Pardon My Excitement

With our pull count in the neighborhood of 190, after 7 raid weeks working on Heroic Ragnaros, we saw Phase 4 with more than a handful of people alive. I remembered to grab a snapshot during a quiet moment. Here I am, with 19 living guildmates:

Sorry, Scoody. We're out of resurrections.

It was a beautiful moment, filled with fire and way too many meteors. But most of us were there!

For almost a whole minute…

Well, that didn't last long.

4.3 is on the horizon, so we’re in a bit of a race. Let’s do it again next week, eh?

Random, possibly helpful, raid tip #3

We all know Paladins are hybrids. Yeah, yeah. We may have even encountered that rare breed of blockhead who asks if you can heal yourself while tanking. Tell him, “Of course, but only OS3D 25man.” (Seriously)

But the best part about being a hybrid in Warcraft are those little-used spells from the Prot and Ret trees. This time I am talking specifically about our two taunts: Hand of Reckoning and Righteous Defense. Do you have them keybound in your Holy spec? “Why,” you ask?

How about wipe prevention. Bubble then taunt a boss to buy your raid a few extra seconds. Even kiting the boss can buy more time than you ever could if you just stood there and healed. Keybinding lets you do this quickly, before the boss can eat even more of your raid.

But you came here for a real raid tip and not some last ditch desperation tactic. So, here are two great uses to match your two taunts:

1) Kiting the Animated Bone Warriors in Nefarian 10man. Your raid needs 3 healers anyway, so get out of your comfort zone, turn on Righteous Fury, and practice your taunt and kiting skills. This works for both modes, but be aware that Heroic adds hit very, very hard.

2) Lowering Cinderweb Spinners from the web in any version of Beth’tilac. Spinners do large spike damage with their Burning Acid attack, which can lead to overworked healers. On Heroic modes they will also cast Fiery Web Spin, which stuns a player for 25 seconds and can play havoc with your raid’s performance and/or drain healer mana cleansing a preventable debuff.

Spinners do laughable damage on the ground, so do your part and taunt them down as often as you can. You should always focus on your healing, but be aware that taunting them down can prevent a lot of damage and disruption to your raid for much less mana than the heals you would otherwise have to cast. On 10man, especially, you may be one of the few players with a taunt who doesn’t need to swap or re-imbue their weapon or change forms.

Notes For Any Other Class Learning to Paladin Heal

Complements of Zel, this is for all those hippies trying to figure out how to heal with a Paladin. Warning, the Cataclysm changes mean you’re going to need to use at least three buttons!

A (Somewhat) Different Approach to Baleroc Healing

Healer fights are an interesting, and relatively new, concept. Following Valithria Dreamwalker (Icecrown Citadel) and Chimaeron (Blackwing Descent) is Baleroc, the newest example of a healer fight and, in my opinion, the best so far. Rather than running a HPS race or spot healing everyone in a small window of time, Baleroc is a healing fight wearing a dress. A familiar, fleshy dress.

I heard Blizzard likes spikey tank damage...

My own 4.2 gear priority list

Maybe it is because tier 11 was the fastest pace of progress I’ve experienced or perhaps it is the outstanding look of tier 12 Paladin gear, but I took the time to make my own gear list for 4.2. I made this for myself and, thus, it prioritizes certain pieces so I’m not spending DKP unecessarily on minor upgrades.

Stat priorities

1. Spirit / Haste
2. Spirit / Crit
3. Spirit / Mastery
4. Haste / Crit
5. Haste / Mastery
6. Crit / Mastery

Tier 12

Completing a four piece tier set is a priority due to the excellent bonus. Happily, all 5 pieces of the Regalia of Immolation are decently itemized (no Mastery) but the chest looks like the best slot for off-set gear. UPDATE: Kurn does a great breakdown on the various four piece options here. She delves into the stat details and has some slightly different preferences for these and other pieces.

Who wouldn't want to look like this?

The worst thing to happen to Holy. Ever.

Since I’ve always felt left out of all the Paladin whining, I thought I’d offer my honest opinion on the 4.1 patch notes. Behold! The WORST THING TO HAPPEN TO HOLY PALADINS.

EVER:

Paladins

• Talent Specializations
  • Holy
    • Aura Mastery: This ability no longer increases the benefit granted by Crusader Aura.

Really, Blizz? Really?!

So I was dueling a Priest the other day…

… and I have no idea what spec he was running, but it wasn’t shadow. We were just herp derp’ing around at the stone before a Baradin Hold raid. I had the foresight to run my solo/questing spec, which is also what I use while looking really bad in some weekly 2s Arena. I lost the first 3 (4?) matches while I was figuring stuff out and before we gave up on the last match I was turning it into a real game. Between his Drain Mana and my aggressiveness I was usually near empty on mana and spending a lot of time under half health. What kept me in the game? Rebuke to lock him down a bit, Denounce for free dps, dirt cheap Holy Shock heals, Blessed Life for extra Holy Power, a self-Beacon with Tower of Radiance for even more Holy Power, and Word of Glory (often with only 1 or 2 charges). He could not believe I could be healing myself so well with basically no mana. I admit I felt a little Overpowered^tm!

Efficient direct heals have always been key to the Paladin style and, as much as Blizzard says they want to avoid overspecializing the classes into particular healing niches, they know nobody would appreciate copy-pasting the same toolkit across every spec. So I really appreciate the new Paladin experience and Blizzard’s experimentation with some new and unique mechanics.

Did I say ‘experiment’? Well, in case you haven’t been MPQ-diving or reading the fine print on the Holy talent panel, there’s been a little ‘b’ for ‘beta’ next to each version number since The Shattering. Posts like this and this in my feed reader provide confirmation. Doesn’t that just suck all kinds of *nasty and horrible things you don’t want near your face*? Sure this change by itself isn’t game breaking and I’m sure I’ll heal pretty well next week, but it’s all getting a little bizarre. This recent comment from Nathera, combined with the 4.0.6a change, reveals how unstable the entire Holy Power system is for healing. Blizzard doesn’t quite have a handle on it but, worst of all, it looks like their right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.

I enjoy Holy Power, but what was once a interesting and situationally powerful mechanic is slowly becoming a minor bump to healing output that only makes a difference in the long run. No matter how much crap I used to give my guild leader about padding with Judgement of Light, I’m not a meter whore and neither is any good healer. I play a Paladin because I save people and because, when it comes down to it, I’m one of the best at keeping that one special player alive; whether he’s the tank, the debuff target, or just “special”. Spending Holy Power for a little extra output just isn’t interesting or even very relevant to the way I play as a healer.

Realm-only Heroic Queue?

A caller brought this up on Episode 216 of The Instance (54:45): what if you had the option to restrict your random dungeon queue to only players from your server? The current system has lead to a loss of familiarity, if not camaraderie, with the rest of the players on our servers. It is absurdly easy to avoid most interaction with players you’re likely to encounter on a day to day basis.

There are many positive aspects to adding this feature. Meeting new people you’d want to group with again is at the top of the list. Since moving to Backrock my Friends list is basically empty.

There are also some ‘negative’ aspects to this feature, which necessarily follow the loss of anonymity. I was placed into a partially complete Stonecore with four players from the same guild on a different server. Ozruk, of course, was the next target. Following at least half a dozen wipes where the tank proved entirely incapable of avoiding Shatter, the GM shaman resurrected everyone on the other side of the boss. I understand this is one of the more difficult mechanics to deal with, but complaining in chat about Blizzard’s design is poor form for a guild leader. I am willing to cut the tank some slack, too, as it isn’t something I’ve had to learn (yet) and the mechanic is not at all forgiving.

What broke the run for me, however, was the pre-Azil trash packs. One pack was pulled and I nearly died; the tank and myself being the only two with aggro on the mobs. Then, following an interminable wait while I have to assume the tank was discussing boss strategy with his guild, both of the last two packs are pulled simultaneously with Azil. I believe the tank was dead (with heals and Hand of Sacrifice) before any mob was killed. I dropped group, for the first time ever finding myself in a dungeon run with players who seemed to be actively wasting my time.

The (largest) part of me that holds no grudges and wants to move forward quickly forgot their names, their guild, and their server. The rest of me is still offended more than 12 hours later that people would inflict themselves on others in this way. If they were on my server I would have more incentive to shame them. They would have more incentive to improve, or at least find a regular healer. As it stands they can continue to be horrible, anonymous players in a system where I roll the dice every time I click “Find Group”.

Next time? I’m taking notes and aiming for the Bee Pit.

Pre-Raid Gearing for Tier 11

I’ve only geared up to start raiding once before, but I wasn’t in a raiding guild leading into tier 7.  Once rolling in raids, keeping up is not supremely difficult after you’ve made that time commitment.  Getting on the train, however, is tough for me.  I find myself lacking motivation when it comes to daily quests and PuG’d Heroics.  I’m even more discouraged when a good sized portion of those dungeon groups meet failure (such as with adds on Corborus or a lagging tank on Ozruk).  As long as I might play on any given evening, I just don’t have as much fun or feel as motivated if I’m not there with a large group of people.  All of which is a long way of saying “I feel like I’m behind where I should be.”

I’m not going to freak out because I can never make my self play more or take more enjoyment out of the game.  It’s probably why it took me nearly two years to reach 60.  It feels odd, but honest, to say I enjoy a night’s worth of progression wipes much more than doing my dailies or healing Halls of Origination with four perfectly competent strangers.  Raiding just engages me on a completely different level and motivates me in many ways which happen not to including leveling or reputation and emblem grinding.  They must be done, however, if I’ve any hope of contributing effectively to any raid at the levels I know I can reach.

Update Your Armory Links!

Go go go, FFS, and such-forth!

It’s been about a month since old Armory links ceased functioning.  I don’t care what the fine print on WoWArmory.com’s disclaimer says, many goblins should be tossed into the fires of the Molten Core.  Whose goblins?  Yours if you haven’t updated all of your Armory links in your blog links and forum signatures!

It’s pretty simple, too:  http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/blackrock/yoseketh/

Realm names, especially, are much simpler now that all the apostrophes, dashes, and spaces have been removed.  I make no claims on special characters used in names, but it all looks transparent in Firefox.