Again, After A Long Break From Blogging...

Thanks to IRL obligations over the last 3 months, I have barely had time to play WoW, let alone blog about playing WoW!  I am finally done with my latest theatrical exploits, and recently have had a few days to relax and spend some time playing the game.

I still am loving my paladin.  She will always be my main.  With the latest changes, paladins are becoming more and more like the Gnomish Army Knife of healers, moreso now than ever before.  We can AOE heal, we can tank heal, we can run into the middle of things or we can stay further back.  Full raid heals are somewhat lacking when compared to other healers, but if called upon to step in for a dead healer or whatnot, we can get the job done.  I am still somewhat irked about the loss of speedy movement burst that we used to get from our insta-cast Holy Radiance, but meh.  Just means I have to keep my head up rather than staring at my health bars so much!  Also am still not digging a full set for my paladin, all I know is that I want the Lightbringer Helm (from Tier 6).  I still am waffling about if I want to really go after a whole set for my Paladin, or put together something that really is unique and something that no one else will be wearing!

I have tried to heal in the Looking For Raid and it went fairly well.  Though I feel like the LFR raids are so dumbed down, a monkey could at the very least DPS their way through Dragon Soul.  I will say that it's a good way for smaller, more intimate guilds to start raiding and those people who lack an overly active guild but still want to raid can go out and do so.

A while back I had started up a priest for the purpose of having a tailor and inscriptionist, and have come quite attached to her.  Holy Priests are quite a different animal compared to Holy Paladins, but I am enjoying playing this new character.  She is now 77 and I would LOVE to get the Incarnate Set (Tier 4) for her, as it is simple, classy, and perfect for her back story.  The only other tier I might go after on my priest is the Sanctification Set (Tier 8), but that's only if I am feeling REALLY ambitious.  :3

And to finish this post, here is a random shot from my screenie folder...

I can do anything I want? ... *sleeps*

After yet another long hiatus from writing here, I am back (again)!  My IRL stuffs have subsided momentarily, and all I want to do is game and sleep!

Lots of things have happened recently in WoW, and I have managed to keep up with things as best I can via mobile guild chat and my guild website.

First off, <Bloodforged> celebrated a birthday earlier this month.  We gave away a Mechano-Hog, some pets, and assorted other goodies and had a naked run through Karazahn!  It was great fun, and we downed the Prince half-naked.  How many guilds can say that?  ^.^

Nakey-time!
TOP: Fallenjack, Kayvaan, Ironbull  MIDDLE:  Kitain, Draedenne, Moonflow  BOTTOM:  Wildmoon, Sunsprite, Kita

Bloodforged is now a level 15 guild!  This is very exciting, and it just means that we are that much closer to being a level 25 guild eventually.  I have noticed, though, that people looking for another guild are usually looking for the higher level guilds, and it makes me wary that there are guild-hoppers out there that just take advantage of the guild perks without putting significant effort into the guild.  Kinda sad, because I have put lots of time and effort into my guild, and someone else can just waltz in, not give a shit, and get the same perks.  Makes me glad that we have an extensive application process!

Also, the new expansion, Mists of Pandaria, has been announced.  This is not a surprise to anyone who pays attention to MMO-Champ or any of the other WoW community sites out there.  I am a bit apprehensive about this expansion, as it seems really random.  I will have to delve into the lore behind this expansion, because as it stands right now, it really seems like someone at Blizzard just has a big panda fetish and paid off over half of their Board of Directors so that they could roll a panda.  Meh.  Don't get me wrong, it's very pretty and whatnot, but the more I look at it, the more I feel like I am playing Perfect World and not WoW.  I will reserve further judgement until I get more info, but right now, I am on the fence about MoP.

There are some big changes coming to our guild website, so stay tuned for that, and now I am off to take a nap before someone calls me and I have to do more work.  xD

Thanks to Beth'tilac and Rhyolith for these lovely gifts!

It's been a while!  I have been doing a lot of work IRL and getting things taken care of in my personal life, so WoW has taken a bit of a back seat for the moment.  However, I have managed to get some imporatnt things done in what little time I have had in the game.

I pugged a quick run in Firelands a few days ago, and am now 3/7.  I downed Beth'tilac and Lord Rhyolith with a great group who was very appreciative to have a sensible paladin who was communicative and aware.  And for our efforts, I managed to pick up a trio of new people on my RealID list as well as Volcanospike and the Ward of The Red Widow!  I am so freakin' exstatic about the Ward, and I nearly shat myself when it dropped, then held my breath as me and a Shaman rolled for it...  I literally jumped out of my computer chair and did a happy dance when I won it.  Volcanospike was a lesser victory, as the hit rating doesn't do much for me, but the haste is flippin' AMAZING.  Plus, we didn't have any casters in the raid that wanted/needed it, so it ended up in my bags.  I reforged and enchanted that bad boy and it is very nice indeed.

 

Ragnaros, next I'm coming after you for my headpiece!  >:D

Also, Bloodforged's birthday is coming up next Tuesday, and as the War Commander in charge of Activities for the guild, it is my responsibility to throw one HELL of a party.  So, using Karazahn as our backdrop, we shall cavort about.  I have amassed all manner of great gifts for our members, as well as some epic items that will be given away as prizes!  I love playing games with my guild members (who are just as competitive as I am).  ^.^  I really can't wait for that.  Pictures and such to follow from there at some point.

Aaaaand it's 2am and I need sleep.  Must find time to play Portal as well.  *lol*  ...  *passes out, snoring*

Get this bird off my face...

Tier 13 for paladins has been announced, and MMO-Champion has a great visual retrospective for those of us wondering what sets to go after for transmogrification.  First off, I'm not an overly big fan of Tier 13.  While I think that paladins should always have some sort of wings implemented in their armor design, looking like I took a pigeon to the face while flying through Hyjal is not something that I relish.  Plus, if you took away the helmet and shoulders, it looks very similar to Heroic Tier 11.  Plus, is it just me, or is your eye drawn to the crotch area when looking at Tier 13?!?  I want to take this opportunity to thank Blizzard for giving us the opportunity to transmogrify our armor...

The only retro tiers that I am finding myself drawn to are 2, 5, and 6 (MUST have the helm from Tier 6; it is perfect in its simplicity), and I might just end up doing Full Tier 5 with the Tier 6 helm.  Purple Paladin, GO!  xD  Or actually, I honestly really like my Tier 12!  I have fought hard to get it, and the fact that I look like Tyrael from Diablo is awesome in my book.  Throw some ethereal-looking wings on me and BAM: Archangel of Justice.  I just have to wrangle my helm away from Ragnaros...

Dear Blizz, MAKE ME LOOK LIKE THIS!  Hugs & kisses, ~Kita

Dabbling in Prot...

In order to help my guild with getting our weekly guild challenge for raiding done, I was told by our GM that we needed to have a level 70 raid team.  Originally I thought of giving another shot at healing as a Restoration Druid, but after thinking it over and talking with other guildies about it,  I decided I would start yet another Holy Paladin.  In order to level quickly, I figured, "eh, I'll go Protection so that I can faceroll my way to level 70 as a tank, then switch to my beloved holy heals."  Hrrrm.  Not as easy as I thought.  Even if I ignore the idea that most groups I get stuck with when using the LFD system are also facerolling as well and are wanting to run through each dungeon like they were the star of the latest action movie, I still feel like there is a lot to tanking that I am not utilizing properly and therefore not doing as well as I should have.

My first issue is that I haven't looked into it properly and I only know what I have seen other tanks do from the viewpoint of DPS or healer.  This, of course, leaves a LOT to the imagination, and I find myself just pushing random buttons in an effort to maintain aggro.  However, I still manage to do really well in BGs!  xD  I think some more research into Protection is definitely needed before I use the LFG system again.  Also, I think perhaps making myself some twink items would be a good idea as well.

High DPS =/= Skill

So, I was just in a PUG with a few people running Zul'Aman.  Now first, off, I will say that ZA is not my favorite instance.  PUGging ZA makes me edgy, as people tend to go balls to the wall in the hopes of getting the bear mount, and when they don't get it, it tends to fall apart for various reasons.  I've been doing better with that shit, but...

This time around, I had a mage who was decked out in all sorts of high end gear, and he thought that I should be kissing his 42k DPS ass.  After he bit the dust during the Halazzi fight (failing point: not using some of that leet deeps to down the damn lightning totems), he proceeded to ask me if I was having some problems keeping him alive.  I told him that obviously I was, because he was taking a shit-ton of damage and that he should probably try to concentrate on downing the lightning totems to make it easier.  After claiming that it was "the melee's job to take care of totems," he proceeded to nag me about putting up Blessing of Kings instead of Blessing of Might.  I would have been open to suggestions had he not been such a dick about it.  He continued to be a dick for the rest of the run, posting DPS meters after every pull and at the end, he made the statement, "healer, you may have gear, but you don't have skill."  The tank whispered me and said "don't listen to him, you did good."  I told the mage that he may have gear as well, but he was the one who really didn't have skill.  He retorted by posting the DPS meters AGAIN.  *eyetwitch*  I finally had taken enough bullshit.  I told him in no uncertain terms that he had no skill because his awareness SUCKED and he had no concern for his fellow group-mates.  Also told him to suck my cock, and after waiting a few moments for a retort, said "fuck you, buddy" and dropped group.

I have seen this several times, and it ruffles my feathers worse than not using crowd control in situations that could benefit greatly from it.  I get so angry because people seem to think that skill is only measured by the DPS meters.  I don't care if you are the #1 mage on your server and are sporting heroic mode Firelands gear, if you are a dick and want everyone to kiss your ass just because you are doing insane DPS, that's not going to work for me.  Go group with other assholes and you all can suck each others' e-peens.  I would rather group with fellow people who are more concerned about going through situations as a group rather than basking in the convoluted glory of one jackass.

Raid Leading!

So, I have never been a raid leader.  There seemed to be a lot that they needed to do, and I had no flippin' clue when it came to little things (like how to place the world markers).  xD  But yesterday, I had finally had enough of looking in trade chat for a Baradin Hold raid for myself and 2 other guildies, so I figured, "fuck it, I'ma try to raid lead.  Can't be that bad..."

Lessons Learned:

1. Do not be so soft-hearted as to allow just anyone in.  Ask if they know the fight, and at the very least, look over the tanks to make sure they aren't geared in greens.  As a person, I like a challenge and I usually have the time to explain everything, but you must keep in mind the raid as a whole may not have the time or energy to deal with people who are not prepared.  If a person is not pulling their weight, explain to them that they need to be better prepared, and that you will be replacing them.
2. Organize your raid beforehand.  Depending on the fight, I am a fan of having one tank and one healer in each group or all my healers in one group.
3. State loot rules at the beginning, and that way if anyone has issues with the rules you have set forth, then they can leave.  Make sure to set your loot to whatever you see fit; a general rule of thumb is that main spec (the spec you are in at present) > off spec.
4. Explain the fight basics for each role.  If people shouldn't stand next to things/people, tell them beforehand.  I neglected to tell people that standing near the tanks was probably not a good idea, and lost a few due to that.  Tell the raid what you expect of them.
5. ALWAYS do a ready check before pulling the boss.  Hell, check twice if more than a few minutes has passed.  I told my one tank to pull when the other tank was AFK.  That was an unnecessary wipe!
6. DON'T get caught up in typing during the fight!  This goes for anytime and anyone, really.  Always be aware of what is happening around you and keep Raid Warnings short and to the point.

Fortunately, we did just fine after a couple rough starts, and defeated both bosses in Baradin Hold.  I do want to raid lead again, as it was pretty fun!

Me on my Hog with the tiny Noggenfogger buff, bringing a normal-sized Tauren guildie to Zul'Farak.  xD

 

Baleroc, You A Bitch.

Last night I was asked to heal a friend's Firelands run.  It went pretty well for the most part!

Trash has become pretty easy for most people, it seems, and we ripped through the trash and headed of to Beth'tilac.  First off, when I did Firelands before, when I did Beth'tilac, it was my first time, and when I was sent topside, I noobed it up so bad, they had an Enhancement Shaman fill that role and I stayed down below.  Quite mortifying, because there was only two people up there and I was having trouble healing them?!?  -.-'  But this time around, when I was sent up, I did pretty well!  I stuck to my rotations and was spot on when it come to going up and down.  I'm super proud of myself on that personal victory.

Shannox was kind of interesting, and despite charging in a bit early before the raid leader had fully explained the strategy, Shannox was fairly easy.  I must name my next dogs "Rageface" and "Riplimb."

BALEROC.  That sonofabish.  Now, having only done the previously mentioned bosses once, Baleroc is a new one for me.  I had read up on the fight and watched a couple videos, but I still struggled with switching between the tanks and the person who had the shard debuff.  Kind of maddening.  This was most likely due to the lack of communication on vent between the healers.  There were three of us (Priest, Druid, Paladin), and the Priest didn't say a daaaaaamn thing at all.  The Druid seemed to have his mute button on, so we didn't hear anything from him until after we wiped three times.  *sigh*  Plus, I need to get over the fact that this fight will have me on the lower end of mana and I just have to deal with it.  I am far better at not panicking when it comes to moments like that, but I still get tense when my mana alerts are going off constantly.  I need to definitely look for more pointers on how to heal this encounter.

This weekend, I'm off to Black Temple for old-school tier gear!  Also hopefully going to spend some time with Wildmoon and level my little Shadow Priest.  Drinking and leveling alts, that's part of an awesome weekend.

Busy Busy!

More recruitment has been happening, and we have added at least one more member to our ranks.  We welcome applicant Kayvaan, and hope that he does well with us!  Kitain has finally actually applied to the guild, and she is chomping at the bit to get some RAP (Raid Attendance Points) accrued.  ^.^

Next week will see Bloodforged in our first guild activity!  Recently we have a had a lot of stuff going on in everyone's lives, so guild stuff seemed to take a back seat for some.  Hopefully we all get a chance to unwind and relax soon!

Other than that, I have been reading over strategies for healing various raids.  My only shortcoming right now is that I don't know the fights inside and out like I should, but that is something that will come with time and EFFORT!  Speaking of effort, if any of my guildies are reading this and still need gear in various places, GET ON IT!  I'll heal for ya if you are after something specific.

Also, (and this is more of a personal reminder) I need to add another power aura or perhaps some visual reminder for when my Judgements of the Pure is not up.  I heart my 9% haste buff.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

To Those Wishing To Apply To Bloodforged:

Bloodforged is the guild that I am a member of.  We are a very tight-knit group with a definite view of what we are after.  Yes, we intend on raiding once we get our core group set.  However, this is not an easy task, as we are going about it in a way that will eliminate most of the usual shenanigans that you get from other raiding groups.  We don't go the easy route, therefore, this can be a hard guild to get into.

Really what it comes down to is: Be yourself!  This above everything helps both the applicant and the guild figure out if they are going to be a good fit.  If you represent yourself as someone you're not, that's no good.  Generally we are pretty good at figuring out when people are bullshitting, and who wants to hang around someone who lies to make themselves look good?  You are good on your own merits, don't feel like you need to impress anyone.  :)  We like to know basically where you are coming from, but that can be done without having to drop the fact that you downed heroic mode Ragnaros with Paragon every 5 minutes.

Welcome Home!

What an awesome day!  First off, our roguey troll, Kitain, has finally transferred servers and we welcomed her to the realm today.  She suprised me by showing up while I was doing my dailies and I was all like, "OMGWTBBQ!!"  Very nice to finally have her around.  We just have to fix her vent issue, and it's all good.  Secondly, another new applicant, Wildmoon, transferred servers today as well, along with a couple of her alts.  She's pretty spiffy, and I am anxious to get into some dungeons with her and see how she does.  And finally, I downed Beth'tilac and Shannox today and received my first two pieces of dropped Firelands gear!  :D  So exciting!  Oh, and our guild has earned another level!  I am very happy about all this.  ^.^

Longer post of substance later!  Must go frolic.

Firelands Trash & Guild Stuffs!

Now that I have secured a spot on the guild raid roster and I am feeling confident about my abilities, I am feeling like I'm in a good place with my character.  On my own I have gotten into Firelands trash runs and been pretty successful at being in that environment.  Unfortunately, I have maxed the reputation that I can get from trash mobs in there, so now I need to be looking to kill Shannox and Beth'tilac.

In my perusal of the interwebs for information about these fights, I have come to the conclusion that I need to start using Aura Mastery more.  I wasn't keen on using it much because I had trouble making use of the silence and interrupt immunity ability, but I underestimated the other part of Aura Mastery, which is that they improve your auras by 100%.  In Firelands, that's a LOT of fire resistance, and can definitely be put to good use.  Another thing that I need to understand better is my use of Hand of Protection.  It has its benefits, but I feel like I am not using this to its full potential.

Other things are going quite well, and I'm excited that the guild has started to recruit more people.  Last night we did a run through Zul'Aman with Ironbull, and it looks like he will definitely need some help with his UI and basics if he's going to be continuing to run with us.  However, I have high hopes for him, and he's a fun guy to play with!  We will help him out and I'm sure he will be quite the good addition to Bloodforged if he makes it through his applicant period.  ^.^  Also, it looks like our resident hunter, Sylvanist, is getting close to the point where he will be taking the Crucible!  This is super-exciting, because I know how hard our guild tests to become part of the raid team are, and I know that he will do awesome.  And finally, Moontree, get yo ass to Thrall, seriously.  :P

Here's to a relaxing weekend of fun!

Fallenjack & I riding our Raven Lords!

Position Earned!

I successfully earned my position on the Raid Roster for Bloodforged!  My final hurdle was to heal Baradin Hold (10) and to combat log it, and my GM told me that my performance was near perfect, and that I wouldn't have any issues getting into any raid that I wanted to with logs like that.  Plus, I had gone through the Crucible (healing chain pulls in Stonecore before Ozruk) and geared/enchanted/gemmed my paladin as much as I could.  I'm super happy about earning my place.

The only thing is, just as I earned my slot, my GM was pondering who else to get for heals on our roster, and is seriously thinking about getting another Holy Paladin.  I understand at this point, paladins seem to grow on trees and it would be easy to find another one.  Plus, Moontree, an applicant and a friend of ours who is transferring over to our server, also has a holy paladin that he would much rather play as opposed to his Restoration Shaman, who failed the Crucible yesterday (though to his credit, the GM literally sprung it on him, that was kinda rough).  I enjoy playing with Moon, but I would much rather see a more diverse selection of healers in our raids.

Pros of having 2 Paladins:

• 2 Beacons.  Beacon of Light is a super powerful way of healing, and to have two of them up at once is quite the sight to behold.  2 paladins can successfully heal both of their tanks and do fairly well with AOE raid heals in fights like Occuthar.
• 2 Auras.  No matter how you cut this one, this is a win-win.
• 2 Blessings.  If you don't have a druid for Mark of the Wild, having Kings and Might is also a win-win.
• Survivability.  Let's face it, a healer in plate armor is quite awesome.  Being able to take a hit and keep healing is something that most other healers can't do. 
• Spike damage, anyone?  This being our specialty, having two to deal with idiots that stand in the fire too long certainly can be beneficial.

 Cons of having 2 Paladins:

• Not enough raid heals.  One thing that is a bit of a deficiency for paladins is the fact that our multi-target healing and AOE heals are kinda weak compared to those of priests and druids.
• Decreased diversity of heals.  The utility of having other skills at your disposal is invaluable.  If your other healer is a shaman, you forsake the abilities of a druid, etc.
• Unbalanced raid composition.  If you have 2 paladins that are centralized on tank healing, then it goes without saying that your raid heals will probably suffer unless that one other player is a demi-god behind the keyboard.

I see that it would be beneficial, but it could also hurt us...  Plus, it's frustrating to have someone doing the exact same thing as you; no one wants anyone else to be going for the same gear they are!  My GM asked me, "so you just don't want to have to compete," and yeah, he is right, who wants to lose out on tier gear to someone else?  But the argument of not wanting to have to compete against someone else for gear seems petty to me.  *sigh*  I have no solid argument because I can see both sides of the coin.

Well, if he ends up getting another Holy Paladin, I'm just going to have to be known as the better one.  >:3

Ready For Raiding!

So, some big changes have happened in the past few days.  First off, I got my 2 pieces of Tier 12 gear!

Secondly, I completed my Holy PvP set, and am quite the nuissance in battlegrounds now.  >:3

I gave Baradin Hold a shot today, and despite it being only a 25-man raid, it gave me a lot to think about.  Unfortunately, my over heals were quite high, I was far too close to the boss, and I still am using my higher-cost spells too much, but, on the plus side, I was tops on cleansing, and my mana management was excellent.  So, in order to work some of those problems out, I spent a good long while today reworking my spec.  My GM even helped me out as well and we tweaked a couple things that should help my over heals and my overwhelming desire to be within melee range (no, Kita, you are in Holy, not Ret!).  I'm quite excited about this and am anxious to get into Baradin Hold next week!

Sweet Spot

So, I think I am getting to the point where I am understanding more about my Holy spec, executing things the way they should be, and enjoying the role in general.  I still haven't gotten up the guts to go into Baradin Hold as a healer, but I will.  Soon.  Ish.  >.>

Healbot has proven to be quite the change from Grid.  For me, it is easier to use, and for people who aren't keen on writing their own mouse over macros for every skill they may need, it definitely is easier to use.  I have only had a couple of hiccups with it, one being a bizarre freakout in Stonecore in which it was showing a hunter that joined in the middle of a boss fight as switching back and forth between having almost no HP and full HP for about 5 seconds before he actually died.  That was not appreciated, Healbot!  Other than that, it's fairly easy to learn to use, and pretty customizable as well.  Can't say that it's really better or worse than Grid, just packaged differently, really.

I must find time to actually tweak a few little things in my UI again.  I want to finally make use of the things I can do with /focus, as well as make a macro for my Judgements to hit whatever my tank is attacking.  I also need to clean up a few overlapping bits here and there and tidy up the center of my screen.

But now... I need sleep.  I shall update more later on as things become more interesting.  ^.^

In the meantime, enjoy this pic of Nefarian's head after a quick 3-man run of Blackwing Lair.  Soon I shall have your head again, Nefarian...  And you will give me your epic gears.  :D

Healer Addons

If you are a healer, the chances are good that you have used at least one healer addon at one point in time, and if you have, the chances are even better that you have used Grid, Healbot, or VuhDo.  Me, I was raised using Grid, Clique, and a slew of mouseover macros.  I did pretty well with that, but now that I am trying to get my head into the raiding mindset, one of the major flaws in my previous set up was that my reaction time was slow, and specifically my cleansing was lacking (which was via Decursive).  So, I am currently trying out Healbot, and seeing how I fare with that.  Thus far, it seems to be pretty spiffy.  Though I am having some issues with it, but I'm not sure if they are true issues or just that I'm not quite used to it just yet.  More testing is needed, for sure.

And in the meantime, here, have another lol.

My thoughts just go too fast for my fingers!

LOL whut?

And I was at least the second healer this guy had gone through.  /facepalm

Pretty Good Week

It's interesting, I made the statement on vent the other day that now I feel more comfortable in my Holy spec than in my Retribution spec.  I suppose that's a good thing, but I still don't feel confident enough to just waltz into anywhere and heal my way through it.  I'm certainly better off than I was months or even weeks ago, but I still have a lot to learn.

This past week was actually a lot of fun!  Hedir, an old friend of the guild came back to the game (just to play casually) and it's great to have him back.  He is the paladin who helped me understand more about my Retribution spec when I was just barely 80, and he has always been a great person to have around.  He's playing a shaman named Jynzo this time around, and his brother, Vanadin, is playing a Holy Priest.  Nice to have both these guys on board.  Also this week, with the trial of the cross-server partying option still going on, we were able to group with some other friends, like Kitain, who has been a pal of mine since my college days.  She's pretty easy-going, and has been stuck in a comatose guild for a while now.  Server transferrrrrrr!  And of course, the lovely Fhina and her husband joined us for our tumultuous first run through Zul'Gurub...

Ah, Zul'Gurub.  I enjoyed it pre-Cataclysm, and now it's a thorn in my side.  The new Troll Heroics are certainly not easy, and I like the idea that if you are standing in shit, you will die, and there's not a whole hell of a lot your healers can do about it.  It forces everyone to be more self-aware, and I like that.  Our first run through was not easy.  I had been in ZG before and done all right, but I was DPS, not a healer, so it really was a whole new experience for me.  We did complete the run, but we wiped at least 12 times, and I was so angry that I became quite upset with myself, and didn't communicate with my team.  We actually stopped right before Jin'do the Godbreaker and picked it up again the next day, it was so bad.  What's funny about those kind of situations is that the lessons you learn are not easily forgotten.  I am trying very hard now NOT to be a pain in the ass on vent when faced with adversity, as I think my attitude and personal shortcomings had a LOT to do with our repeated failures.

Next week's goals are to finish my PVP set and get into Baradin Hold.  The last couple times I have been in PUGs as DPS, people end up ignoring Occu'thar's eyeballs and standing in the Focused Fire.  -.-'  Must get this fight under control.

/skeptical

Ask the Devs: Healing

For me, this was an interesting round of questions, as it definitely deals with the things I do on a daily basis in the game.  I was not surprised to see that the questions are not hard-hitting, nor are they questions that I really was DYING to hear the answers to.  Especially lately, Blizzard doesn't seem to really be listening to the players at large, and just seems to manipulate and pick and choose the topics that they want to talk about.  However, they did raise some interesting ideas, but time will tell as to if they actually DO something about all of these issues and concerns.

Hopefully our GM will have finally gotten his UI set, because I am seriously needing to heal a tank that isn't a total idiot.

EDIT:  No finished UI.  :(  More PvP for me in the meantime then.  I shall have a full Season 10 set... soon.  >:D

PvP & Me: A Love/LoveRelationship?

I am not a PvPer.  I'm not all gung ho into it, I don't get all sorts of excited when I kill an alliance player.  I hate ganking.  Now, this doesn't mean that I hate PvPers, I just think that it's a different facet of the game that doesn't usually intice me.  BUT.  Right now, I'm currently working on a Holy PvP set.  xD  I'm just using it to sharpen some of my other skills!  For instance, because everything moves so quickly in PvP, it means that you need to think and move swiftly as well.  This helps in raids because you are more aware of what's going on around you and your reaction time is much quicker.

I'm getting into PvP though, and finding it enjoyable when I'm not being gang-raped by idiot alliance players with that silly "kill the healers" mod.  There are some battlegrounds that as soon as I jump into them, there must be a enormous neon sign that reads "KILL THIS BITCH FIRST!  SHE HEALS!" over me.  o.o  *hides behind the biggest tauren tank*

So, this weekend will be dedicated mostly to PvP, gearing myself with some basic Season 10 gear to start off with, and streamlining my UI to make things less cluttered.  Also, I will be attempting to ignore anything that my GM might say about him being right about PvP helping my playstyle.  >.>  *shifty eyes*

Suck It Up.

Okay, I'm going to suck it up and try to get myself together.  Kamikita (my alt paladin) hit 85 with Fallenjack and Omnitek last night, and so this means the following things are next for Bloodforged:

•  Our GM is taking a short break from the game.  He's got a busy week coming up, and he also wants to re-vamp our guild website so that when we start recruiting, it will look better and be updated.
• I need to focus on Fireland daily quests to open up the NPCs out there.
• I also need to put on my healing gear on Akanekita and do EVERYTHING as a healer if I want to have a shot at raid content in Bloodforged as a healer.  This means heroic dungeons, Ahune runs, and Baradin Hold to start off.
• I need to get some followers on here!  I need to hit up my friends and stuff on Facebook or something.  It's nice to have a place to put my thoughts about my WoW stuffs, but I should get some more discussions and such going.  ^.^  This is going to be kinda counter-intuitive for me, because I usually don't like others looking at my writing, but I love doing it!  Plus, it will be nice to actually get some feedback from people on various topics.

"Know your role."

That's what my GM told me today.  I can't accurately describe how red-hot my face is right now.

My Issues:
- I'm not mana conscious.
- I need to not cause dissension among the raid/group.
- I need to be quiet and listen to what my tank is saying and follow every order he gives.
- I need to focus on my own priorities, not others'.
- I need to go heal all of the heroics and Baradin Hold before being considered for a healing slot in our guild.  Otherwise, I need to take my sorry ass elsewhere.

Here are my combat logs from today.  I'm disappointed in myself.  I'm not anywhere near where I should be, and the logs speak to that.  My behavior in vent is atrocious as well, and I need to not be such a cocky bitch.

Tight-Knit Group. ^.^

Finally, some uplifting post material!  The last time Fallenjack and Omnitek and I ran dungeons together, I was feeling a bit daunted, and by the time Monday rolled around, I had not had time to look through the boss fights for healing-specific tactics, but I figured, "meh, how bad could it be," and off we went to knock out the weekly guild achievements.

Blackrock Caverns:  This one, having done it before as a healer a couple times now, was fine.  However, one of the first things we did when we got in was to pull too many groups around Rom'ogg Bonecrusher, and then he walked into our little skirmish.  Despite our GM's order of "run out of the instance, NOW," neither Omni or I made any definite movement to follow such an order.  Amidst white-knuckled heals, I told him, "hell no, I want to see if we can get through this."  It was a testament to our growing dynamic as a group, and sure enough, things were taken care of.  If I remember correctly, I did lose a DK on that fight, but that was because he didn't DPS the chains.  Can't save people from themselves

Vortex Pinnacle:  As a Retribution Paladin, VP is one of those instances that I could waltz through and feel okay about it.  Of course, when you aren't in decent gear and playing a different spec, it's a completely different situation.  This one went all right, though I did lose a couple people due to massive spike damage.  Gotta get quicker on the cool-down reaction time.

Stonecore:  This one was pretty smooth, except for one little teensy-weensy-little-GINORMOUS mess toward the middle.  o.o  I know how tough this dungeon was when it first came out, and even now, if you don't watch yourself, it can go to hell in a hand basket quite quickly.  So what happens?  In the corridor before Ozruk, we started to pull one group at a time, eliminating the mobs that would be major problems first, etc...  I swear that one of the PUGs we had was just in a hurry.  Before I knew it, another group was pulled.  And ANOTHER.  And what seemed like ANOTHER...  Well, running out certainly wasn't an option here, and staying true to my ballsy stance earlier, I tried to quickly organize things in my head: keep the tank up, keep the higher DPS up, stay out of the fire.  What seemed like forever passed as I clicked furiously.  My brilliant Warlock was spot on with banishing where he could and DPSing like a demon, and my tank was great, especially with pulling the casters off me...  Then, oh NO...  For once, I was truly OOM (out of mana), and this after blowing any cool-down that would regenerate mana...  I even busted out band-aids for the last few moments of the fight (betcha don't think First Aid is a useless skill now, huh?).  O.o'  All of us were amazed that we all managed to live through that seemingly catastrophic chain of events, and to quote the Shaman we had in group, "well, that certainly woke me up."

As for other more exciting stuffs, Patch 4.2: Firelands hit today!  I must say that I needed a tissue or three while doing the first line of quests with Thrall & Aggra.  I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't gotten to do it yet, I just will say that it was very touching (and frightening!) to see different sides of the Warchief (...fuck Garrosh; what, yeah I said it).  I enjoyed doing the dailies and am looking forward to getting my greedy little crafter hands on the new blacksmithing and engineering patterns. 

Moment of Durr:  So, I'm running around with a guildie, getting into the Firelands quests and whatnot... and all he wants to do is go to Firelands.  So me being the dork that I am, I thought that you had to zone into it, like do the quests and then it would open up to you.  Even my GM wasn't overly sure about it, as I'm sure he was waist-deep in patch notes and fixing his tanking UI (and if he's reading this, I'm also sure he will ascertain that he knew otherwise later).  So, we did the quests as far as we can before he called it a night, and after he goes to bed, I'm trying to figure it out.  I googled "how do you get to Firelands" and this popped up.  Well, golly gee, you just WALK IN THE FRONT DOOR.  /facepalm  Brilliant.  At least I wasn't the only one with this issue!

Mail vs. Plate & Roles in Dungeons

Got hell from my GM regarding my gear today.  I was sporting a mail headpiece when I went to have him enchant a few pieces of gear.  I should have known better, and as soon as he said, "why are you wearing a mail head piece?" I knew I was caught.  I didn't think it was that much of an issue, but on further reading, it is.  So, after rearranging my gear and getting things enchanted, I ran a dungeon to see how things were sitting.  I didn't notice a huge difference, though I'm not sure if that's just me settling into the rhythm of things or what.  I still need to work on my percentage of overheals...

Today's Moment of "WTF":  My last run of tonight involved a warrior who queued up as a tank, but didn't have the gear or confidence to actually tank.  *eyetwitch*  Fortunately, I had another warrior who was willing to step up (though he had an old spec/gear from WotLK), and he did pretty well.  Our run through Blackrock Caverns was sucessful, albeit amusing.

TIP:  Don't queue up in a role that you are not prepared to fill!

Crepuscular Veil, An Apology, & Combat Logs.

So, apparently I need to know the fights I'm walking into a bit better.  For instance:  went into normal mode Blackrock Caverns the other day with my two guildies, Fallenjack and Omnitek.  Went through the majority of it pretty well, though I realize that positioning and LOS (line of sight) issues are something I need to be aware of a bit more.  We got to the very last boss, and I was damn near frantic trying to figure out how the hell to heal my tank and the DPS who was kiting the adds when it seemed as though NONE of my heals seemed to be doing a whole hell of a lot.  *sigh*  Come to find out, something that I was never aware of as DPS was causing my panic: The adds were casting Crepuscular Veil (healing effects are reduced by 24% for 4 seconds).  o,o  Well shit, I've even kited the extra mobs and I never even payed any attention to that, and never had any problems with it either.

I'd like to take a moment to apologize to anyone who has ever had to heal my oblivious ass.

So, suffice to say, I'm becoming more aware of things that I need to do, especially as a healer, but in general as well.

On top of that, we were running combat logs, and to my dismay, my overheals were absurd (>50%).  So, I also need to be more aware of who I'm healing when, rather than wasting ridiculous amounts of mana.  "You need to remember that you have a TANK to heal before anyone else," my GM's words of wisdom on the situation.  Hopefully, the next runs will be more smooth and less panic-y.

/facepalm...

Nevermind.  After going a whole level's worth of questing into Vashj'ir, I realized that I didn't turn my XP back on after doing some solo work last night.  -.-'  *sigh*  So that pretty much killed any momentum that we had as a group.  My GM signed off for the night, and I am left to catch up to where they are.  This is a definite drawback to questing in a set group.

*sigh*  And on top of that, I got into a Throne of Tides PUG to get some of the XP I needed, and did all right healing-wise, but on the last boss, a Ret Paladin died because he was standing in the bad stuff and had aggro on the mob that the tank should have had (the tank was trying to get it off him, but the idiot had Righteous Fury on for some unknown reason).  Then I get the comment from him in party chat:  "... heals?"  *eyetwitch*  But instead of bitching him out, I didn't.  Wasn't worth it.  Then the tool takes the plate healer gear that dropped.  ...  I just...  REALLY?!?  -.-'

The game is becoming more and more about gear and bullshit like that.  Everyone expects to ride on the shoulders of their tank/heals, and if they die, then heaven forbid anyone point out that they were STANDING IN THE DAMN FIRE.  I am spoiled in the fact that my tank/GM knows his shit and has been brought up with the Vanilla mentality, rather than the Wrath Baby mentality.  I will admit that I came in on Wrath, but I'd like to think I'm not as scrub-tastic as most of the people out there playing WoW nowadays.  I just hope that we will be able to find some exceptional players to join us in raids eventually.  That would be great.

New Character & Downhill Slide

So shhhhh...  Don't tell anyone, but I started a Shaman.  :P  Actually, I figured that the mail INT pieces I had used on my paladin while she was leveling are no longer being used, so why not start a new character that could use them?  It's been fun thus far, but I always go back to my paladin.

Tonight my guild will be working on leveling in the Cata zones together to get another level under our belts.  I posted last time about getting all of the Wrath heroics out of the way, and now that all of those guild achievements are taken care of, now comes the downhill task of getting to 85.  Fortunately, this period of time will be more focused on Fallenjack (my GM's prot warrior) and Omnitek (one of my fellow officers, his warlock), because my main is already outfitted quite nicely with Ret/Holy gear.  80-85 on Kamikita will be concentrated more on refining my healing mechanics and fixing my UI to be as smooth as possible.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

When my guild decided that we were going to power out all of the guild achievements for the heroic Wrath dungeons before moving on to the Cataclysm zones and leveling to 85, I was fairly confident that we wouldn't have any problems doing this.  I had forgotten about the Occulus.  >.<

The Occulus is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the most popular dungeon on World Of Warcraft.  In fact, many people still quit upon entering it via the Random Group Finder.  Having only done this dungeon in a DPS role, I have always found it to be fairly decent, and as soon as you understand how to use your drake effectively, the last fight is a walk in the park.  However, I have never done this as a healer.

So, off we go, and having done the Occulus once before on non-heroic mode, I was already okay with the basics of each boss fight and how to heal through certain things.  I was not, however, prepared for a serious addon malfunction and the ensuing confusion on the last boss.  After mounting up to take on Ley-Guardian Eregos, my Grid was not showing my tank as a targetable player.  Basically, it was not recognizing that he was on a drake at all, and showed him as out of range.  I told him he was not showing up, and reloaded my UI, but still had the same difficulty.  He didn't seem to grasp what I was trying to tell him, and needless to say, when the boss was aggroed, I wasn't able to heal him, we wiped, and after a short discussion, I rebooted the game entirely, and that seemed to solve the issue.  Then we did just fine and got through the fight (barely), but it really raised some interesting questions for myself and my guild.

How does your guild deal with adversity in the middle of a fight?  Generally, I'd say we do really well.  When groups of mobs are pulled that we didn't expect to be pulled or someone does something outside of what one would consider a textbook scenario, we know our characters well enough to pull out tricks to help us all get through the moment of "OMGWTFBBQ?!?"  We still have our moments of crossed wires apparently, and that just tells me that I need to work on my own communication skills so that I can effectively communicate issues and strategies to my guildies.

How do you best learn about a fight or encounter?  In this case, I was not well-versed in the drake healing section of The Occulus.  I know that I learn best by trial and error, but I can't always use that, as there are other people who are relying on me to keep them healed!  So, before I went in, I got basic ideas from great websites like WoWWiki and TankSpot, and tried to keep things together with the knowledge I snagged from there.  Doable, but not fantastic.

So, the lessons taken away from this are: Communicate effectively with your group, and try to know the fights beforehand!

Frustrations

I'm trying to get myself in the mind frame that I need to be in for raid healing, and so off I head into the random group finder again, and I have emerged with more frustrations than before.  Even in normal dungeons, I feel like my heals aren't big enough to cover the incoming damage, and I'm sure there are at least several things that I am doing wrong.

Issues:
- Not running out of mana/running out of mana too quickly.
- Having to use large heals over and over to deal with incoming damage.
- Too many people taking too much damage.


Solutions/Changes:
- Choose the heals I use with more discretion.  Don't use big heals just because, use them when needed.
- Use Judgement more often.  EJ suggests using Judgement at least every minute or so to keep mana restoration and haste rolling in our favor.
- Don't worry so much.  As I have even said before, Holy Paladins aren't supposed to be raid healers.  If I wasn't able to save a low-end DPS because he was standing in the fire, there should be no sleep lost over it.  Plus, I'm not even at 80 yet.
- Practice, practice, practice.  I've gotta get into more dungeons and really concentrate on doing what needs to be done.

First Time Healing in Cataclysm!

For those that don't know, I am mainly a Retribution Paladin.  I like to get up close and hit things, and with the backup of a good healer and tank, I can do just that.  However, for about... eeeerm... 5 months now, I have been dabbling in healing.  In order to have 2 viable specializations for raiding, I chose to become a healer.  I had made a new paladin months back with the express purpose of being ONLY Holy, so that way I could learn how to heal from level 1 all the way to 85.  While I was leveling that character, my main paladin picked up items here and there to create her own Holy set.

And so tonight, I finally got the last bit of gems and enchants taken care of so that I could try my hand at healing a 5-Man Cataclysm dungeon!  Off I went, into Grim Batol!  o.o  Don't worry, only normal mode so I wouldn't totally get rage-kicked if things went south.  It didn't go badly; I didn't lose one person (though I came lose a few times), and I was fairly prepared (though I did have to pull open my spell book to put Holy Radiance on my hot bar).  It could have been much, much worse!  It also could have been better.  XD

One thing that is blatantly obvious about Holy Paladins: they are not raid healers.  They are meant to be tank healers.  As soon as more than 3 people started taking damage, I found myself quickly behind the 8-ball.  Part of this may also be because of my inexperience, but I felt like if everyone was doing their job (don't stand in the fire kthnx), all was perfect.  Another thing that I realized is that what Paladins lack in raid heals, they make up for in utility.  The Hands (Protection, Freedom, Salvation) alone are incredibly useful in moments where things get rough, and I'm sure that I'm overlooking other spells and skills that will be lending themselves to my future victories.  :3

I shall blog more about my Holy Paladin experiments here at some other date, but for now, I'm going to go see about finding a Baradin Hold raid.

Love Thy Character!

I am a paladin. No questions about it, that’s the character I play and I’m proud of what I can do with my paladin.  But how I got to the point where I can get the most out of her involved a lot more work than I originally thought it would take!

I started playing WoW over a year ago now. At the time, I had settled on playing a warlock, which seemed to sit well with me at the time. I had previously played MMOs in which I was a caster/pet type and figured I would start off with something familiar. I also had the Refer-A-Friend bonus then, which ended up being a double-edged sword; I was able to level ridiculously fast, but I also knew nothing about how to really play a warlock. Eventually I switched to the paladin class, found some people who were fantastic paladins who helped me out here and there, and was turned on to how to really get the most out of your characters.

Side Note: If this is your first foray into MMOs, I suggest that you play a bunch of different characters. Start them, take them to level 10 or 15, get a feel for how the mechanics are, and talk to other people who play those classes. Then, chose one character (or two if you’re still really undecided) to continue working on. Don’t neglect any part of them, either. Glyphs, talents, gear, and even professions all go into making a character really shine.The bottom line is this: the amount of work that you put into a character is what you will get out of it. Read up on your class, download addons that will help make things easier, and get ready for a lot of reading.

The first thing that you’re going to want to do is to start poking around for resources. Online, my rule of thumb when googling for information is to always check the date. With the massive changes that happened to WoW with Cataclysm, it’s very easy to find information that is completely outdated. To help weed that kind of stuff out of my search results, I usually put in the current patch numbers along with the topic I’m searching for. Another good notion is to check with several sources before making choices on what to do with your character. I must have consulted a ton of different retribution paladin blogs/websites/message boards before I ended up with my current set of glyphs!

Something any good WoW player worth their stuff should at least know about are the following places on the internet: WoWWiki, Wowhead, MMO Champion, and Elitist Jerks.

• WoWWiki is an encyclopedia for WoW.  It contains entries on damn near everything in the game, and offers a veritable bottomless pit of information.  I especially like this site for the lore aspect of the game.  "Wait, WHO killed Cairne Bloodhoof?!?"
• Wowhead has a permanent place on my internet browser’s bookmark bar. I use it constantly! It’s a great tool to use when you need to find certain NPCs, items, etc.  I find that it is handy due mainly to the ease of navigation and the user comments section.  “Yes, I know that the Mysterious Camel Figurines are found in Uldum, but are they really worth finding?” The user comments often have insightful tips and tricks that may just be exactly what you really are looking for in the first place. 
• MMO-Champion is a great website for looking at upcoming patch details, as well as more in-depth information about a wide variety of things. They also routinely have information direct from Blizzard, so if you’re questioning quality/validity of certain things, look for blue posts here, and you’re golden. The only downside to this place is that they also have information on a bunch of other MMOs, so I occasionally find myself wandering elsewhere in search of more WoW-centralized information.
• Elitist Jerks has long been the think-tank of WoW, where all the most intellectual WoWers go to discuss mechanics that would make casual gamers need a new pair of pants due to the sheer volume and depth that these people go to to understand the game. They have a wealth of information and usually have well-written guides for all sorts of specs, playstyles, and walk-throughs.

Keep in mind that you should not consider any one website or person the gospel truth or totally discount them either.  With each resource, I’ve found a great many handy posts/advice, and I suggest blending together all of the information you find to figure out what works for you!

If you have any other questions, ask around in game! Just don’t do it in trade chat, because half the time you’ll get idiots giving you all sorts of responses that won’t do you much good. Rather, ask your guild; if they are a decent guild they will at least point you in the right direction if they don’t have the information you’re looking for.

And don’t forget to have fun with your characters! This is a game, after all.


~Kita ^.~

P.S.:  Yes, this was originally posted months ago on my guild website (bforged.com), but now that I have my own blog, I'm trying to put everything in a central location.