tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43198142119580138272024-03-13T11:25:53.845-04:00I am a PaladinI rant, rave and raid! Chronicles of a holy paladin =)HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-71396532032726008392010-10-17T04:10:00.003-04:002010-10-17T04:50:13.129-04:00Blizzard FTL<div style="text-align: justify;">I don't think any class/spec in the history of WoW has ever been nerfed this bad, or at least sunk to the depths that we have in terms of PVE.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">PVP wise, I don't care if we are good because my bread and butter is PVE raiding. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We won't be fixed by Blizzard, maybe a <i>tiny</i> buff but make us actually raid healing viable and fixing our glaring weaknesses? No way.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Blizzard hates holy paladins</b>. I've said it before and people always scoff at it but I don't see how it can't not be true.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I have other alts now that I may level but my holy paladin is my beloved main. I am sure I am not the only one that feels that way, invested the time and thinks the same way I do. It is just plain sad to see how badly my class/spec is being treated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To all those people at Blizzard responsible for <i>destroying</i> the beloved spec/class of so many people, <i><b>I</b><b> hope karma gets you all. </b></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">P.S. People that say holy paladins are fine, you <i>really</i> don't know what you are talking about because no healing class should require a "rotation" to heal. <b><u>We are not fucking DPS.</u></b> The current healing model for us has <i>nothing</i> to do with "adjusting" but actual problems with mechanics, HPS and abilities.</div>HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-36118995884750454752010-08-26T06:16:00.000-04:002010-08-26T06:16:54.106-04:00Stars H LK KillStars 3 Healed HM LK with a Holy paladin, Holy priest and Disc priest. No mana tide totems! Seriously full of respect for this holy paladin in terms of their mana management skills. I've done some HM LK attempts and I hate how low my mana goes.<br />
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I have <b><i>A LOT</i></b> of real life stuff going on so my posts are going to be <b><i>ultra</i></b> sporadic. Just warning you guys.<br />
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I have been trying to keep up on Cataclysm stuff but to be honest, the entire game is changing for holy paladins so it'll probably take a bit of time for me to process. I don't watch videos or look at much of the new content, I've only seen the general overviews of paladin changes on MMO Champions because I don't want to be completely in the know when the expansion comes out. I still want to retain that feeling of awe and excitement that I had in WotLK when I was questing with my boyfriend. So if I make any posts about holy paladins changes, will probably be after Cataclysm when I can actually play the new mechanics. =P<br />
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As for how my checklist of WotLK stuff to do before Cataclysm is going, not too well =(<br />
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<ol style="text-align: justify;"><li>Get over <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=4496">9000</a> achievement points - I am around <strike>8400</strike> 8700 achievement points atm.</li>
<li><strike>Get a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47432">So</a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47059">la</a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47271">c</a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47041">e</a> trinket to play around with</strike></li>
<li><strike>Get a new weapon! And a whole bunch of other gear on my list</strike></li>
<li>Complete <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3812">ToGC 25</a> - all I have left is Anub'arak</li>
<li>Level an alt to 80. <strike>Currently, my DK is at 70 and my priest is in her 40s so we'll see which one is going to hit 80 first! =X</strike> DK at 71, priest at 60</li>
<li>Get maxed mining on one of my alts.</li>
<li>Try to complete the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=46017">legendary</a>. This is likely going to stay a dream. I actually have a better chance of getting <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=49888">Shadow's Edge</a> than getting the legendary T.T (I already have the 2 quest items)</li>
<li>Aim for the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=2958">Ironbound Protodrake</a>!</li>
<li>Maybe the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=4602">10 man Frostwyrm</a>? Likely another pipedream as I don't do 10 mans regularly enough =(</li>
<li>Hit 100k gold on my paladin for Cataclysm (only <strike>50k</strike> 70k right now).</li>
<li>Freaking kill <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=695">Archimonde</a>! (Only TBC raid boss I have NOT killed)</li>
<li><strike>Get a <a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=47541">bridle</a> for my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45022">squire</a>! </strike></li>
<li>See 25 man Algalon and try to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3037">kill</a> him! </li>
<li>Get exalted with Consortium and Lower City </li>
<li>Get <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=1682">Loremaster</a> before Azeroth gets destroyed </li>
</ol>I've been pretty content in WotLK, my character has reached the furthest progression it's ever seen and nearly BIS everything. Pretty happy with the pace I've been going at, only raiding 2-3 days a week.<br />
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Anyway, till next time! =)HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-14347689144036298952010-06-16T18:25:00.003-04:002010-06-16T18:29:23.598-04:00Please Get Authenticators<div style="text-align: justify;">We always hear about it but never think it will touch our little world. Well, it does.What am I talking about?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Hackedbelf.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="320" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Hackedbelf.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Getting hacked.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is the single worst thing that can happen to a WoW player 's account because you lose everything that you have invested in your hobby. On top of the time, gold, gear and other materials that is stolen; you lose the feeling of control, trust and good will.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">No, I haven't been hacked but some people in my guild have and the ones that hit home were my 2 WoW friends, one I knew irl.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The worst part of it all is that the 2 WoW friends that got hacked, they really had no reason to have gotten hacked. They don't buy gold or surf the internet much. The only thing they didn't have were authenticators.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As targets, they were paydirt in the amount of damage the hacking caused them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">WoW friend #1 had just recently come back to the game and to welcome him back, me and my boyfriend had pooled all our unused Frost Emblems to buy Primordial Saronite in order to craft him ICC leggings and boots. We also crafted the ToC bracers, chest and Ulduar belt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We didn't do this expecting anything in return but genuinely to help out, especially since he had quit the game when we were still trying to clear Naxx 25 so literally all his gear was only ilvl 200 and some blues. It just hurt a lot that after we spent the time to craft him the last item, he immediately got hacked.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">WoW friend #2 is relatively new to the game (~1 year play time) and only has 1 level 80 character just like me. He takes it farther than me though and barely has <i>any</i> alts at all - maybe a bank alt. He is really, really rich and has a lot of valuable materials in his bank. If losing all his gold and own mats weren't bad enough (which is north of 100k in worth), he also had officer status in my bank alt's guild. So my alt bank was raped with all the herbs, gems, etc.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm not that mad about the guild bank to be honest. I'm just pissed that there are still gold sellers and whatnot that fucking do this for a <i>living</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Think about it, their <i>entire livelihood</i> is based off of making your hobby that you do for fun <i>not</i> fun just so people that are lazy can buy gold.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the WoW goldseller/hacker's world, everything that we do in WoW is worthless if it can not be converted into gold. Your titles, mount, pets, achievements are completely worthless. That is because to a gold seller, they don't care how much time you have invested in to your character.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are out to ruin your hobby on purpose so they can make a buck out of you.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">People need to start recognizing gold sellers for what they are - <b>con men.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, the poor farmers spend hours killing creatures for gold and get paid diddly squat but it is not the WoW gamer's fault for their life circumstances leading to their current predicament.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stop encouraging gold sellers!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Report them. Don't buy from them (even reputable sites, which shouldn't be doing it anyway). Let anyone you know interested in doing so not to do it and why! The practice needs to be abolished!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whew! Glad I got that off my chest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, please please anyone without an authenticator - get one. I know that adding an authenticator adds an extra step in logging on but you get used to it rather quickly nor is it hack-proof but you are much safer that way.<br />
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Don't google for links without checking them first. Don't give out your login information easily, especially via email links. Make sure your computer is always up to date. Please take care of what sites you go to and what you download and make sure your computer is never compromised!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I hope that none of you ever get hacked but I feel so upset for my friends that did because if their accounts don't get completely restored, I can totally see them quitting. I wouldn't blame them either.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Please get an authenticator!</b></div>HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-61920051662511368702010-06-05T22:45:00.002-04:002010-06-05T22:45:00.279-04:00Legendary Drama<div style="text-align: justify;">Ever since this <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=46017">orange mace</a> came out with Ulduar, it's always been the subject of much debate.</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Who's gonna get it?</li>
<li>How do we decide who gets it?<br />
</li>
<li>Is it worth it?</li>
<li>Can we make it?</li>
<li>Why didn't so-and-so get it?</li>
<li>Do we really have to farm it?</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;">When Ulduar was the biggest, baddest instance out there - there was no question about it, you <span style="font-style: italic;">had</span> to farm the legendary or try to if your progression wasn't up there.<br />
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Now that there are two raid instances out above Ulduar's loot level, many people even question the worth of a legendary mace's presence in the raid. There is a tremendous time involved to farm the necessary amount of shards on top of the needing to be in a guild able to kill Yogg Saron to make the mace.<br />
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This is even harder when you take into account all the different raids one can complete in the week that all give out item level loot equivalent or higher than that or 25 man Ulduar.<br />
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And on top of that, all heroics reward Triumph Emblems, which can buy 245 item level gear. Though some guild's like <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/ThePinkPigtailInn/%7E3/b7wu9P0SJXI/joy-of-making-legendaries.html">Larisa's</a> don't mind farming it even now, many guilds have members that are unwilling to farm it or go back to Ulduar.<br />
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So with all that in mind, why is it that people still get mad over who gets the shards?<span id="full post"><br />
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Case in point:<br />
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My guild originally had 1 healer, resto druid A, that had been in the guild the longest. The healing core slowly did a complete turn around, beginning with my recruitment. It had been decided that this 1 healer would get all the shards and subsequently, she received 3 or 4 fragments.<br />
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Then, she went AFK for quite a while from healer burn out and another resto druid (B)that had slowly been building reputation with the officers (then became one himself) became the recipient of shards, especially since he already had 10 fragments from his previous guild.<br />
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Now, I have always had 1 fragment with me that I managed to get my grubby little hands on from a pug in my old server. So when we did Ulduar this past week since our shard recipient was not there, the GM asked us </span><span id="full post">who would like the fragment and </span><span id="full post">to state how many shards we had, if any.<br />
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Resto druid A happened to be in the same raid but she didn't post so I just said in raid, me? along with the sentiment that I have 1 shard but I don't care really. Then to my surprise, a whole bunch of other healers post including resto druid A. So I figure, oh well it makes sense for the fragment to go to resto druid A since she has the most of the bunch and she was originally the shard recipient before she went AFK.<br />
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I teleported to where my boyfriend had summoned a Dalaran portal and took it. To my surprise, that is when the GM decided to award me the fragment. I went, "WHAT?!" amid pm's of congratulations.<br />
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To be honest, I was really happy I got the fragment even knowing the slim chance of completion but there was obviously some dissent. This was underscored by the fact that the co-GM felt compelled to explain why the GM had given me the fragment, which I won't get into right now.<br />
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Even so, does it really matter at this point?<br />
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Many current legendary possessors have taken to the healing forums bitching about the legendary not keeping up with the times. The complaints were to such an extent that Blizzard was compelled to state that in no way would the legendary be upgraded again beyond its current 245 item level as WoW is a game meant for upgrading gear and a legendary does not mean it is the last weapon you ever need as a healer in this expansion. Hell, my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47322">current weapon</a> is a bit better stats wise than the legendary!<br />
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Even if resto druid A felt wronged, it honestly didn't matter because who is going to help me complete the mace? It is a collective, group effort that our guild has already shown to be near nigh impossible as we barely even do 25 man normal ToC to farm <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47316">Reign of the Dead</a> or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47271">Solace of the Fallen</a>. The only reason we were doing 25 man Ulduar was to farm more block gear and we stopped at Auriaya. Our raid schedule will only get all the more tighter as ICC is slowly, completely released.<br />
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I really didn't understand the huge fuss, especially when ilvl 277 weapons are out along with the ilvl 264 weapons currently available.<br />
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Why make such a big deal over something that could <span style="font-style: italic;">possibly</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">maybe</span> happen if the stars align?<br />
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I had to shake my head about this but I suppose with legendaries, there will always be drama. Surprisingly, I haven't heard much drama surrounding <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=49623">Shadowmourne</a>. Hmm...<br />
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Anyway, here is my question for you readers, I'm interested in your feedback.<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="full post"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;">Do you think you would be upset if you hadn't received the fragment?</span></span></span></div><span id="full post"><br />
Hope you share your opinion! Till next time!<br />
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P.S. This is an old story and this guild is dead =(<br />
P.P.S The legendary is still really good for holy paladins just because of the proc, 3rd BIS according to my <a href="http://www.guildox.com/wr.asp?Cla=2&Max=25&n1=1&n2=1&F=H&mh=2&mp5=2&mcr=1&spd=2&mhit=-1&Int=3&Spi=-10&map=-10&Ver=6&i1=0&i2=0&i3=0&i9=0&k1=0&k4=0&k5=0&k6=0&t1=51167&t2=50061&t3=51166&t5=50027&t8=50451&t9=51928&t10=49896&t6=50721&t7=49995&t11=50008&t31=50400&t12=46051&t32=47432&t4=50205&t14=50428&t15=47448&t16=40705">lootrank sheet</a>.<br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-57617339533418665752010-05-22T15:39:00.002-04:002010-05-22T15:39:39.040-04:00Raid Optimization for Holy Paladins<div style="text-align: justify;">I always felt that speccing, gearing and gemming a holy paladin is pretty straight forward. We had only a few spells and it is absurdly easy to pick up how to heal on a holy paladin due to our small toolbox of direct healing spells.<br />
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The true mastery of the holy paladin I feel comes with learning the tricks of the trade and managing the CDs, ensuring you can pump out the healing numbers as well as keeping on top of mana regen - just like every other class.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=HP4.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="400" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/HP4.jpg" width="343" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
I really believe that <i>half</i> of the holy paladin's ability to perform in raids is <b>preparation</b>, even more so than other healing classes.<i><b> </b></i><b>You have to gem right, gear right, talent right and glyph right.</b> This is because of the weird dichotomy of our healing arsenal - a big, inefficient heal or a small, efficient heal - so we must optimize for usage of 1 spell over the other (though not used to all exclusion). The other half of the equation is <b>execution</b>, which takes <i>practice</i> depending on the difficulty of the fight along with <i>experience</i> to get a hang of healing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So here I am, reading <a href="http://rhida.ch/">Rhidach</a>'s post about this site called <a href="http://armorydatamining.appspot.com/">Armory Datamining</a>. I like these types of websites because they tend to compile information in WoW in a different way, revealing things that are new or from a different angle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, I went to look at the holy paladin data, expecting there not to be much deviation. Lo and behold, I was wrong.<br />
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I may be presumptive but I really want anyone reading this that is not preparing properly as a holy paladin to sit up and take notice! There <i>is</i> leeway if you want to do things differently but there is still such a thing as wrong gems/glyphs/talents/etc for holy paladins to do! So here is my little troubleshooting attempt.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Gems</b></span></div><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-Gems.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="400" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-Gems.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">About the only thing that didn't have much deviation were holy paladin gems but to be fair, this just indicates a huge majority of holy paladins are <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48782">HL</a> paladins. The surprising thing was that despite the <i>huge</i> popularity of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40123">Brilliant</a> gems in general, Nightmare Tear was not as popular. This is perplexing because usually, the best gemming strategy for HL paladins are all Brilliant + <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=49110">Nightmare Tear</a>.<br />
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If you are trying to activate the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41401">Insightful Earthsiege Diamond</a> as a meta, you <i>don't</i> need to gem with a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40151">Luminous</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40175">Dazzling</a> in 2 sockets. You can just use 1 Nightmare Tear (or I guess a purple cut though Nightmare Tear is better imo) to activate it with just 1 socket. When I was really new to WoW, I used to think that you needed <i>separate</i> gems of the red and blue type coloring to activate it but that is just <i><b>not</b></i> the case.<br />
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So for those of you gemming with all Brilliant with one Dazzling/Luminous combo just to activate the meta, <b><i>don't do it</i></b>! Just pop a Nightmare Tear in a socket and tada~ done! (Usually, best place for Nightmare Tear is helm as you get socket bonus too, which is also usually one of the best bonuses on top of it) If you really want to get all the socket bonuses, then that's your choice and I'm not stopping you.<br />
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Also, <i>don't</i> use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41333">Ember Skyflare Diamond</a> as your meta. It won't beat out the Insightful in terms of mana regen, not at the int levels provided by gear/gems. (For numbers, <a href="http://www.zabery.com/blog/2010/01/24/should-holy-paladins-use-the-ember-skyflare-diamond/">here</a> is the <a href="http://moarhps.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/re-should-holy-paladins-use-the-ember-skyflare-diamond/">info</a>)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Glyphs</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-Glyphs.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="400" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-Glyphs.jpg" width="338" /></a></div>It seems glyphs aren't that straightforward as I thought considering the popularity of the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41105">FoL glyph</a>. The gemming results point to many holy paladins being HL paladins so what is the FoL glyph doing here? Even if you are a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48785">FoL</a> paladin, the FoL glyph is really subpar imo as a glyph since you won't care about 5% extra crit chance as you are likely healing a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53601">SS</a>'ed target already. (FoL paladins ensure a steady stream of healing on tanks compared to the spiky healing of HL pallies)<br />
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I have no freaking clue what glyph of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41092">Judgement</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41103">Exorcism</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43869">Seal of Vengeance</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41099">Consecration</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45742">Hammer of the Righteous</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45745">Divine Plea</a> are doing in this section. It better be people in ret/prot spec logging out in holy gear for whatever reason. If you are actually using these glyphs as a holy paladin, please do me a favor and <u><i>change them out immediately</i></u>!!<br />
<br />
As for the minor glyphs, since there aren't many of them, there's not much variation. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43367">Glyph of LoH</a> is the only real important one imo. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Talents</b></span></div><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-Talents.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="400" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-Talents.jpg" width="285" /></a><br />
The general population was pretty straightforward when it came to talents with a few exceptions.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=31826">Purifying Power</a> was unexpectedly popular. The only real application of it that I know of was for Anub'arak in TOGC to help stun the adds when they came out. If you have this talent in your build, please save the points! It is also <i>not</i> helpful in PVP!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=31823">Pure of Heart</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=31830">Blessed Life</a> are purported to be PVP talents really but even then I don't think they can really compare to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53553">Sacred Cleansing</a>. Pure of Heart can be useful if you <i>really</i> don't want to get hexed for the full duration in PVP. If you have these talents for PVE, save your points!<br />
<br />
Also, if you have points in <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20332">Seals of the Pure</a>, take them out right away! Holy paladins <i>do not</i> and <i>should not</i> need to worry about DPS!<br />
<br />
Now I understand that maybe you had some extra points and didn't know where to spend them. You don't need to blindly put them anywhere, those points can be put to good use!<br />
<br />
I would suggest putting them in <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53661">Blessed Hands</a>, but only if you actually use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1038">Salve</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=6940">HSac</a> often enough. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20235">LoH</a> is a great talent to spec into along with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20245">improved BoW</a> if your raid needs it. Another alternative is putting more points in your secondary tree, whether it be prot or ret like maybe going for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20140">Improved Devo Aura</a>.<br />
<br />
Bottom line is that <b>all the points in your spec should be to improve your healing potential or your utility</b>! <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Professions</b></span></div><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-Professions.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-Professions.jpg" width="350" /></a><br />
I've been posting about JC as a profession in my <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2010/05/jc-in-cataclysm.html">recent</a> <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2010/05/bsjc-gemming.html">posts</a>. To me, hands downs, BS/JC is the best combo since JC gives you more of the stat you like (int for HL or SP/mp5 for FoL) while BS gives you more gem sockets to stack more of your particular stat regardless of what it is exactly. The other professions are more limited as they only give you a certain type of stat and you are not as free to pick and choose what stats you want to stack. I will admit that not all holy paladins are BS and/or JC, which is still feasible though not as optimal.<br />
<br />
However, no holy paladin <b><i>main</i></b> should be a tailor! The perks that you get are not optimal at all. You get an embroidery that either gives you a whopping <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55769#comments">~17 mp5</a> or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55642#comments">50-60 SP</a>. Not worth it!<br />
<br />
Leather working is a sub-optimal profession for HL paladins though the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=57691">perk</a> may be worth it for FoL paladins. There is a lack of flexibility here though if you like to switch it up and play as both a HL or FoL paladin since the 76 SP to bracers is the <i>only</i> feasible option.<br />
<a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-ProfessionCombinations.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="320" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-ProfessionCombinations.jpg" width="319" /></a><br />
If you are serious about raiding as a holy paladin, none of the "gathering" professions should be one of your professions. These professions are mining, herbalism and skinning.<br />
<br />
I know herbalism gives you a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55503">HoT</a> but it is on a long CD and does not heal for much, not worth it imo! Skinning gives you a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53666">crit</a> buff but tbh, that is not the best stat for us. The <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53040">stamina buff</a> from mining is also not optimal but it might be allowable since it does increase your survivability slightly (especially if taking huge raid wide damage).<br />
<br />
There are a lot of what you call "farming" alts but with the popularity of certain combinations of professions that seem to be mains, I really think that people are selling themselves short.<br />
<br />
People with a crafting profession in combination with a gathering profession should drop their gathering profession. I am guessing a lot of people went mining in order to level up their particular crafting profession and didn't bother to drop it to level up another crafting profession. It can also be a pain since it is a time/gold sink to power level another crafting profession, especially if you don't have a gatherer alt. Even so, it is sad to see that JC/BS is really unpopular though it is a very good combination for holy paladins.<br />
<br />
In the end, it really depends on the type of raider you are, the guild you are in and if you really need to min/max.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Enchants</b></span></div><br />
Don't get the cheaper enchant! I know it might be expensive but if you are apping to a decent guild, having the best enchant possible is the norm, <i>not</i> the exception.<br />
<br />
There wasn't much variation in enchants but there were glaring exceptions.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-EnchantsWeapon.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="176" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-EnchantsWeapon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>For example, mainhand weapons seem to only be either +63 or +50 SP even though the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=27968">TBC int enchant</a> is perfectly viable.<br />
<a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-EnchantsFeet.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-EnchantsFeet.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
Another thing that was really weird to me was that in terms of enchanting for boots, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=44584">7 hp5/mp5</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=60623">Icewalker</a> were more popular than <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=44491">Tuskarr's Vitality</a>. I understand Icewalker but not the 7 hp5/mp5 since 7 mp5 is barely a buff (7 hp5 is not even anything to consider)!<br />
<br />
I would rank the enchants in the following way: Tuskarr's, Icewalker and then 7 hp5/mp5 yet that is clearly not the case in the general population. If you have 7 hp5/mp5 on your boots, please at least change to Icewalker!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Datamining-EnchantsLegs.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="198" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Datamining-EnchantsLegs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The final point of contention for me in enchants was that some people used <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=56039/sanctified-spellthread">Sanctified Spellthread</a>. It may be cheaper but it makes you look bad if you use it! Holy paladins do not need spirit and you're jumping the gun here for Cataclysm.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Self-Check</b></span></div><br />
If you don't even know where to start optimizing your gear, you can go to many websites that will basically let you know if you're missing enchants, gems, etc. Here are a few to get you started off:<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://elitistarmory.com/">Elitist Armory</a> - I like this because it actually checks for your JC-only gems too (via <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/">MMO-Champion</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://be.imba.hu/">Be-imba</a> - A quick diagnostic for your character, one of the first sites out there offering this function</li>
<li><a href="http://wow-heroes.com/">WoW-Heroes</a> - This site doesn't really tell you what you have done wrong but it gives you a great overview of your character so you can easily see all your gear, gems, enchants, stats and raiding info all on 1 page. This is my preferred go-to site.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.warcrafter.net/">Warcrafter</a> - Is similar to WoW-Heroes but displays it differently</li>
<li><a href="http://quickarmory.com/">Quick Armory</a> - Also similar to Warcrafter and WoW-heroes but it allows you to search for common specs. Again, different way to display information, pick whatever floats your boat</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=HP3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img align="center" alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="320" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/HP3.jpg" width="190" /></a></div><br />
Hope this helped out! Till next time!<br />
<br />
P.S. In regards to my <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2010/05/everyone-is-talking-about-cataclysm-but.html">Cataclysm To-Do List</a>, I have already checked some stuff off! You can see one of those things here in the screenshot on the left =P I also added some things to the list. Will I ever get things done before Cataclysm?!<br />
<br />
P.P.S. If you want to ogle a holy paladin, I got the goods <a href="http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Lightning%27s+Blade&cn=Diamondtear">here</a>.</div></div></div>HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-25569590651609648592010-05-20T17:02:00.001-04:002010-05-20T17:25:01.653-04:00BS/JC Gemming<div style="text-align: justify;">This is something I have never understood. Perhaps I am doing it wrong but...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A lot of Holy paladins are BS/JC understandably for the JC gems + 2 extra BS slots. However, why is it whenever I <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Azgalor&cn=Cure">see</a> BS/JC, they always seem to put the JC gems in random slots?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For me, I like to always put my 3 JC only <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42225">Dragon's Eye</a> gems (usually <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42148">Brilliant</a>) in the 3 extraneous BS slots:</div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41611">Belt Buckle</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55628">Bracer Socket</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55641">Glove Socket</a></li>
</ol><div style="text-align: justify;">Why you ask? Well, I like to switch out gear a lot depending on the fight. If I have a set socket that my JC only gem is always in then I know that <i>no matter what</i> gear I switch in and out. It will <i>never</i> interfere with my Dragon's Eye gem! That way I won't be limited in gear combinations just because of either too little or too many JC only gems.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also makes no sense for the JC only gem to be put into a colored socket because most holy paladins (HL ones, of course) ignore socket color to just do all Brilliant + <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=49110">Nightmare Tear</a>. Even so, FoL paladins can still benefit from this gemming method.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Maybe HL paladins have gotten lazy and just wear one set of gear no matter what. Well, all I have to say to that is...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><b>Don't be lazy!</b></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">VDW needs separate gearing/gemming. No, it is not for epeen because the faster VDW gets healed up, the better for the raid! There are also other fights in ICC that I use FoL gear or you may just want to mix up some different types of gear to increase haste or mp5 or what not. Gemming in this fashion makes gearing a lot more flexible!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
If you're like me, I have a hard time letting go of gear because I'm always like, well I could use for this and that, etc. I always try to get the most mileage out of my gear. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What do you guys think?</div>HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-42271648502329836882010-05-12T22:45:00.003-04:002010-05-21T01:57:14.877-04:00JC in Cataclysm<div style="text-align: justify;">I am like most other paladins a BS/JC, which I really believe has been the best combination so far. The fact that I actually wear plate is just a perk.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's funny because in TBC I used to be Mining/JC simply because I wanted to be able to level up JC while leveling. I never min/maxed in TBC. I only finally dropped Mining in WotLK after Ulduar and power leveled BS so I could stack more int after the great nerf of 3.2 for holy pallies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So I have always been a JC and now more recently a BS, in terms of being a crafter for professions. The funny thing is the only reason why I wanted to be a JC in TBC was because it was the "new" profession of the expansion, just like how belfs were the "new" race of TBC.<br />
<br />
Yes, I <i>am</i> a very silly holy pally. Ahh, the days of noob-dom. =P<br />
<br />
So talking about trends in TBC, in WotLK, the "new" has become pervasive and completely ubiquitous.<br />
<br />
Of course, JC being such a dominant profession is backed up by its very nice benefits.<br />
<ul><li><b>Flexibility</b> - You know how engineering usually better for PVPers and maybe some classes in PVE? JC is beneficial to everyone, regardless of their class/role or PVE/PVP because it stacks more of the stats you want</li>
<li> <b>Customization</b> - Enchanting is a lucrative profession and it's nice to easily enchant anything but the rings only enchant AP, SP or stam, which are nice but not as customizable as the JC only gems with stats that you can stack such as res, spirit, strength, armor pen, etc.</li>
<li><b>Money making potential</b> - Even if you don't sell gems or cuts, you still do the JC daily!</li>
</ul>JC wasn't always this nice, so I really hope they don't make it the "worst" profession in Cataclysm to make up for its popularity in WotLK. Even so, I still would like to stick with JC at the very least as one of my 2 professions in Cataclysm.<br />
<br />
Right now, I'm really happy with what I have heard so far about JC in Cataclysm. No danger signals (yet).<br />
<br />
According to <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/cataclysm-professions-preview/">MMO Champion</a>: <br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><li>New Jewelcrafting dailies will be introduced.</li>
<li>Many cuts are being added to support the new Mastery stat.</li>
<li>Some new Cataclysm jewelry recipes have completely random properties, and can sometimes create superior and epic versions.</li>
<li><i><b>Jewelcrafters will have some fun new (and potentially lucrative) vanity items, including fist weapons, rhinestone sunglasses, monocles, and stardust (sprinkle on players for entertainment).</b></i></li>
</ul><br />
Hahaha, completely makes JC all worth it for me! <br />
<br />
Since Blizzard is cracking down on the NDA stuff, I guess we won't be hearing too much about Cataclysm, which means not much about the content is too spoiled. I just hope we can hear enough about the game play and class changes to give constructive feedback to Blizzard. I think everyone is at "wait and see" in regards to the 10 versus 25 man raid changes.<br />
<br />
Crossing fingers! Till next time!</div>HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-45728536732954298532010-05-06T23:24:00.005-04:002010-05-21T00:37:54.323-04:00Before Cataclysm Comes!<div style="text-align: justify;">Everyone is talking about Cataclysm but I don't really want to get too much in the know because I still remember questing in Howling Fjord and just enjoying it <i>so</i> much! Everything was so new and it was just like <i>"wooooowwww"</i> to me so I want to be able to experience that again in Cataclysm. I was such a tourist and I unashamedly <b><i>loved</i></b> it!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, people may have started to lose interest in WoW due to the end of the expansion coming up and summertime fever but I have a bunch of things I still want to do before Cataclysm comes out. I have no clue if I will get to everything but I will certainly try.</div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li>Get over <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=4496">9000</a> achievement points - I am around 8400 achievement points atm.</li>
<li><strike>Get a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47432">So</a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47059">la</a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47271">c</a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47041">e</a> trinket to play around with</strike></li>
<li><strike>Get a new weapon! And a whole bunch of other gear on my list</strike></li>
<li>Complete <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3812">ToGC 25</a> - all I have left is Anub'arak</li>
<li>Level an alt to 80. Currently, my DK is at 70 and my priest is in her 40s so we'll see which one is going to hit 80 first! =X</li>
<li>Get maxed mining on one of my alts.</li>
<li>Try to complete the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=46017">legendary</a>. This is likely going to stay a dream. I actually have a better chance of getting <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=49888">Shadow's Edge</a> than getting the legendary T.T (I already have the 2 quest items)</li>
<li>Aim for the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=2958">Ironbound Protodrake</a>!</li>
<li>Maybe the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=4602">10 man Frostwyrm</a>? Likely another pipedream as I don't do 10 mans regularly enough =(</li>
<li>Hit 100k gold on my paladin for Cataclysm (only 50k right now).</li>
<li>Freaking kill <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=695">Archimonde</a>! (Only TBC raid boss I have NOT killed)</li>
<li><strike>Get a <a href="http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=47541">bridle</a> for my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45022">squire</a>! </strike></li>
<li>See 25 man Algalon and try to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3037">kill</a> him! </li>
<li>Get exalted with Consortium and Lower City </li>
<li>Get <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=1682">Loremaster</a> before Azeroth gets destroyed </li>
</ol><div style="text-align: justify;">What is your to-do list? </div>HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-38577794934920878782010-04-28T21:13:00.007-04:002010-05-21T02:06:15.345-04:00Interesting Statistics to Me about Me<div style="text-align: justify;">Matticus recently did a <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/WorldOfMatticus/%7E3/FEZilmRSMAg/">post</a> about his "Surprise Statistics" so it made me take a closer look at my own. So yes, this post is going to be about me. All about me. Me, me, me! =P<br />
<br />
I'm not going to post everything but numbers that I've pruned that I thought was interesting. Hopefully I don't get carried away but knowing me, that is likely =P<br />
<br />
You have been warned!<br />
<br />
By the way, follow <a href="http://twitter.com/iamapaladin">my twitter</a> if you want me in small doses =P <br />
<br />
Here we go! <span id="fullpost"><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Combat</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Largest hit received: 31,286 </span><br />
<br />
This is such a lie! I think this just means they don't count the overkill portion so if you get one shot by something, it just registers as your hp at the time.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Largest heal cast: 2,459,898</span><br />
<br />
Where the heck is this from??<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Total healing done: 4,167,510,604</span><br />
<br />
Holy crap, I've done a lot of healing in my WoW "career" =X especially when compared to my damage done (888,519,041)<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Character</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Flasks consumed: 362 (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=44332">Elixir of Mighty Thoughts</a> consumed most at 112 times)<br />
Elixirs consumed: 344 (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=13511">Flask of Distilled Wisdom</a> consumed most at 341 times)</span><br />
<br />
I guess I've always loved me some int =X Even though I've used 5 different types of flask, the fact that I've overwhelmingly chosen the int flask by such a huge margin is surprising.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Mana potions consumed: 237 (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42545">Runic Mana Injector</a> consumed most at 61 times)</span><br />
<br />
Haha, this sounds about right. Before they made mana pots stack to 20, I had to get them made into injector pots via the old engineering <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42546">kits</a>. However, I never use mana pots now even though I don't get mana tide now in raid (T.T). I guess the gear scaling in ICC just completely negated the big mana nerf we got in 3.2 (nerfed via <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20215">Illumination</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=57669">Replenishment</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20261">Divine Intellect</a> just as a reminder)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Legendary Items acquired: 4</span><br />
<br />
Boo, I won't ever get the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=46017">legendary</a> =(<br />
<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Deaths</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Total deaths: 3,595<br />
Total deaths in 25 man raids: 1,242<br />
Deadliest LK Dungeon boss: Loken (18)<br />
Deadliest LK 10 man boss: Algalon (12)<br />
Deadliest LK 25 man boss: Sartharion (16)</span><br />
<br />
This really doesn't sound right because I know I had at least 20 attempts on LK 10 man to get the down and 15 for the LK 25 man kill. I guess this means that Blizzard doesn't count the deaths unless you get the kill?<br />
<br />
Yet I've only killed Algalon once so this it a bit confusing to me. I also could have sworn I've died to Sartharion more times since my guild went through 3 weeks of wiping to get 3D (and failed as I mentioned briefly in an old post).<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Deaths from falling: 30</span><br />
<br />
I'm so ashamed of this as a pally =X Let us never speak of this again.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Deadliest BG: Arathi Basin (173 times, WSG is close at 145 times)<br />
Deaths from Vanndar Stormpike: 1</span><br />
<br />
I was only killed by Vann <i>once</i>?! Really?!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Rebirthed by druids: 106<br />
Resurrected by soulstones: 48<br />
Raised as a ghoul: 5</span><br />
<br />
Haha, I never realized I got brezzed that much =X<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kills</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Creature type killed the most: Humanoid (95637)<br />
Critters killed: 17363</span><br />
<br />
I have no comment for this =X<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Total HK's: 52,686<br />
BG with most HK's: WSG (4,712)<br />
Arena killing blows: 481<br />
BG killing blows: 1778<br />
</span><br />
<br />
Not that surprised about WSG, it's one of the BGs that I think I tend to win in but I didn't realize I had so many killing blows in arena! LOL, me stealing KB's from my partners must have added up =P<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Dungeons & Raids</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">LK 5 man boss killed most: Grand Magus Telestra (53, Nexus)<br />
LK 10 man boss killed most: Archavon (36, VoA)<br />
LK 25 man boss killed most: Archacon (40, VoA<br />
Daily randoms completed: 106</span><br />
<br />
Surprisingly boring =( I've stopped doing daily randoms now so I don't expect that number to change much. For a graphical way to present a lot of this information go to <a href="http://www.pugchecker.com/">pugchecker</a>, props to <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Kirin+Tor&cn=Vailladin">Vailladin</a> of <a href="http://vailladin.blogspot.com/">V Team</a> for introducing me to this resource! <br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Travel</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br />
FP's taken: 442<br />
Summons accepted: 412</span><br />
<br />
I don't take flight paths anymore in WotLK but I remembered taking it a lot more in TBC but wow, 412 summons accepted is a lot!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Mage portals taken: 860<br />
Mage portal taken most: Dalaran (678)</span><br />
<br />
Haha, the perks of a mage bf ;p<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Number of times hearthed: 494</span><br />
<br />
Blizzard should totally include a "number of times hearthed while bubbled" for paladins! LOL<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Social</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Hugs: 41<br />
Facepalms: -</span><br />
<br />
^ I guess no matter how bad the group I am in, I never go so far as to do /facepalm hehe<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Playing world's smallest violin: 7</span><br />
<br />
I <span style="font-style: italic;">know</span> I only do this in PVP and that means they deserved it! Dirty alliance! jk, jk =P<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">LOL'd: 52<br />
Cheers: 131<br />
Waves: 436</span><br />
<br />
Haha, I like to wave a lot, don't I? I do greet more though I think, they should add that in!<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">PVP</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Arenas won: 572<br />
Total arenas played: 1099<br />
Win rate: ~52% (I calculated this)<br />
</span></span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">I don't think that is a very large amount of games played but it's not very small either. I'm basically an 1800 paladin I think since I have been unable to break 2200 =(</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">3v3 matches: 825<br />
3v3 victories: 423<br />
Win rate: ~51% (I calculated this)<br />
</span></span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">Eh, could be better but I would need to devote way more time to WoW than I am currently able to do =T</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Highest 3 man rating: 2141</span> (my personal/team rating statistics are the same)</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">I remember that day, we were sooo close but then we dropped back down to sub 2100. Haven't gotten a good streak again since boo! =(</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">BG's played: 461<br />
BG played the most: WSG (110)<br />
BG's won: 355<br />
BG won the most: WSG (93)<br />
BG win rate: ~77%<br />
WSG win rate: ~84%<br />
</span></span><br />
<span id="fullpost">I guess this means I'm in good shape for Cataclysm when BG's are going to be more popular than arena ^.^</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">AV win rate: ~60%<br />
AB win rate: 83%<br />
EotS win rate: ~90%<br />
Isle win rate: ~61%<br />
Strand win rate: ~68%<br />
</span></span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">I calculated all this myself but I'm surprised my EotS win rate is that high. I notice that the larger BG's I tend to do the worst in and that is not surprising when you consider the "weight" of an individual's performance. My performance will not matter as much in a 40 man BG compared to a 10 or 15 man BG.</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">Anyway, I enjoyed going through my statistics. Hope you found it as interesting I did for myself (probably not =P)</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">Till next time!</span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">P.S. Thinking of doing a PVP BG's post, what do you think? </span></div><span id="fullpost"></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-15219638107090170922010-04-26T16:07:00.006-04:002010-05-21T02:08:48.872-04:00Why 25 man raids man may still be better in Cataclysm<div style="text-align: justify;"> The WoW blogosphere had been pretty quiet as of late I felt but today, wow! A flurry of posts suddenly!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I know, I know, <i>everyone</i> has been buzzing over Blizzard's <b><i>huge</i></b> announcement today about 10 and 25 man raids dropping the same loot in Cataclysm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">People have been making the same points, all equally valid, about why 10 man raids will overtake 25 man raids, especially since 10/25 mans will now share the same lockout.</div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li>Easier organization</li>
<li>Intimacy & sense of comaderie</li>
<li>Less logistics</li>
<li>Less people necessary</li>
<li>Casual friendly </li>
</ol><div style="text-align: justify;">It seems the entire blogosphere has collectively agreed that 10 mans will be much more attractive in 25 man raids. Yet I want to throw an idea out there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I think Blizzard is amp-ing up to make an announcement for Cataclysm that will make 25 man raids more attractive than 10 man raids.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Far fetched? I think not, it really feels to me that Blizzard is setting the stage for something. And what is that something? Here goes...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Remember a little feature called <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Guild Advancement</a>?? I bet that 25 man raid achievements are going to tie directly into this and there are going to be 25 man raid only perks that 10 man raiding guilds can not receive. I believe that is where 25 man raiding guilds will be able to gain an advantage over 10 man raids.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It makes sense to me that Blizzard would go this route as they are going to be heavily stressing the guild progressing as a unit to level up the guild. That is why Blizzard is now comfortable with making 10 and 25 man raids drop the same loot.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some ideas I had for the potential 25 man only perks are:</div><ul><li>25 man exclusive crafting patterns</li>
<li>25 man only mounts & pets</li>
<li>Much larger gold increases from boss downs</li>
<li>Much higher rate of crafting reagents drop from bosses</li>
<li>Larger guild bank</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I think this route means that 25 mans still have a slight advantage over 10 mans but not to a point where 25 mans are obviously so much better.<br />
<br />
So what do you guys think? My theory holds water or it is full of crap? Let me know in the comments!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Till next time, RL calls!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">P.S. Another topic that is building buzz it seems is the new add on featured by <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/avr-blue-posts-mmo-report/">MMO Champion</a>, AVR. So far <a href="http://www.ixobelle.com/2010/04/avr-addon.html">ixobelle</a> and <a href="http://rhida.ch/2010/04/26/rabble-rabble-rabble/">rhidach</a> have written about it. Looks interesting...</div>HPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13930585528119337753noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-88944343413355295322010-04-25T00:52:00.008-04:002010-05-21T02:10:38.794-04:00Gamers Can Save the World & Why I Rant<div style="text-align: justify;">A 20 min long video talking about the possibility of gaming being directed towards saving the world.<br />
<br />
IRL.<br />
<br />
Interesting concept, don't you think?</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Also in regards to my previous <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2010/04/holy-paladins-fall-by-wayside-again-in.html">post</a>, I get that people think I am being whiny about the prospective changes when nothing is set in stone yet <span style="font-style: italic;">BUT</span> I do think the points I make are still valid and I hope they (along with other people's feedback) are being considered by Blizzard for Cataclysm.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Perusing <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=13395582&sid=1">healer forums</a> seems to show there are also other people that think the same as me. So for those of you thinking I am making a big "fuss" now, when am I supposed to make a fuss then?<br />
<br />
Now is the <span style="font-style: italic;">best</span> time to make a "fuss" when nothing has been set in stone yet.<br />
<br />
Also, I may like to rant but I <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">LOVE</span> my pally. I have no high level alts. All I play is my paladin and she is <span style="font-style: italic;">always</span> holy!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Just because I complain or critique things about the class doesn't mean I don't love my class.</span><br />
<br />
It's like someone accusing you of being unpatriotic just because you dare to express your opinion that happens to be negative towards the current establishment. <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">It is the same thing.</span> So get your head out of your ass.<br />
<br />
People may like to pretend every thing is hunky dory but if I see something that could go awry or a potential issue, I will say something!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">If I didn't care, I wouldn't say crap!</span><br />
<br />
Anyway, real life calls! Till next time!<br />
<br />
P.S. Boo, <a href="http://www.wow.com/2010/04/08/how-gaming-can-make-a-better-world/">WoW Insider</a> linked the video already =X</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-6212763389205538862010-04-20T18:41:00.009-04:002010-05-21T02:14:39.913-04:00Holy Paladins Fall By Wayside Again in CataclysmHealing Hands, the new aoe healing spell for holy paladins in Cataclysm, <span style="font-weight: bold;">sucks</span> in its current rendition. Combine that with the planned nerf to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53563">Beacon</a>, holy paladins are going to be underpowered,<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> AGAIN</span>.<br />
<br />
Thanks Blizz. I know you hate paladins for real now.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Reasons Why Healing Hands SUCK</span><br />
<ol style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Short range</span> - described like a healing totem and conjecture has been the range is real short. On top of that, it depends on where the casting paladin is standing so our movement/placement is key. Yet, we are one of the <span style="font-style: italic;">least</span> mobile healing classes! WTH, Blizz?!<br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Short duration, long CD</span> - It lasts 6 seconds with 15 second CD. So how effective can paladins really be as raid healers then? Sure we have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=64205">DSac</a> too but so do ret/prot! <span style="font-style: italic;">Why would raid leaders feel compelled to bring <span style="font-weight: bold;">holy</span> paladins to the raid??</span> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48782">HL</a> + <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41106">glyph</a> is better in this regard since there is no CD associated with it.<br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Not spec dependent</span> - Correct me if I am wrong but aren't all the paladin specs receiving this? It should scale best as holy but why are prot/ret allowed to aoe heal too? Ret also has <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53385">Divine Storm</a> so now they have TWO aoe heals. This seems a bit overpowered for PVP purposes as well.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Self only</span> - Healing hands basically makes the casting paladin a "beacon of light" (hehe) so fights that means the raid must all spread out, too bad sucker! Also, unless the entire raid stays in 1 spot, our "aoe" healing spell will never be able to hit the entire raid yet the traditional raid healing classes are getting spells that hit the entire raid! </li>
</ol><ol style="text-align: justify;"></ol><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Suggestions that Blizzard should GODDAMN LISTEN TO!</span></div><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Beacon of Light</span><br />
<br />
Blizzard has suggested that they could change BoL so only certain heals (aka <span id="fullpost"><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48785">FoL</a></span>) translate via BoL. However, the flaw to this change would be that it will make healing via BoL too complicated and unreliable.<br />
<br />
Another proposed nerf is the make any spell cast when BoL is active much more expensive in terms of mana. WHY BLIZZ WHY?!<span id="fullpost"><br />
<br />
In Cataclysm where mana efficiency is key, <span style="font-style: italic;">why would holy paladins feel it necessary to waste the mana on BoL then?</span></span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
I propose that instead of 100% healing translate via BoL, it should be 50% or 75% rather than only select spells. Either that or make HL, the new Greater HL and HH translate but not <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48785">FoL</a> or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48825">HS</a> since those are our need-to-heal-right-now-damn-the-costs spells. A third possibility is to make BoL radiate out the healing received as a semi-aoe heal as HH is a really inferior, horribly designed aoe healing spell.<br />
<br />
You could also make BoL cost no mana and last indefinitely ala <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=25780">Righteous Fury</a> so to encourage holy paladins to switch up targets or if Blizz decides they want to go ahead with the silly make-all-spells-cost-more strategy (likely they will go a stupid route).<br />
<br />
So to summarize Beacon change proposals:<br />
</span><br />
<ul><span id="fullpost">
<li>100% -> 50%</li>
<li>HL, Greater HL & HH mirrored only</li>
<li>BoL -> aoe heal</li>
<li>Remove duration/costs of BoL</li>
</span></ul><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Greater HL</span><br />
<br />
Holy paladins are going to get a new spell that is talented, which is only a bigger version of HL. Yet why would we want to waste talent points into Greater HL when HL is going to be our bread and butter?<br />
<br />
Either make it so that Greater HL works like HL+glyph (without a glyph!) so we have another sort of aoe heal to use when HH is on CD. The reason why I propose the included (non-glyph) aoe component to Greater HL rather than HL is because the higher cost and longer cast time should discourage holy paladins from spamming it but only to use it when necessary.<br />
<br />
If this change goes through, HL glyph should be removed and a different glyph introduced. Greater HL glyph can then either power up the aoe component or change the mana costs or cast time.<br />
<br />
To summarize Greater HL suggestions:<br />
</span><br />
<ul><span id="fullpost">
<li>Add aoe component baseline to Greater HL</li>
<li>Remove HL glyph</li>
</span></ul><span id="fullpost">Well, there's a whole lot of things I can suggest but I have to admit, I am <span style="font-weight: bold;">TIRED</span>. Tired of Blizzard saying "Screw you, holy paladins!"<br />
<br />
The only reason why Holy paladins look so damn good in ICC outside of VDW is because of meter inflation via <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20271">JoL</a>! How is that actual real healing done by holy paladins??<br />
<br />
Remember, holy paladins' mana regen got nerfed and they buffed Beacon to throw us a bone. Yet prior to the Beacon buff, most fights didn't require 2-3 tanks being kept up simultaneously as the key component, it was mostly having to deal with aoe raid damage - something holy paladins are truly lacking in. It was only because of holy paladin concerns of being cut from raids that we see Blizzard designing fights that require 2-3 tanks being kept up while eating massive damage.<br />
<br />
That is why holy paladins are viewed as strong now because of current fight designs and JoL meter padding. When we go back to how it was in Vanilla & TBC with more aoe raid damage mechanics, the many weaknesses of holy paladins will definitely rear their ugly heads!<br />
<br />
I'm so damn <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">tired</span>. If FFXIV looks good, maybe I should just quit WoW because <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Blizzard obviously does not love my class as much as I love it.</span><br />
<br />
I'm not that much of a masochist. And I <span style="font-weight: bold;">REFUSE</span> to reroll.<br />
<br />
Blizzard can care less about little ol' me but quite honestly, I think it is a telling factor when subscription numbers are stagnating and people are starting to quit WoW (or lose interest) as the big arch-villian from lore, Arthas, has finally been killed. Blizzard better make its customers happy/interested or it will start losing real money.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">You've been warned, Blizzard!</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-80372716288490766112010-04-01T02:27:00.002-04:002010-04-26T05:58:44.917-04:00April Fool's DayIt's April Fool's Day today but it is also 3 years together today too =)<br />
<br />
Here is to 2 fools in love <3Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-15471299576853388132010-03-27T20:01:00.005-04:002010-03-27T20:01:00.307-04:00Weapon Enchants in Cataclysm<div style="text-align: justify;">Every single healer I know has the same weapon enchant and for good reason, 63 SP is nothing to scoff at for any healer. However, there is 1 crucial element lacking in this enchant.<br /><br />NOT ENOUGH SPARKLIES!<br /><br />Blizzard, give us back our sparkly weapons! Make them glow for real again, so people know that we mean <span style="font-style: italic;">business</span>. We're healers, we should glow because we're full of healing thingies!<br /><br />Every one raids for epic pixels but I don't understand why in WotLK, Blizzard choose to take away one of the perks to getting epics. The whole magpie effect of the sparkly goodness!<br /><br />Compare <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=27975">TBC</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=34010">enchants</a> with WotLK enchants, luminosity dropped by a ton! I mean, even <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6348">+2 beastslaying</a> has a glow for crying out loud! How can that look more uber than +63 SP? Mind boggling!<br /><br />Ditch the subtle, make it loud and obvious!<br /><br />Cataclysm, bling bling sparkly weapons. Make it happen!<br /><br />P.S. Yay for new Header! My gear was really outdated in the old header image =X<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-66263593697386997332010-03-24T12:25:00.007-04:002010-05-21T02:11:29.273-04:00PVP Progression<div style="text-align: justify;">In season 7 when I first started doing arena much more consistently than in the past and even so, on a pretty casual basis, I was only able to reach the 1900s bracket. The <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40964">Relentless shoulders </a>eluded me despite me wanting the pretty shoulders so I could match!<br />
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This season in S8, I am happy to report I have finally been able to get the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51473">Wrathful shoulders</a>! My next goal is 2200 rating! The <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51454">weapon at 2200</a> is so tasty! I actually use my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51453">1800 weapon</a> to PVE raid so a 2200 weapon would be great!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=HPPVPGear02-2010.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/HPPVPGear02-2010.jpg" width="550" /></a></div><br />
I originally played Ele/Hpally/warr in S7 and then my boyfriend decided he wanted to be enhance so we went to enh/Hpally/warr in S7. The switch didn't work out as well because he was much squishier as enhance.<span id="fullpost"><br />
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The weird thing about my boyfriend is that despite his mage being his main, he actually likes to play melee classes more. So with the enhance shaman set up not working out as well, he decided to level a DK so we could play TSG.<br />
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Keep in mind, all these switches were done in S7!! And people say girls can't make up their minds! Well, to be fair, he didn't switch to his DK just yet but his decision to do so was made in S7 but he used the transition period between S7 and S8 to gather the gear to be arena ready.<br />
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As for me, transitioning from ele/h. pally/warr to enh/h. pally/warr and finally, TSG, it took me a bit. This is because the pace of the arena matches change drastically.<br />
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When we played ele/h.pally/warr, it felt like when matches dragged on, the tide would slowly turn in our favor. Subsequently, I got used to spacing out my CDs as longevity was key and I needed to make sure I always had a CD available for when a teammate was getting focused on. Constant pressure was a problem as my boyfriend felt he could not switch targets fast enough as ele since he had to reset his pressure. I really think the problem is that he hated being focused on so often and he felt so supplemental since he usually purged spammed a lot rather than getting those nice big hits that he likes so much.<br />
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As enh/h.pally/warr, the paces of the match quickened significantly. I had to get used to popping my CDs a bit faster because his enh shaman was so much squishier as he lacked the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=51479">30% mitigation when stunned as ele</a>. Even so, very hard to heal him through that. My gear also may have not been set up right as I was still focusing on int gems mostly rather than throughput for shorter matches.<br />
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In S8 as TSG, I didn't think this was possible but the matches got even more frenetic. There are times when I feel I am not popping my CDs fast enough if we lose and I still had some CDs up other times when I maybe popped them too fast because we lose with me having no CDs available. I am still learning but it is hard to train split second judgment calls. Another big difference for me was using <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=642">bubble</a> as a preventative measure for CC chains rather than as a defensive CD for when I got focused. To supplement my own personal defensive CDs, I added <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45747">Glyph of Salvation</a> so I had something to pop before I resorted to bubble when focused.<br />
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Playing TSG, I hate spell cleave and double healer teams because they don't even need to play well and can still beat us. Against anything prot, it is annoying too. There are so many varieties of teams out there that I think despite people joking of being easily "WotLK-ed" (bursted), PVP balance seems the fairest in this expansion than any other.<br />
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Even so, I sincerely hope prot pallies get appropriately nerfed for arena without their PVE capability being affected as prot warriors' nerf went live with 3.3.3 patch. The fact that tanks can PVP seems broken to me as their high HP, mitigation along with damage and utility is just too much to me especially when paired with certain other classes that allow them free reign.<br />
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I haven't played TSG since the patch but my warrior got nerfed while my boyfriend's DK got buffed so perhaps the nerf/buff will cancel each other out.<br />
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I haven't done that many BGs since the daily random BG change but on my horde-heavy battlegroup, I notice many people being rather squishy. There are way more casual PVPers with only a smattering of Deadly pieces. That's fine and all but I really detest when people feel like they have to talk smack when we are losing as if they didn't play a part in the loss at all!<br />
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Anyway, random PVP centric post but I feel like in game, my character is stuck in limbo. PVE wise, my guild hasn't been able to get many attempts on learning 25 man Lich King and PVP wise, we have been stuck around 2000 rating for a bit. Real life issues has also been cropping up for me as well and my schedule to play WoW is significantly worse than in the past.<br />
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So I would to thank all of your for continuing to read my little blog despite my inconsistency. I still lurk around in the WoW blogosphere =P<br />
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Till next time!<br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-80928567732182855262010-03-16T10:16:00.005-04:002010-05-21T02:15:10.101-04:00Suggestions for Cataclysm<div style="text-align: justify;">Now that the Lich King is out and with guilds actively working on Heroic mode Lich King in 25s, people are starting to look ahead with more urgency towards the impending Cataclysm release. We have already been hearing rumors and tidbits for weeks now. The complete overhaul of stats, talents and class balance changes stand to reinvent WoW for the 3rd time over.<br />
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The question is: Will WoW players like it?<br />
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Everyone and their mother have their own opinion on what types of changes should be made and what should not change. Here is my take on it, though for holy paladins since that is the particular class I am concerned with =P<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">I. Changes to Existing Talents/Glyphs/Spells</span><br />
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It is completely understood that holy paladins only have 3 direct healing spells in their repertoire. They are <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48785">FoL</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48825">HS</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48782">HL</a>. None of them are AoE healing spells unless <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20271">JoL</a> count, which they don't really because all paladins can do it and none better than the other as JoL is now based on target hp rather than previous iterations.<span id="fullpost"><br />
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My suggestion is to delete <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41106">HL glyph</a> and actually make it in to a talent worth 1 talent point. Make it deep in the tree so that ret or prot can not abuse it. As for the rumored paths of specialization we can take, have us be able to power up the aoe component of HL a little.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41105">FoL Glyph</a> is unbelievably unexciting. Why would 5% extra crit chance matter when you are healing a SS target? Change it so either gives back a HoT component or powers up the spell coefficient.<br />
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It's also annoying to have to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53601">SS</a> and then have someone else override your SS even if your SS would've been more powerful because you had more SP or if a 1 min SS can be overwritten by a 30 sec one! Make it so the stronger or talented SS can not be overwritten.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">II. Cleaning up the Holy Tree</span><br />
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Take away <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31826">Purifying Power</a> and move it to ret where it belongs. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=4987">Cleanses</a> should not be taking a ton of mana in Cataclysm and Holy hardly ever needs to worry about <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48801">Exorcism</a> or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48817">Holy Wrath</a> CD time.<br />
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Change <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31830">Blessed Life</a> to a better PVP talent for holy or remove it completely. I suggest making it into a self-only CD that will give us 2/4/6 seconds of halved damage from all attacks.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">III. New, New, New!</span><br />
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Give us a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=54428">DP</a> glyph that allows us to remove the MS component but halves the uptime of DP so it will ultimately give us back 1/8 our mana pools instead.<br />
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Give us a glyph or talent for SS allowing us to put it on 5 targets instead. If 5 is too much, then make it 2-3 targets. Make this talent deep in the holy tree and make it required for our new 56 point talent (I'm assuming there will be a new 56 point talent instead of 61 points since max level in Cataclysm is only 85 rather than 90). Also, where is our SS glyph??<br />
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I know I suggested removing the HL glyph and just having it be talented but HL should get a glyph! I think a glyph for HL should not entail powering it up as it is supposed to be our nuke but making it less mana intensive, perhaps 5% less mana so holy pallies will be able to part with the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40705">libram</a>.<br />
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And really, we need a new heal sorely. I understand that it is hard to contrive a completely new spell that doesn't raise suspicions of acquisition from other classes but come on, 2 expansions with 3 direct healing spells?<br />
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I suggest a new 56 point talent that is a new healing spell.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Holy Shell:</span> Instantly heals target for 500 over 6 seconds and can be stacked up to 2 times. Holy shells can not be stacked by multiple holy paladins on one target. Can only be cast on a maximum of 5 targets.<br />
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Make a glyph that lets us halve the healing time or have the stack go up to 3 or 4 perhaps. I suggested this type of healing spell because it is sort of like JoL mechanics but with an actual way to direct that incoming heal.<br />
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I didn't suggest a complete AoE spell because that is treading on <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48089">CoH</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53251">WG</a> domain a bit too much. Perhaps there is still a way to give holy paladins a paladin flavored AoE spell but it will be hard for the other aoe healers to take and I'm so afraid of Blizzard nerfing our single target healing to high hell.<br />
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As for my suggestion for a real aoe healing spell? Here goes...<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Holy Consecration:</span> Channels an area of effect spell that does 3000 healing over 6 seconds.<br />
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I say channeling so that way holy paladins aren't tempted to keep spamming like CoH/WG before the nerf. If not channeling, then the spell should be on a CD like CoH/WG of course.<br />
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or<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Pillar of Light:</span> Summons a beam of light that heals allies for 800-1000 healing with an addition 500 healing over 6 seconds. (2-2.5 second cast time)<br />
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As for our new class spells available to us at level 75 just like how <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31884">Avenging Wrath</a> was at level 70 and SS at 80, allow us to be able to transfer 10% of incoming damage on a target to our mana pool but causes forbearance when cast on ourselves and the effect stops when we are at 30% mana or 6 seconds, whichever one happens sooner. I would call the spell Divine Transference. Let us talent so that the transferred amount is higher, like say, from 10% to 15/20 with a 2 point talent.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">IV. Specializations</span><br />
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There are new gated pathways we can take to improve our character. The details are not clear but it seems it's one way to make our characters better at what they do, not sure how this affects dual speccing though.<br />
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I'm really fuzzy on how it will work but here are some of my suggestions anyway.<br />
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Allow us to specialize in SS. Maybe we can make it cost less mana or work to increase HL or HS crit chance as well.<br />
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Allow us to specialize in HS by making it cost less or adding a HoT component to it (yes, I know it's a set bonus).<br />
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I already suggested being able to power up the aoe component of HL but HL can also be made cost less mana.<br />
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Maybe some of my suggestions are horrible and break game balancing but the point is, address some of the core issues plaguing holy paladins! Please!<br />
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I know some paladins are resistant to change but change is necessary in our evolution forward as a class!<br />
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Blizzard already is planning on removing mp5 after buffing its stat allocation on items like I had suggested in a previous post. So, here's hoping that Blizzard has some good ideas on addressing our lack of mobility, aoe healing and relative inflexibility.<br />
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P.S. I know, I know, I am horrible at names.<br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-32336626694285459552010-02-12T08:18:00.004-05:002010-05-21T02:15:38.043-04:00Healing Valithria Dreamwalker<div style="text-align: justify;">When I first heard about this fight before <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=4812">ICC</a> came out, I was super excited. OMG, a fight where you have to heal the boss to full instead?! Cool!!!<br />
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I felt like this is something that is really fun and new for healers. Now that <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=36789">VDW</a> is out and available for those that clear Lower Spire, I have to say it is an interesting experience.<br />
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I had a lot of fun doing it the first time around but after a while, it actually got a little un-fun (yes, I know that is not a real word).<br />
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Why?<br />
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I know that there are always healers that care a little too much about where they are on the charts but this is actually the one fight where healers need to care about their numbers. Plus, you have limited resources (aka <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=71939">clouds</a>) that healers can jostle over in order to make their green numbers bigger. This is a completely different mind set than I am used to for healing.<br />
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When I raid, I am not concerned about my pretty green numbers to the point where I have all my healing combat text turned off. That is because I have a really good idea of how much my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48785">FoL</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48825">HS</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48782">HL</a> will heal for in general.<br />
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I also tend to only worry about CDs in the context of mana management.<br />
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That is all completely changed in the VDW fight.<span id="fullpost"><br />
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Despite how they tried to disguise it, VDW is still at heart a DPS race. Instead of DPS though, it is HPS we have to worry about and there is no real enrage timer though the raid may get overwhelmed by adds over time.<br />
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For healers that are to heal VDW and go in to the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=72482">portal</a>, their main concern is to grab clouds that will stack the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=70873">Emerald Vigor buff</a>. The problem is that it is very possible to "steal" clouds from other healers if they happen to be going for the same cloud and they were a little slower.<br />
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Even worse is that it could potentially have screwed over their stack timing and thus lowered their HPS. Unless of course you are going to have all the healers get stacks together but you are still jockeying for portal spawns, which are subject to RNG that can be frustrating.<br />
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In short, it is hard for team work to take place when everyone is fighting over limited resources.<br />
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Even so, I have some tips for healing this fight as a holy paladin that may make HPS output a bit easier. Hope it helps! (I still don't have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=4619">Portal</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=4579">Jockey</a>! I don't get it, I've been trying to make sure I go into <span style="font-style: italic;">every</span> portal!! WTH!)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Timing</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
If you time it properly, you can get stacks to overlap so that it carries over into the next portal phase. Just need to make sure that you get a cloud pop right before you are about to leave the phase at around the 2-1 second mark. This way you refresh your stack for the full duration. It is good to have at least 32 seconds left when you phase out.<br />
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If you can't guarantee you can find another cloud after the current cloud you are on, then wait before you pop the cloud in front of you. Better to play it safe than sorry.<br />
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Heal like mad when you phase out aka HL spam (make sure to keep up <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=54155">JotP</a>!) and then when portals spawn, immediately get a cloud. Just click the portal and press spacebar to rush upwards, don't even wait for it to graphically register that you entered the portal (This can backfire if someone stole your portal).<br />
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Always watch your debuff timers for Emerald Vigor along with the portal timer. Keep in mind you only have 15 seconds once you phase in and if you have the timing down, portals should be opening around the 8-9 second mark on your Emerald Vigor stacks.<br />
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Also if you're like me, you raid with everything on low setting. This is one fight where you want to raid on higher view distance so you can scope out clouds easier. Make sure to swivel your camera around if you feel like you're not getting clouds to pop because you may not be inside them. Depth perception can be tricky here. You need to be inside the cloud and wait for your attack animation to go off before you know you popped it, which can take a little bit to register.<br />
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Aim to get 3-5 clouds on each portal phase. Don't beat yourself up if you get only a few clouds, the aim is to make sure the stacks carry over and keep carrying over.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Placement</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
Portal spawns are never consistent and it can be difficult to find one right away. So run to the portal spawn before it opens, that way you don't mess up your timing on the stacks. Yes, you may lose some healing time from running to portal spawns but you will run the risk of losing stacks if you run to a far away portal <span style="font-style: italic;">after</span> it opens.<br />
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Much better to camp a portal than to worry about lost healing time. Make sure you <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=1044">freedom</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=4987">cleanse</a> yourself before you go in portal in case you get slowed by frostbolt volley from adds. You have to be mobile so you can rapidly find your next cloud to refresh the stack.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cooldowns</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span>You can pop short CDs in the beginning as long as you have CDs increasing throughput available for when you have a high number of stacks and/or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=2825">BL</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=32182">Heroism</a> is going off.<br />
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Use your own personal judgment for when your stacks are high enough. Don't wait forever and lose a large stack or have the fight be over with no CDs popped at all.<br />
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Pop trinkets, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31842">Divine Illumination</a> if you have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?itemset=-244">2 piece t10</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31884">Avenging Wrath</a>, potion, the works especially if BL/Heroism is up!<br />
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Also, if you are really that worried about mana regen, keep in mind you can pop <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=54428">Divine Plea</a> with impunity inside the portal because you are definitely not going to be doing any healing in there! DP and portal phase both last 15 seconds!<br />
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Never pop DP while you are spamming because you are going to waste throughput CDs to offset the MS effect or just eat it.<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Preparation</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="fullpost">This is the one fight you might think about<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40212"> pre</a>-<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40211">potting</a>. Though your HPS is probably not great especially in the beginning, every little bit may help. I don't do this though I should but a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53901">SP flask</a> would be great for this fight.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span id="fullpost">Here is a case of where int trinkets aren't that great for this fight. You want <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50359">SP</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50358">trinkets</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50339">or</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47432">trin</a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47059">kets</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47041">that</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47271">can</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48724">proc</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45535">SP</a> or other throughput stats. You should not have to worry about mana regen in this fight so go all out! This <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47662">libram</a> should be useful for this fight too (added to the checklist for me).<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></div></div><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span>If you're not using <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41110">Seal of Light glyph</a>, definitely get it! I just use this glyph for this fight and switch back to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41109">Seal of Wisdom glyph</a> when we heal VDW up. Other classes should have little tweaks for glyphs they can use to up their HPS as well (Sorry I only know paladins).<br />
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A holy/ret spec that is normally for FoL would be great in this fight! I don't have that available as my offspec but imagine the possibilities! Yummy crits!<br />
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</span><br />
<hr /><span id="fullpost">I'm glad for the sake of holy paladins that Blizzard has been trying hard to make fights that give us a big advantage in the raid because I remember that was one fear many holy paladins had after our three pronged mana regen nerf.<br />
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However, I just don't think that Blizzard should design encounters purely so that holy paladins won't be marginalized. It creates a feeling of pandering to a particular class, which is unfair to the other healer classes especially with the advent of "Bring the Player, Not the Class" philosophy Blizzard is supposed to be implementing.<br />
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Come on, we're the only healers <span style="font-style: italic;">still</span> stuck in a niche - tank healing. Give us <span style="font-style: italic;">real</span> raid healing capability. Address our lack of mobility!<br />
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Anyway, I've said my piece and I hope my own experience with VDW helps out any healers struggling to grasp the fight.<br />
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Till next time!<br />
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Have a great weekend! Happy V-Day!<br />
<br />
P.S. I realized after writing this post that WoW Insider has <a href="http://www.wow.com/2010/02/11/raid-rx-healing-valithria-dreamwalker/">their own post</a> on this fight. =X Well, I hope you enjoy my take on it.<br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-20377610065020048182010-02-11T10:38:00.003-05:002010-04-25T05:40:19.808-04:00Bitten AchievementSo according to <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/23/22748763261-recent-ingame-fixes--february-2010--23.html">Bornakk</a>...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=Bornakk2-4-10.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/Bornakk2-4-10.jpg" alt="Bornak 2-4-10" border="0" width="550" /></a></div><br /><br />Dammit, why do you change this after I could have gotten the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=4539">10 man</a> achievement??!<br /><br />Damn it.<br /><br />Going to have to wait till next reset for the 10 man one.<br /><br />And yes, I know my recent posts are short and sweet but I'll have a long properly spicy one for you soon. I hope =X<br /><br />Till next time!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-78368450517585428872010-02-08T12:31:00.003-05:002010-04-26T05:58:44.919-04:00Lich King Weapons<div style="text-align: justify;">Woot! According to <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/lich-king-weapons-changes-blue-posts/">MMOChampions</a>, Arthas crit/mp5 mace becoming crit/haste, which is a BIG improvement imo!<br /><br />What's up with Blizz letting the Koreans have the scoop? I want their forum moderators... =T<br /><br />I'm assuming this change will happen to all the crit/mp5 maces form 10/25 normal and hard.<br /><br />I'm guessing they wanted to avoid another <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40396">Turning Tide</a> debacle, where holy paladins' BIS was the BIS of mages and locks.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-85457136996108147262010-02-06T23:04:00.003-05:002010-04-26T06:00:14.224-04:00Stalking FeedsBeen so obsessed with <a href="http://wowarmory.com">Armory</a> and <a href="http://wow-heroes.com/">WoW-heroes</a> recently =X<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Character%20Info/?action=view&current=ArmorySS10-02-05.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Character%20Info/ArmorySS10-02-05.jpg" alt="2-5-10" border="0" width="500" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Here's a screenshot of mine</span><br /></div><br />It's so addicting with the new activity feed! Satisfying my stalker urges.<br /><br />You have people you like to keep tabs on?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-7779743485077670832010-01-30T20:04:00.003-05:002010-05-21T02:16:06.477-04:00Commenting Courtesy<div style="text-align: justify;">Hi all!<br />
<br />
Though I am a very inconsistent blogger, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2010/01/healing-5-mans-as-holy-paladin.html">5 man healing post</a> was very well received and linked on <a href="http://wow.com/">WoW Insider</a> to boot!<br />
<br />
I figured it out when I came on my website one day to see 10 new comments on the post when I'm lucky to get 1 or 2 on a post. One of these comments came from an infamous blogger.<br />
<br />
Said blogger's comment consisted of only an url linking to their version of a 5 man healing guide. I can appreciate people having their own guides but why can't it come with a little comment such as <span style="font-style: italic;">"oh, I covered this and that in my guide that you didn't, here is the link"</span> rather than just posting the link.<br />
<br />
I found this comment somewhat rude but I thought it would be ruder to just delete the comment without explaining the reason even though I have had my <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2007/09/disclaimer.html">disclaimer</a> on commenting on this site for <span style="font-style: italic;">quite</span> a while now.<br />
<br />
As a fairly inconsistent blogger, my blog is fairly susceptible to random comments by bots or random people trying to drive traffic to their site. Even though said blogger <span style="font-style: italic;">might</span> not have been trying to drive the <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">huge</span> spike of WoW Insider readers to their blog, it really was just intolerable to me that they posted only a link of their post without even bothering to state their intentions behind it.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
I had already written a <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2010/01/ferraro-revealed.html">post</a> about said blogger already and they were kind enough to state their own point of view (I visited their site after the post and the armory character was switched to alliance paladin, didn't catch name). I also noted that I was included in said blogger's side panel of blogs they read.<br />
<br />
However on another recent visit to said site, I discovered I was removed and the armory character also completely removed. Though I have only a humble site, I am kind of shocked that said blogger is that piqued all because I deleted their comment. It just signals a hissy fit to me.<br />
<br />
Yes, I know screenshot or it didn't happen but sadly enough, I have no screenshots.<br />
<br />
The point of this post is that I have a message.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">You tried to get free clicks but it didn't work...</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">You mad? Too bad, grow up!</span></span></div><br />
As for me, I will still continue to link said site in my little side panel of blogs I read because there is useful information. I have only just discovered that I can dislike bloggers despite their content.<br />
<br />
Anyway, till next time!<br />
<br />
P.S. I might regret this post but it really irritates me that someone is blatantly trying to get free clicks on their link while playing it off as if they aren't doing that. It's fine if you think your post is better than mine but God, at least have the <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">balls</span> to goddamn say it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-16053578788036960862010-01-25T08:28:00.017-05:002010-05-21T02:16:39.166-04:00Healing 5 mans as a Holy Paladin<div style="text-align: justify;">I think that playing a holy paladin for as long as I have, I take for granted how new holy paladins have to deal with 5 man dungeons. If I think back on it, when I was first leveling to 80 and trying to heal dungeons with 16k mana and 1500 SP, it was difficult to say the least.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=HP-Casting.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Casting" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/HP-Casting.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
For a freshly dinged 80 paladin, it's even harder to heal heroics especially since you are more vulnerable to any fail/noob players in the group. Yet, what can you do? With patch 3.3, heroics are a necessity to grind for Emblem of Triumph so you can buy the gear you need to be able to get a start on raiding.<span id="fullpost"><br />
<br />
I'm assuming that your glyphs/spec are right for the task at hand. With that in mind, here are some tips for healing 5 man heroics.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beacon</span></span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Always, always</span> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53563">beacon</a> the tank.<br />
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In a heroic dungeon, you will be expected to heal the other party members as well as the tank. By keeping beacon on the tank constantly, you ensure that the tank is always receiving heals. Keep in mind that there is a known lag delay with beacon so if your tank needs that heal right damn <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">now</span>, you'll be better off healing them directly rather than relying on beacon to transmit the heal.<br />
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As an aside, you can set the tank as your focus. As a bonus, if you also set up a key as your modifier for your focus target within the default Blizzard UI (no add ons necessary), you can go modifer + Beacon, all without switching targets (mine is SHIFT). Also, you can set up a modifier to cast on yourself without switching your current target, Blizzard default is set as ALT (mine is also ALT).<br />
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In addition, if you need to refresh Beacon and you know you need to heal aggressively, pop <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31842">Divine Illumination</a> before you refresh Beacon and start healing.<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;">Sacred Shield</span></span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
If the tank is really that squishy, throw <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53601">SS</a> on him too and make sure to keep up the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48785">FoL</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=66922">hot</a>. SS is really powerful in heroics because it scales with your SP and thus, the better gear you have, the more SS can absorb when the shield effect procs. (To be exact, SS will absorb for 500 + 75% of your SP) Just keep in mind that just because you have SS on someone, it doesn't mean the absorption effect is up.<br />
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You might not want to throw SS on a paladin tank since paladin tanks usually rely on <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=33776">Spiritual Attunement</a> for their mana "rage" bar to be full. Hence, having damage absorbed rather then healed up will hurt their threat generation if they are already not taking enough damage in the first place. Only throw SS on a paladin tank that sorely needs the extra mitigation.<br />
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Once again, keep up the FoL hot! Before pulls, you can FoL hot and then drink if you want to save yourself some mana. Keep in mind that you can overwrite your own hot even if the pre-existing hot was stronger.<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;">Mana Regen</span></span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
Odds are at your paladin's point of development as a fresh 80, you will need to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=54428">Divine Plea</a> every 1 minute. Be proactive about it. Don't wait when you are at 50% mana to use it. Pop it even when you are at 90% mana, especially if you are currently using a lot of mana (i.e. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48782">HL</a> spamming).<br />
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Keep in mind that DP has an MS effect (50% healing debuff), so you can try to mitigate that by either popping on-use trinkets that give you more SP or timing usage when your trinket procs if it is a random proc trinket.<br />
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As a newly dinged 80, it is normal not to have those trinkets available to offset the healing done. Another option is to pop <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31884">Avenging Wrath</a> with Divine Plea. Keep in mind that means you won't be able to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=642">bubble</a> for 30 seconds after you do so, making you vulnerable in that time period. Another consideration is the fact that Avenging Wrath is on a 2 min CD so you can't pop it for every single DP usage assuming you leave it off CD.<br />
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For Horde as belf pallies, besides DP, we get <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=28730">Arcane Torrent</a> as additional regen. The best thing about Arcane Torrent is that it scales with total mana so the more gear you get (and thus, int), the more Arcane Torrent will give back.<br />
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Using Divine Illumination often and when you need to refresh Beacon will help you use less mana. I especially like using Divine Illumination when I have to HL bomb and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31836">Light's Grace</a> is already up.<br />
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If you still are running on fumes, try to stock up on consumables like <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33448">mana pots</a> or use a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=46378">fl</a>a<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=13511">sk</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44332">e</a>l<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40109">i</a>x<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40076">i</a>r in dungeons. Another option for consumables are <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34758">f</a>o<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42993">o</a>d <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34765">bu</a>f<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34752">fs</a> for mana regen.<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=HP-Melee.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Melee" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/HP-Melee.jpg" width="400/" /></a></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
Finally, as a last measure you can always have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20166">Seal of Wisdom</a> up and melee. This is definitely not recommended when the party is taking damage!<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Auras</span></span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
Generally, I like to have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48942">Devo</a> up as it will mitigate the amount of physical damage a tank takes. You can even spec into <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20140">Improved Devo</a> as there will definitely not be a tree in your 5 man heroic group.<br />
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Usually, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=54043">Retribution</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=19746">Conc</a> aura are not necessary as retribution only marginally helps with the tank's threat and casters should not be getting hit often to justify Conc aura being up. However if there is a paladin tank in the group, devo is usually used by them so switch to Ret or Conc at this point.<br />
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However if you find yourself in a fight where more magical damage is done, it can be beneficial to switch to either <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48945">frost</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48947">fire</a> or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48943">shadow</a> depending on the type of damage. If the fight calls for nature resist, you will need a shaman or hunter in the group. Make sure that if you have a resistance aura up that a shaman is not taking care of it already because you are wasting a totem if that is the case.<br />
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Lastly, don't be a nub and leave up <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=32223">crusader</a>! I have definitely done this before on multiple occasions, oops =X<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000; text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Buffs</span><br />
</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
Paladins are known for our buffs, especially <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20217">Kings</a>. However, pally buffs can definitely get tricky if people want certain buffs. Make sure you can guarantee your buffs won't fall off. Usually an add on like <a href="http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/pally-power.aspx">PallyPower</a> or <a href="http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/zomgbuffs.aspx">ZomgBuffs</a> will help you keep track of your buffs and the time left on them.<br />
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Additionally, shaman's mana spring will overwrite a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48936">BoW</a> but not if it is improved <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20245">BoW</a>. A shaman's improved mana spring will overwrite a BoW but be wasted in the presence of improved BoW. Confusing, much? Just make sure that if you must use BoW that a shaman's totems are not interfering with the buff. Make sure to ask them to drop healing stream instead so you don't need to keep rebuffing.<br />
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Sometimes you may have to do combination buffs on 1 class. Know that you can always do 30 min Greater Blessings and then overwrite that with a different 10 min buff if different players need different buffs but are the same class.<br />
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If you have another pally in the group, buffing becomes more complicated. Prot pallies will want <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20911">Sanc</a> on themselves but make sure that if they Sanc that they also do 10 min kings on you because sanc will not increase your int by 10% and<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> that will lower your stats for healing</span>!<br />
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If there is a ret pally in the group, they generally want to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48932">might</a> themselves as they usually have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20045">improved might</a>. Make sure that they give you BoW if that is the case.<br />
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However if you have improved BoW, that will make buffing even more complicated since you will want to BoW yourself. For example, a ret pally with improved might will have to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48934">greater might</a> then you have to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=25898">greater kings</a>. Only then can you BoW yourself and <span style="font-style: italic;">finally</span>, the ret can 10 min kings you. Exhausting to follow!<br />
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Finally, should you BoW or kings yourself? It is really based on your gear level. If your gear level is really low (especially if you have low int) then a flat mana regen buff like BoW is probably best but as your gear level improves, kings will look better and better since it will scale with gear (i.e. more int). Also consider that if you tend to use FoL more, BoW will help more compared to if you tend to use HL more.<br />
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Whatever you decide, make sure your buffs are always up!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Edit 1/29/10: Going to clean this section up since there were a lot of comments about that.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000; text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Judging</span><br />
</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
As a holy pally, you should be judging at least once every minute to keep up your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=54155">JotP</a> buff. Make sure this is the first thing you do before you start healing. Get used to how fast you cast when JotP is up so you can better predict the timing of your heals.<br />
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Best of all if you judge <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20271">JoL</a>, it will help your healing out by a bit though more for melee than for caster dps.<br />
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Do not use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53407">JoJ</a>, the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53557">talented extended range</a> for judgments does not apply to JoJ. You shouldn't have to run just to get in range to judge JoJ as it will leave yourself open to burst damage and having to play catch up in healing.<br />
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If a prot pally is in your group, make sure you are not overwriting his judgments if he has <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53696">Judgments of the Just</a>. If he is doing JoL, use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53408">JoW</a> but usually prot pallies should be judging <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53408">JoW</a> or JoJ. Making sure this debuff is on the mobs will make your life easier too.<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Healing<br />
</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
So you understand how to buff, judging, and putting SS/Beacon on people but how to heal?!<br />
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It really depends on your gear and your timing.<br />
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Are your heals landing in time? If they are but people are still dying, your SP is probably too low. If they aren't, get more haste! (Btw, 676 haste is optimal because with JotP buff, your FoL are 1 second and haste beyond that will cause your FoL casts to trip up into your GCD, which can only be shortened at most to 1 second.)<br />
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Well, what happens if your heals are landing on time and people are surviving but your mana is down in the pits even though you are using all the mana regen tools at your disposal? That probably means you need more int but that comes with gear and you don't have that luxury right now.<br />
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One way to help conserve mana is to make sure you are using your mana <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">efficiently</span>. Are you just HL bombing all over the place? That is going to be a <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">huge</span> mana hog, stop it! In a 5 man heroic, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">if</span> you have high enough SP, you can actually get by with just using HS and FoL. There's really no need to keep up Light's Grace constantly though that first HL cast will be made with a prayer.<br />
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For 5 man heroics (excluding the ToC/ICC ones), you should try to have at least 2k SP with 3-500 haste, 1-200 mp5 ooc and at least 20k mana. Try to keep your stats balanced, there's no point for you to have 25k mana but with 0 haste and 1500 SP. It just makes things harder for you!<br />
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Also, don't forget to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=4987">cleanse</a>! Sometimes cleansing a dot or debuff will save you tons of healing. Use some common sense and don't try to cleanse if someone is about to die.<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Try to prioritize.</span><br />
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In the end, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">practice makes perfect</span>!<br />
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</span><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Utility Cooldowns<br />
</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
So you're healing your holy ass off but it's just not enough! Now it's time for CD usage! Though all pallies have these CDs, only holy pallies are in the best position to utilize them I feel.<br />
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Our renamed "hand" spells are very useful. There are many different scenarios you can use them.<br />
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A DPS is pulling threat? <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=1038">Salve</a> that sucker. Do <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">not</span> salve the tank!<br />
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AoE happy mage is going to get smacked hard? <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=10278">BoP</a> them before they can even iceblock. BoP is best used on casters but on physical damage DPS, you effectively stop their DPS. It can be a funny or mean trick to play on warriors, hunters, rogues, etc. BoP also causes <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=25771">forbearance</a> so keep that in mind before you BoP a pally or yourself. Again, do <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">not</span> BoP the tank!<br />
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Someone taking a lot of damage? You can <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=6940">HoSac</a> them if you can heal through the damage (can be in combo with bubble for magical damage or BoP for physical damage only on yourself).<br />
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Tank needs to run but is slowed? <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=1044">Freedom</a>! I especially freedom the tank or non pally DPS when that stupid monk casts his immunity bubble during the trash before 2nd boss in 5 man <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=4723">ToC</a>. (Warriors, you can <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=64382">break</a> that bubble and priest, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=32375">mass dispel</a>!)<br />
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Not only the "hand" spells (I hate how they got renamed) but we have other spells in our arsenal.<br />
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If the tank is about to die and you know you can't get a heal off in time or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48825">HS</a> just won't cut it, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48788">LoH</a> quick! Even better if you have talented <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20235">LoH</a>. You can even use LoH on yourself for when you just need mana, especially if you have the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=43367">glyph</a> for it. I just like to use it for big heals rather than the mana regen part of it. However after 3.3, you will cause forebearance if you LoH yourself so be sure you do not need to bubble!<br />
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There are also other CDs available via talents, namely <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=64205">DSac</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31821">AM</a>.<br />
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It used to be that holy pallies <span style="font-style: italic;">had</span> to bubble in conjunction with DSac but with Dsac being split up into 2 components via <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53530">talents</a>, you can use this CD without bubbling. This means that DSac can be used every 2 min rather than every 5 min as before it was tied to bubble's CD.<br />
<br />
If you are going to take too much damage on top of the absorbed damage from the party, you can click off Divine Sacrifice from your buffs so you stop absorbing all the damage but Divine Guardian should still be in effect. You can also macro this if you can't click it off fast enough:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">#showtooltip</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">/cast Divine Sacrifice</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">/cancelaura Divine Sacrifice</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Edit 1/29/10: Another macro suggested by </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/03508675501671510184" style="color: #990000;">timedeluxe</a><span style="color: #990000;">, who attributed it to </span><a href="http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/" style="color: #990000;">MainTankadin</a><span style="color: #990000;">'s</span><a href="http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/forum/index.php?p=518998&rb_v=viewtopic#p=518998" style="color: #990000;"> Theck</a><span style="color: #990000;">:</span><span style="color: #990000; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br />
<br />
#show<br />
/cast Divine Sacrifice<br />
/in 0.5 /script cancelUnitBuff("player","Divine Sacrifice")</span><br />
<br />
As for AM, I find it more useful in raiding and less so in 5 man heroics but I can't live without my pally NO2! (Crusader + AM, try it! So much fun! =D)<br />
<br />
Also if you don't think the tank will need a LoH, you can use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=20216">Divine Favor</a> + HS and follow up with an instant FoL due to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53576">infusion</a> for some quick burst healing.<br />
<br />
Finally, we have a number of buttons that you definitely don't want to use recklessly.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=HP-No.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="No" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/HP-No.jpg" /></a></span><br />
<span id="fullpost"><span style="font-size: 85%;">I know you didn't!</span></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
Do <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">not</span> use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=62124">Hand of Reckoning</a>, that is a taunt! Do not use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31789">Righteous Defense</a>, that is an AoE taunt! Don't <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=19752">DI</a> someone if you are not trying to save a wipe! Don't have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=25780">Righteous Fury</a> up without a reason!<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<hr /><span id="fullpost"><br />
So I hope this was helpful to any newbie holy pallies out there struggling in dungeons. I'm sure there are other guides out there but this is mine in my little corner of the web. I didn't talk about gear because there is just so much gear out there that it will really all rain down on you once you start doing heroics. There are also more little tricks here and there but they will come with experience.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=HP-Tillnexttime.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="till next time" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/HP-Tillnexttime.jpg" /></a></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
Feedback is appreciated! Till next time!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Updated 1/29/10</span><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-19078558793681322312010-01-21T13:33:00.010-05:002010-05-21T02:17:04.460-04:00Ferraro Revealed!<div style="text-align: justify;">Many of you probably know of Ferraro, author of blog <a href="http://ferarro.blogspot.com/">Paladin Schmaladin</a>. There was a lot of <a href="http://brokentoys.org/2009/06/01/trust-in-the-light-unless-its-perky-cute-and-nerdy/">drama</a> <a href="http://jagoex.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-happened-to-ferarro-and-paladin.html">surrounding</a> <a href="http://www.nerfthisdruid.com/2009/05/paladin-schmaladin-indeed.html">that</a> <a href="http://www.wow.com/2009/05/31/the-curious-case-of-ferarro/">site</a> as it became known that Ferraro had been posting pics of another person without permission and passing it off as themselves. Then when confronted about it, Ferraro admitted to the farce and then further revealed that she/he was the 7th in a long line of Ferraro's ala the Dread Pirate Roberts in the Princess Bride (book/movie), which is also debated if that is true. This is a rough summary and I'm sure I missed many details of the whole debacle.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=blogworldexpo08.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Ferraro/TechDarling" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/blogworldexpo08.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;">The Ferraro facade, TechDarling</span></div><br />
So basically, all this drama caused so much controversy but Ferraro continues to blog (after coming back from quitting blogging when the drama broke out) as well as adding more bloggers on board his/her site. I'm sure many paladins have been helped out by his/her website, much as I have been too. Ferraro is a prolific blogger and is intensely interested in the paladin class as proven by the many varied posts on the blog.<br />
<br />
As an anonymous blogger myself, I wouldn't want to out any one that chooses to blog anonymously. However, Ferraro has chosen to out him/her self.<span id="fullpost"><br />
<br />
I have no clue how long this has been up but I guess since WoW Armory was revamped as there is now an armory link for a holy paladin on the side, which I assume is <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Kul+Tiras&cn=Evercle%C3%A2r&gn=Subject+to+Change">Ferraro #7</a> =P<br />
<br />
I am not sure why Ferraro has decided to do this now and apparently, without much fanfare or comment from his/her readers. It just makes me curious.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I only noticed this because Ferraro posted a simple video of him/her healing a 5 man dungeon heroic for the daily 2 Frost Emblems and revealed his/her character in the process.<br />
<br />
<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ixc-I2bfj6w&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ixc-I2bfj6w&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></embed></object><br />
<br />
This really piqued my curiosity and I must confess that I spent some time trying to search for the armory link. I failed at that but then I belatedly noticed the actual armory link on the website - double fail.<br />
<br />
This raises a few thoughts in my head. As an anonymous blogger myself for very specific reasons, I wouldn't appreciate it if someone tried to reveal me. Why did I seek to find out his/her character?<br />
</span><br />
<ul><span id="fullpost">
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Curiosity</span> - Blogging anonymously for so long, I wanted to see the actual character even if it was for my own private knowledge.<br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Competitiveness</span> - I want to see exactly how I measure up against Ferraro because let's face it, people play WoW to get gear. I wanted to see how close I am to someone that has been writing as a holy paladin mentor and hinted at being in a top guild.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Titillation</span> - Every one loves to talk about it but no one admits they love to do it. People like to gossip or find out shit they're not supposed to or weren't allowed to know. Human nature, people!<br />
</li>
</span></ul><span id="fullpost">Anyway, I happily compared my character to his/hers and found that mine was not that far off. I stopped gemming for all int + <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49110">Nightmare Tear</a> to activate meta (because I got bored =X) and Ferraro does have a few pieces better than me so his/her mana pool is a lot bigger than mine.<br />
<br />
After I was done with all this though, some questions were raised in my head.<br />
</span><br />
<ul><span id="fullpost">
<li>Why did Ferraro name him/herself Evercleâr? (alt +131 for the weird a)</li>
<li style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Why now?</span></li>
<li>Does it make his/her posts on holy paladin healing more authoritative?</li>
<li>Would knowing my in game character let my readers feel that I know what I am talking about?</li>
<li style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Does it matter that he/she outed him/herself?</span></li>
</span></ul><span id="fullpost">And finally:<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost" style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">Should I out myself too?</span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
In the end, I don't think I would want to out myself just yet. I have already made a few slip ups and I know 1 reader for sure that knows my real life character's name (even though I have transferred since then but my name is the same and on a short list in the armory).<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=ArmorySearchSSCensored.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Armory Search SS" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/ArmorySearchSSCensored.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
I really don't mind helping other paladins but though I have stated my reasons for my preference for anonymity before, here they are again.<br />
</span><br />
<ul><span id="fullpost">
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Availability</span> - I want to be antisocial sometimes and that is hard to do if random people (if any) pm me to ask questions. I know I'm no Ferraro but I feel like people would treat me as ultra accessible because I have a blog.<br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reputation</span> - Everyone has their good and bad days but I know I can have a volatile temper. Certain things just piss me off and there are people out there that get off on making you upset or ruining your day. I don't want to be mean and bitchy (because every girl can be) or make mistakes, God forbid, only to have it come back to troll me on my blog.<br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Personality</span> - Sorry but I'm boring and I'm no entertainer.<br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Expertise</span> - I think I have a good handle on being a holy paladin but by no means am I perfect. I would feel intimidated at the idea of anyone treating me like an expert. I definitely have my own weak areas that I need to improve on still.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Drama</span> - If I get outed, this means no way can I talk shit on my blog or talk about people being shitty even if they are really being shitty because for whatever reason, it's easier to think about it if it's about someone you don't know. Everyone will have a bystander's objective point of view unless it mirrors their own situation.</li>
</span></ul><span id="fullpost">Anyway, just posting some of my thoughts on this subject. No, I don't know when I will write some<span style="font-style: italic;"> real</span> posts but even then, I love you readers! Till next time!<br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-83812368350650026112010-01-19T11:03:00.008-05:002010-04-26T05:58:44.921-04:00Anatomy of WoW Raiding<div style="text-align: justify;">So yes, I have been away for a while but I've just been raiding and percolating ideas. On the drama front, my guild has been relatively quiet, something I definitely appreciate! However, that makes for less writing material. As for general holy paladin discussion, I'm not completely confident but I have some ideas forming.<br /><br />Anyway, this is just a post to share this wonderful pic that made me LOL IRL from <a href="http://www.cracked.com/">cracked.com</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=worldorwarcraft_header.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/worldorwarcraft_header.jpg" alt="Anatomy of Fail" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Enjoy!<br /><br />Till next time!<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319814211958013827.post-60326740966185112372009-11-27T11:00:00.006-05:002010-05-21T02:17:32.155-04:00Pugging 10 man Sarth 3D (Zerg)<div style="text-align: justify;">This is a very old unpublished post (at least 2 months old) that I dug up. I just thought that I should finally publish it since I did make the effort to write it.<br />
<br />
I still don't have the 25 man Sarth 3D achievement as of this writing. I still want it. I remember back then, our guild went through a lot of pain trying to get it but certain key figures really held us back. So painful.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=TheObsidianSanctum1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="OS" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/TheObsidianSanctum1.jpg" width="500/" /></a></div><br />
Any horror stories?<br />
------------------------------------------------------------<br />
Ever since MMO-Champion <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=47540.0">linked</a> the Russians zerging 10 man Sartharion 3D, puggers went wild with excitement as the zerg method trivialized a raid instance that had up till then been regarded as highly tuned.<br />
<br />
With that said, even though the strategy has become much simpler, it does not mean that 10 man 3D zerg is easily puggable.<span id="fullpost"><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
On my old server, I had previous experience attempting to complete a 10 man 3D but we wound up wiping all night as a 3 tank, 2 healer set up. My healer partner was a resto druid, not my usual kick ass priest partner (who has since quit wow as I mentioned in my <a href="http://iamapaladin.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-home.html">previous post</a>), and was in bald terms, really <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> bad.<br />
<br />
Since transferring to the new server, the massive Horde population can and do pug everything and anything under the sun - 25/10 man Ulduar, ToC, etc.<br />
<br />
One night around ~12ish, I saw someone advertising for 10 man 3D zerg for healer and dps spot. It is usually not common for healer spot to be open in a 10 man zerg so I offered my services.<br />
<br />
I hadn't ever thought that 10 man 3D zergs would use holy paladins to solo heal. I wasn't confident I would be invited, but lo and behold, I got one - I checked and the raid leader was a prot paladin.<br />
<br />
I felt a little self satisfied, I've always felt that fellow paladins tend to give each other the most chances to prove ourselves though we tend to also hold each other to higher standards (Ex: <a href="http://dpspaladin.blogspot.com/2009/09/if-i-had-prince-alwalweeds-money-part-2.html">All paladin 10 man Ulduar</a> as suggested by Jong!)<br />
<br />
Maybe it's a little late for me to be wanting to do 10 man 3D but I've always wanted to finally do 3D in both 10s and 25s even if it is an outdated achievement.<br />
<br />
Solo healing the instance, trash and all, required me to be on my feet but it wasn't an arduous task at all. Surprisingly, no one died at all on trash.<br />
<br />
However, when we got to the actual zerging...<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=wowscrnshot_112408_212939.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Sarth Os" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/wowscrnshot_112408_212939.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
<br />
Someone in the group had a pet that would aggro Sarth and despawn him. Then we would all ride up into position and wait for him to pop. This was so we would gain 2-3 extra seconds of DPS time.<br />
<br />
The only issue was that despite the RL advertising in trade for 4.5k DPS, there were definitely people that did not fall into this category (2 shadow priests, the hunter MD-ing, the RL's ret pally friend). On top of that, there would be people that ate the flame waves or stood in void zone. I can heal void zone but not flame waves too, people!<br />
<br />
On tries that everyone survived, there wasn't enough DPS because Sarth would go immune.<br />
<br />
It was quite frustrating. Some people slowly got replaced and what had been a more melee heavy group became more of a caster friendly group.<br />
<br />
Healing wise, I definitely don't think it was an issue (though I am biased =P). Prior to the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53563">Beacon</a> changes, I admit I would just Beacon myself because I couldn't trust the use of Beacon (I found it so unreliable) but even so, I found I <span style="font-style: italic;">had</span> to Beacon myself anyway as I was semi-tanking the little drakes from heal aggro.<br />
<br />
Admittedly, I was in 4 piece T8 so I definitely over gear the place. Still, better late than never, am I right?<br />
<br />
Finally, after 2-3 hours of wiping and clearing trash again, we got the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=2051">achievement</a>!<br />
<br />
Even though I have the achievement and title now (along with the drake!), I still want to redo 10 man 3D but with the "proper" strategy (I still have my 4 pc T7 too!). It's a matter of principle.<br />
<br />
Even then, despite people belittling those that zerg 10 man 3D, it still requires a certain threshold to pull it off, be it a combination of skill/gear/output. In the end, all of the DPS actually did average out to 4.5k dps per person and honestly, it seems most puggers can't put out those numbers.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I'm actually kind of grateful we wiped so much</span> for the achievement. I think if we had gotten it within only 10 tries as the RL had originally predicted (he had prior experience pugging zergs), I wouldn't have felt the same satisfaction in downing it. It would have cheapened the whole experience. I just wouldn't have felt the same sort of euphoria at finally getting it down.<br />
<br />
With that said, it would completely suck that we wiped so much and never got it.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/?action=view&current=mount_blackdrake.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Sarth 10 3d Black Drake" border="0" src="http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/iamapaladin/Site/mount_blackdrake.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span id="fullpost"><br />
And I got the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=43986">drake</a> =)<br />
-----------------------------------------------------------<br />
Happy Thanksgiving! Till next time! =)<br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1