JC in Cataclysm

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.

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.

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.

Yes, I am a very silly holy pally. Ahh, the days of noob-dom. =P

So talking about trends in TBC, in WotLK, the "new" has become pervasive and completely ubiquitous.

Of course, JC being such a dominant profession is backed up by its very nice benefits.

• Flexibility - 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
• Customization - 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.
• Money making potential - Even if you don't sell gems or cuts, you still do the JC daily!

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.

Right now, I'm really happy with what I have heard so far about JC in Cataclysm. No danger signals (yet).

According to MMO Champion:

• New Jewelcrafting dailies will be introduced.
• Many cuts are being added to support the new Mastery stat.
• Some new Cataclysm jewelry recipes have completely random properties, and can sometimes create superior and epic versions.
• Jewelcrafters will have some fun new (and potentially lucrative) vanity items, including fist weapons, rhinestone sunglasses, monocles, and stardust (sprinkle on players for entertainment).

Hahaha, completely makes JC all worth it for me!

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.

Crossing fingers! Till next time!

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?

Interesting Statistics to Me about Me

Matticus recently did a post 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

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

You have been warned!

By the way, follow my twitter if you want me in small doses =P

Here we go!

Combat
Largest hit received: 31,286

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.

Largest heal cast: 2,459,898

Where the heck is this from??

Total healing done: 4,167,510,604

Holy crap, I've done a lot of healing in my WoW "career" =X especially when compared to my damage done (888,519,041)

Gamers Can Save the World & Why I Rant

A 20 min long video talking about the possibility of gaming being directed towards saving the world.

IRL.

Interesting concept, don't you think?

Also in regards to my previous post, I get that people think I am being whiny about the prospective changes when nothing is set in stone yet BUT 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.

April Fool's Day

It's April Fool's Day today but it is also 3 years together today too =)

Here is to 2 fools in love <3

Weapon Enchants in Cataclysm

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.

NOT ENOUGH SPARKLIES!

Blizzard, give us back our sparkly weapons! Make them glow for real again, so people know that we mean business. We're healers, we should glow because we're full of healing thingies!

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!

Compare TBC enchants with WotLK enchants, luminosity dropped by a ton! I mean, even +2 beastslaying has a glow for crying out loud! How can that look more uber than +63 SP? Mind boggling!

Ditch the subtle, make it loud and obvious!

Cataclysm, bling bling sparkly weapons. Make it happen!

P.S. Yay for new Header! My gear was really outdated in the old header image =X

Ferraro Revealed!

Many of you probably know of Ferraro, author of blog Paladin Schmaladin. There was a lot of drama surrounding that site 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.

The Ferraro facade, TechDarling

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.

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.

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 Ferraro #7 =P

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.

Anatomy of WoW Raiding

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.

Anyway, this is just a post to share this wonderful pic that made me LOL IRL from cracked.com

Enjoy!

Till next time!

How to be a Tank Loved by Healers

Many of us interact with tanks on a daily basis in WoW. Either they are tanking for you in raids or heroics. They are either pugged or guildies or friends. Yet all of them need the back up of very special people in order for them to bask in the glory of being a tank - healers.

As healers, tanks can abuse us until we call it quits but if you want to be a tank loved by healers, there are some very simple guidelines to follow.

1. Don't be squishy - Are you at the defense cap? That's a start. Get some dodge, parry or whatever the hell mitigation stat you need so you don't blow up when you get hit. Oom healer = stressed healer = pissed off healer.
2. Give us some leeway - You can have all the mitigation in the world but it won't matter to us if your HP is 20k. We need some breathing room in case you take a big hit and we're not busy praying our heal lands in time before you take another big hit and hit the floor.
3. Do your job - You can have the best HP and mitigation but that doesn't mean anything if you can't hold threat. If healers get heal aggro doing their jobs and die, it's your fault and good luck finding healers willing to heal you. If you're not going to do your job right, then healers don't need to do their jobs for you.
4. Don't make us carry you - Many times, bosses have predictable abilities that do a lot of damage. If it involves causing the tank a crap ton of damage, don't just expect us to heal through it, blow some tanking CDs to help us a bit because most likely the entire party or raid will be taking damage too that we need to heal up.
5. Position yourself right - Don't LoS us! Don't OOR us! Don't tank with your back facing the mob! Don't stand in crap! Etc, etc.
6. Give us our due - Sure, you are a good tank but remember tanks have a symbiotic relationship with healers, so don't forget to give us a nod or some type of acknowledgment. Our job is thankless enough already.
7. Suck up to us - If you really want brownie points, flattery works best. Bribing too =) This way you get your own pocket healer whenever you need one. Hey, works out to the benefit of both parties, right?

Anyway, a lot of this is common knowledge but I'll be damned if I don't come across tanks (especially pugged ones) that flout these guidelines regularly.

Share some of your tanking horror or glory stories in the comments! Till next time!

Dueling Etiquette

I remember my first duel. I was leveling in STV near Grom'gol and I came up against another player, who was ~2 levels higher than me. I don't remember their class. There was no greeting or emote, just a duel window popping up suddenly while I was questing.

I was curious to see how duels worked so I nervously clicked the "accept" button. I really wanted to win my first duel but to my chagrin, I was losing. At this point, I already knew that even with my HP low, being oom was a bigger concern. I used my mana pot to try to regain some precious mana but too late, I was dead before I could heal myself up to full.

Later on, I told my boyfriend what had happened earlier and he told me that I did wrong by using a consumable. This was my first hint of the existence of a loosely followed dueling etiquette.

Mages Love Pallies and How to Die in Onyxia

...Or more specifically, how to make an Arcane Mage love you =)

Due to the buffs to Arcane in 3.2.2, my boyfriend went back Arcane as he had always been in love with that particular tree.

We've managed to rise high enough in the guild standings that we are regular raid members and I have the good fortune to raid consistently with him.

Basically, Sacred Shield + Incanter's Absorption is an absolute wet dream for him. I'm not one of the higher SP paladins in my guild (23-2600 SP depending on trinkets) and as 1 of 3 holy paladins in raid, I can toss SS on my honey guilt free!

So for any paladins that want to get in good with an Arcane mage, this is the way to a DPSer's heart!

Arcane mages, you better be nice to us paladins!

Come on, Phase 3 Anub'arak? Constant ticking damage being absorbed? OMG! My silly mage bf didn't check his SP during that part of the fight but considering that SS should absorb a decent amount, it is nothing to be scoffed at and I'm pretty sure he easily broke 3000 SP because of that phase.

Ridiculously OP.

We also did the revamped Onyxia 25 man raid. 22 slot Bag!

I was a little nervous to be honest as the only experience I had in Onyxia was fooling around in the instance at level 70 with a whole bunch of other 70s. How would the real raid instance be like?

I was quite afraid I would die to the infamous Deep Breath and feel like a noob.

The Unspoken Rules of DI

Most raiders know of Divine Intervention, the paladin only spell that kills the user and places a bubble of immunity on the target. The target is immune to all damage but cannot move or cast anything until the buff wears off after 3 min or until they click it off themselves.

I actually leveled all the way to level 70 in TBC and as a fresh 70, I was talking to a fellow holy paladin about DI and how useless a spell it seemed to be. I remarked that what was the point of a spell that killed yourself and thought it was a very quirky spell.

I later discovered I was a noob.

My mistake in my first experience using DI was that I had targeted no one and therefore, I only killed myself with no discernible advantage. The whole point of DI is that it is a wipe saving mechanism. With that said, there is actually a whole art to using the spell.

PTR 3.2 - More adventures on the PTR

So I can see that my adventures on the PTR got quite a lot of attention and thank you all for commenting. =)

Now, it was my objective to really put myself in healing intense situations when I next logged on the PTR. It was then I discovered something about the PTR servers. Pugging is damn hard even with a much larger pool of puggers with higher gear level (via premades like mine). It doesn't stop people from dying to stupid stuff like void zones or flame walls. -.- It was one of the most difficult Sartharion 1D fights I ever had to heal through.

As you can see, I got more used to the changes but the entire raid took a crap ton of damage. I also think some of the healers weren't that good as some of them consistently ate flame walls. It seemed some of the puggers had no clue about the new T9 gear that they could buy so some of them were handicapped in comparison to me. (Note: I didn't bother censoring as I usually do because this is the PTR, not like it is live servers. If you were one of these puggers and want me to censor, I will gladly do so)

I'm just glad that I restructured my gear and I was almost full T9 or I wouldn't have been able to support my healing done. In general, I felt that haste was much more important than crit so I balanced my gear appropriately (I wasn't even close to 676 soft haste cap). In my opinion, paladins will have to settle for lower crit so they have more haste, spell power and mp5 as well as continuing to gem for maximum intellect. Mana regen is even more important than ever as spell power is easily gotten from the new gear.

Paladins in the next patch

I know that there may be a little or a lot in store for us holy paladins in the next patch but we will see then how the upcoming changes to holy will really affect us. I just want to point out one little thing.

A new line of dailies and rewards for players who have earned the title of Crusader will be available with two random seal-awarding dailies.

• New Heirlooms
• New Argent Crusade Banner
• New Argent Crusade Tabard: Ports you directly to the Tournament grounds.
• An Upgraded Squire: As any good squire should, this upgraded squire now has a mount.
• New Mount: A new Argent Crusade paladin-only charger will be available.

Muhahaha, did you see it? I'll show you it again.

New Mount: A new Argent Crusade paladin-only charger will be available.

So do your Argent Tournament dailies and save your Champion Seals! I love being a paladin so much sometimes =D

P.S. I just realized something, paladins really did get the pony they wanted, didn't they? =X

Random Macros

There are many ways to heal, tank or DPS and it's up to the individual gamer to decide what kind of style of play they wish to utilize. One tool that helps players out are macros.

For me, I don't use many macros at all and prefer to manually click things or just press keyboard keys/key binds. The few macros I have are based off of basically 2 macro commands. I shall now teach this to you =)

/cast [insert spell name here]

/castsequence [spell 1, spell 2]

So simple, yeah? So for the /cast command, I use that when I want to combine using a spell/ability with a simple /say or /party or /raid or /rw or one or more of the above to announce its usage. If it is a spell that is cast on someone, I use %t in my announcement message so that whoever I am targetting at the time I use the macro will be announced as the target. Then the macro becomes:

/cast [spell]
/say [spell] used on %t


In addition, if you don't want to pick a completely new icon for the macro for your action bar when you first create the macro, just pick the question mark as the icon. This way it automatically makes the macro pick the normal icon of the spell that you use. If you want to mouseover your macro button and see the tool tip, which will help you see the CD too, insert this snippet above the beginning of the macro in the macro input box, like so:

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.

Screenshot Update

I haven't had the desire to post recently since a lot of real life issues came up along with in game. Our guild has been trying to get our 3rd raid night going but so far the 3rd night has been used to farm 25 man Naxx on mostly guild runs with a few puggers.

As a guild, I feel our progression has been good but outside of our 2 raid nights on Tuesday and Thursday, most people will not sign on so we have basically no 10 man runs going on and if there are, we can only do them for 1 day if we even have the right people on. As a casual guild, we are really well off but with Ulduar out, those that are poor raiders really look all the more poorer in the new content.

Anyway enough of that, I'm going to make this a pretty fluffy post today since I don't have the concentration to do the intellect for paladin post I had been planning. So screenshots galore coming right up!

On my server Horde side, there is only 1 guild that has cleared Yogg Saron I believe (with a 2nd guild working on it) and I had the pleasure of seeing the hilariously freaky looking T8 rogue helm. This screenshot fails to capture the kookiness of the new T8 helm.

Guild Beef

This is a copy of my guest post over on WoW Fail blog. Enjoy!

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So everyone knows that the pride and joy of "pro" guilds when it comes to raiding is getting to claim world firsts. This is how guilds like Nihilum, SK Gaming and Ensidia entered commonplace knowledge of the more serious WoW raiders. Right now there is a stranglehold by EU guilds of world firsts it seems. Of course there can only be one world first and that mean pro guilds are essentially vying in a neverending competition until a victor is decided. With competition naturally comes shit-talking and rivalries, then shenanigans or drama.

I never really thought it possible in the WoW hardcore raiding scene but apparently it does happen.

Example here on the Ensidia website in the comment section of member, Buzzkill's blog with an inflammatory post demanding all guilds to basically, BRING THE PAIN! LOL

Quite amusing to find a crack in the professional facade that Ensidia and other "pro" guilds usually maintain. Usually we associate guild drama with the little people that are unruly and chaotic (such as Wow Insider's Guild Watch segment) rather than the highly regimented and strict "pro" gamers.

Site Changes & WoW Update

Hey guys!

So I'm sure some of you have noticed some of the tweaks I have done to my site such as adding the row of links below my header along with adding feedburner! I finally figured out how to add it and I just redirected my feed though the true implications of that I do not know yet. Yay, I have 40 subscribers! Welcome! Sorry that the first post you guys see after subscribing via feedburner is this drivel =X

I've noticed recently that everyone and their mothers seem to be posting strategy guides to downing bosses in Ulduar so though helpful, I doubt I will post my own. It would take way too much work anyway. I might come up with one when I have a more comprehensive view on Ulduar in general but right now I am still tentatively figuring out my optimal healing style for Ulduar.

Sholazar Basin

So I finally got around to doing Sholazar Basin over the weekend because I was helping my boyfriend level his herbing alt, who was level 78 and now 79! It is a very fun place to do quests. I felt like a tourist as I kept taking screenshots. I got a big kick out of some quests as you can see =)