Heyla here, not posted for some time, holidays and raiding have more or less taken all my time (and did you say Starcraft 2, noooo, sure not ^^).
On the front of Paladin updates in the beta I would advise you to follow the news on Righteous Defense by Rhidach. A lot of changes happened for paladins in the last builds, and nothing is final yet (far from it). The developers decided to introduce a new mechanic for us, called Holy Power, that will stack with some abilities (up to 3) and will allow us to empower some existing abilities or use new ones. I am partly excited by this news, some change to our usual pretty lame gameplay can be fun, but I'm really not in line with some of the current builds for that, we'll see how it goes. Go visit Rhidach site for details :)
Raid news, my guild has finally downed the Lich King in 10 man first time without me (my computer having been dead for 2 weeks) and the second time with me. Nothing great now I would agree but raiding attendance during the holidays is always scarce and it is nice to have been able to keep at it and finally reach our goal: which was going into heroic ICC. The 3 first bosses are already down in heroic, we're currently working on Saurfang heroic who's a bad ass :)
I must say that heroic really has revived my interest for ICC, the normal modes until the Lich Kings were really becoming lazy farming. Heroic bosses are much much more interesting, at least for some of them. They are less forgiving to blunders, which is kind of what I like in raids.
Oh and if you are one of the few to not have played Starcraft 2 already ... it's great :P
The campaign is the best solo play for a rts game I've ever played (and I've played a lot of them). I liked the strategy aspect of the last Dawn of War campaign, but Starcraft 2 really get you into the "story" of the campaign, and even if the mission choices are kind of irrelevant, it's still nice to chose the order in which you play them.
I've not started multiplayer yet, or I won't have any time left for raiding :)
On these few words, see you, have fun, and I'll try to finish my healing through ICC articles now that I've got enough experience on the fights.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
New Cataclysm Beta, New Paladin Goodness
A new build of the Cataclysm beta has hit the test realms and Boubouille at MMO Champion has given us the updates on all abilities and talent trees.
You can find all the update for paladins with abilities and talent trees on this page.
Main change for Holy Paladins is the healing spells we will have at our disposal:
6% of base mana, 40 yd range, 3 sec cast
27% of base mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
30% of base mana, 40 yd range, 2.5 sec cast
8% of base mana, 20/40 yd range, Instant cast, 6 sec cooldown
So Holy Paladins are now on the same model as priests, we have a medium relatively slow and mana efficient heal (Holy Light), a fast but very costly heal (Flash of Light) and a slow costly but big heal (Divine Light). We still keep our instant heal that will be the same size as a Holy Light for nearly the same price (that makes it very very valuable mana wise especially with Holy Mending that adds a 15% hot on the target of Holy Shock at lvl 80+).
These are the major changes to our gameplay that I see. Even if the holy talent tree has changed a lot the core talents are still here and the gameplay should be relatively unchanged.
As for the fears we had about BoL, it is now only duplicating Holy Light and Holy Shock ... as I see them as our two spam heals I don't think it'll be too bad.
See you later for more comments on cataclysm holy when more news come out.
You can find all the update for paladins with abilities and talent trees on this page.
Main change for Holy Paladins is the healing spells we will have at our disposal:
- Holy Light ( lvl5)
6% of base mana, 40 yd range, 3 sec cast
- Flash of Light (lvl16)
27% of base mana, 40 yd range, 1.5 sec cast
- Divine Light (holy talent tier 3)
30% of base mana, 40 yd range, 2.5 sec cast
- Holy Shock (lvl 40)
8% of base mana, 20/40 yd range, Instant cast, 6 sec cooldown
So Holy Paladins are now on the same model as priests, we have a medium relatively slow and mana efficient heal (Holy Light), a fast but very costly heal (Flash of Light) and a slow costly but big heal (Divine Light). We still keep our instant heal that will be the same size as a Holy Light for nearly the same price (that makes it very very valuable mana wise especially with Holy Mending that adds a 15% hot on the target of Holy Shock at lvl 80+).
These are the major changes to our gameplay that I see. Even if the holy talent tree has changed a lot the core talents are still here and the gameplay should be relatively unchanged.
As for the fears we had about BoL, it is now only duplicating Holy Light and Holy Shock ... as I see them as our two spam heals I don't think it'll be too bad.
See you later for more comments on cataclysm holy when more news come out.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Cataclysm Videos on Cynical Brit
The title says everything. If you want to see numerous videos of the late Alpha / early Beta of Cataclysm, head over to The Cynical Brit. Total Biscuit has put a lot of different videos for our enjoyment on his blog. You can see there long videos of the new starting zones, the two first instances and other fun.
What I will say is that the starting zones seem good, definitely better than what they were in vanilla or BC. If you have not started a character recently, try it, you'll discover that Blizzard has also included a lot of help for beginners explaining most functions of the game while you gain access to them (battleground pvp at lvl 10, dungeon grouping at 15 ...etc).
My last comment will be about the instances. They are fun and relatively difficult. I do really think that (with the addition of a way too easy and nerfed first raid) was missing in WotLK. Most new players never got any training before coming to raids and when they have to learn the most basic things (like not stand in the fire) and also have to cope with the performance pressure that raiding is, they most of the time do very bad in one way or the other. So yes to harder instances that really teach something, and I hope Blizzard won't back up on that.
See you soon for the sequel of the Healing Through series in ICC.
What I will say is that the starting zones seem good, definitely better than what they were in vanilla or BC. If you have not started a character recently, try it, you'll discover that Blizzard has also included a lot of help for beginners explaining most functions of the game while you gain access to them (battleground pvp at lvl 10, dungeon grouping at 15 ...etc).
My last comment will be about the instances. They are fun and relatively difficult. I do really think that (with the addition of a way too easy and nerfed first raid) was missing in WotLK. Most new players never got any training before coming to raids and when they have to learn the most basic things (like not stand in the fire) and also have to cope with the performance pressure that raiding is, they most of the time do very bad in one way or the other. So yes to harder instances that really teach something, and I hope Blizzard won't back up on that.
See you soon for the sequel of the Healing Through series in ICC.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Back in Business
No you are not doing Violet Hold for your daily heroic and fighting Xevozz. It's just me being back in the game and the blog being alive again.
My guilds advanced while I was out, Icecrown is nearly done (they carried me through Putricide, Lanathel and Syndragosa last week) and we're on the Lich King (ouch phase 5 hurts ^^). We had fun with Halion in the Ruby Sanctum 10-man normal last Thursday with my paladin. Even though it's not very hard it requires everyone learning the fight for a few tries.
For my first post after a few months out I want to talk about :
Cataclysm for paladins
You can find the changes as they are during the closed beta build start on MMO Champion.
We'll get three new skills: Blinding Light (lvl 81), Healing Hands (lvl 83) and Guardian of Ancient Kings (lvl 85). Blinding Light looks like a fun tanking talent and Guardian of Ancient Kings, even if we'll have to see if it's really effective, will surely be neat to look at. Now for Holy paladins Healing Hands is what counts.
Healing Hands (lvl 83): Heals all friendly targets within 10 yards for 683.58 every sec. Lasts 10 sec.My guilds advanced while I was out, Icecrown is nearly done (they carried me through Putricide, Lanathel and Syndragosa last week) and we're on the Lich King (ouch phase 5 hurts ^^). We had fun with Halion in the Ruby Sanctum 10-man normal last Thursday with my paladin. Even though it's not very hard it requires everyone learning the fight for a few tries.
For my first post after a few months out I want to talk about :
Cataclysm for paladins
You can find the changes as they are during the closed beta build start on MMO Champion.
We'll get three new skills: Blinding Light (lvl 81), Healing Hands (lvl 83) and Guardian of Ancient Kings (lvl 85). Blinding Light looks like a fun tanking talent and Guardian of Ancient Kings, even if we'll have to see if it's really effective, will surely be neat to look at. Now for Holy paladins Healing Hands is what counts.
40% of base mana, Instant cast.
Definitely a raid healing ability, but yet another reason for us to not move, which does not really makes me happy when I see fights like the Lich King.
Holy Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Holy Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
- Healing
- Meditation
- Critical Healing Effect
Meditation will be the mana regen ability of all healers based on spirit (yes we're going to need spirit as all other healers in Cataclysm).
Critical Healing will probably boost our crits to 175 or 200% of a non crit heal.
The other big change is that Flash of Light and Holy Light will be exchanged in therm of mana efficiency. FoL will become a fast expensive heal, and HL a longer more mana efficient one. And we should get a third very big and long heal. This brings the paladin model in line with priests, fast heals are expensive, longer ones are less.
Last but not least, Beacon of Light will change to not simply double our heals for free. The health pools are supposed to be bigger in Cataclysm, and the heals not as strong, which means less overhealing and the development team consider BoL overpowered as it is considering these changes. They have not yet announced the final decision, it could be BoL only working with FoL or doubling the cost of our heals.
You can read the complete reports on MMO Champion, I only discussed what I think are the most game changing points.
As a side-note, the blog passed 50K visitors during June, thank you all and I hope you'll continue to find useful things to read here.
Critical Healing will probably boost our crits to 175 or 200% of a non crit heal.
The other big change is that Flash of Light and Holy Light will be exchanged in therm of mana efficiency. FoL will become a fast expensive heal, and HL a longer more mana efficient one. And we should get a third very big and long heal. This brings the paladin model in line with priests, fast heals are expensive, longer ones are less.
Last but not least, Beacon of Light will change to not simply double our heals for free. The health pools are supposed to be bigger in Cataclysm, and the heals not as strong, which means less overhealing and the development team consider BoL overpowered as it is considering these changes. They have not yet announced the final decision, it could be BoL only working with FoL or doubling the cost of our heals.
You can read the complete reports on MMO Champion, I only discussed what I think are the most game changing points.
As a side-note, the blog passed 50K visitors during June, thank you all and I hope you'll continue to find useful things to read here.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Healing Through: Icecrown Citadel - Deathbringer Saurfang
This one was already nearly finished, so I'll post it before I move. Have fun in ICC everyone.
Deathbringer Saurfang is the fourth boss of Icecrown Citadel and the end of the entrance part. It was considered as the second test of Icecrown, the first being the purely gear check of Marrowgar. Saurfang is a healing and dps check, if you can finish him, you should be able to try the inner halls.
For a guild at least partly in T10+ items and with the new buff Saurfang should not be a problem anymore. Your raid should still know what to expect, or you can be sure of a raid wipe.
Deathbringer Saurfang: Trash Mobs
This will be a short section, the reason being that there is not a single mob between the gunship battle and the fourth boss of Icecrown. The only opponent you'll have is waiting for npcs to finish their speech (especially if you're horde).
Boss Description
Saurfang has relatively few abilities, but they have all to be mastered by your raid to kill him.
The first mechanic is Blood Power, this will increase Saurfang damage through the fight. When his Blood Power is low, his damage will be light and healing the tanks will be easy, but it gets harder with his blood power increasing, at 100% Blood Power he hits twice as hard. You should understand that every damage taken by your raid during the encounter give Blood Power to Saurfang, hence one key of the encounter is to reduce damage and shorten the encounter as much as you can.
Pro-tip: All damage prevention abilities are extremely effective during that encounter, a discipline priest is nearly overpowered with his shields that can reduce Saurfang Blood Power influx by more than 50% in 10-Man. If you have any damage prevention ability, use it as much as you can.
The second main ability is Mark of the Fallen Champion. This ability is used each time Saurfang Blood Power reaches 100%, and resets it to 0. The target of the mark will take damage each time Saurfang hits the tank (around 4K each 2s). You have to understand that this additional damage will also give Blood Power to Saurfang, hence with each Mark he will gain more Blood Power, and will cast the next Mark faster. This ability is Saurfang "time limit" mechanism. It adds up to his enrage at 30% health which makes him hit faster, hence producing more Blood Power, especially if several Marks have already hit.
Pro-tip: Oh last thing, if anyone hit by a mark dies, never ever battle rez him, as the mark sticks through death.
Saurfang has two other abilities that will generate Blood Power for each character hit. The first is Boiling Blood and the second Blood Nova.
Blood Nova is only cast on members at range and hits the target and anyone in 12 meters. It is the reason why your raid ranged and healers should be all 12 meters apart (in 10-Man) or positioned in groups of 2 or 3 characters each 12 meters apart (in 25-Man).
Boiling Blood is a dot, you'll have to heal it nothing else to say.
Pro-tip: Boiling Blood will generate Blood Power with each tick, if you can shield the target that is a must, if you can Hand of Protection the target that will remove the dot, preventing 8 Blood Power for Saurfang, do it fast. What you should know is that Boiling Blood can be cast on the target of a Mark of the Fallen Champion. This is one of the main reasons for losing a Mark target and could be a good reason to keep your Hand of Protection.
Rune of Blood is the reason you need two tanks during the encounter. They should switch as soon as this debuff is cast on the current tank. Nothing else to say.
The last ability of Saurfang (did I say he had few abilities ... he does have some but most of them only impact healers) is Call Blood Beast. This calls for 2 beasts in 10-Man and 5 in 25-Man. These beasts need to be dpsed quickly and most of all they should *not hit anyone*. Anyone hit by a Blood Beast will give Blood Power to Saurfang. The best is to use all what you can to prevent them from reaching your dps, hunters Frost Traps are one of the best tools for that.
Pro-tip: All melee, the tanks included, should avoid any sort of aoe damage when the Blood Beasts pop. If they don't, the beasts will stay hitting them and Saurfang will gain a big amount of blood very quickly, which can cause a raid wipe a few minutes later when the marks are too numerous for the healers to endure.
If you want more details you can find very good info on Bosskillers or Tankspot.
Raid Composition
Both in 10-Man and 25-Man you need 2 tanks. This encounter being a dps-race, you need to take as few healers as you can, usually 2 in 10-Man and 5 in 25-Man.
This will put a lot of pressure on your healers, and they will need a very good mana sustainability to finish the fight.
Pro-tip: Though spellpower is obviously important for healers, this will be more an endurance fight. If you have any source of mana replenishment in your raid you should save it for your healers in this fight if they need it, an oom healer during the last 30s of the fight will seal your fate.
The rest of the raid should be dpsers, both melee (they will be 100% of the fight on Saurfang and the main source of damage to him) and ranged (they will spend a large portion of the fight dealing with the blood beasts). Don't forget the ccers for the beasts that can be slowed, rooted ... anything but completely cced (no fear, mc or anything).
If you have a shaman, keep the Heroism/Bloodlust for the last 30% of Saurfang, you can call for it as soon as he enrages.
Healing Build
As I said, expect this fight to be very very mana consuming and put a lot of stress on your shoulders. Especially until all members of your raid master it. The more blunders there will be (blood beasts staying on the melee, tanks not switching fast enough ...) the more marks you will have to deal with at the end of the fight, and the harder it will be.
Remember you'll have to heal the tank and a few raid damage at all time (nova, dot, beasts). Each time a mark is cast, that will need at least half a healer attention to keep the target alive.
The last thing that I didn't say in the boss description is that for any death in the raid, Saurfang will regain 5% health ... this obviously means that you have to keep everyone alive as much as you can, Saurfang is not a boss you can finish at the very last moment with only 2 raid members alive.
In 10-Man you won't be able to endure more than 2 marks for every long, and most probably not more than 1 death.
In 25-Man if your healers are good you can manage up to 4 or 5 marks depending on your raid composition, and you can probably win with 2 deaths. More will probably lengthen the fight too much.
Whatever your class is, aim for fast "small" heals, as much damage prevention as you can, and the best sustainability you can get.
Use your mana cds as soon as you can get the full benefit of them, and if you can't use them during a strong healing phase, before the first mark is cast.
Paladin Healing tips
Holy Paladins are among the best healers for this fight, with Discipline Priests, but for very different reasons.
A Discipline Priest can greatly reduce the amount of Blood Power gained by Saurfang through the use of Shields.
A Holy Paladin can use his Beacon of Light to heal the target of a Mark of the Fallen Champion and continue to heal the raid. He can even heal both the first and second marks by himself.
Until the first mark is cast, the healing is light. But, as a paladin, you will have much more job as soon as a mark is cast. In a 10-Man raid you will most probably be the only Holy Paladin, and the two first marks will be your job. In a 25-Man raid Holy Paladins should share between them the first marks, 2 per paladin.
Once your first designed mark is cast you'll need to cast your Beacon on it (and remember to refresh it, use your focus frame or an add-on for that) and start cast continuous heals on the raid.
Pro-tip: You can never stop healing for much more than one gcd or your beacon target will die especially if it's a clothy (mark damage is physical and reduced by armor). Remember to recast your beacon/judgement when your Holy Shock is up in case you need the speed-up healing boost.
Once your second designed mark is cast you'll need to keep your Beacon on your first target and heal the second mark regularly, keeping both alive.
Pro-tip: As soon as your mark is cast you will not be able to stop healing, or use a Divine Plea because the healing reduction will be too strong. Try to use it before your assigned mark is cast (use Deadly Boss Mod to check Saurfang Blood Power), you should be full mana when you start healing a mark.
Remember to recast your Jugement of Light on Saurfang, both to increase your casting speed, and to heal your raid.
Keep in mind that your Hand of Protection removes the Boiling Blood dot, it is your choice to use it as soon as you can in the encounter, and have the opportunity to use it again later at the end of the fight. Or to keep it to protect someone being "double hit" by a mark and the dot (this can be very hard to keep up with healing wise).
Good luck and have fun, though very chaotic at first this is a quite fun encounter once your raid will master it.
Deathbringer Saurfang is the fourth boss of Icecrown Citadel and the end of the entrance part. It was considered as the second test of Icecrown, the first being the purely gear check of Marrowgar. Saurfang is a healing and dps check, if you can finish him, you should be able to try the inner halls.
For a guild at least partly in T10+ items and with the new buff Saurfang should not be a problem anymore. Your raid should still know what to expect, or you can be sure of a raid wipe.
Deathbringer Saurfang: Trash Mobs
This will be a short section, the reason being that there is not a single mob between the gunship battle and the fourth boss of Icecrown. The only opponent you'll have is waiting for npcs to finish their speech (especially if you're horde).
Boss Description
Saurfang has relatively few abilities, but they have all to be mastered by your raid to kill him.
The first mechanic is Blood Power, this will increase Saurfang damage through the fight. When his Blood Power is low, his damage will be light and healing the tanks will be easy, but it gets harder with his blood power increasing, at 100% Blood Power he hits twice as hard. You should understand that every damage taken by your raid during the encounter give Blood Power to Saurfang, hence one key of the encounter is to reduce damage and shorten the encounter as much as you can.
Pro-tip: All damage prevention abilities are extremely effective during that encounter, a discipline priest is nearly overpowered with his shields that can reduce Saurfang Blood Power influx by more than 50% in 10-Man. If you have any damage prevention ability, use it as much as you can.
The second main ability is Mark of the Fallen Champion. This ability is used each time Saurfang Blood Power reaches 100%, and resets it to 0. The target of the mark will take damage each time Saurfang hits the tank (around 4K each 2s). You have to understand that this additional damage will also give Blood Power to Saurfang, hence with each Mark he will gain more Blood Power, and will cast the next Mark faster. This ability is Saurfang "time limit" mechanism. It adds up to his enrage at 30% health which makes him hit faster, hence producing more Blood Power, especially if several Marks have already hit.
Pro-tip: Oh last thing, if anyone hit by a mark dies, never ever battle rez him, as the mark sticks through death.
Saurfang has two other abilities that will generate Blood Power for each character hit. The first is Boiling Blood and the second Blood Nova.
Blood Nova is only cast on members at range and hits the target and anyone in 12 meters. It is the reason why your raid ranged and healers should be all 12 meters apart (in 10-Man) or positioned in groups of 2 or 3 characters each 12 meters apart (in 25-Man).
Boiling Blood is a dot, you'll have to heal it nothing else to say.
Pro-tip: Boiling Blood will generate Blood Power with each tick, if you can shield the target that is a must, if you can Hand of Protection the target that will remove the dot, preventing 8 Blood Power for Saurfang, do it fast. What you should know is that Boiling Blood can be cast on the target of a Mark of the Fallen Champion. This is one of the main reasons for losing a Mark target and could be a good reason to keep your Hand of Protection.
Rune of Blood is the reason you need two tanks during the encounter. They should switch as soon as this debuff is cast on the current tank. Nothing else to say.
The last ability of Saurfang (did I say he had few abilities ... he does have some but most of them only impact healers) is Call Blood Beast. This calls for 2 beasts in 10-Man and 5 in 25-Man. These beasts need to be dpsed quickly and most of all they should *not hit anyone*. Anyone hit by a Blood Beast will give Blood Power to Saurfang. The best is to use all what you can to prevent them from reaching your dps, hunters Frost Traps are one of the best tools for that.
Pro-tip: All melee, the tanks included, should avoid any sort of aoe damage when the Blood Beasts pop. If they don't, the beasts will stay hitting them and Saurfang will gain a big amount of blood very quickly, which can cause a raid wipe a few minutes later when the marks are too numerous for the healers to endure.
If you want more details you can find very good info on Bosskillers or Tankspot.
Raid Composition
Both in 10-Man and 25-Man you need 2 tanks. This encounter being a dps-race, you need to take as few healers as you can, usually 2 in 10-Man and 5 in 25-Man.
This will put a lot of pressure on your healers, and they will need a very good mana sustainability to finish the fight.
Pro-tip: Though spellpower is obviously important for healers, this will be more an endurance fight. If you have any source of mana replenishment in your raid you should save it for your healers in this fight if they need it, an oom healer during the last 30s of the fight will seal your fate.
The rest of the raid should be dpsers, both melee (they will be 100% of the fight on Saurfang and the main source of damage to him) and ranged (they will spend a large portion of the fight dealing with the blood beasts). Don't forget the ccers for the beasts that can be slowed, rooted ... anything but completely cced (no fear, mc or anything).
If you have a shaman, keep the Heroism/Bloodlust for the last 30% of Saurfang, you can call for it as soon as he enrages.
Healing Build
As I said, expect this fight to be very very mana consuming and put a lot of stress on your shoulders. Especially until all members of your raid master it. The more blunders there will be (blood beasts staying on the melee, tanks not switching fast enough ...) the more marks you will have to deal with at the end of the fight, and the harder it will be.
Remember you'll have to heal the tank and a few raid damage at all time (nova, dot, beasts). Each time a mark is cast, that will need at least half a healer attention to keep the target alive.
The last thing that I didn't say in the boss description is that for any death in the raid, Saurfang will regain 5% health ... this obviously means that you have to keep everyone alive as much as you can, Saurfang is not a boss you can finish at the very last moment with only 2 raid members alive.
In 10-Man you won't be able to endure more than 2 marks for every long, and most probably not more than 1 death.
In 25-Man if your healers are good you can manage up to 4 or 5 marks depending on your raid composition, and you can probably win with 2 deaths. More will probably lengthen the fight too much.
Whatever your class is, aim for fast "small" heals, as much damage prevention as you can, and the best sustainability you can get.
Use your mana cds as soon as you can get the full benefit of them, and if you can't use them during a strong healing phase, before the first mark is cast.
Paladin Healing tips
Holy Paladins are among the best healers for this fight, with Discipline Priests, but for very different reasons.
A Discipline Priest can greatly reduce the amount of Blood Power gained by Saurfang through the use of Shields.
A Holy Paladin can use his Beacon of Light to heal the target of a Mark of the Fallen Champion and continue to heal the raid. He can even heal both the first and second marks by himself.
Until the first mark is cast, the healing is light. But, as a paladin, you will have much more job as soon as a mark is cast. In a 10-Man raid you will most probably be the only Holy Paladin, and the two first marks will be your job. In a 25-Man raid Holy Paladins should share between them the first marks, 2 per paladin.
Once your first designed mark is cast you'll need to cast your Beacon on it (and remember to refresh it, use your focus frame or an add-on for that) and start cast continuous heals on the raid.
Pro-tip: You can never stop healing for much more than one gcd or your beacon target will die especially if it's a clothy (mark damage is physical and reduced by armor). Remember to recast your beacon/judgement when your Holy Shock is up in case you need the speed-up healing boost.
Once your second designed mark is cast you'll need to keep your Beacon on your first target and heal the second mark regularly, keeping both alive.
Pro-tip: As soon as your mark is cast you will not be able to stop healing, or use a Divine Plea because the healing reduction will be too strong. Try to use it before your assigned mark is cast (use Deadly Boss Mod to check Saurfang Blood Power), you should be full mana when you start healing a mark.
Remember to recast your Jugement of Light on Saurfang, both to increase your casting speed, and to heal your raid.
Keep in mind that your Hand of Protection removes the Boiling Blood dot, it is your choice to use it as soon as you can in the encounter, and have the opportunity to use it again later at the end of the fight. Or to keep it to protect someone being "double hit" by a mark and the dot (this can be very hard to keep up with healing wise).
Good luck and have fun, though very chaotic at first this is a quite fun encounter once your raid will master it.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Updates and blog asleep
Hello everyone,
I've not posted for a month, and will probably not post much more for the coming weeks. Real life is very busy right now. I'm in the process of moving to the US which, as you can imagine, is very time consuming to manage with work and all.
I've tried to continue raiding and helping my guildies, and I'm happy we're advancing. The introduction of the recent 5% buff seems to have been enough for us to down both Putricide and the Blood Council in 10 Man, and we've decided to move further into 25 Man by extending our schedule to two 25 Man raid nights a week. We hope that attendance will be enough for the guild to advance to the same point we have in 10 Man. Overall it's a nice progression since last November when we had a hard time having enough people once a week for a 25 Man. The guild is lively and I hope will stay like that once I'm not there anymore (this could sound a bit cocky but I was the gm after all).
I've been a bit surprised myself by how fast the "nerfing" of ICC started, considering not even one guild in the world had down the Lich King in hard mode (either 10 or 25) before its introduction. I would have liked for the original version to live a bit longer.
I've not posted for a month, and will probably not post much more for the coming weeks. Real life is very busy right now. I'm in the process of moving to the US which, as you can imagine, is very time consuming to manage with work and all.
I've tried to continue raiding and helping my guildies, and I'm happy we're advancing. The introduction of the recent 5% buff seems to have been enough for us to down both Putricide and the Blood Council in 10 Man, and we've decided to move further into 25 Man by extending our schedule to two 25 Man raid nights a week. We hope that attendance will be enough for the guild to advance to the same point we have in 10 Man. Overall it's a nice progression since last November when we had a hard time having enough people once a week for a 25 Man. The guild is lively and I hope will stay like that once I'm not there anymore (this could sound a bit cocky but I was the gm after all).
I've been a bit surprised myself by how fast the "nerfing" of ICC started, considering not even one guild in the world had down the Lich King in hard mode (either 10 or 25) before its introduction. I would have liked for the original version to live a bit longer.
While I'm off from the internet, I advise you to read my fellow paladin bloggers, especially Rhidach on Righteous Defense, and Ophelie on The Bossy Pally that I both always enjoy to read.
Until next time, in some unknown future that I hope not to far.
Have fun :)
Shazalyn / Dreaming
Until next time, in some unknown future that I hope not to far.
Have fun :)
Shazalyn / Dreaming
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Icecrown Citadel, Last Wing Up This Week
So tomorrow (today if you're in the US) we'll have access to the last wing of Icecrown Citadel. The new Arena season should start too and we'll have to download patch 3.3.2.
You can find all the news and the patch notes on MMO-champion, on the Fall of the Lich King page. Take care huge spoilers there :P
I'll note the changes to the T10 plate tanking armors (which are receiving a little up). The new str dps Ashen Verdict rep ring. Class wise, warriors and warlocks are mostly the only ones changed.
We'll have a new boss in Wintergrasp too (sigh ... the biggest failure of all LK fmpow).
And finally we get the last wing of Icecrown with my favorite boss I can't wait to try: Valithria Dreamwalker.
I wish you all a lot of fun, we're finally coming to the end of this whole extension.
You can find all the news and the patch notes on MMO-champion, on the Fall of the Lich King page. Take care huge spoilers there :P
I'll note the changes to the T10 plate tanking armors (which are receiving a little up). The new str dps Ashen Verdict rep ring. Class wise, warriors and warlocks are mostly the only ones changed.
We'll have a new boss in Wintergrasp too (sigh ... the biggest failure of all LK fmpow).
And finally we get the last wing of Icecrown with my favorite boss I can't wait to try: Valithria Dreamwalker.
I wish you all a lot of fun, we're finally coming to the end of this whole extension.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Some more raiding into ICC.
My horde guild is now raiding regularly into Icecrown Citadel, we have kept up to two 10-Man raids (3 nights a week) and one 25-Man raid (one night a week) during the two last weeks, which allows everyone to step into ICC and the guild to confirm its first downs.
We have now confirmed on the 3 first bosses in 25 and need to speed up a little to down Saurfang in one raid night. We have also downed Festergut in 10-Man and are working on both Rotface and the Blood Princes.
I really like the Blood Princes fight, it's chaotic, it's intense, it's not easy, but it's a really really cool fight :)
I'll write an Healing Through on Saurfang later this week. Until then I have updated my article about Lord Marrowgar with a new tactic we're using considering raid positioning.
On a side-note some very good news for melee dps who prefer strength to agility. A new Ashen Verdict strength dps ring will appear in the next small patch (probably next week), description of the 4 levels of the new ring on MMO-Champion.
We have now confirmed on the 3 first bosses in 25 and need to speed up a little to down Saurfang in one raid night. We have also downed Festergut in 10-Man and are working on both Rotface and the Blood Princes.
I really like the Blood Princes fight, it's chaotic, it's intense, it's not easy, but it's a really really cool fight :)
I'll write an Healing Through on Saurfang later this week. Until then I have updated my article about Lord Marrowgar with a new tactic we're using considering raid positioning.
On a side-note some very good news for melee dps who prefer strength to agility. A new Ashen Verdict strength dps ring will appear in the next small patch (probably next week), description of the 4 levels of the new ring on MMO-Champion.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Icecrown Gating, Last Wing in 2 Weeks.
No surprise to everyone, it's official on the live servers, the Lich King will wait to eat your souls in 2 weeks (unless you defeat him of course :P). The official date is February 2nd (US) and February 3rd (EU). You can read the details, as usual, on your best source of live information about WoW, MMO-Champion.
The second wing opens today (yesterday on the US servers) with 2 new bosses: the Blood Princes and Blood Queen Lana'thel. A bunch of vampires, that seem easier than Putricide as the queen has already been downed, though this can be due to the guilds having 2 more weeks of itemization in icecrown. Explanations and information about the gating system and the combined pool of limited bosses attemps can be found on MMO-champion, here.
About my games lately I finally got Saurfang down in 10-Man, on both my paladin and ma discipline priest. I tried a bit Festergut with Syrïel, we managed to keep the tanks alive (with me and two other healers) on 2 attempts (we tried it 4 times), but our raid dps wasn't high enough to pass the enrage timer. It's tricky as the tank/heal team is kind of better in the 10-Man my priest is sometimes, but the dps are way higher in my horde guild :P
On a side note a discipline priest is incredibly effective on Saurfang to limit his blood power. We killed him with 0 mark in 10-Man once I figured that if I have the mana I should just shield everyone at all time to prevent as much blood-producing damage as I could. For the first time my priest went into icecrown she started with Saurfang and had a huge amount of fun, even with her limited gear (not even 230 medium ilevel).
The fight with Saurfang is really much more about control and reactivity than pure dps and/or stuff, which I happen to like. Festergut on the other hand is nearly the whole contrary.
The second wing opens today (yesterday on the US servers) with 2 new bosses: the Blood Princes and Blood Queen Lana'thel. A bunch of vampires, that seem easier than Putricide as the queen has already been downed, though this can be due to the guilds having 2 more weeks of itemization in icecrown. Explanations and information about the gating system and the combined pool of limited bosses attemps can be found on MMO-champion, here.
About my games lately I finally got Saurfang down in 10-Man, on both my paladin and ma discipline priest. I tried a bit Festergut with Syrïel, we managed to keep the tanks alive (with me and two other healers) on 2 attempts (we tried it 4 times), but our raid dps wasn't high enough to pass the enrage timer. It's tricky as the tank/heal team is kind of better in the 10-Man my priest is sometimes, but the dps are way higher in my horde guild :P
On a side note a discipline priest is incredibly effective on Saurfang to limit his blood power. We killed him with 0 mark in 10-Man once I figured that if I have the mana I should just shield everyone at all time to prevent as much blood-producing damage as I could. For the first time my priest went into icecrown she started with Saurfang and had a huge amount of fun, even with her limited gear (not even 230 medium ilevel).
The fight with Saurfang is really much more about control and reactivity than pure dps and/or stuff, which I happen to like. Festergut on the other hand is nearly the whole contrary.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Why I like to heal "undergeared" tanks in 5-Man!
Slightly ranty post about my views on healing in "modern" random heroics 5-Man dungeons.
Today I was taking some time to read one of my favorite blogs writer Larisa from The Pink Pigtail Inn. She is a gnome mage (best combo class in the game!) and is currently leveling a druid and had her first shots at healing in LK.
She talks about a recent topic surfacing in several blogs around arguing about more rewards for tanks & healers in random 5-Men.
My view is that more reward isn't what we need to tank or heal for you (which is what I do in this game 90% of my time), it is exactly what Larisa says:
I think a lot of "true heart" healers and tanks are the same, we do that because we like it, not because we want more "rewards". There is some pride in the tank & healer role, and that is enough for us ... as long as other players aknowledge we're doing our best with the gear we have and that tanking or healing isn't always a happy funny time.
There is a much direct penalty for an under-performing tank or healer, lack of heals or effectiveness as a tank (survival or threat generation) shows much more than a low dps on the meters. It directly impacts the other members and can cause wipes which cost gold. That is were you can see these roles as more stressful.
That's where I'm going ... ungrateful players.
Larisa cited a post from Calli from Pew Pew Lazers tiled Angry Priest is Angry. Seeing it cited by Larisa, and the author being a discipline priest (like that :p) I went to read it.
Even if it's a bit too ranty probably to convince most, I completely agree with Calli on her point:
People asking for a vote kick of a tank not in 4 pieces T9 in a random heroic dungeon (not Halls of Reflection !) are just pure lazy bums that I don't want to play with.
When LK started tanks were at most around 24K unbuffed and healers were having a much lower spell power. I was there healing, it was harder, and all in all, it was much more fun!
So yes, I'm proud to say that "I love to heal undergeared tanks in 5-Men" !
When I say undergeared it's according to the idea people have that a tank for heroics has to have more than 40K health nowadays ... silly snobs. I've healed a warrior tank friend with my priest, in all random heroics (before 3.3) when he was still all in blues, and we were perfectly fine, he's a good player and a good tank, and if he was a bit short in life my, then T8 geared, priest was more than enough to secure him and the group 100% of the time.
Healing a slightly less geared tank is a bit more work, but it wakes me up, it's fun because there is a little challenge where most random 5-Men are not anymore. And that's what I miss now ... the fun of the challenge in 5-Man.
My pride, and what I'm happy of when I finish an instance, is a 0 death clean ride. When people die I'm not happy, even if it's completely their fault, I still feel like I failed somehow. (Yes you the dps standing in the fire, you can ruin my fun by just being silly. Not because we didn't drop loot, because you died, you idiot!)
If the tank or the group is slightly less geared, and I'm working more, it's even more fun.
I remember of my first runs of Naxramass with my priest, it was with a small guild (her guild raiding ulduar 25 at that time) whose tanks were still half in blues, and the others raid members too, me included. It was a real challenge, yes Naxramass was a challenge ... for the sole reason that we were doing it at the right level of gear.
All in all my view is that overgearing content is nice for fast runs, but tend to really turn players into snobs that don't remember what fun challenge can be, if they ever knew what challenge is.
Edit:
As sidenotes on this new LFG system, you could find some interest in reading these posts, also ranty in other ways, about what I'd consider as the way of "running with anonymous players" given to us by the cross-server LFG tool:
Dechion on WTF! Group Ninja?
Gnomeaggedon on If you’re THAT 1337, GTFO of my Random Dungeon!
TyphoonAndrew on LGD Perspectives
You could find them interesting, as I did.
Today I was taking some time to read one of my favorite blogs writer Larisa from The Pink Pigtail Inn. She is a gnome mage (best combo class in the game!) and is currently leveling a druid and had her first shots at healing in LK.
She talks about a recent topic surfacing in several blogs around arguing about more rewards for tanks & healers in random 5-Men.
My view is that more reward isn't what we need to tank or heal for you (which is what I do in this game 90% of my time), it is exactly what Larisa says:
As we separated after UK, as I had to leave for real life stuff, the leader said: “I’m sure you’ll make a fine healer at lvl 80”. It may not sound as anything special, but I tell you, for the terrified newbie healer, it meant more than any drop Gordon could have brought me. I was exhausted from the tension and strain, but my healing heart was glowing with pride.I'm not attracted by loot, it is useful, I like when it's nice, but I don't mind at all where I am on the meters as long as I do my job right.
My simple conclusion is: All you need is love.
Give me a cheer and a hug and I’ll heal my arse off for you in any instance you like. Regardless of what awards it offers.
I think a lot of "true heart" healers and tanks are the same, we do that because we like it, not because we want more "rewards". There is some pride in the tank & healer role, and that is enough for us ... as long as other players aknowledge we're doing our best with the gear we have and that tanking or healing isn't always a happy funny time.
There is a much direct penalty for an under-performing tank or healer, lack of heals or effectiveness as a tank (survival or threat generation) shows much more than a low dps on the meters. It directly impacts the other members and can cause wipes which cost gold. That is were you can see these roles as more stressful.
That's where I'm going ... ungrateful players.
Larisa cited a post from Calli from Pew Pew Lazers tiled Angry Priest is Angry. Seeing it cited by Larisa, and the author being a discipline priest (like that :p) I went to read it.
Even if it's a bit too ranty probably to convince most, I completely agree with Calli on her point:
People asking for a vote kick of a tank not in 4 pieces T9 in a random heroic dungeon (not Halls of Reflection !) are just pure lazy bums that I don't want to play with.
When LK started tanks were at most around 24K unbuffed and healers were having a much lower spell power. I was there healing, it was harder, and all in all, it was much more fun!
So yes, I'm proud to say that "I love to heal undergeared tanks in 5-Men" !
When I say undergeared it's according to the idea people have that a tank for heroics has to have more than 40K health nowadays ... silly snobs. I've healed a warrior tank friend with my priest, in all random heroics (before 3.3) when he was still all in blues, and we were perfectly fine, he's a good player and a good tank, and if he was a bit short in life my, then T8 geared, priest was more than enough to secure him and the group 100% of the time.
Healing a slightly less geared tank is a bit more work, but it wakes me up, it's fun because there is a little challenge where most random 5-Men are not anymore. And that's what I miss now ... the fun of the challenge in 5-Man.
My pride, and what I'm happy of when I finish an instance, is a 0 death clean ride. When people die I'm not happy, even if it's completely their fault, I still feel like I failed somehow. (Yes you the dps standing in the fire, you can ruin my fun by just being silly. Not because we didn't drop loot, because you died, you idiot!)
If the tank or the group is slightly less geared, and I'm working more, it's even more fun.
I remember of my first runs of Naxramass with my priest, it was with a small guild (her guild raiding ulduar 25 at that time) whose tanks were still half in blues, and the others raid members too, me included. It was a real challenge, yes Naxramass was a challenge ... for the sole reason that we were doing it at the right level of gear.
All in all my view is that overgearing content is nice for fast runs, but tend to really turn players into snobs that don't remember what fun challenge can be, if they ever knew what challenge is.
Edit:
As sidenotes on this new LFG system, you could find some interest in reading these posts, also ranty in other ways, about what I'd consider as the way of "running with anonymous players" given to us by the cross-server LFG tool:
Dechion on WTF! Group Ninja?
Gnomeaggedon on If you’re THAT 1337, GTFO of my Random Dungeon!
TyphoonAndrew on LGD Perspectives
You could find them interesting, as I did.
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