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