This morning I continued to work on the Darkshore zones on my Void Elf warlock. The quests I focused on are taking me to the north to investigate the activity of the Shatterspear trolls who have been increasingly antagonistic to the local night elves.
After meeting up with the Sentinels who were already in that area, there seems to be just some laboring trolls digging away at the highborne ruins for artifacts. Upon killing a patrolling Overseer, I Ickes up a latter that suggests some cooperation between the Shatterspear Trolls and the Horde. I’m then sent to dispatch the horde camp off the northern coast. While there I come across a prisoner who has information about the leader of the Shatterspear that will help us ensure his defeat. The mission then shifts toward gathering the amulets from the troll shamans to craft an arrow that can break the trill leaders defenses. After gathering the material and taking out some lieutenants the attack on the troll camp commenced. Once in the heart of their territory I got to pilot an ancient to dispatch a large number of the trolls which set the stage for the final encounter.
The leader of the sentinels were there, and together we took down the leader and lifted a missive from the horde warcheif outlining their coordination to assault the night elves.
All in all this part of the story was interesting to see how the horde is reaching out to new allies to go on the offensive against the Alliance. The later part of the zone did have a nice ramp up and feeling of epicness as we sought to take out the troll leader, especially piloting the ancient to take out masses of trolls. I'll be interested to see what happens in the southern part of the zone.
Showing posts with label WoW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WoW. Show all posts
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Friday, May 31, 2019
Morning Warsong Gulch, Better PVP Experience
This morning, I had woken up a little later than normal, which meant that I had a little less time to play before leaving for work. I had already gotten my warlock to Kalimdor to start questing in Darkshore and working on the Loremaster of Kalimdor achievement, but I didn't want to start that process if I wouldn't be able to make significant progress on those quests.
Instead, I hopped on my now level 85 Retribution Paladin for some random battlegrounds, and a lot of mining in Pandaria while waiting on the queue. After a fair amount of farming for Ghost Iron, I was worried that the queue wouldn't pop before I would run out of time. No sooner did that thought cross my mind, I was in and ready to deliver righteous justice in the name of the Alliance.
Getting into the group, I was so thankful to see not one, not two, but three healers supporting our group. This was a welcomed sight because in my previous queues there were no other healers, while the horde would be the ones with the support. This might have contributed to my bad experiences, but at the same time in previous battlegrounds we didn't have healers and still did fine. At any rate, I was ready to play with and around my team, and I wanted to focus on sticking with other people to accomplish our objective.
It helped that a few other players on the team were helping to call out directions which helped the team focus our efforts. We stuck together well, and whether it was due to a gear advantage or a numbers advantage, we were able to pick off stragglers, and isolate their flag carrier in most instances to win with an easy 2-0 capture differential. I felt good dealing damage, helping to keep my teammates alive in a pinch. There was one instance where I went in with a rogue to take out the enemy flag carrier, and while we were outnumbered, I was able to take their attention and keep the rogue alive while we took back our flag.
It was a fun time, and it reminded me why I enjoy battlegrounds so much. I am wondering how the changes that have been made will effect my enjoyment of battlegrounds when I play the WoW classic version. Since in the original version of Warsong Gulch there was not time limit, there were no damage and healing debuffs by carrying the flag, and the graveyards were in a different spot. I'll need to make sure I have the time to devote to potentially longer matches for sure.
Instead, I hopped on my now level 85 Retribution Paladin for some random battlegrounds, and a lot of mining in Pandaria while waiting on the queue. After a fair amount of farming for Ghost Iron, I was worried that the queue wouldn't pop before I would run out of time. No sooner did that thought cross my mind, I was in and ready to deliver righteous justice in the name of the Alliance.
Getting into the group, I was so thankful to see not one, not two, but three healers supporting our group. This was a welcomed sight because in my previous queues there were no other healers, while the horde would be the ones with the support. This might have contributed to my bad experiences, but at the same time in previous battlegrounds we didn't have healers and still did fine. At any rate, I was ready to play with and around my team, and I wanted to focus on sticking with other people to accomplish our objective.
It helped that a few other players on the team were helping to call out directions which helped the team focus our efforts. We stuck together well, and whether it was due to a gear advantage or a numbers advantage, we were able to pick off stragglers, and isolate their flag carrier in most instances to win with an easy 2-0 capture differential. I felt good dealing damage, helping to keep my teammates alive in a pinch. There was one instance where I went in with a rogue to take out the enemy flag carrier, and while we were outnumbered, I was able to take their attention and keep the rogue alive while we took back our flag.
It was a fun time, and it reminded me why I enjoy battlegrounds so much. I am wondering how the changes that have been made will effect my enjoyment of battlegrounds when I play the WoW classic version. Since in the original version of Warsong Gulch there was not time limit, there were no damage and healing debuffs by carrying the flag, and the graveyards were in a different spot. I'll need to make sure I have the time to devote to potentially longer matches for sure.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Classic WoW Beta Stress Test Part 2
Last night I was able to log in during the second round of the Classic WoW Beta Stress Test. My main goal with my play time last night was to create some more of the characters I intend to play if I get the chance to play in the beta, and to see if I can even log in.
I got into a 3800+ queue, and it said that it would take about a half an hour to enter the realm, but it seemed like it only took about 10 - 15 minutes. I didn't pay too close attention, but I did feel like the wait was not too long. Once in the real test would be to see if I'd be able to log in to the dwarf that I had already made last week. The first attempt failed, so I created a human to see if logging into a different zone would help. I was able to log in without a problem, and I was surprised by how few people there were in the starting zone. There were still plenty of people, don't get me wrong, but since the level cap had been raised to level 10, the starting zone was less congested compared to the screenshots I had seen from last week.
I didn't really play much on the human, and swapped to the dwarf. I had logged off in the Gurubashi arena last week, and upon logging in, I didn't see anyone, so I hearthed back to the starting zone. Since my dwarf is only level 2, I want to try getting to a higher level before trekking back to Stranglethorn. I will definitely park an alt in the area, but I have low hopes of ever getting the chest from the middle of the arena anytime soon.
I didn't have very much time to play last night, but I was able to get online this morning. When I played this morning, my goal was to test out how macros and keybindings could work on my paladin. I tried out using a mousewheel keybind for casting my Devotion Aura. The idea is that by using the mousewheel, I can quickly swap between auras in a pinch. My thought was that a quick swap to Concentration Aura would help my be able to cast heals with less pushback when my health was low.
I also tested equipping a one handed weapon and a shield macro, and I also tried binding that to my mousewheel. If I need some extra defense that might be a useful option. The main testing I was doing was to see how Seal of Righteousness behaved with one handed weapons versus two handed weapons. It seems like it does about twice as much damage per hit with a two handed weapon. I had a hunch that the faster weapon would be more procs and would out pace the two hander, but it looks like in most cases the two hander will be more damage. I plan on doing more math on this in future testing. To see how fast the weapon would need to be to pull ahead.
I got to level four just grinding mobs. I didn't want to do any quests, so I can save that for when the game launches, and I mainly wanted to see what I could handle as far as level disparity. Grinding was a slow go for me, but I wasn't really rushing. I did find that the mobs dropped some useful loot for vendoring and getting enough silver for training, If the starting zones are congested early on, I might just grind to until I can train professions as a way of leveling.
All in all the stress test was smooth and fun. I'm looking forward to more bite sized testing as the beta continues.
I got into a 3800+ queue, and it said that it would take about a half an hour to enter the realm, but it seemed like it only took about 10 - 15 minutes. I didn't pay too close attention, but I did feel like the wait was not too long. Once in the real test would be to see if I'd be able to log in to the dwarf that I had already made last week. The first attempt failed, so I created a human to see if logging into a different zone would help. I was able to log in without a problem, and I was surprised by how few people there were in the starting zone. There were still plenty of people, don't get me wrong, but since the level cap had been raised to level 10, the starting zone was less congested compared to the screenshots I had seen from last week.
I didn't really play much on the human, and swapped to the dwarf. I had logged off in the Gurubashi arena last week, and upon logging in, I didn't see anyone, so I hearthed back to the starting zone. Since my dwarf is only level 2, I want to try getting to a higher level before trekking back to Stranglethorn. I will definitely park an alt in the area, but I have low hopes of ever getting the chest from the middle of the arena anytime soon.
I didn't have very much time to play last night, but I was able to get online this morning. When I played this morning, my goal was to test out how macros and keybindings could work on my paladin. I tried out using a mousewheel keybind for casting my Devotion Aura. The idea is that by using the mousewheel, I can quickly swap between auras in a pinch. My thought was that a quick swap to Concentration Aura would help my be able to cast heals with less pushback when my health was low.
I also tested equipping a one handed weapon and a shield macro, and I also tried binding that to my mousewheel. If I need some extra defense that might be a useful option. The main testing I was doing was to see how Seal of Righteousness behaved with one handed weapons versus two handed weapons. It seems like it does about twice as much damage per hit with a two handed weapon. I had a hunch that the faster weapon would be more procs and would out pace the two hander, but it looks like in most cases the two hander will be more damage. I plan on doing more math on this in future testing. To see how fast the weapon would need to be to pull ahead.
I got to level four just grinding mobs. I didn't want to do any quests, so I can save that for when the game launches, and I mainly wanted to see what I could handle as far as level disparity. Grinding was a slow go for me, but I wasn't really rushing. I did find that the mobs dropped some useful loot for vendoring and getting enough silver for training, If the starting zones are congested early on, I might just grind to until I can train professions as a way of leveling.
All in all the stress test was smooth and fun. I'm looking forward to more bite sized testing as the beta continues.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Trying to Solo Gnomeregan, and some PVP on my Ret Paladin BFA
Now that I’ve completed the quests in Stranglethorn, my hunter had a couple of quests from the dungeon Gnomeregan that have been nagging my quest log since level 30, so I made the trek there and tried me hand at soloing the trash mobs so I could get to the dormitory and turn in the grim encrusted object. After not using my hunter pet for a lot of my leveling, I pulled out my trusty Talboc and gave it a try. Since mobs scale in dungeons now, I had to be sure to kite and use my pet to take the brunt. I died a couple of times, but eventually made it to the point where I could complete the quest. There was a follow up quest in Ironforge, so I took that as an opportunity to get the heck out of there.
Then the question was what to do now. I haven’t pvped on my human paladin in a whil, I thought, so let’s give that a go. I mined for ghost iron while waiting on the queue, and had some fun playing ret, helping to heal, returning some flags, and capping one to boot. It reminded me of when I used to play that paladin more in Wrath of the Lich King as a twink. I twinkled at 39, 60, and 70, and had such a fun time. While I wasn’t as dominant as I was then, this time still gave me the feeling of supporting my team while delivering justice to the filthy horde.
This was especially fun because I have such fond memories of playing this paladin in battlegrounds. He was my very first character, and I loved pvping on him and dominating. Recently, though, I've been reviewing classic wow ret paladin game play, and I've realized that the paladin is meant to be more supportive. I remember when I used to play, I'd pretend to be a warrior, and I'd often forget to heal myself, and rarely would I think to heal or buff someone else.
In playing in a more supportive role, I'm enjoying that more versatile role, and I think I'm going to try playing as holy and prot in battlegrounds more, just to mix it up. Plus it'll help with group balance since it seemed like the horde always had a bunch of healers while the alliance had one if that many. Also, if I don't select healer when I queue it won't let me swap to holy before the battleground has begun, so selecting those specs will help me be more flexible.
I also enjoyed the new Warsong Gulch. The updated graphics and models looked really good, and that is probably the battleground I've played the most, so to see it all new and shiny is awesome.
After the quest turn in, it was off to the Wetlands. I run from Thelsemar, and when I came to a fork in the road I chose the road less traveled. It was between safely going through the Algaz tunnel, or make a jump for it and hopefully time disengage before hitting the ground. I jumped, and because I didn’t get far enough from the side of the cliff I disengaged too soon and my screen went gray. I didn’t feel like running all the way to my corpse so Rez sickness it was, and I logged out at the first quest hub in the zone.
Then the question was what to do now. I haven’t pvped on my human paladin in a whil, I thought, so let’s give that a go. I mined for ghost iron while waiting on the queue, and had some fun playing ret, helping to heal, returning some flags, and capping one to boot. It reminded me of when I used to play that paladin more in Wrath of the Lich King as a twink. I twinkled at 39, 60, and 70, and had such a fun time. While I wasn’t as dominant as I was then, this time still gave me the feeling of supporting my team while delivering justice to the filthy horde.
This was especially fun because I have such fond memories of playing this paladin in battlegrounds. He was my very first character, and I loved pvping on him and dominating. Recently, though, I've been reviewing classic wow ret paladin game play, and I've realized that the paladin is meant to be more supportive. I remember when I used to play, I'd pretend to be a warrior, and I'd often forget to heal myself, and rarely would I think to heal or buff someone else.
In playing in a more supportive role, I'm enjoying that more versatile role, and I think I'm going to try playing as holy and prot in battlegrounds more, just to mix it up. Plus it'll help with group balance since it seemed like the horde always had a bunch of healers while the alliance had one if that many. Also, if I don't select healer when I queue it won't let me swap to holy before the battleground has begun, so selecting those specs will help me be more flexible.
I also enjoyed the new Warsong Gulch. The updated graphics and models looked really good, and that is probably the battleground I've played the most, so to see it all new and shiny is awesome.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Questing in Stranglethorn, Saving Booty Bay
This morning I completed the Stranglethorn Vale quests, which culminated in the defense of Booty Bay against a combined assault from the Bloodsail and Brashtide Pirates. While doing the normal killing of Bloodsails just off the southern coast of the Cape, you find that they are planning an attack. The Bloodsails on their own aren't a very formidable foe, so what is up their sleeves?
You're tasked with infiltrating their ranks by faking the death of Fleetmaster Seahorn, by killing a local cow and tossing her head around. That was a pretty funny part of the quest chain, since human pirates think all cows look alike.
Once you're in their ranks you work your way up to captain one of the three main ships in their fleet. As the captain you're able to thin out the ranks by claiming mutiny, and you sabotage their cannons, gun powder, and grog. Getting back to Booty Bay, you find the full force of the Worgen and Bloodsail pirates attacking, and after some killing and bombing you help save the day.
It's a fun quest chain, and most of the gameplay is below. The stream disconnected about half way through, but you can see the finale, which was fun times swinging from boat to boat and dropping bombs from above.
Now that I've finished with Stranglethorn, I'm moving on to the Wetlands. I'm already level 58, which means the combined quests in both Northern and Southern Stranglethorn gained me over 10 levels. I'll probably reach beyond 60 before finishing the Wetlands, and once I do that, I'll work on Kalimdor on either my Void Elf Warlock, my Kul Tiran Druid, or my Pandaren Monk. I'm leaning warlock at the moment. I haven't really played a lock for any considerable amount of time ever, so it should be fun to give the class a try.
You're tasked with infiltrating their ranks by faking the death of Fleetmaster Seahorn, by killing a local cow and tossing her head around. That was a pretty funny part of the quest chain, since human pirates think all cows look alike.
Once you're in their ranks you work your way up to captain one of the three main ships in their fleet. As the captain you're able to thin out the ranks by claiming mutiny, and you sabotage their cannons, gun powder, and grog. Getting back to Booty Bay, you find the full force of the Worgen and Bloodsail pirates attacking, and after some killing and bombing you help save the day.
It's a fun quest chain, and most of the gameplay is below. The stream disconnected about half way through, but you can see the finale, which was fun times swinging from boat to boat and dropping bombs from above.
Now that I've finished with Stranglethorn, I'm moving on to the Wetlands. I'm already level 58, which means the combined quests in both Northern and Southern Stranglethorn gained me over 10 levels. I'll probably reach beyond 60 before finishing the Wetlands, and once I do that, I'll work on Kalimdor on either my Void Elf Warlock, my Kul Tiran Druid, or my Pandaren Monk. I'm leaning warlock at the moment. I haven't really played a lock for any considerable amount of time ever, so it should be fun to give the class a try.
Saturday, May 18, 2019
Starting to Stream in Preparation for Classic WoW
I am beyond excited for the release of classic wow, and I want to try my hand at streaming as I play. Facebook seems like the easiest platform as it's already integrated into the Battle.net client.
So I'm going to stream as I try to complete the Loremaster achievement for Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. I never did all of the quests during Vanilla wow, and I've only accidentally done the quests since the Cataclysm. So my goal is to complete the achievement before I venture back in time and begin questing and leveling in Classic WoW. I'm got the Cape of Stranglethorn and Wetlands left on Eastern Kingdoms, and Kalimdor is completely undone.
I'll post all of the streams to Sevo's WoW Time on Facebook , and I'll try to keep up with this blog as it goes.
This first video is just a test of me trying to see how the tool works trying to take down some orcs. It ends with an epic fail on disengage in an orc cave, and in hindsight Feign Death would have been helpful.
I'm looking forward to playing with ya'll
So I'm going to stream as I try to complete the Loremaster achievement for Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. I never did all of the quests during Vanilla wow, and I've only accidentally done the quests since the Cataclysm. So my goal is to complete the achievement before I venture back in time and begin questing and leveling in Classic WoW. I'm got the Cape of Stranglethorn and Wetlands left on Eastern Kingdoms, and Kalimdor is completely undone.
I'll post all of the streams to Sevo's WoW Time on Facebook , and I'll try to keep up with this blog as it goes.
This first video is just a test of me trying to see how the tool works trying to take down some orcs. It ends with an epic fail on disengage in an orc cave, and in hindsight Feign Death would have been helpful.
I'm looking forward to playing with ya'll
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
I think that BlizzCon is really cool
While I did not go, me and my girlfriend did order the live internet stream, and watched the panels and most of the events. This event is so cool to me because I always like the opportunity to meet people who play WoW, and BlizzCon brings so many members of the community come together like nothing else.
I can't wait to get the chance to go, and I am very glad that I have been able to watch it online over the last two years.
I can't wait to get the chance to go, and I am very glad that I have been able to watch it online over the last two years.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
the PTR is Wonderful!
With all of the class changes coming out with patch 4.0, I decided to test out the new talents before they went live.
I was like a kid in a candy store. So many changes, it is like relearning how to play. I'll start with some of the broad changes, and get to the priest and pally stuff more. The new glyph interface is very nice. I am really looking forward to this change. Being able to get all of the glyphs that I want, and swap them in an out as I please is going to be a lot less of a hassle than the current system. The new Power Auras addition to the interface is very handy. Not only do shiny things appear around my character, but the button that you get to hit lights up too! This is a very nice change from constantly looking to the upper right of my screen for spells that poped up. And lastly, I am looking forward to Reforging. This looks like ti will add some much needed flexibility when prioritizing gear.
Now to the goods. I started first on my priest. I specced holy using this spec (minus Evangelism and Archangel because you're only lvl 80 on the ptr). To start, Chakra is a nice talent, and I love how it can stay up for as long as you want, and provide a nice boos to the heal that you need. Holy Word: Chastise, is pretty cool. I think that the cooldown is a bit long, but I like how it changes depending on the Chakra state I'm in. Also I am glad that Surge of Light is in the tree and easy to get. I get free Flash Heals, which give me Serendipity buffs which makes the use of the big heals much easier. I like how those talents work with eachother.
Also in case you were wondering I did try out discipline, so that I could get Archangel. It looks awesome (gives you wings), and it makes casting smite boost healing. I decided that I won't pick it up (too many better options, but if you want more about it you can see Miss Medicina's post about the numbers behind it's awesomeness here.
Next I went to my Paladin. The spec that I used here is different from the one that I linked in my previous post. I wanted to test out the healing, later on I'll test out the kind of damage I can dish out as holy, but for now I want to get used to healing. So here is the spec. There are some things off the bat that take some getting used to. Holy power is one of those things. In the spec that i linked, you will gain Holy Power by using Holy Shock and by healing the target of Beacon of Light with your casted heals. You can only have 3 charges of Holy Power, and once you have any number of charges you can use Word of Glory. While Word of Glory doesn't heal for much unless you have 3 charges, it is free and instant so you would only be wasting a global cooldown if you use it with less than 3 charges. Another thing that took me sometime to get used to was all of the buffs the pop up. Casting Holy Shock gives you haste when casting, and if you crit it makes Holy Light even faster. At the same time, casting has a chance to allow you to use Holy Shock without it triggering a cooldown (2 in a row). These buffs are really nice, and they make the playstyle a lot more interactive and fun. Managing the buffs to the casted spells, managing the buffs to Holy Shock, and using Holy Power effectively is a lot more dynamic than spamming the most efficient heal all the time.
The last thing I want to say about Holy paladins is Light of Dawn!!!! It looks really amazing.
All in all, holy priests will still be a lot of fun, and holy paladins will have a much more dynamic playstyle. I am looking forward to playing both when 4.0 goes live.
I was like a kid in a candy store. So many changes, it is like relearning how to play. I'll start with some of the broad changes, and get to the priest and pally stuff more. The new glyph interface is very nice. I am really looking forward to this change. Being able to get all of the glyphs that I want, and swap them in an out as I please is going to be a lot less of a hassle than the current system. The new Power Auras addition to the interface is very handy. Not only do shiny things appear around my character, but the button that you get to hit lights up too! This is a very nice change from constantly looking to the upper right of my screen for spells that poped up. And lastly, I am looking forward to Reforging. This looks like ti will add some much needed flexibility when prioritizing gear.
Now to the goods. I started first on my priest. I specced holy using this spec (minus Evangelism and Archangel because you're only lvl 80 on the ptr). To start, Chakra is a nice talent, and I love how it can stay up for as long as you want, and provide a nice boos to the heal that you need. Holy Word: Chastise, is pretty cool. I think that the cooldown is a bit long, but I like how it changes depending on the Chakra state I'm in. Also I am glad that Surge of Light is in the tree and easy to get. I get free Flash Heals, which give me Serendipity buffs which makes the use of the big heals much easier. I like how those talents work with eachother.
Also in case you were wondering I did try out discipline, so that I could get Archangel. It looks awesome (gives you wings), and it makes casting smite boost healing. I decided that I won't pick it up (too many better options, but if you want more about it you can see Miss Medicina's post about the numbers behind it's awesomeness here.
Next I went to my Paladin. The spec that I used here is different from the one that I linked in my previous post. I wanted to test out the healing, later on I'll test out the kind of damage I can dish out as holy, but for now I want to get used to healing. So here is the spec. There are some things off the bat that take some getting used to. Holy power is one of those things. In the spec that i linked, you will gain Holy Power by using Holy Shock and by healing the target of Beacon of Light with your casted heals. You can only have 3 charges of Holy Power, and once you have any number of charges you can use Word of Glory. While Word of Glory doesn't heal for much unless you have 3 charges, it is free and instant so you would only be wasting a global cooldown if you use it with less than 3 charges. Another thing that took me sometime to get used to was all of the buffs the pop up. Casting Holy Shock gives you haste when casting, and if you crit it makes Holy Light even faster. At the same time, casting has a chance to allow you to use Holy Shock without it triggering a cooldown (2 in a row). These buffs are really nice, and they make the playstyle a lot more interactive and fun. Managing the buffs to the casted spells, managing the buffs to Holy Shock, and using Holy Power effectively is a lot more dynamic than spamming the most efficient heal all the time.
The last thing I want to say about Holy paladins is Light of Dawn!!!! It looks really amazing.
All in all, holy priests will still be a lot of fun, and holy paladins will have a much more dynamic playstyle. I am looking forward to playing both when 4.0 goes live.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Excited about the latest beta build
A new Beta Build is availale at wowhead.com, and it has me excited.
I've already decided that, when 4.0 hits the live realms, I'm going to spend my talent points with an emphasis on leveling. For my priest that meant picking up Evangelism and Archangel from the Disc tree, and for my paly that meant getting the talents that boosted Exocism and Holy Shocks damage.
I was expecting this focus on leveling to cause me to sacrafice some points away from the healing bonuses, but it turns out that I won't be missing out on as much as I thought (for my priest at least).
Here is a look at my priest' healing and leveling spec. With the addition of Trinity and Surge of Light, Evangelism and Archangel will be a lot more useful for Holy. Even better is that these talents are almost required for moving further down the tree, and Surge of Light gives Heal a chance for an instant Flash Heal. I am liking this a lot. The way it is now, spending to improve Smite and making it functional is not so good for healing. Now, though, Smite won't be such a non useful option, and the points spent to do that also help with healing!
Here is a look at my pally's healing and leveling spec. Can you say Shockadin? I am looking forward to seeing how this works while leveling. Exorcism and Holy shock look like they will combine to make holy a lot of fun while leveling. The new Spiritual Focus talents, looks like a great addition too. No more missing Judgments. All in all, this spec will allow me to kill things faster while only losing a couple of healing talents.
While I am sure that Ret and Shadow will be the best leveling specs for killing things fast, but I don't care. I like Holy in both cases better, and I'm going to be leveling with my girlfriend's mage and warrior which means we can two man most of those pesky group quests while we move up to 85.
I've already decided that, when 4.0 hits the live realms, I'm going to spend my talent points with an emphasis on leveling. For my priest that meant picking up Evangelism and Archangel from the Disc tree, and for my paly that meant getting the talents that boosted Exocism and Holy Shocks damage.
I was expecting this focus on leveling to cause me to sacrafice some points away from the healing bonuses, but it turns out that I won't be missing out on as much as I thought (for my priest at least).
Here is a look at my priest' healing and leveling spec. With the addition of Trinity and Surge of Light, Evangelism and Archangel will be a lot more useful for Holy. Even better is that these talents are almost required for moving further down the tree, and Surge of Light gives Heal a chance for an instant Flash Heal. I am liking this a lot. The way it is now, spending to improve Smite and making it functional is not so good for healing. Now, though, Smite won't be such a non useful option, and the points spent to do that also help with healing!
Here is a look at my pally's healing and leveling spec. Can you say Shockadin? I am looking forward to seeing how this works while leveling. Exorcism and Holy shock look like they will combine to make holy a lot of fun while leveling. The new Spiritual Focus talents, looks like a great addition too. No more missing Judgments. All in all, this spec will allow me to kill things faster while only losing a couple of healing talents.
While I am sure that Ret and Shadow will be the best leveling specs for killing things fast, but I don't care. I like Holy in both cases better, and I'm going to be leveling with my girlfriend's mage and warrior which means we can two man most of those pesky group quests while we move up to 85.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Holy Priest Healing in Cataclysm
Earlier I talked about my excitement for the upcoming paladin changes coming in cataclysm. Now it is the priests turn.
Currently healing as a holy priest offers a variety of different playstyles. With the prevalence of periodic damage in Icecrown Citadel, and consitent raid wide damage two playstyles began to take shape for priests. Most priests would spec to make Renew more powerful, while others would focus more on direct heals like Prayer of Healing. There wasn't a huge different between these specs, but the main staple was that single target healing took a back seat to AoE heals.
In Cataclysm, it looks like things are going to shift slightly. Holy priests have always been very well rounded. We can help with tank healing, raid heal, and offer support to other healers. With the current talent build the range of spots to place talent points allowed a holy priest to either boost spells like Flash Heal and Greater Heal, or spells like Circle of Healing and Prayer of Healing (of course there is some overlap here). With the new talent trees, however, it looks like we won't have to choose one or the other. If you decide to be a holy priest you will be able to fill any healing role. Which means that putting points into boosting Greater Heal won't seem like a mistake because there really isn't anywhere else to put them, (and Greater Heal will be more useful).
While one could argue that this could limit our options, I would say it enhances our veratility. Tanks about to take incoming damage, let me swap to Chakra(Heal). The Boss is shooting fire at everyone, let me switch to Chakra(Prayer of Healing). There is a constant stream of damage being dealt to the raid, let me switch to Chakra(Renew). We can tank heal, raid heal, and HoT with the best of them.
We still keep the cool talents like; Spirit of Redemption, Body and Soul (yay for Lifegrip), Guardian Spirit, and Lightwell (yay for the fixes to it), and we gain an awesome spell like Chakra. This is going to be really fun. If you're a holy priest in Cataclysm, you will be fully holy. There won't be a specialization within the spec. You'll be able to be good at everything in cata, and that is going to be awesome.
Currently healing as a holy priest offers a variety of different playstyles. With the prevalence of periodic damage in Icecrown Citadel, and consitent raid wide damage two playstyles began to take shape for priests. Most priests would spec to make Renew more powerful, while others would focus more on direct heals like Prayer of Healing. There wasn't a huge different between these specs, but the main staple was that single target healing took a back seat to AoE heals.
In Cataclysm, it looks like things are going to shift slightly. Holy priests have always been very well rounded. We can help with tank healing, raid heal, and offer support to other healers. With the current talent build the range of spots to place talent points allowed a holy priest to either boost spells like Flash Heal and Greater Heal, or spells like Circle of Healing and Prayer of Healing (of course there is some overlap here). With the new talent trees, however, it looks like we won't have to choose one or the other. If you decide to be a holy priest you will be able to fill any healing role. Which means that putting points into boosting Greater Heal won't seem like a mistake because there really isn't anywhere else to put them, (and Greater Heal will be more useful).
While one could argue that this could limit our options, I would say it enhances our veratility. Tanks about to take incoming damage, let me swap to Chakra(Heal). The Boss is shooting fire at everyone, let me switch to Chakra(Prayer of Healing). There is a constant stream of damage being dealt to the raid, let me switch to Chakra(Renew). We can tank heal, raid heal, and HoT with the best of them.
We still keep the cool talents like; Spirit of Redemption, Body and Soul (yay for Lifegrip), Guardian Spirit, and Lightwell (yay for the fixes to it), and we gain an awesome spell like Chakra. This is going to be really fun. If you're a holy priest in Cataclysm, you will be fully holy. There won't be a specialization within the spec. You'll be able to be good at everything in cata, and that is going to be awesome.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Why I like bad tanks.
I love it when I see a tank with less than 30k health. I love seeing a tank who is clearly not defense capped. And I love it when that tank is horrible at holding agro. "But CrusaderSev that's crazy, a bad tank couldn't bring any good." Wrong! A bad tank means that I get to heal. And I mean really heal!
My priest is a Kingslayer and has everything from Icecrown (cept a stupid wand). My paladin has his 4 peices of teir 10 (though most everything else is from ToC 10). By no means are my healers in super amazing gear but they vastly out gear the content present in heroics. If I am unlucky enough to get into a group with a tank who is as geared or better than me, then that means a boring run. He takes little damages, the dps take little damage, and I am playing the "you don't need to be topped off" game.
In the past I would resort to wearing level 60 gear sets. Not only did I look awesome (Banana Shoulders FTW!), but my spell power and mana were lowered enough to make me feel like I did when I first started. I had to use my heals more because one was no longer enough. That got to be pretty fun, but I found that most people didn't really like that very much. Because on the off chance that things did go wrong, things got a little bit scary for them. So I have stayed in my normal gear sets hoping for the group that has a poorly geared tank.
I was very disapointed last night. The tank we started with had less than 30k, and couldn't keep agro off my girlfriend's mage, and I was happy. Then my girlfriend and a warlock get one shotted from pulling agro, and our feral druid swaps to bear and tanks the rest. My disapointment arose when said druid had 60k health :(
Now I know that if I want a challenge I can go and play with the LK some more. But I don't really have the time to play with Arthas now that classes have started. So I'm just going to have to wait for that bad tank/group that makes a boring heroic a little less boring. Another reason to look forward to Cataclysm.
My priest is a Kingslayer and has everything from Icecrown (cept a stupid wand). My paladin has his 4 peices of teir 10 (though most everything else is from ToC 10). By no means are my healers in super amazing gear but they vastly out gear the content present in heroics. If I am unlucky enough to get into a group with a tank who is as geared or better than me, then that means a boring run. He takes little damages, the dps take little damage, and I am playing the "you don't need to be topped off" game.
In the past I would resort to wearing level 60 gear sets. Not only did I look awesome (Banana Shoulders FTW!), but my spell power and mana were lowered enough to make me feel like I did when I first started. I had to use my heals more because one was no longer enough. That got to be pretty fun, but I found that most people didn't really like that very much. Because on the off chance that things did go wrong, things got a little bit scary for them. So I have stayed in my normal gear sets hoping for the group that has a poorly geared tank.
I was very disapointed last night. The tank we started with had less than 30k, and couldn't keep agro off my girlfriend's mage, and I was happy. Then my girlfriend and a warlock get one shotted from pulling agro, and our feral druid swaps to bear and tanks the rest. My disapointment arose when said druid had 60k health :(
Now I know that if I want a challenge I can go and play with the LK some more. But I don't really have the time to play with Arthas now that classes have started. So I'm just going to have to wait for that bad tank/group that makes a boring heroic a little less boring. Another reason to look forward to Cataclysm.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Lightwell has some use (at least that I've noticed)
Recently I posted about pvping as a Holy Priest. The spec that I linked includes Lightwell. Why Lightwell you ask? Well I didn't really know at the time, but now that I have done more battlegrounds I have an answer.
When you are stunned, you can still click Lightwell. Meaning, it will heal you when you can't heal yourself. An example I'll site comes from Arathi Basin. Let's say that I am protecting a flag in the Basin. I will put Lightwell near the Flag (i.e. near where I'll be standing). Now some horde players come to attack me and my comrades. I use my spells to keep myself and my group alive, and BAM, I'm stuned. Can't do a thing for a few seconds. Previously I would just sit there (providing that Every Man for Himself was on cooldown), but no more. I can click the Lightwell, and it will give me a nice heal over time (glyphed it heals for about 4k every 2 seconds).
Pretty sweet if you ask me. While someone is just whacking away at me, I can use the Lightwell, and it (combined with my Blessed Recovery and Blessed Resillience talents) can help me stay alive while I'm stunned, spell locked, and feared (I think).
And if that wasn't good enough, here's another tid bit for yah. People will attack your Lightwell. Not that earth shattering? Well think about this, if they are attacking the Lightwell, that means that they aren't attacking you or your friends. Allowing for an added opportunity to turn the tables.
It's funny, the more that I use Lightwell in battlegrounds, the more I am seeing how useful it can be. Hopefully Cataclysm will change it enough to make it more user friendly, and players will accept it like they do their health stones and healing potions.
When you are stunned, you can still click Lightwell. Meaning, it will heal you when you can't heal yourself. An example I'll site comes from Arathi Basin. Let's say that I am protecting a flag in the Basin. I will put Lightwell near the Flag (i.e. near where I'll be standing). Now some horde players come to attack me and my comrades. I use my spells to keep myself and my group alive, and BAM, I'm stuned. Can't do a thing for a few seconds. Previously I would just sit there (providing that Every Man for Himself was on cooldown), but no more. I can click the Lightwell, and it will give me a nice heal over time (glyphed it heals for about 4k every 2 seconds).
Pretty sweet if you ask me. While someone is just whacking away at me, I can use the Lightwell, and it (combined with my Blessed Recovery and Blessed Resillience talents) can help me stay alive while I'm stunned, spell locked, and feared (I think).
And if that wasn't good enough, here's another tid bit for yah. People will attack your Lightwell. Not that earth shattering? Well think about this, if they are attacking the Lightwell, that means that they aren't attacking you or your friends. Allowing for an added opportunity to turn the tables.
It's funny, the more that I use Lightwell in battlegrounds, the more I am seeing how useful it can be. Hopefully Cataclysm will change it enough to make it more user friendly, and players will accept it like they do their health stones and healing potions.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Paldin Healing in Cataclysm
Currently paladin healing is pretty easy. By that I mean that there are few desicions that need to be made when it comes to which heal to use. There is a camp that primarily use Holy Light, and they stack the intellect. There are others (myself at the moment) who primarily use Flash of Light, and they stack spell power.
From what I've gathered from the Cataclysm posts, all healers will have more options about which spell to use. For paladins this means the (possible) end to the "one or the other" playstyle of healing. With the introduction of Holy Power (looking forward to this), an altered Beacon of Light, the new Word of Glory, the Holy Radiance* spell and the 31st talent spell Light of Dawn paladins will have a lot to choose from. Finally!
This has me excited. Not only will the mechanics of Flash of Light and Holy be changed with Divine Light being added, but we are getting another single target instant heal in Word of Glory, and two AoE healing abilities. Combine that with the staple Judgments, Holy Shock, Hand ofs, and our other awesome spells, playing a paladin in Cataclysm should get to be very exciting.
Fights with movement won't be too bad with the boosts to Holy Shock, and Word of Glory being instant casts, and there will be more flexibilty available when it comes to healing more than just the tanks. Depending on how the beta finishes, and how the talents look when 4.0 goes live, this could cause me to enjoy healing on my paladin more than my priest. Which is saying a lot considering the introduction of Chakra.
From what I've gathered from the Cataclysm posts, all healers will have more options about which spell to use. For paladins this means the (possible) end to the "one or the other" playstyle of healing. With the introduction of Holy Power (looking forward to this), an altered Beacon of Light, the new Word of Glory, the Holy Radiance* spell and the 31st talent spell Light of Dawn paladins will have a lot to choose from. Finally!
This has me excited. Not only will the mechanics of Flash of Light and Holy be changed with Divine Light being added, but we are getting another single target instant heal in Word of Glory, and two AoE healing abilities. Combine that with the staple Judgments, Holy Shock, Hand ofs, and our other awesome spells, playing a paladin in Cataclysm should get to be very exciting.
Fights with movement won't be too bad with the boosts to Holy Shock, and Word of Glory being instant casts, and there will be more flexibilty available when it comes to healing more than just the tanks. Depending on how the beta finishes, and how the talents look when 4.0 goes live, this could cause me to enjoy healing on my paladin more than my priest. Which is saying a lot considering the introduction of Chakra.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
PVPing as a holy priest
With a lack of desire to do any raiding, heroics, or leveling of toons, I have turned to battlegrounds. I have always enjoyed pvping, both at 80 on my pally and priest and at the lower levels on my rogue, and other pally. It adds a much needed change of pace, and it's always fun to turn the tides of a battle with needed heals and face melting powah.
Most of my pvp has come on my priest lately. As shadow it is a ton of fun being able to go toe to toe with most anyone. As discipline, the single target healing and PW:S is just awesome. Both specs are a ton of fun for pvp. But I was thinking, "I like raiding as holy, why not doing battlegrounds as holy?"
So I did. I picked up Blessed Recovery, Blessed Resilience, Body and Soul, and even Lightwell (still wondering why myself). The spec still allows me to heal in a raid or heroic easily. I made sure to pick up all of those tools without too much trouble. So, I gave it a try last night. and I've got to say that I think I am liking it a little better than disc so far.
Here is a link to the specthat I use.
My Prayer of Mending is stronger, my Power Word: Sheil gives a speed boost, my Renew is more useful, I've got Gaurdian spirit, and with Spirit of Redemption, even if you kill me I can still heal for another 15 sec. While Prayer of Healing and Circle of Healing don't find as much use, those added tools don't really hurt me at all. I am still not sure how wise it was to spec (and glyph) for Lightwell. I guess the reasoning there was to get people used to using it for when it (hopefully) becomes useful in Cata. Plus having an added ability never hurt.
All in all, I am enjoying pvping as holy. While I am sure that Disc is the better healing spec for it, holy is the spec that I like the most, and I am glad that it is proving to be pretty fun.
Most of my pvp has come on my priest lately. As shadow it is a ton of fun being able to go toe to toe with most anyone. As discipline, the single target healing and PW:S is just awesome. Both specs are a ton of fun for pvp. But I was thinking, "I like raiding as holy, why not doing battlegrounds as holy?"
So I did. I picked up Blessed Recovery, Blessed Resilience, Body and Soul, and even Lightwell (still wondering why myself). The spec still allows me to heal in a raid or heroic easily. I made sure to pick up all of those tools without too much trouble. So, I gave it a try last night. and I've got to say that I think I am liking it a little better than disc so far.
Here is a link to the specthat I use.
My Prayer of Mending is stronger, my Power Word: Sheil gives a speed boost, my Renew is more useful, I've got Gaurdian spirit, and with Spirit of Redemption, even if you kill me I can still heal for another 15 sec. While Prayer of Healing and Circle of Healing don't find as much use, those added tools don't really hurt me at all. I am still not sure how wise it was to spec (and glyph) for Lightwell. I guess the reasoning there was to get people used to using it for when it (hopefully) becomes useful in Cata. Plus having an added ability never hurt.
All in all, I am enjoying pvping as holy. While I am sure that Disc is the better healing spec for it, holy is the spec that I like the most, and I am glad that it is proving to be pretty fun.
Friday, August 27, 2010
What annoys you the most?
Running a random on Cell, and there is a DK in frost presence (not tanking). He's hardly pressing any buttons, and just have a good ole time cruising through the instance.
Our tank, who was over geared and pulling with vigor, was loosing his patience with the our DK. Not only because he was in frost presence, but also from the lack of activity and awareness of his class and how to play it. Our tanks comments to the DK gave me the impression that the DKs actions were really getting on his nerves. This made me wonder, what really gets on my nerves? Was our tank justified in being so annoyed?
I can understand being a tank and having someone who is taunting off of you, using righteous fury, frost pressence or defensive stance, and so on.This can get pretty frustrating for some folks. After all it is the tanks role to hold agro on all of the mobs, and when someone uses those abilities they are hindering the tanks ability to fill that role adequately. But this DK was no where near getting threat off of the Tank. Sure it can be annoying that he's in Frost Presence, but is it worth throwing a fit over?
I tend to take the stance that if it's not having an adverse affect on my (or my girlfriend's) gameplay, then what do I care. Sure that person has no idea how to play their class, and sure they have no idea of what they are supposed to do on most fights, if it doesn't hurt me I tend not to let it bother me. I've noticed, though, that this philosophy stops being true when I'm in a raid. For whatever reason (probably the long waits between wipes), I get especially annoyed when people enter a raid instance absolutely clueless. And it's not just that they are clueless, it's that they are clueless and trying to hide it. Time and time again, I'll be in a pug and when the raid leader asks, "has anyone not done this fight before?" noone says a word. The raid fails (miserably) and becomes clear there are many people who havn't done the fight before.
I absolutely hate it when people do this. When someone woul rather fake it and cause 9 or 24 other people to run back from the graveyard, instead of saying "umm yeah, I have no idea what is going on, can someone explain it to me?" that's when I get annoyed. I know that there is a lot of anxiety when you're the only one out of the loop, but think about this. If you're in a pug, chances are good (depending on how it was put together) that you are not the only one who has no idea. I would rather someone tell me they don't have a clue, than pretend they do and fail because by you asking that question the other clueless people don't have to.
This, combined with the fact that it is a pain to get my priest his teir 5 smexy set, is probably my biggest pet peeve. If you have a question, ask someone. If that person is a douche, keep asking until you find someone willing to be nice and patient enough to help you. Also the WoW forums, wowhead, tankspot, and a whole slew of guides are your friends. Learn how to use them, and you will be on your way to improve your gameplay.
Our tank, who was over geared and pulling with vigor, was loosing his patience with the our DK. Not only because he was in frost presence, but also from the lack of activity and awareness of his class and how to play it. Our tanks comments to the DK gave me the impression that the DKs actions were really getting on his nerves. This made me wonder, what really gets on my nerves? Was our tank justified in being so annoyed?
I can understand being a tank and having someone who is taunting off of you, using righteous fury, frost pressence or defensive stance, and so on.This can get pretty frustrating for some folks. After all it is the tanks role to hold agro on all of the mobs, and when someone uses those abilities they are hindering the tanks ability to fill that role adequately. But this DK was no where near getting threat off of the Tank. Sure it can be annoying that he's in Frost Presence, but is it worth throwing a fit over?
I tend to take the stance that if it's not having an adverse affect on my (or my girlfriend's) gameplay, then what do I care. Sure that person has no idea how to play their class, and sure they have no idea of what they are supposed to do on most fights, if it doesn't hurt me I tend not to let it bother me. I've noticed, though, that this philosophy stops being true when I'm in a raid. For whatever reason (probably the long waits between wipes), I get especially annoyed when people enter a raid instance absolutely clueless. And it's not just that they are clueless, it's that they are clueless and trying to hide it. Time and time again, I'll be in a pug and when the raid leader asks, "has anyone not done this fight before?" noone says a word. The raid fails (miserably) and becomes clear there are many people who havn't done the fight before.
I absolutely hate it when people do this. When someone woul rather fake it and cause 9 or 24 other people to run back from the graveyard, instead of saying "umm yeah, I have no idea what is going on, can someone explain it to me?" that's when I get annoyed. I know that there is a lot of anxiety when you're the only one out of the loop, but think about this. If you're in a pug, chances are good (depending on how it was put together) that you are not the only one who has no idea. I would rather someone tell me they don't have a clue, than pretend they do and fail because by you asking that question the other clueless people don't have to.
This, combined with the fact that it is a pain to get my priest his teir 5 smexy set, is probably my biggest pet peeve. If you have a question, ask someone. If that person is a douche, keep asking until you find someone willing to be nice and patient enough to help you. Also the WoW forums, wowhead, tankspot, and a whole slew of guides are your friends. Learn how to use them, and you will be on your way to improve your gameplay.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
It's my first time!
In an effort to catch up on the happenings in the WoW community while being unproductive at my job, I've discovered WoW blogs. Over the last couple of weeks I've been reading some very interesting articles about a variety of topics surrounding the the gaming community.
From Cataclysm news, to raiding blues there is always something new and interesting being brought to the forefront. And so, I've been inspired to join in. I've been playing WoW for almost 4 years now, and I'd like to think that I've learned a little about the game and how to play it.
My main characters are a holy priest and holy paladin. The paladin is the first class I played, and that character was my first 80, and some most of my coolest achivements. The priest is a character that I've had for a long time, but never really played until my guild realized the healing ICC with 3 holy paladins might not be so good. I leveled him and he is my Kingslayer.
Both classes are my favorite, and both are (in my opinion) the coolest when it comes to look and playstyle. Most of what I talk about will be from the perspective of these two characters, Sev (the pally), and Cell (the priest). I have spent time leveling most every class at the low levels, but these two have occupied my point of view the most.
I hope you enjoy reading, as I offer my view on things WoW related.
From Cataclysm news, to raiding blues there is always something new and interesting being brought to the forefront. And so, I've been inspired to join in. I've been playing WoW for almost 4 years now, and I'd like to think that I've learned a little about the game and how to play it.
My main characters are a holy priest and holy paladin. The paladin is the first class I played, and that character was my first 80, and some most of my coolest achivements. The priest is a character that I've had for a long time, but never really played until my guild realized the healing ICC with 3 holy paladins might not be so good. I leveled him and he is my Kingslayer.
Both classes are my favorite, and both are (in my opinion) the coolest when it comes to look and playstyle. Most of what I talk about will be from the perspective of these two characters, Sev (the pally), and Cell (the priest). I have spent time leveling most every class at the low levels, but these two have occupied my point of view the most.
I hope you enjoy reading, as I offer my view on things WoW related.
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