strong emotions from me, but direct communication is more difficult. Mistress Garidel says that eventually I will be able to speak with the Elemental intuitively, but for now its mostly just him protecting me when I run into trouble.
Work is going pretty well. I've been helping out Starbreeze Village mostly. They're closer to the remaining scourge than other towns, so the fighting there is a bit more common. Its not terrible, there aren't overwhelming hordes of scourge set to pounce on the town. The local militia tends to keep the numbers low enough that travelers aren't in too much danger. Still, sometimes I have to go at it alone and I'm glad I have my elemental with me.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
[WoW IC] Hooff
Traveler's Journal, Illustious Grand Master Paladin, Hooff
Day 180
Well, I'm still here. I'm still me, I think. I've been in this land for 180 days now, and things have certainly been interesting. When Rhonin first approached me about this assignment, I didn't think it would turn out like this. The one constant has been that I don't know when or even if, I'll ever get to go home.
At least I'm not alone, theres about a dozen other warriors gathered here. Some I've worked with before, a fellow Paladin, Nib, a hunter named Kess and others. They also went through the "program" with Rhonin. There are also others from other lands. Many were able to keep their original forms, most from my homeland were not. I have taken the form of a Blood Elf. Valen help-me, I've had to become one of them. The fact that these Blood Elves aren't the ones that committed the atrocities against my people is of little comfort. They've committed atrocities against other peoples, just happens to not be mine.
Why I've come is still not clear to me. Rhonin mentioned that there is a coming evil, and that this land was in need of warriors. I naturally thought of the Lich King, infact we did aid in storming his Citadel. My batallion fought for and defended Valithria Dreamwalker. Our warriors were able to keep the Scourge at bay while the healers tended to the great dragon's wounds. Eventually the green dragon was well enough to move and was able to escape. We also faced the undead wyrm Sindragosa, but repeatedly she was able to repel our advances. There were heavy casualties but we were able to escape with our lives.
I heard days later, while recovering from my wounds that another Batallion was able to kill the Lich King, and the war was over. After such a long campaign ( both here and at home), it was almost bittersweet to not have had a direct hand in his downfall.
Since then the scourge has been steadily declining. Not all attacks have ceased but their forces are on the decline. It seems without their master, the scourge are content to hold onto whatever lands they've conquered. It will take years to reclaim what was lost, but it will get done.
I'm headed back "home". The warriors from home, as well as other distant lands have formed a guild of sorts. We are few, but it helps to keep ties to what you still have. We have a guild office in Orgrimmar. Apparently to be recognized by Thrall as a "sanctioned" guild, then you must have an office. It consists mostly of a table, a small chair, and a sign in the window that reads "Out". The only time the office is ever occupied is when we have a meeting, which is few and far between. Each of the members have their own residences in other horde controlled areas. I've taken to staying at an Inn in Silvermoon. While I have no love for Blood Elves and their precious city, they do have the most comfortable of beds.
Day 180
Well, I'm still here. I'm still me, I think. I've been in this land for 180 days now, and things have certainly been interesting. When Rhonin first approached me about this assignment, I didn't think it would turn out like this. The one constant has been that I don't know when or even if, I'll ever get to go home.
At least I'm not alone, theres about a dozen other warriors gathered here. Some I've worked with before, a fellow Paladin, Nib, a hunter named Kess and others. They also went through the "program" with Rhonin. There are also others from other lands. Many were able to keep their original forms, most from my homeland were not. I have taken the form of a Blood Elf. Valen help-me, I've had to become one of them. The fact that these Blood Elves aren't the ones that committed the atrocities against my people is of little comfort. They've committed atrocities against other peoples, just happens to not be mine.
Why I've come is still not clear to me. Rhonin mentioned that there is a coming evil, and that this land was in need of warriors. I naturally thought of the Lich King, infact we did aid in storming his Citadel. My batallion fought for and defended Valithria Dreamwalker. Our warriors were able to keep the Scourge at bay while the healers tended to the great dragon's wounds. Eventually the green dragon was well enough to move and was able to escape. We also faced the undead wyrm Sindragosa, but repeatedly she was able to repel our advances. There were heavy casualties but we were able to escape with our lives.
I heard days later, while recovering from my wounds that another Batallion was able to kill the Lich King, and the war was over. After such a long campaign ( both here and at home), it was almost bittersweet to not have had a direct hand in his downfall.
Since then the scourge has been steadily declining. Not all attacks have ceased but their forces are on the decline. It seems without their master, the scourge are content to hold onto whatever lands they've conquered. It will take years to reclaim what was lost, but it will get done.
I'm headed back "home". The warriors from home, as well as other distant lands have formed a guild of sorts. We are few, but it helps to keep ties to what you still have. We have a guild office in Orgrimmar. Apparently to be recognized by Thrall as a "sanctioned" guild, then you must have an office. It consists mostly of a table, a small chair, and a sign in the window that reads "Out". The only time the office is ever occupied is when we have a meeting, which is few and far between. Each of the members have their own residences in other horde controlled areas. I've taken to staying at an Inn in Silvermoon. While I have no love for Blood Elves and their precious city, they do have the most comfortable of beds.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
[WoW] Healing thoughts
Miss Medicina made a comment on her come-back post that got me thinking. Here's the original post She's Alive.
The comment was that she was having to re-adjust to healing again from the hiatus from WoW. Specifically she remarked that "I throw heals on people and it is the perfect example of a drop in an ocean." I couldn't agree more. I've really started to notice this when I'm healing the new dungeons ( still on normal as I haven't reached 85 yet). The health pools are quite massive, even at pre-85. A guildie tank at 82 had 70k health, an 84 DK DPS had 85k+. With healthpools that massive, even our big heals won't make a dent if the target is <40% health.
I think this is one of the big causes of healers feeling very underpowered. Personally, when I heal the big green crits are nice, but they're not my main focus. My main focus is how much of that little green bar filled up after my heal. So even though we're healing for huge amounts, since the bars aren't refilling near as quickly as they used to, it FEELS like we're weak.
This also contributes to the feeling of OOM that many healers have complained about in the forums. What do you do when your last heal didn't bring the green bar up high enough? You cast it again and again until the bar is comfortably full.
Don't let it fall
The way I've handled this is actually opposite of what Blizzard was telling us we would be doing in Cataclysm. I'm topping off more than normal. More specifically, I'm using my smallest and/or most efficient heal, and topping everyone off as soon as I see that the heal won't just be 80% overheal. For pallies this is Holy Shock/Word of Glory on cooldown, or Holy Light if needed. In a perfect setup I would time the perfect heal, with the perfect cast time, to do as little overheal as possible. But since we're all still learning these fights I'm giving up some overhealing in order to keep the healthpools up in the 80-90% range.
This keeps me used to seeing smaller changes in the healthpool, and reduces the frantic heal spam when someone's health is in the 30% range. Once I get into heroics I'm sure I'll have to alter my strategy a bit, but for now this seems to work well. This is especially useful in pugs where, to be honest, I don't trust the DPS or even the tank to blow defensive cooldowns when they're in trouble. I'll be more adventurous in a guild run, but any group from the DF means I'm on my guard.
Mana regen
Since the server transfer, I haven't had a chance to go back to my old server and try healing on my shaman, so I can really only comment on Paladin, and to a lesser extent, lowbie Priest healing. But Blizzard seems to have built an offensive mechanic to allow healers to regen some mana. Priests have their Smite + Archangel combo, but I have yet to see real gains from it. My priest is stuck at around level 50, so I can't comment on how well this regen works.
For Paladins, being a hybrid class, there seems to be some intended, and possibly unintended synergy between our offensive abilities and mana regen/conservation.
1. Judgements: Judging restores 15% of base mana. Thats a lot considering the cooldown and cost of our judgement spell. Not only are we doing a small bit of damage to the boss, refreshing our Haste buff, but we're also getting mana back. At 83, with a mix of t10 and cata quest blues/greens I'm getting back about 6% of my mana per judgement.
2. Divine Plea: Our old mana regen. Blizzard nerfed it like crazy, but it does still give back some mana. Watch out for the healing debuff though. I usually cast it more in the beginning of the fight, when damage hasn't ramped up yet. Also useful for trash pulls, instead of drinking.
3. Crusader Strike: Yes, it requires being in melee range, something no other healer would dare. But we're paladins, wearing plate, with more defensive cooldowns than some tanks ( sorry warriors ). CS won't actually return you mana, but it will gurantee a holy power charge. If you can position yourself in a semi-safe area where you can melee on a mob ( I personally go behind a caster mob, or slightly back of the melee hitting the boss), you can CS on cooldown significantly increasing the rate at which you can Word of Glory or Light of Dawn. Even a single CS gives you a free heal.
Also, this works well with Holy Radiance. Most pally healers would probably use Holy Radiance by sitting next to the casters. They can cast holy radiance to heal the casters, and use Light of Dawn to AOE the melee. I turned this backwards. I sit next to the melee, and Light of Dawn the casters. Since the casters tend to like to spread out, this fits with the cone targeting of Light of Dawn.
Obviously this won't work for every boss, and in some bosses it would be bad news. For these normal dungeons its working well, as long as the boss doesn't have a stomp or anything. I'll keep you guys posted if and when this thing backfires on me.
Happy Healing.
The comment was that she was having to re-adjust to healing again from the hiatus from WoW. Specifically she remarked that "I throw heals on people and it is the perfect example of a drop in an ocean." I couldn't agree more. I've really started to notice this when I'm healing the new dungeons ( still on normal as I haven't reached 85 yet). The health pools are quite massive, even at pre-85. A guildie tank at 82 had 70k health, an 84 DK DPS had 85k+. With healthpools that massive, even our big heals won't make a dent if the target is <40% health.
I think this is one of the big causes of healers feeling very underpowered. Personally, when I heal the big green crits are nice, but they're not my main focus. My main focus is how much of that little green bar filled up after my heal. So even though we're healing for huge amounts, since the bars aren't refilling near as quickly as they used to, it FEELS like we're weak.
This also contributes to the feeling of OOM that many healers have complained about in the forums. What do you do when your last heal didn't bring the green bar up high enough? You cast it again and again until the bar is comfortably full.
Don't let it fall
The way I've handled this is actually opposite of what Blizzard was telling us we would be doing in Cataclysm. I'm topping off more than normal. More specifically, I'm using my smallest and/or most efficient heal, and topping everyone off as soon as I see that the heal won't just be 80% overheal. For pallies this is Holy Shock/Word of Glory on cooldown, or Holy Light if needed. In a perfect setup I would time the perfect heal, with the perfect cast time, to do as little overheal as possible. But since we're all still learning these fights I'm giving up some overhealing in order to keep the healthpools up in the 80-90% range.
This keeps me used to seeing smaller changes in the healthpool, and reduces the frantic heal spam when someone's health is in the 30% range. Once I get into heroics I'm sure I'll have to alter my strategy a bit, but for now this seems to work well. This is especially useful in pugs where, to be honest, I don't trust the DPS or even the tank to blow defensive cooldowns when they're in trouble. I'll be more adventurous in a guild run, but any group from the DF means I'm on my guard.
Mana regen
Since the server transfer, I haven't had a chance to go back to my old server and try healing on my shaman, so I can really only comment on Paladin, and to a lesser extent, lowbie Priest healing. But Blizzard seems to have built an offensive mechanic to allow healers to regen some mana. Priests have their Smite + Archangel combo, but I have yet to see real gains from it. My priest is stuck at around level 50, so I can't comment on how well this regen works.
For Paladins, being a hybrid class, there seems to be some intended, and possibly unintended synergy between our offensive abilities and mana regen/conservation.
1. Judgements: Judging restores 15% of base mana. Thats a lot considering the cooldown and cost of our judgement spell. Not only are we doing a small bit of damage to the boss, refreshing our Haste buff, but we're also getting mana back. At 83, with a mix of t10 and cata quest blues/greens I'm getting back about 6% of my mana per judgement.
2. Divine Plea: Our old mana regen. Blizzard nerfed it like crazy, but it does still give back some mana. Watch out for the healing debuff though. I usually cast it more in the beginning of the fight, when damage hasn't ramped up yet. Also useful for trash pulls, instead of drinking.
3. Crusader Strike: Yes, it requires being in melee range, something no other healer would dare. But we're paladins, wearing plate, with more defensive cooldowns than some tanks ( sorry warriors ). CS won't actually return you mana, but it will gurantee a holy power charge. If you can position yourself in a semi-safe area where you can melee on a mob ( I personally go behind a caster mob, or slightly back of the melee hitting the boss), you can CS on cooldown significantly increasing the rate at which you can Word of Glory or Light of Dawn. Even a single CS gives you a free heal.
Also, this works well with Holy Radiance. Most pally healers would probably use Holy Radiance by sitting next to the casters. They can cast holy radiance to heal the casters, and use Light of Dawn to AOE the melee. I turned this backwards. I sit next to the melee, and Light of Dawn the casters. Since the casters tend to like to spread out, this fits with the cone targeting of Light of Dawn.
Obviously this won't work for every boss, and in some bosses it would be bad news. For these normal dungeons its working well, as long as the boss doesn't have a stomp or anything. I'll keep you guys posted if and when this thing backfires on me.
Happy Healing.
Monday, December 13, 2010
[WoW] Dungeon Finder "First Impressions" or How to fix "meet the requirements for this dungeon" error.
The past few days I've been receiving that error whenever I've tried to queue up on the Dungeon Finder. I finally figured out that though I HAD discovered Throne of Tides and Blackrock Caverns, I still needed to discover The Stonecore before DF would let me queue. Yesterday I discovered it, and got brave. I queued up as DPS or Healer.
About 10 minutes later the DF pops and I'm notified that I will be a healer for an "Already in progress" dungeon. To me this was a bad start, as there are quite a few disadvantages to being matched into a dungeon thats already started.
1. Less loot, since they're already killed mobs and bosses then there's less chance for loot you.
2. Ditto as #1 for XP. Less mobs killed, less xp.
3. There's a good chance that the reason they need to REPLACE a healer is because the previous healer got fed up with their shinaniggans.
This was the experience I had in this dungeon. It had almost EVERY stereotype DF fail-group personality. The gogogog rogue, the hunter that "accidentally" pulls more mobs, and the tank that loved BIG pulls. Here's how it went down.
I zone in to the dungeon and switch specs/gear. As I'm switching I call out in chat that I've never done this dungeon, so someone may have to explain if there's something complicated I need to worry about. The tank chimes in that its his first time also. This seems like a plus to me, inexperienced tank means he might be more cautios. Rogue immediatly pipes in and says "gogogo" (-100 for him). I guess the tank pulls, and they fight a pack of mobs. I say I "guess" because I'm still at the front of the instance running towards them, while they're somewhere in the middle. They last a little while, tank dies, then the rogue, then the pally. Hunter feign's death.
Tank asks in chat "heals?".
I reply "Still in the front of the instance, I just zoned in".
Tank replies, "Then why did someone say gogogo?"
Surprisingly the rogue speaks up and apologizes ( +1 for him ), then asks if he can be rezzed ( -1 for him ). I rez him and the tank, and we buff up and eat/drink.
The rogue then says "gogogo" again.
I reply "Jeez, chill", since one of the DPS is still running back, as her body was too close to the mobs for a safe rez.
We were making decent progress, so I decide to stick with it. In the room before Ozruk, where there are 4-5 groups of mobs pretty closely packed. The tank decides that he'll tank one group of mobs where they were, but not before waiting until a patrol comes by so that he can get them both. That was annoying but nothing I couldn't handle. This is when the hunter decides to tab-target once too much and pulls ANOTHER group. Unfortunately they're ranged so the tank can't just taunt. I end up having to run over to the mobs, stun them, and then line of sight them over the tank, and hope that the tank notices and hits a thunderclap. At some point in the fight another group is pulled. I'm healing like mad, bubbling the DPS, throwing out Light of Dawn on CD. Eventually we live, but not before I was completely OOM. The DPS are cheering, and I just put one phrase in the chat.
"Smaller pulls please."
We did down the rest of the bosses, so I can't really consider the group a fail-group, it certainly wasn't relaxing. I did the same dungeon again, but this time with the guild and it was much smoother. The tank did die once, because I got line-of-sighted in the Ozruk fight with the falling rocks. Other than that smooth sailing.
The guild then 4-manned Blackrock Caverns. I think we've 4-manned every dungeon available to us so far ( except The Vortex Pinnacle, we've never been in there). The dungeons are certainly doable, and having one less DPS just makes the fights last a bit longer.
Keep in mind this is all on Normal difficulty as we level up. I'm sure it'll be much different once we hit Heroics.
About 10 minutes later the DF pops and I'm notified that I will be a healer for an "Already in progress" dungeon. To me this was a bad start, as there are quite a few disadvantages to being matched into a dungeon thats already started.
1. Less loot, since they're already killed mobs and bosses then there's less chance for loot you.
2. Ditto as #1 for XP. Less mobs killed, less xp.
3. There's a good chance that the reason they need to REPLACE a healer is because the previous healer got fed up with their shinaniggans.
This was the experience I had in this dungeon. It had almost EVERY stereotype DF fail-group personality. The gogogog rogue, the hunter that "accidentally" pulls more mobs, and the tank that loved BIG pulls. Here's how it went down.
I zone in to the dungeon and switch specs/gear. As I'm switching I call out in chat that I've never done this dungeon, so someone may have to explain if there's something complicated I need to worry about. The tank chimes in that its his first time also. This seems like a plus to me, inexperienced tank means he might be more cautios. Rogue immediatly pipes in and says "gogogo" (-100 for him). I guess the tank pulls, and they fight a pack of mobs. I say I "guess" because I'm still at the front of the instance running towards them, while they're somewhere in the middle. They last a little while, tank dies, then the rogue, then the pally. Hunter feign's death.
Tank asks in chat "heals?".
I reply "Still in the front of the instance, I just zoned in".
Tank replies, "Then why did someone say gogogo?"
Surprisingly the rogue speaks up and apologizes ( +1 for him ), then asks if he can be rezzed ( -1 for him ). I rez him and the tank, and we buff up and eat/drink.
The rogue then says "gogogo" again.
I reply "Jeez, chill", since one of the DPS is still running back, as her body was too close to the mobs for a safe rez.
We were making decent progress, so I decide to stick with it. In the room before Ozruk, where there are 4-5 groups of mobs pretty closely packed. The tank decides that he'll tank one group of mobs where they were, but not before waiting until a patrol comes by so that he can get them both. That was annoying but nothing I couldn't handle. This is when the hunter decides to tab-target once too much and pulls ANOTHER group. Unfortunately they're ranged so the tank can't just taunt. I end up having to run over to the mobs, stun them, and then line of sight them over the tank, and hope that the tank notices and hits a thunderclap. At some point in the fight another group is pulled. I'm healing like mad, bubbling the DPS, throwing out Light of Dawn on CD. Eventually we live, but not before I was completely OOM. The DPS are cheering, and I just put one phrase in the chat.
"Smaller pulls please."
We did down the rest of the bosses, so I can't really consider the group a fail-group, it certainly wasn't relaxing. I did the same dungeon again, but this time with the guild and it was much smoother. The tank did die once, because I got line-of-sighted in the Ozruk fight with the falling rocks. Other than that smooth sailing.
The guild then 4-manned Blackrock Caverns. I think we've 4-manned every dungeon available to us so far ( except The Vortex Pinnacle, we've never been in there). The dungeons are certainly doable, and having one less DPS just makes the fights last a bit longer.
Keep in mind this is all on Normal difficulty as we level up. I'm sure it'll be much different once we hit Heroics.
Friday, December 10, 2010
[WoW] Ganking in Vashj'ir
Last night was my first real experience with Ganking/Griefing. I was trying to do the quests inside Nespirah, the ones that involve you going to his "brain" chamber. 3-4 Alliance toons decided that it'd be a hoot to sit there and gank any horde trying to talk to the quest giver. 3 Alliance toons is enough to cause even a decent PVPer some issues, especially when one is a healer.
I had to wait until there was a sufficient amount of hordies being killed that we could run in together and kill the gankers. This didn't take long at all, but as soon as we did that, grabbed our quests, everyone dispursed. 10 minutes later, when I'm trying to turn in said quests, the gankers were back. This got annoying quickly, since we had to go back to that NPC multiple times. Eventually 1-2 people stayed at the NPC in order to keep the ganking down. Funny enough, the horde "keeping the peace" let Alliance members get the quests as well. They only attacked when attacked.
That really shattered my long and totally illogical image of the horde as the "Mean" faction.
True Story.
I had to wait until there was a sufficient amount of hordies being killed that we could run in together and kill the gankers. This didn't take long at all, but as soon as we did that, grabbed our quests, everyone dispursed. 10 minutes later, when I'm trying to turn in said quests, the gankers were back. This got annoying quickly, since we had to go back to that NPC multiple times. Eventually 1-2 people stayed at the NPC in order to keep the ganking down. Funny enough, the horde "keeping the peace" let Alliance members get the quests as well. They only attacked when attacked.
That really shattered my long and totally illogical image of the horde as the "Mean" faction.
True Story.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
[WoW] Cataclysm Dungeons - First run
Last night, a few of the guildies wanted to try our hand at running these mythical, CC-requiring, dungeons of Cataclysm. Going into the dungeons, to be honest we were a bit nervous, after hearing how hard Cataclysm dungeons were. TLDR version, dungeons are awesome, but completely doable if you have a group that can work together.
I'm not going to go into detail about which bosses do what, because there are already guides that do a much better job of it. I will give you my impressions though.
We went into the dungeon with the following compilation: Prot Pally, Frost Death Knight, Shadow Priest, Ret Pally(me) and Resto Shaman healing. This wasn't planned or anything, it just happened to be the mains of the people that were willing and inclined to run the dungeon. Also, the prot pally and frost DK are main spec tanks, and the other three of us are main spec healers. My personal DPS was complete and utter shiet. I don't know if there' something fundamentally wrong with ret dps, or if the problem was the chump at the keyboard, but I was pulling low 4k DPS. This is in full vendor T10, some Naxx25 pieces, and a few Cataclysm quest greens. The Shadow priest was similarly geared, and pulling about the same DPS. The Death Knight was putting out 8K DPS. We were all about level 81 or so ( though a lot of us had forgotten to train up our 81 abilities ).
We went into the dungeons NOT having read up on strategy or anything. The most preperation we had was the tank watching a video from the beta, once, a month ago. We went in with the purpose of just seeing the dungeon, trying it out, and seeing how far we get.
Trash pulls did not require us to do any CC. That being said some did require an interrupt. DBM gives you the big INTERRUPT NOW alerts, so it wasn't terribly difficult to get it done. Even when we did fail to interrupt, the damage done wasn't horrible and our healer handled it fine.
Lady Naz'jar
Right off the bat, this fight requires quite a bit more coordination than most Wrath bosses. When Lady Naz'jar casts the shield on herself, adds spawn. The adds don't hit particularly hard, but they should probably be tanked. Since we had 3 plate wearers in the group, we ended up just each tanking and DPS down our own adds. It was a bit chaotic, but everyone just kind of handled it. We one shot her, and got an upgrade for our healer.
Commander Ulthok
This boss wasn't too difficult. His big mechanic is that he pulls one of the party, holds them up in the air ( but the member can still cast) then slams them into the ground for a bunch of damage. We got through that by popping any kind of damage preventing cooldown ( mine was bubble ) before being slammed. The Slam hits hard but its not 1-shotting. We downed this boss in 1 shot as well.
Erunak Stonespeaker & Mindbender Ghur'sha
Erunak has probably the most interesting, and in my opinion is the most challenging boss in the instance. Its mostly tank and spank until Ghur'sha, which is an Aliens-style facehugger thing, lets Erunak go and finds a new host. That new host is one of the party members. When one of the members is mind controlled, they are CC'able. We took a hybrid stun, kill them, strategy. To be honest we just started killing anything we could before we figured out that we were actually killing a teammate.
Our healer actually OOM'd on this fight, will all the crazy damage, and the length of time we were fighting. Eventually she called for someone else to spot heal, and I started throwing out heals to help her catch up. We lost 2 members but we were able to down the boss. Very fun.
Ozumat
This is actually a multi-phase fight. The first phase you are defending Neptulon a'la the dragon fight in ICC. Tank and DPS took care of the adds that try to start attacking Neptulon. Our tank picked up the bigger guys while DPS usually just took care of the small adds, then helped finish off the bigger ones. This sounds very organized but really it was just a chaotic melee of death dealing. At some point Neptulon casts a spell that makes everyone HUGE. You then fight Ozumat, which is an octopus thats sticking to the side of the room, from the outside. Pretty crazy. At this point it was basically tank and spank, don't stand in fire idea. We downed him pretty quickly too.
Thoroughly enjoyed this dungeon, look forward to running it again.
We actually ended up 4-manning this dungeon. Our healer had to leave so I switched to healing. We really just wanted to discover the dungeon so that we could queue for it in the dungeon finder. Once we were there we said why not and 4-manned it. We actually downed the 3rd boss with just 4 people, where we called it for the night. That being said, we died ALOT in this dungeon, mainly because we were trying things out and in general gooffing off quite a bit more.
Rom'ogg Bonecrusher
Pretty easy fight, though we did wipe 3 times. Its tank and spank until he brings everyone in and casts Chains of Woe. At that point EVERYONE has to target the inner ring ( it'll be right next to you) that links the rings together and DPS them down. Because we were 4-manning it and were already low on DPS, this was trickier than it should have bene. Also after killing the chains, everyone needs to RUN OUT of where the chains are, before he casts The Skullcrusher, which insta-wipes the party.
Corla, Heral of Twillight
The interesting mechanic of this fight is a simplified version of Netherspite from Karazhan. She spawns with 2 adds, there are beams of light going to those adds. The beams stack a buff on the adds that goes up to 100. Once it reaches 100, they turn into Evolved Dragon things and go around hitting everyone. The point of it is that party members have to take turns breaking the beams and keeping the adds from reaching 100 stacks. The members also have to worry about making sure they let the stacks fall off when they're not in the beams or else they will turn into dragon things and be mind controlled. The dragon things can still be CC'd.
We first tried splitting the tank and melee dps taking turns interrupting one beam, while the healer and the range DPS take turns interrupting the other beam. It worked ok, but we couldn't find the right balance of being in the beam, and being out of the beam to let the stacks fall off. On our last try, the ranged add turned into a dragon thing and the tank just picked it up. The four of us then focused on making sure the other add didn't get a 100 stacks. I think this strategy might be the best for PUGs, as its less complicated, with more margin for error. In heroic I'm not sure it'll be an option because I'm sure the adds will hit much harder.
Karsh Steelbender
This fight is actually pretty easy if done SLOWLY, and extremely difficult if done too quickly. The big mechanic is that the tank has to put the boss inside this lava flow, in order to make it damage-able. But while its in the lava, everyone takes alot of damage every second. The trick is to put the boss in the laval for 3-4 seconds and then pull him out and let the healer catch up on healing. It makes the fight slower, but infinitely easier than just leaving it in and healing/dpsing through it.
At this point we called it a night.
Impressions
The dungeons were awesome. The bosses are much more involved, and generally take much more coordination to down. I can see almost any of these bosses be group killers in a completely random PUG. Specially in PUGs that are used to the AOEfest of Wrath. We did pretty well considering we didn't prepare for the fights. But also, we were on Ventrillo, which helped with calling out things in an emergency. Also this particular group has played together in varying degrees since 2007, so they're pretty used to each other. All in all I can't wait to run more of these, and see how the raids are.
I'm not going to go into detail about which bosses do what, because there are already guides that do a much better job of it. I will give you my impressions though.
We went into the dungeon with the following compilation: Prot Pally, Frost Death Knight, Shadow Priest, Ret Pally(me) and Resto Shaman healing. This wasn't planned or anything, it just happened to be the mains of the people that were willing and inclined to run the dungeon. Also, the prot pally and frost DK are main spec tanks, and the other three of us are main spec healers. My personal DPS was complete and utter shiet. I don't know if there' something fundamentally wrong with ret dps, or if the problem was the chump at the keyboard, but I was pulling low 4k DPS. This is in full vendor T10, some Naxx25 pieces, and a few Cataclysm quest greens. The Shadow priest was similarly geared, and pulling about the same DPS. The Death Knight was putting out 8K DPS. We were all about level 81 or so ( though a lot of us had forgotten to train up our 81 abilities ).
We went into the dungeons NOT having read up on strategy or anything. The most preperation we had was the tank watching a video from the beta, once, a month ago. We went in with the purpose of just seeing the dungeon, trying it out, and seeing how far we get.
Throne of the Tides
Trash pulls did not require us to do any CC. That being said some did require an interrupt. DBM gives you the big INTERRUPT NOW alerts, so it wasn't terribly difficult to get it done. Even when we did fail to interrupt, the damage done wasn't horrible and our healer handled it fine.
Lady Naz'jar
Right off the bat, this fight requires quite a bit more coordination than most Wrath bosses. When Lady Naz'jar casts the shield on herself, adds spawn. The adds don't hit particularly hard, but they should probably be tanked. Since we had 3 plate wearers in the group, we ended up just each tanking and DPS down our own adds. It was a bit chaotic, but everyone just kind of handled it. We one shot her, and got an upgrade for our healer.
Commander Ulthok
This boss wasn't too difficult. His big mechanic is that he pulls one of the party, holds them up in the air ( but the member can still cast) then slams them into the ground for a bunch of damage. We got through that by popping any kind of damage preventing cooldown ( mine was bubble ) before being slammed. The Slam hits hard but its not 1-shotting. We downed this boss in 1 shot as well.
Erunak Stonespeaker & Mindbender Ghur'sha
Erunak has probably the most interesting, and in my opinion is the most challenging boss in the instance. Its mostly tank and spank until Ghur'sha, which is an Aliens-style facehugger thing, lets Erunak go and finds a new host. That new host is one of the party members. When one of the members is mind controlled, they are CC'able. We took a hybrid stun, kill them, strategy. To be honest we just started killing anything we could before we figured out that we were actually killing a teammate.
Our healer actually OOM'd on this fight, will all the crazy damage, and the length of time we were fighting. Eventually she called for someone else to spot heal, and I started throwing out heals to help her catch up. We lost 2 members but we were able to down the boss. Very fun.
Ozumat
This is actually a multi-phase fight. The first phase you are defending Neptulon a'la the dragon fight in ICC. Tank and DPS took care of the adds that try to start attacking Neptulon. Our tank picked up the bigger guys while DPS usually just took care of the small adds, then helped finish off the bigger ones. This sounds very organized but really it was just a chaotic melee of death dealing. At some point Neptulon casts a spell that makes everyone HUGE. You then fight Ozumat, which is an octopus thats sticking to the side of the room, from the outside. Pretty crazy. At this point it was basically tank and spank, don't stand in fire idea. We downed him pretty quickly too.
Thoroughly enjoyed this dungeon, look forward to running it again.
Blackrock Cavern
We actually ended up 4-manning this dungeon. Our healer had to leave so I switched to healing. We really just wanted to discover the dungeon so that we could queue for it in the dungeon finder. Once we were there we said why not and 4-manned it. We actually downed the 3rd boss with just 4 people, where we called it for the night. That being said, we died ALOT in this dungeon, mainly because we were trying things out and in general gooffing off quite a bit more.
Rom'ogg Bonecrusher
Pretty easy fight, though we did wipe 3 times. Its tank and spank until he brings everyone in and casts Chains of Woe. At that point EVERYONE has to target the inner ring ( it'll be right next to you) that links the rings together and DPS them down. Because we were 4-manning it and were already low on DPS, this was trickier than it should have bene. Also after killing the chains, everyone needs to RUN OUT of where the chains are, before he casts The Skullcrusher, which insta-wipes the party.
Corla, Heral of Twillight
The interesting mechanic of this fight is a simplified version of Netherspite from Karazhan. She spawns with 2 adds, there are beams of light going to those adds. The beams stack a buff on the adds that goes up to 100. Once it reaches 100, they turn into Evolved Dragon things and go around hitting everyone. The point of it is that party members have to take turns breaking the beams and keeping the adds from reaching 100 stacks. The members also have to worry about making sure they let the stacks fall off when they're not in the beams or else they will turn into dragon things and be mind controlled. The dragon things can still be CC'd.
We first tried splitting the tank and melee dps taking turns interrupting one beam, while the healer and the range DPS take turns interrupting the other beam. It worked ok, but we couldn't find the right balance of being in the beam, and being out of the beam to let the stacks fall off. On our last try, the ranged add turned into a dragon thing and the tank just picked it up. The four of us then focused on making sure the other add didn't get a 100 stacks. I think this strategy might be the best for PUGs, as its less complicated, with more margin for error. In heroic I'm not sure it'll be an option because I'm sure the adds will hit much harder.
Karsh Steelbender
This fight is actually pretty easy if done SLOWLY, and extremely difficult if done too quickly. The big mechanic is that the tank has to put the boss inside this lava flow, in order to make it damage-able. But while its in the lava, everyone takes alot of damage every second. The trick is to put the boss in the laval for 3-4 seconds and then pull him out and let the healer catch up on healing. It makes the fight slower, but infinitely easier than just leaving it in and healing/dpsing through it.
At this point we called it a night.
Impressions
The dungeons were awesome. The bosses are much more involved, and generally take much more coordination to down. I can see almost any of these bosses be group killers in a completely random PUG. Specially in PUGs that are used to the AOEfest of Wrath. We did pretty well considering we didn't prepare for the fights. But also, we were on Ventrillo, which helped with calling out things in an emergency. Also this particular group has played together in varying degrees since 2007, so they're pretty used to each other. All in all I can't wait to run more of these, and see how the raids are.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
[WoW] Cataclysm First Thoughts
WoW. Vashji'r is pretty amazing. The zones are very vibrant, and the story is pretty compelling so far. I haven't actually read quest text since the release of Wrath ( and even then after Grizzly Hill I stopped reading). This is the frst major high level questing I've done Horde side, and it certainly has a different tone than I remember from questing Alliance. I don't know if thats more because of the expansion or something inherent in the way Horde quests are. I guess I'll find out when I take one of my alliacen toons through Vashji'r also.
Mobs:
The mobs are much heartier than Wrath mobs, by a lot. They hit harder and have much more HP. Take this example, while doing daillies in Icecrown for the Argent Tournament, Hooff had to kill those Twillight Disciples ( or equivalent). Hooff almost always two shot, and at times one-shot those mobs. In Vashji'r Hooff will get through the rotation at least twice before the mob goes down. get 3-4 of the mobs together and I actually have to pay attention and heal myself. A few times I've had to bubble to keep from dying. To be honest, I'm liking it. It really makes you feel like you're going somewhere savage, seeing the change in the mobs.
Professions:
I actually missed out on quite a few skillups because I mistakenly went to Vashji'r BEFORE training up my professions to Illustrious. After hearthing back to Orgrimmar to train my professions I've been keeping an eye out for herbs, as well as skinning anything I can. An unfortunate change is that turning scraps of savage leather into a whole piece of leather now requires a leatherworking ( as opposed to wrath where scraps of borean leather could be combined by anyone).
I'm also selling anything and everything from Vashji'r I can. Learning from my mistakes in Wrath, I'm not stockpiling anything. The thing that seems to sell the best so far is the Embersilk ( Cata equivalent of Frostweave ) cloth. Any and all cloth I put on the AH is snapped up within 5 minutes. The herbs I've gathered are also fetching a pretty penny, though much slower. In Wrath I hoarded everything, so that I would have something to use later. This time I'm going to simply sell everything while the prices are high. Then in a week or two I'll get what I need off the AH for much less, to level whatever professions I want to level.
Gear:
Estimates from WoWInsider said that epic (ilvl 254 ish ) gear should last you well into level 82-83. Either my gear was substandard ( Hooff is in full T10 for Ret, and T9 for Holy ), or their estimates were way off. I've already replaced 3-4 pieces of gear from green quest rewards. It hurts a little to replace a hard one epic with a quest green, but the sheer crazyness of the stats softens the blow a bit.
Ganking:
Since transferring to a PVP server, I've wondered when I would encounter this mythical ganking everyone has been talking about. Up to now I hadn't really been affected by it. Once or twice I would get killed randomly by a passing Alliance on one of my baby triplet casters, but they were few and far between.
With the proximity Alliance and Horde toons were questing in Vashji'r, I was expecting quite a bit more ganking. I think it was the scenery, and the immersiveness of the quests but the factions tended to leave each other alone. At least in the beginning. In the first quest hub the only world PVP that happened was when one toon would use an AOE that would hit a nearby member of the opposing faction. The injured enemy would retaliate and one of them would die. They would rez and be on their merry way. This happened to me once or twice, sometimes it was my fault, sometimes not.
By the second or third quest hub, the PVP picked up a bit. There were actually one or two people working together to kill members of the opposing faction. Still, these didn't last long and people weren't inconvenienced in any major way.
I did find that I am truely horrible as PVP DPS. Part of this was because I tried to Bubble + Lay on Hands, which I found later is no longer possible. Lay on Hands causes, and checks for Forberance.
Other toons:
I did briefly log into my Alliance toons on my old server. I got each of the high level toons Azeroth flying ( 250g, a bargain). I spent a few minutes flying around Stormwind. Its amazing how expansive Stormwind really is. You can't really get a scope of it until you're flying over it. Overall it looks amazing.
I'm not sure when or if I'll ever really level my alliance toons. I'm sure I will eventually, but no idea about a time frame. As for if I'll transfer another character, I'm not sure on that either. I guess it'll depend on how well the guild holds up to raiding. I don't want to transfer a toon and have the guild dry up.
Conclusion
So far I'm really enjoying the story, and taking it slower than I did in Wrath. Hooff is a quarter of a bubble away from level 81, but I was too tired last night "power through it".
Friday, December 03, 2010
[WoW] How To: Cross the Greate Divide
Crossing the Great Divide
If anyone is still wondering how to cross the Great Divide between Northern and Southern Barrens, this is how I did it (assumming you can't fly accross because you have no FPs down there). As Horde, I rode down from Durotar to Ratchet. In Ratchet, I went southwest, around the coast. You'll have to got through some Alliance controlled encapments, but they're pretty easy if your level 30+. If you're less than 30 then its probably not a good idea to be heading down to Southern Barrens as a Horde. I followed this route until I crossed the divide and then high tailed it to the nearest Horde FP, so as to never have to do it again.
[WoW IC] Nuiitari Origin
Adventurer's Log, Journeyman Warlock, Nuiitari
Day 37
Well I arrived in Silvermoon yesterday. Luni came to meet me at the gates. Its a good thing I dismissed Jhuutom before I was in sight of the gate. He was not happy about that, but he's bound to my will, whether he likes it or not. Of course that doesn't prevent him from fighting it. I'm still getting used to asserting my dominion over this new demon, I only first summoned him a week ago. In fact I'm still getting used to controlling all the demons. The Imp is the most annoying, I think he's incapable of shutting up. The voidwalker has been the most... subdued. He's quiet and does as he's told, though I still have to be on my guard, lest I become the minion. The Felguard, Jhuutom or Jhu for short is my newest demon. The Warlock that trained me in summoning him mentioned that its only recently that they've found a way to enable Journeymen Warlocks to summon demon as powerful as a Felguard. Previously you had to be at least an Artisan Warlock to be able to summon such a demon. As the price paid for summoning a felguard at this level, the demon itself is weakend quite a bit. But I was assured that as my power grew, so would all my demons.
It seems strange to write those words now. Just hardly two months ago I was studying to be a Blood Mage back in Sunstrider Isle. That all changed when in a fit of rage, I unconciously summoned . That was startiling to say the least, for the both of us. It was a good thing we were in a semi-deserted courtyard, or else there would have been quite a bit of damage. Magus Sunstriker sheeped the Imp, then blinked away. She blink back again a few seconds later, with Summoner Teli'Larien in tow. Magus Sunstriker removed the sheep spell and Summoner Teli'Larien cast some sort of control spell on the demon, and banished it. Teli'Larien looked at me for a second, nodded to Sunstriker and walked towards her office. Magus Sunstriker motioned for me to follow them, quickly.
The Magus and the Summoner then explained to me that I had a natural connection to the twisting nether. Having an untrained magic-user summon a demon fully, is very rare. Thats when they asked me if I would consider becoming a Warlock. I'd never considered being a Warlock. In idle conversation, Warlocks were regarded as Magi who couldn't resist the temptation of the arcane, and delved too deeply in the darker arts of shadow.
Summoner Teli'Larien said that while Warlocks are more plentiful now than in days past, there are still far fewer Warlocks than Magi. Warlocks are no longer merely fallen Magi, there are students who choose to train to become a Warlock from the start. She did caution me that the way of the Warlock is both thankless, and not for the weak willed. The only thing keeping your dominion over the demons is your force of will. Not only do you have to keep dominion over a demon at all times, you have to keep dominion over 5, at the same time.
The one question I asked her was, is a Warlock inherently more powerful than a Mage. Summoner Teli'Larien cracked a crooked smile and simply replied "No, we're just meaner".
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
[WoW IC] Shadow
Log of Expert level Priest, Solinari
Day 34
It took me a few days, but I recovered from my little ordeal in Tarren Mill. Rather than shatter my will, I think it has steeled it. I've redoubled my efforts into becoming more powerful. One day I hope to meet that Death Knight again, I won't be as lenient as that Blood Knight.
To that end, I've decided that I need to embrace both aspects of what it means to be a Priest. All my life I had dedicated to healing, and the ways of the Light. Even when protecting myself, I used the blinding aura of Light to intimidate, and when necessary, punish those who would do me harm. With what happened to me at Tarren Mill, I've discovered that while power from the Light is potent for healing, they are simply not meant to hurt. To truely be effective at slaying the evils in Azeroth, I would need to turn to more dark arts.
I made my way to Lady Balestra in Silvermoon, to inquire for training in the ways of Shadow. She didn't seem surprised at my inquiry, I guess in these dark times more followers of the light are looking at effective ways to fight back. She mentioned that there is a way to follow two avenues of the light at the same time, but it takes special training. It also doesn't mean that I will be equally powerful in both aspects, the training would simply allow me to switch which aspects becomes more powerful, after some meditation.
Lady Balestra directed me to Master Aldrae, possibly the most powerful Priest trainer in Silvermoon. He started my training to allow me to switch aspects. The training itself wasn't terribly difficult, though Master Aldrae seemed surprised that I was able to get through it so quickly. We were finished within a few days. Master Aldrae then directed me to Orgrimmar, to study under a Dark Cleric Cecille. He said she would be able to teach me all about being a Shadow Priest.
Shadow Training
Going to see Dark Cleric Cecille was a mixed blessing. I was glad that she was located in Orgrimmar, and not in the Undercity. I was relieved to know that I wouldn't have to spend any more time in Undercity than absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, getting to Orgrimmar involves going through Undercity, plus the Dark Cleric is a Forsaken ( figures ), so it would still be a constant reminder (plus the smell).
Tomorrow I set off for Orgrimmar to start the training. The trip should be quicker because of the extra training I've received in riding. Strut ( my hawkstrider ) received some new armor as well, so he's in fine form.
I've decided NOT to tell Luni about my decision and training. She thinks I'm just going back to adventuring, like before. She's already worried about Nuitarri. Her worry has kept her pre-occupied so I haven't had to lie per-se, but I don't like keeping secrets from her. She doesn't like anything to do with the Arcane, let alone Shadow teachings. I guess she can't help it. I've heard its drilled from the very first day of magecraft to be wary of the Arcane arts, since they so often lead to Shadow magic. Shadow magic being so addictive, many a magii have fallen under its spell never to be the same again. Luni still hasn't told me exactly what happened to Nuitarri, and why she isn't here yet. Maybe on my way to Orgrimmar I'll inquire with a Magii to see if I can find anything.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
[WoW] 4.0.3a The Shattering thoughts
I would love to say that the most memorable part of my first night playing after the shattering was the new vistas, or the new classes, or even seeing Deathwing ( which I haven't yet ).
But no, the most memorable part was feeling like a noob.
The biggest contributing factor to this was that I could not figure out how to get anywhere. I was logged into my Solinari, and trying to make my way down to Duskwallow March , on orders from Warchief GARROSH *grumble grumble*. I made my way ( on the regular, non-epic ground mount), through Durotar and over to Northern Barrens. Passed through Crossroads and ended up at the "Great Divide". I followed the divide looking for a way to cross. Asking in chat yielded the usual "Lol jump" answers. Wowhead for once was no help. Someone suggested I fly over, which would be fine if I had any flight paths down there. I made my way over to Ratchet and decided to fly to Thunderbluff and run east to the barrens from there.
After arriving in Thunderbluff, I rode out to Mulgore. Unfortunately the entrance to the barrens from Mulgore now has a huge gate, aptly named "The Great Gate". I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to get through it. Frustrated I flew back to Ratchet. I then made my way across the coast and finally made it down past the divide and into Duskwallow Marsh. By then I was too tired to quest, so decided to just level my cooking on my alliance toons.
Sweet potato portion of the cooking, I could not figure out where the Pilgrim's Bounty setup was in darnassus. I thought that since every other city had it outside the city walls, then it should be in Rutheran Village. It was not, someone on Trade said it was at the Exodar. I flew over there, but it wasn't. I could not figure out how to fly back, simply because the flight point had been moved. The hyppogriphs were in the same place, but the flight master was gone. After 15 minutes, someone told me it was INSIDE the exodar now. Of course I should have remembered, since I FLEW INTO Exodar. By this point I was annoyed and just logged off.
Granted quite a few of these were my fault, but it reminds you how annoying getting around was before the Shattrah/Dalaran portals. For high level toons, its not as big of an annoyance, mainly because they already have most of the flight paths. But for people re-running alts, its a major headache. Not that I'm suggesting its a bad move, just something we have to get used to.
Its true though, it does make the world feel bigger, just because you have to run through more of it.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
[WoW] Title to Level
In the stories I try to write, there's really no concept of "level". I can't say in character that I've leveled up or reached a new level. Usually you just say less/more powerful. So I think I've come up with a simple way to express the levels, in a way that people can relate to. I've made a mapping between the profession levels and class levels.
In Wrath, the highest profession skill you can attain is 450. When you start a proffession, you begin at level 1. There are currently 6 proffession levels you train for as you progress: Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master and Grand Master ( Cataclysm is introducing Illustrious Grand Master). I've broken up the 80 levels, into these "titles".
Apprentice 1 - 14
Journeyman 15 - 29
Expert 30 - 44
Artisan 45 - 60
Master 61 - 70
Grand Master 71 - 80
Illustrious 81 - 85
Master, Grand Master and Illustrious corresponds to the levels added when that skill as activated. The other 4 levels were divided between the 60 levels in Vanilla. This will mean I'll have to retcon some of my old stories, since Lunitari and Nuitari are still considered Apprentice Magic Users, and Solinari is now an Expert Priest. I'll have to find a way to explain an "Expert" Priest, but that should be fun.
In Wrath, the highest profession skill you can attain is 450. When you start a proffession, you begin at level 1. There are currently 6 proffession levels you train for as you progress: Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master and Grand Master ( Cataclysm is introducing Illustrious Grand Master). I've broken up the 80 levels, into these "titles".
Apprentice 1 - 14
Journeyman 15 - 29
Expert 30 - 44
Artisan 45 - 60
Master 61 - 70
Grand Master 71 - 80
Illustrious 81 - 85
Master, Grand Master and Illustrious corresponds to the levels added when that skill as activated. The other 4 levels were divided between the 60 levels in Vanilla. This will mean I'll have to retcon some of my old stories, since Lunitari and Nuitari are still considered Apprentice Magic Users, and Solinari is now an Expert Priest. I'll have to find a way to explain an "Expert" Priest, but that should be fun.
Friday, November 19, 2010
[WoW IC] Unexpected help
Adventurer Log, Solinari, Priest.
Day 15
Spent some time in the Undercity today. Wow, that place was a bit terrifying. There were body parts everywhere, not to mention falling off some of the inhabitants. I think the worst part was the smell, I'm still trying to get it out of my robes. I stayed in Undercity only as long as absolutely needed before venturing to Tarren Mill.
At Tarren Mill I had my first taste of Alliance "hospitality". I was hired by the inn keeper at Tarren Mill to gather some herbs and hunt for some meat. Not the most prestigious instructions, but coin is coin. I was just returning with the meat and herbs when I heard a commotion outside the inn. Outside was an Alliance death knight! The death knight was not in a particularly good mood, judging from the way he was coming after the Forsaken, he seemed rather grumpy. I guess he hasn't quite figured out the difference between Scourge and Forsaken. Strange for a Death Knight to not know the difference, but maybe he just didn't care?
Before today, I'd never actually SEEN a Death Knight before, only descriptions and accounts from survivors of the fall of Silvermoon. They're quite a bit more intimidating in person. In fact they're very intimidating when they're barreling at you on a deathcharger while the guards are 2 strides behind him and losing ground. For a second I considered getting onto my hawkstrider and making a run for it, but from the pace his deathcharger was going, I wouldn't have gotten far.
By instinct alone I cast my go-to protective spell, "Shield" on myself. I knew that the shield would protect me as well as some dried leaves but it was purely instinct at this point. The shield materialized, which looked about as imposing as the dried leaves I mentioned before. At this point I steeled my nerves and willed myself not to look away. If I'm going to die, I'm gonna die facing my opponnent, not cowering away. Before my eyes could shut out the actual blow, I did notice that my shield became much more opaque. For a split second I stood there, waiting for the flash of pain and darkness, but none came. Instead a dull POP was all I heard. Opening my eyes, I saw the death knight's rune blade arching once again for my head. The blade simply deflected as if it had hit pure stone. The death knight himself had a confused look on his face, probably the mirror of my own confusion. The death knight's head shifted ever so slightly over my right shoulder and he took a reactive step backwards.
I turned my head to see what could possibly enlisit such a reaction from a death knight. Behind me was, a Blood Knight. This was no journeyman blood knight, judging by the armor he was wearing, and the way he stood, this was a grizzled veteran. His left hand was extended after having cast a Blessing of Protection ( thus saving me ). In his other hand was the hilt of a huge black battle axe. The axe itself glowed, and seemed to actually BLEED. With the cowel of his helm over his face, he looked like the epitome of a golden warrior out for blood.
This image was not lost on the death knight as he took another step backwards. By then the forsaken guards had closed in and were preparing to deliver their own attack on the death knight. With surprising speed the deathknight leaped to get back on his deathcharger and rode away from the forssaken guards. With the speed of the mount he was able to start putting distance between himself and the forsaken, but not before a few arrows could ding his armor.
When I tured back to thank my savior, he was gone. I caught a brief glimpse of him as he rode off on his own red and gold charger, going the opposite direction. After that turned in my herbs and meat, took the next bat back to Undercity, then headed back to Silvermoon. Usually I would have stayed in Tarren Mill to save on the fare, but all I wanted to be was back in the semi-familiar surroundings of Silvermoon.
Luni met me at the door to our little apartment in Silvermoon. We had dinner, and I told her about the experience. She seemed more frightened than I was. I tend to forget that Luni hasn't been outside the Silvermoon walls yet, so in many ways she's more sheltered than I. I think I'm going to stay in Silvermoon a few days, let me get myself back together.
Day 15
Spent some time in the Undercity today. Wow, that place was a bit terrifying. There were body parts everywhere, not to mention falling off some of the inhabitants. I think the worst part was the smell, I'm still trying to get it out of my robes. I stayed in Undercity only as long as absolutely needed before venturing to Tarren Mill.
At Tarren Mill I had my first taste of Alliance "hospitality". I was hired by the inn keeper at Tarren Mill to gather some herbs and hunt for some meat. Not the most prestigious instructions, but coin is coin. I was just returning with the meat and herbs when I heard a commotion outside the inn. Outside was an Alliance death knight! The death knight was not in a particularly good mood, judging from the way he was coming after the Forsaken, he seemed rather grumpy. I guess he hasn't quite figured out the difference between Scourge and Forsaken. Strange for a Death Knight to not know the difference, but maybe he just didn't care?
Before today, I'd never actually SEEN a Death Knight before, only descriptions and accounts from survivors of the fall of Silvermoon. They're quite a bit more intimidating in person. In fact they're very intimidating when they're barreling at you on a deathcharger while the guards are 2 strides behind him and losing ground. For a second I considered getting onto my hawkstrider and making a run for it, but from the pace his deathcharger was going, I wouldn't have gotten far.
By instinct alone I cast my go-to protective spell, "Shield" on myself. I knew that the shield would protect me as well as some dried leaves but it was purely instinct at this point. The shield materialized, which looked about as imposing as the dried leaves I mentioned before. At this point I steeled my nerves and willed myself not to look away. If I'm going to die, I'm gonna die facing my opponnent, not cowering away. Before my eyes could shut out the actual blow, I did notice that my shield became much more opaque. For a split second I stood there, waiting for the flash of pain and darkness, but none came. Instead a dull POP was all I heard. Opening my eyes, I saw the death knight's rune blade arching once again for my head. The blade simply deflected as if it had hit pure stone. The death knight himself had a confused look on his face, probably the mirror of my own confusion. The death knight's head shifted ever so slightly over my right shoulder and he took a reactive step backwards.
I turned my head to see what could possibly enlisit such a reaction from a death knight. Behind me was, a Blood Knight. This was no journeyman blood knight, judging by the armor he was wearing, and the way he stood, this was a grizzled veteran. His left hand was extended after having cast a Blessing of Protection ( thus saving me ). In his other hand was the hilt of a huge black battle axe. The axe itself glowed, and seemed to actually BLEED. With the cowel of his helm over his face, he looked like the epitome of a golden warrior out for blood.
This image was not lost on the death knight as he took another step backwards. By then the forsaken guards had closed in and were preparing to deliver their own attack on the death knight. With surprising speed the deathknight leaped to get back on his deathcharger and rode away from the forssaken guards. With the speed of the mount he was able to start putting distance between himself and the forsaken, but not before a few arrows could ding his armor.
When I tured back to thank my savior, he was gone. I caught a brief glimpse of him as he rode off on his own red and gold charger, going the opposite direction. After that turned in my herbs and meat, took the next bat back to Undercity, then headed back to Silvermoon. Usually I would have stayed in Tarren Mill to save on the fare, but all I wanted to be was back in the semi-familiar surroundings of Silvermoon.
Luni met me at the door to our little apartment in Silvermoon. We had dinner, and I told her about the experience. She seemed more frightened than I was. I tend to forget that Luni hasn't been outside the Silvermoon walls yet, so in many ways she's more sheltered than I. I think I'm going to stay in Silvermoon a few days, let me get myself back together.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
[WoW IC] Lunitari
Excerpt from the log of Lunitari, Apprentice Blood Mage...
Day 2, Apprentice Mage Log
I left Sunstrider Isle mid-morning yesterday. Currently staying in an inn on the west side of the Ruins of Silvermoon. They've blocked off the East side of the city, no access from this side to the next. Some of the guards mentioned that in order to gain access to the city, adventurers have to cross the dead scar farther down south. They are able to provide protection up to the dead scar, and from the dead scar into Silvermoon proper, but not inside the dead scar.
It took me longer to get here than it should because I stopped to help a few folks out on the road. With the state of the land and everything, we need to really stick together. Also, they were paying some good coin, and my purse is very light. I've saved about 10 silver up to this point. Not a lot, but certainly more than I've ever had at one time. There was no real need for coin at the Mage school, most of our needs were provided for by the school.
Spellcasting has gotten easier with time, I think I'm getting more and more used to the arcane energies. Casting a fireball has become almost second nature now, though i'm embarrased to admit that I occasionally still singe my robes in the attempt. Magister Erona mentioned that as my proficiency with spells increases, I will need to train with more experienced Blood Mages.
I'm told that in the near future I'll have to pick a school of magic to specialization into. I heard about this specialization in mage school as well, but I haven't decided which specializatoin to pick.
From my understanding Fire is the most popular, because of the sheer power of the spells. Unfortunately I've also heard its the most taxing, exacting a heavy toll on the bodies and minds of its practitioners. But for those interested in sheer destructive power, its an attractive school.
Frost is another popular spec, almost being the polar opposite of the Fire specialization. This seems a more controlled specialization, using elemental ice. One of the Magisters at the school gave a demonstration where they could incase both their enemy and themselves in solid blocks of ice!
There's also the third specialization, Arcane. This is a dangerous specialization, especially for Blood Mages. With the Sunwell restored its less of an issue, but you still have to be careful. Delving too much into the Arcane puts us dangerously close to letting the addiction take control. Personally I've never considered this specialization, but I know some who have. Including some that have taken an almost too keen interest in it.
Day 2, Apprentice Mage Log
I left Sunstrider Isle mid-morning yesterday. Currently staying in an inn on the west side of the Ruins of Silvermoon. They've blocked off the East side of the city, no access from this side to the next. Some of the guards mentioned that in order to gain access to the city, adventurers have to cross the dead scar farther down south. They are able to provide protection up to the dead scar, and from the dead scar into Silvermoon proper, but not inside the dead scar.
It took me longer to get here than it should because I stopped to help a few folks out on the road. With the state of the land and everything, we need to really stick together. Also, they were paying some good coin, and my purse is very light. I've saved about 10 silver up to this point. Not a lot, but certainly more than I've ever had at one time. There was no real need for coin at the Mage school, most of our needs were provided for by the school.
Spellcasting has gotten easier with time, I think I'm getting more and more used to the arcane energies. Casting a fireball has become almost second nature now, though i'm embarrased to admit that I occasionally still singe my robes in the attempt. Magister Erona mentioned that as my proficiency with spells increases, I will need to train with more experienced Blood Mages.
I'm told that in the near future I'll have to pick a school of magic to specialization into. I heard about this specialization in mage school as well, but I haven't decided which specializatoin to pick.
From my understanding Fire is the most popular, because of the sheer power of the spells. Unfortunately I've also heard its the most taxing, exacting a heavy toll on the bodies and minds of its practitioners. But for those interested in sheer destructive power, its an attractive school.
Frost is another popular spec, almost being the polar opposite of the Fire specialization. This seems a more controlled specialization, using elemental ice. One of the Magisters at the school gave a demonstration where they could incase both their enemy and themselves in solid blocks of ice!
There's also the third specialization, Arcane. This is a dangerous specialization, especially for Blood Mages. With the Sunwell restored its less of an issue, but you still have to be careful. Delving too much into the Arcane puts us dangerously close to letting the addiction take control. Personally I've never considered this specialization, but I know some who have. Including some that have taken an almost too keen interest in it.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
[WoW] Update
I'm still working on an in character introduction of what happened to Hooff, and whats going on, but thats taking a while. For once I have a lot of ideas and am having trouble getting from ideas -> story. Usually I have no ideas... and thats what makes me have trouble writing a story.
Here is the down and dirty update.
I've gone Horde.
My old Sinister Blades gang reformed on another server and went Horde. Unlike the other times they've tried to form, we seem to have reached critical mass, and fusion has started. I made a priest alt on the server to see how things were and found that I really missed being in a tight-knit guild. So I bit the sword and server transfered, and faction changed Hooff. Hooff is now a Blood Elf Paladin. Its weird seeing everything from the other side.
I've had to try to work Hooff's server transfer into the story. I think it'll work well, though I don't know if I'll have enough material to keep both the Alliance-side and Horde-side stories going.
Speaking of Horde side, downed all the way to Sindragosa 10-man normal on their first night of raiding. I wasn't able to join them but I was able to join then for night #2. We spent the whole night wiping on Sindy. We got her down to 20-12%, a few times down to 9%. The night of wiping was fun. Its been a long time since I've had to watch my mana, make sure my positioning is good, heck its been a while since I've had to learn strategy. I'm sure we'll be able to get Sindragosa down eventually, just need more practice and maybe tune up our strategy a little. It seems like the tank dies whenever I'm not spamming heals. During phase 3 I have to duck behind an Ice Block or else I will die from Buffet Magic stacks, this is usually when the main tank dies.
Here is the down and dirty update.
I've gone Horde.
My old Sinister Blades gang reformed on another server and went Horde. Unlike the other times they've tried to form, we seem to have reached critical mass, and fusion has started. I made a priest alt on the server to see how things were and found that I really missed being in a tight-knit guild. So I bit the sword and server transfered, and faction changed Hooff. Hooff is now a Blood Elf Paladin. Its weird seeing everything from the other side.
I've had to try to work Hooff's server transfer into the story. I think it'll work well, though I don't know if I'll have enough material to keep both the Alliance-side and Horde-side stories going.
Speaking of Horde side,
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