Monday, November 30, 2009

Make New Friends but Keep the Old

A message from the Queen of Kelis!

We'll return you shortly to your scheduled broadcast, but first...

I've noticed lately that a lot of the really nice websites that I grew up with have become... not as familiar to WoW players today. Hmm... this is partly a curiousity, since they are still awesome websites, but partly sad in my mind, as... well, they are still awesome websites. Hmm... Maybe I should start a website about all of the cool websites out there. How redundant would that be?

In the meantime, here are two of my favorites:

The Crafter's Tome

The Crafter's Tome is a great little website that lists all of the recipes available for all of the professions, as well as where to get them, the reagents, and the stats of the resulting product. It is also filterable so you can search for items that fit a certain item slot, for example. Check it out - it's a good reference website!

Wow-Pro

The link I've included goes to Wow-Pro's class guides which, I believe, is the best part of this website. True, wow-pro is the home of Tourguide, which is one of my favorite addons, but if you have the addon, you don't really need the leveling guides that came before (which, I admit, are just as awesome). However, the class guides are phenomenal. Whenever I hear someone asking for help with a new class, I direct them to these guides. They aren't perfect, and they aren't for raiding (at least I don't use them for that), but the leveling guides are made in an easy to read and easier to follow format that allows anyone to get their feet wet playing a brand new class. They are, I think, the perfect starting point.


Those are two of my favorite websites that most people don't know about. What are some of yours?

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Becoming a raid pug healer!

Server: Khadgar (US) - PVE
Character: Keleili (80 human priest)
Achievements:

  • I cleared ToC10 (healing)!
  • I almost cleared ToC25 (healing)!
  • I am having fun!!

I haven't updated recently... I guess I should do that, huh?

So, last week, I was able to make another go at ToC.

Wednesday - I got into a great ToC10 group. The leader was amazing and we managed to clear the entire raid without a single wipe. In fact, we only had a couple of deaths. Considering we were 2-healing it, I'd say I was a good healer! And I had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to joining another group tonight.

Thursday - I actually got into a ToC25 man group on Thursday. We did well, but we didn't have the dps to take Anub down. Oh, well, it was good experience and I got a trophy! Now I have to save up 75 emblems of triumph to get a tier 9.5 piece.

I also got into an Ulduar group, but we didn't get it cleared. Still, I got more experience, so it went well. I'll keep doing it until I get it cleared, just to say that I have cleared it.

...and that's pretty much it. Pilgrim's Bounty began on Sunday. I have finished most of it, but I still need to peg a troll rogue with my turkey shooter, sit down at 2 horde tables, and kill Talon King Ikiss. Then I'll get my turkey! Whoot!

All in all... I'm doing well. I really feel like I've found my sweet spot. ToC10 was... amazing. I was pushed to the challenging edge of my abilities, but I pulled through. Last night, I spoke with a friend on another world, Vanata, and she told me how she got into a ToC10 group for the first time as well. She is a druid healer, and she said that as much as she dislikes raids, she had fun being a highly geared healer and being pushed to the edge of what she can do. That's pretty much it exactly. That's exactly how I feel. So, yeah, I can't wait to get into ToC10 again.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Getting my feet wet

Server: Khadgar (US) - PVE
Character - Keleili

The Plaguechill guild got a server-first on Khadgar this weekend. But since I'm not in Plaguechill, this post is about my personal Kel-firsts that happened. ;)

I decided late last week that I wanted to raid, so I started joining pugs with a vengeance this weekend.

Thursday - I healed 10-man Onyxia. I'd done this raid before, but I did get a nice caster cloak. :)

Friday - In the afternoon, I researched 10-man ToC, and you girls even helped me understand a few confusing fights. But when I got home, I found myself constrained by the curse of "link achievement, or no invite!" *sigh* So, I was invited into a 10-man Ulduar raid instead. Which is fine, except... I stepped into Ulduar and realized that I hadn't bothered to research THOSE fights... I had no idea WTH I was doing! I tried to tell them that I hadn't done this raid before, but then they were getting in vehicles and driving off and leaving me behind and I had to just leap in a vehicle and follow behind and hope that I figured it out as I went. O.O In the end, it was a sort of rough raid, but we managed to take down Flame Leviathan (Shutout) and Razorscale (whom we 1-shotted) before the raid fell apart. Still, I had fun, and I can't wait to go back.

After Ulduar, one of the same raiders invited me to join them for 25-man Naxx, and since I had nothing better to do, I decided to go along. It was... interesting. But mostly because I think most of the raiders were rather drunk (it was late on a Friday night). I did get the achievement for clearing the arachnid quarter (The Arachnid Quarter) and another one because we weren't really strategizing (Momma Said to Knock You Out). After that, it was late and I had to bow out of the raid.

Sunday - In the afternoon, I logged on to immediately hear someone asking for a disc priest for 10-man ToC. Excited, I offered to join and was invited. I flew to the tournament and then realized... that this wasn't ToC. This was ToGC. *Cue me silently FREAKING OUT*. They had already gotten up to the champions the day before, so we started there. I should have backed out of the raid, but I was honestly too busy freaking out to do so. So, we made it through the champions and then the twins. At Anub, they decided to 2-heal it, so they asked me to go shadow. I warned them that I didn't have a gear set for shadow and so I wasn't hit-capped, but they wanted me to dps anyway. So... I tried. Honestly, I tried. In the end, they had to replace me because I was most definitely the weakest link. I bowed out gracefully, but it was still kind of depressing.

After that, I tried to cheer myself up by doing something easier. I joined a 25-man VoA pug, which went okay (Heroic: Koralon the Flame Watcher), then I grouped up with some guildies to 5-man the heroic daily. And in that I learned a valuable lesson. I learned that one of the most important roles of guildies is that when you are feeling down about your abilities in a pugged ToGC raid, they can cheer you up and make you feel like you are a worthwhile healer once more. Seriously - I LOVE MY GUILD.

However, there is one very cool thing about ToGC. When the twins fell, they dropped Enlightenment. And I won it. I, honestly, feel guilty about winning it, especially when some people offered to buy it off me, but... good or bad, I kept it.

TL;DR - I healed a lot of failed pug raids this weekend, including a 10-ToC, which turned out to be ToGC, and they asked me to dps, but I didn't have the gear, so I failed, and they replaced me, which was depressing. Then some guildies ran HHoS with me and made me feel good about my healing abilities again. I <3 my guild.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Circle of Healers (or I can't believe I'm doing this...)

Okay, I give in. I can only hold out for so long.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer? Keleili, 80 Human Priest, Disc-specced (on Khadgar!)

What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans) Primarily 5-man heroics, with an occassional 10-man PUG or 25-man Kittenraid.

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why? Penance. It has no casting time, so in a pinch, I can start healing people immediately. And the 'shwoop' sound is awesome!

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why? Heal and Lesser Heal. Greater Heal & Renew only get used out of combat, when I'm topping people off or healing up the party after a wipe. Flash heal and Penance get used in combat.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why? What Lilitharien said - damage mitigation (in fact, I'm going to agree with her on most of these questions, I'm sure). I much prefer stopping damage before it starts because it makes my life less stressful - I can keep shields up most of the time and not have to feel my blood pressure spike when the damage spikes. Also, PWS is awesome for catching a dpser who takes a little bit of agro/AOE damage. It is instant cast, so I can immediately get back to healing the tank, and I trust it more than a renew in the case that the dps takes a bit more damage (I have no idea if he/she will take more damage than the renew will heal). Throwing a renew on top is just the icing on the cake, but isn't usually necesary if the dps is decently geared/played.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why? Healing the raid. Not just raids, either. Put me in a 5-man for heroic ToC that is made up entirely of melee dps, and I will cry tears of blood.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you? Tanks, definitely, but I would even say that I prefer MTs over OTs. I have a habit of shielding anyone who is taking damage, and if I see the MT taking damage when he/she doesn't have the weakened soul debuff, it drives me crazy. That's damage that could have been prevented from ever happening, guys! (To explain, I HATE it when someone else shields my target - it takes away my bonus healing - so I try not to shield a tank unless I know there aren't any disc priests healing them).

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why? Priest. I've done a little healing on my lvl 70 shammy, and even less healing on my lvl 62 druid, though, so I don't really have enough experience to compare them.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why? I tried healing on my shammy during BC, and just couldn't get into it, but that might change later if I gave her another shot. I'm working on getting my druid up to 80 and then will probably go resto with her. But I have no desire to try a holy pally.

What is your worst habit as a healer? Probably that I can zone out if things get boring. If I'm running with a good group and a well-geared tank, I can get bored enough that I zone out and then come back to, "Oh, crap!" To this day, I have never let anyone die, but... *shrugs*

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing? Most of my experience is with 5-mans, but I would have to say that my biggest issue is... the whiner. I can't think of a better name for them. And it's not any one thing that they do that makes me angry, but rather running with them exhausts me and puts me in a bad mood. Let me see if I can come up with some points of distinction for them:
  • They usually are not well geared for the instance being run
  • They are impatient
  • When they type, it's never in complete sentences
  • When they type, they rarely say anything that benefits the group/run
  • If things don't go the way they want (such as you decide to bow out due to wipes), they beg

I can't describe it better than that right now, but I have come across this type of person so many times and I have seen how they will suck the energy right out of me, and leave me feeling like a raging zombie. In short, not fun.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing? Yes, and no. In 5-man, I think the class is very well balanced. With the exception of HToC, I have never had trouble healing AOE damage in heroics. In 10- and 25-man raids, the tank & raid healer distinction comes into play. Most raid leaders seem to understand these distinctions, but I've run into problems several times where I am competing with other disc priests for raid spots in PUGs. Disc healing appears (at least on my server) to be more popular than Holy healing, and that is making it difficult. So, it's not exactly a balance issue, but a popularity issue.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer? Honestly, I don't have any. I just heal... and if my target(s) don't die, I have succeeded as a healer.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class? Hmm... I don't know... in the world of 5-man heroics, I haven't come up against many true misconceptions. I guess sometimes I have to explain to tanks in heroics that I heal partly through mitigation, and that I'd rather shield them before they pull than heal them after.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn? For me, when I hit 80, the challenge was grasping what gear I needed and what stats I wanted. Disc priests are unique enough that what is right for just about every other healer might not be right for disc priests (gear-wise).

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)? Low healing output, most likely, because I don't think recount has figured out how to measure damage absorbed by PWS as healing - has it?

Haste or Crit and why? Crit crit crit crit. I've actually just started adding some haste to my gear, but I prefer crit over haste when I'm given the choice. Why? Of my three most commonly used spells (penance, flash heal, PWS), only 1 has a casting time. But all three have added benefits when they crit.

What healing class do you feel you understand least? Hmm... druid, I think. Despite the fact that I have a druid and have no wish to play a pally, druids are almost as different from priests as you can get, and I haven't actually started healing on my druid.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing? VuhDo is <3!!!>

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why? I'm at a point where I can finally start tweaking my gear based on what I need. I can't remember the last time I went OOM, so I've started to sacrifice MP5 for spellpower/crit. I'm also starting to add haste to my gear, though it's a slow process because I'm not willing to sacrifice much crit (or any SP) for the added haste.