Raid Optimization for Holy Paladins

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.

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.

I really believe that half of the holy paladin's ability to perform in raids is preparation, even more so than other healing classes. You have to gem right, gear right, talent right and glyph right. 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 execution, which takes practice depending on the difficulty of the fight along with experience to get a hang of healing.

So here I am, reading Rhidach's post about this site called Armory Datamining. 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.

Anyway, I went to look at the holy paladin data, expecting there not to be much deviation. Lo and behold, I was wrong.

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 is 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.

BS/JC Gemming

This is something I have never understood. Perhaps I am doing it wrong but...

A lot of Holy paladins are BS/JC understandably for the JC gems + 2 extra BS slots. However, why is it whenever I see BS/JC, they always seem to put the JC gems in random slots?

For me, I like to always put my 3 JC only Dragon's Eye gems (usually Brilliant) in the 3 extraneous BS slots:

1. Belt Buckle
2. Bracer Socket
3. Glove Socket

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 no matter what gear I switch in and out. It will never 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.

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 + Nightmare Tear. Even so, FoL paladins can still benefit from this gemming method.

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...

Don't be lazy!

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!

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.

What do you guys think?

Before Cataclysm Comes!

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 so much! Everything was so new and it was just like "wooooowwww" to me so I want to be able to experience that again in Cataclysm. I was such a tourist and I unashamedly loved it!

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.

1. Get over 9000 achievement points - I am around 8400 achievement points atm.
2. Get a Solace trinket to play around with
3. Get a new weapon! And a whole bunch of other gear on my list
4. Complete ToGC 25 - all I have left is Anub'arak
5. 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
6. Get maxed mining on one of my alts.
7. Try to complete the legendary. This is likely going to stay a dream. I actually have a better chance of getting Shadow's Edge than getting the legendary T.T (I already have the 2 quest items)
8. Aim for the Ironbound Protodrake!
9. Maybe the 10 man Frostwyrm? Likely another pipedream as I don't do 10 mans regularly enough =(
10. Hit 100k gold on my paladin for Cataclysm (only 50k right now).
11. Freaking kill Archimonde! (Only TBC raid boss I have NOT killed)
12. Get a bridle for my squire! 
13. See 25 man Algalon and try to kill him! 
14. Get exalted with Consortium and Lower City 
15. Get Loremaster before Azeroth gets destroyed

What is your to-do list?

PVP Progression

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 Relentless shoulders eluded me despite me wanting the pretty shoulders so I could match!

This season in S8, I am happy to report I have finally been able to get the Wrathful shoulders! My next goal is 2200 rating! The weapon at 2200 is so tasty! I actually use my 1800 weapon to PVE raid so a 2200 weapon would be great!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lich King Weapons

Woot! According to MMOChampions, Arthas crit/mp5 mace becoming crit/haste, which is a BIG improvement imo!

What's up with Blizz letting the Koreans have the scoop? I want their forum moderators... =T

I'm assuming this change will happen to all the crit/mp5 maces form 10/25 normal and hard.

I'm guessing they wanted to avoid another Turning Tide debacle, where holy paladins' BIS was the BIS of mages and locks.

Stalking Feeds

Been so obsessed with Armory and WoW-heroes recently =X

Here's a screenshot of mine

It's so addicting with the new activity feed! Satisfying my stalker urges.

You have people you like to keep tabs on?

Iamapaladin's Purpose and Gearing Philosophy

I apologize for the very, very long hiatus. BTW, Happy belated Halloween!

When I first started this blog, I sincerely meant to blog in it weekly because I hated not having anything to read from my favorite blogs. Yet as time went by, my posts became more and more sporadic. Sometimes I would post a lot and then I would stop posting at all and repeat this again.

I don't know how many readers I have following me but this isn't fair to you guys. With that said, I am not shutting down my blog but I guess I want to clarify the purpose of this blog's existence.

I didn't really mean for this blog to be a site for holy paladin mechanic discussion but because that is what I play, that is sort of what became this site's content. The problem is that in order for this site to be even useful for holy paladins in that regard, regular and timely updates are necessary.

I don't really feel up to that as I want this blog to reflect my mood and current thoughts. I feel I am the type of writer that needs time to let thoughts ruminate before I let it out. I also tend to take a long time writing posts though sometimes that is not the case.

Patch 3.1.2: Equipment Manager

We just got a new patch and the equipment manager that we were supposed to get in patch 3.1 is finally here. I tested it out on my alt and it seems straightforward to use.

To enable it, you go to your interface options and underneath the controls, you check off the very last box that says "Use Equipment Manager." With that option checked on, in your character sheet will be a new icon in the upper right hand corner. For those that use outfitter, this icon will be underneath the outfitter icon so you must disable it to access the in-game equipment manager.

When you click on said icon, you will see empty boxes. Each box basically represents a potential item set you can save as an outfit. Just equip what you would like to save as an outfit and click save. You will then be able to name the outfit and choose an icon for this outfit. The first few icons that appear will be those in your outfit for easier identification.

As a basic equipment manager, the Blizzard in-game option is quick and easy but I find the fact that you must access it from the character info sheet to be annoying. With that said, I dislike Outfitter's automatic equipping of certain item sets though that can be disabled. However, Outfitter allows you to have all your outfits on a bar that you can click without accessing the character sheet. In my eyes, this makes Outfitter a better option as it offers slightly more versatility.

Then again, it's up to you guys to decide.

New Best in Slot Option

So I recently received a troll comment about the layout of my site. Funnily enough, I had already planned a best in slot post to be maintained as new gear came out if that is what he had wanted.

In the future, if you want to use my site as a guide for a holy paladin and you want to be rude about it, I would like it very much if you just refrain from commenting because this site is done on my free time and I write how I want to write.

Of course, making it easy for my readers is a concern of mine but I am not interested in pandering to trolls. All I hear is "wah, wah, wah - I'm reading this site but it's not adhering to my exact specifications and it's their fault because the world must cater to my every whim! WAHHHH~" STFU

*shakes head in disbelief*

BTW, for all of you non-crying readers, I have made a BIS gear guide and located in one of the tabs below the banner. Enjoy!

PS I have also posted more on my character's actual stats as listed in Armory along with my current gear under the My Character tab under the banner.

Ulduar Paladin Checklist, Part III

Warning! Long post ahead!

So I didn't expect there to be a Part III but I was writing my gear list and it got longer and longer with all my additional comments so here is Part III =X Parts I & II here if you missed them.

Gear, continued

Weapon: Replacing Hammer of the Astral Plane +42 crit/+31 haste/+461 SP/+44 int

• 
  
  Turning Tide -5 crit/+17 haste/+59 SP/+6 int Perfect itemization right here. Only thing better is the legendary!
  
• 
  
  Runescribed Blade +10 crit/-31 haste/+89 SP/+7 int With so much haste on Ulduar gear, maybe having a weapon with a lot of crit is the way to go, plus that spell power upgrade is nothing to sneeze at =X There is spirit on this weapon though so let the priests/druids/locks/mages get this weapon first if they need it as they benefit more from spirit than us paladins.
  
• 
  
  Guiding Star -42 crit/+18 haste/+89 SP/+4 int Loss in crit but in this case, the sheer gain in SP can tip the scale in favor of this as an upgrade.
• 
  Torch of Holy Fire -42 crit/+17 haste/+59 SP/+3 int The Guiding star is better so I'm sort of meh about this weapon.
  
• Furious Gladiator's Salvation -31 crit/-31 haste/+131 SP/+10 int (Dazzling Forest Emerald) So no crit or haste but even more SP gain than the legendary! Well, I still wouldn't use this weapon personally but if you can make up for the loss of haste and crit elsewhere, this weapon can be a great asset for you.
• Constellus -13 crit/-31 haste/+131 SP/+9 int (Dazzling Forest Emerald) The sheer gain of SP might make the loss of crit and haste worth it but I feel the next weapon on the list is better despite it being a lower item level.
  
• Aesuga, Hand of the Ardent Champion +3 crit/-9 haste/+89 SP/+21 int (Brilliant Autumn's Glow) Negligible loss of haste for other stats, =)
  
• Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings +5 crit/+15 haste/+126 SP/+10 int Legendary, baby!!! Perfect paladin itemization and a nice proc! New BIS for sure.

Ulduar Paladin Check List, Part II

Warning Long post ahead!!

So in Part I, I talked a bit about my spec, glyphing, gemming and macros. The biggest part supporting a holy paladin's ability to heal is the gear though. The gear that we choose ultimately allows us to fulfill our roles in raids as healers. I am of the school of thought that paladins should go for intellect with a balance of crit and haste!

Keep in mind that once you get to ~50% crit and 5-600 haste, each point of crit/haste you stack beyond that will not improve your healing ability as much. Thus, you can treat crit and haste as having a “cap” so to speak. There is no cap to intellect stacking though since it increases spell power, crit and your mana pool! I'm currently wanting to hit 30k raid buffed mana but as of now, I am stuck at 29.5k raid buffed if I wear certain trinkets.

On a side note, I dislike mp5 very much so though I will not discount it entirely but I will not focus my entire gear set around stacking it exclusively. Meaning that if a particular piece of gear that I am using has it, then whatever but I will not specifically seek out gear solely for it having mp5. So let's get to it!

Gear

I am listing items from highest to lowest preference. Net gains or losses are being compared to the item being replaced. The only stats considered are crit, haste, SP and int in that order.

Ulduar Paladin Checklist, Part I

So since Ulduar is out, I wanted to do a more comprehensive analysis of the gear out there along with detailing some of the reasoning behind my spec/glyphs/gemming. I wound up writing a long post so I'm going to split it up so it is more manageable to read.

Gems

I will be listing in order of preference from highest to lowest. I don't have the new epic gems included as they are not widely available at this time.

Woot! Finally!

After 2 months of wanting this achievement, I finally got it! I am now "the Undying" DUN DUN DUN!!

Yay! Unbelievably, my raid leader's alt/new-main-in-waiting was also in group and got a crap ton of upgrades too =) This raid run was actually full of bantering on vent and the mood in general was relaxed, unlike our previous runs, which were more tense and sober. Of course there were stressful "OMG" moments here and there but Lady Luck smiled upon us and we got what we set out to achieve.

A rant on loot

So I had a guild meeting last night because of loot issues with EPGP.

There was a problem with people getting full EP while waitlisted for a raid (25 man OS 3d) that they had no business getting invited to nor would they ever get invited to because of their gear/skill level. (greens/blues? never done naxx? or heroics? constant fail?). This of course led to problems when it came to 25 man Naxx as there are still some pieces progression raiders needed but due to the EP that casuals on the waitlist earned undeservedly, the casuals or friends/family would take key items from raiders and thus, hinder our progression.

Well the officers fixed that by making people waitlisted get 50% EP since it is really not fair to get full EP for an entire raid day while doing BGs and then coming in on farm days to take loot from raiders that said person will never use for progression raids. All in all, I'm really happy with how the guild leadership handled things. They listened to raider concerns and implemented policy to make sure things were fair pretty quickly.

However, there were some complaints.

3D Armory

This is such a cool site! I don't know why I got such a kick out of it =X

On a short hiatus from posting as my real life obligations are kicking in along with 10 man raids coming up. I'll post when I can!

Till next time!

My plans for Ulduar: 3.1 guide

Warning! Long post ahead!

Ulduar 3.1 is going to come out soon it feels as they wrap up testing for the bosses. Alot of changes are coming to paladins, a lot of nerfs especially for holy paladins. Fair or not, these are all changes paladins either have to deal with, reroll or just quit WoW.

Adapt or die, plain and simple.

With that said, I'm trying to plan out what glyphs, spec and gear pieces I want once Ulduar goes live with random screenshots through out.

Like so =P

Currently, I'm in the midst of struggling to choose between prot or Holy-PVP as my 2nd spec for dual spec. I have the gear to be a decent OT in 10 man Ulduar but as my boyfriend and some regulars in our 10 mans inform me, I am not allowed to go prot. =X

Screenshots

So ever since starting this blog, I got into the habit of screen shotting more often. I never used to screen shot even during moments that I wanted to remember. I don't even know why because I am basically catering to my boyfriend =X But even though my boyfriend is my only reader, I am glad that at least I got into the habit of screen shotting because of this blog.

Why am I thinking about this? Well, I came across my boyfriend's screenshot folder and as I sorted through them for the very few ones I had taken, I really became nolstalgic. All those screen shots, even if they were bad or boring, represented a snapshot in time and alot of times, I would be sharply brought back to the past and remember people or events.

That is why I really regret not having screen shots of much of my WoW "career" because with the passage of time, memories becomes blurry as if behind a thin veil. Screenshots are the photographs of WoW, they bring the distant memories out of the fog and let you reflect on the past, the present and the future.

Websites

When I first started playing WoW, I was only focused on leveling. As a noob, I was mostly left to my own devices after my boyfriend PLed me through the first 20 levels. Since he did it sporadically, I basically did most of the quests I had available through those first few levels so I didn't drop many quests because they were gray to me from being leveled too suddenly.

I did things the vanilla way - no add ons or anything. Until one day I had trouble with a quest, I forget which one, and my boyfriend says to me, "Why don't you just look it up on wowhead or thottbot?" to which I responded with a "Huh?! What is that?" Lol, I was such a noob. I would still read the quest summary but if I had trouble, I would go to thottbot usually.

I also remember my boyfriend showing me WoW Armory and asking me, "Isn't this cool?" but I kind of didn't understand what the big deal was since I was in greens and blues still leveling. Epics to me were like a galaxy away and everyone seemed to be in epics on armory. I didn't get why people would want to look up other people and kind of forgot about it.

Gear

It's sort of funny how much things change. I mean if you think about it, our character never really changes in physical looks unless you pay for it. What we wind up working for in WoW is for the pretty skin that the clothes, ie gear, our character wears in game. Sure said gear has pretty stats but what it comes down to are pretty pixels. And when it comes to tier sets, you start looking like alot of people. I feel like there was more variety in TBC. Well here is how my paladin looks now.

Here is how my paladin looked then, I actually still kept some of the stuff around. The picture on the right is what I used to look like mostly. Before I got the t6 shoulders though, I used to use the Mount Hyjal shoulders. It looked so gross I felt but I slowly got used to it. And yes, I did raid with my S4 stuff =X

Ulduar gear - Rant

Warning: Long rant ahead!

Well, we've been seeing alot of prospective items from the Ulduar bosses and I gotta say when it comes to the spell power plate, I am NOT impressed. Just because the level of the item is higher, it does not automatically make it attractive (see my previous post comparing plate heal boots currently available in game).

In fact, all of the items I have seen so far have mp5 on them and either have crit or haste not both. This irked paladins on the forums that many have posted complaints on the WoW forums about how elemental shaman gear is more attractive, subsequently leading to troll comments about how if our mana regen weren't OP then maybe mp5 would be more attractive to us. =(