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.

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.

Results after PVPing as a Holy Priest

Previously I posted about pvping as a holy priest. (you can find it here). It's been a couple of week and numerous battlegrounds later, and I think I've come to a decesion. It's really fun!

I'll start by emphasizing that Discipline is still very good, but all in all I've found few draw backs while doing battlegrounds.

Guardian Spirit is great. Lightwell, has been more useful than I thought. Prayer of Mending is much more powerful, and therefore awesome. Renew is very nice. Blessed Resilience and Blessed recovery are great for staying alive. And Body and Soul is full of win.

The only major draw back that I've noticed is my heals are much slower. With the pvp gear, my haste is cut in half, which makes Borrowed Time an awesome reason to be disc.

But all in all I have had a lot of fun, and I've noticed that I am pretty tough to kill, and can keep people alive pretty well. Holy may not be as good as disc as far as single target healing, but there are a lot of cool talents in the tree that are very fun.

Well... that was easy.

I posted earlier about my quest for the priest staff Benediction.. Well, after a couple of nights of two manning Molten Core and an awesome quest chain, I have the staff. *weeee*

And shall I say, that Anathema looks awesome with the priest teir 10 set.

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.

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.

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.

A few words about the end of Zul'Gurub

What will happen to the mounts?!

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.

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.

What does World of Warcraft mean to me?

I was thinking about this on the way home today. After talking with some friends of mine, I realized that I had ended up spending a majority of time talking to them about WoW. They play too (not as much as I do) so it was a mutual thing, but we could've easily talked about work or school or anything else. Why WoW?

World of Warcraft has become a hobby that I talk about, endulge in, and think about more than most every other eneavor (with notable exceptions) that I partake in. I have chalked this up to be a normal endulgence, which is no different than someone who plays on the X-Box, or Farmville. But is it?

I know plenty of people who play video games avidly, they spend most of their free time playing. But they don't seem to talk about it much, and they certainly don't start a blog to talk about it. Am I so different, or is the nature of the games?

I am going to say that it is a little bit of both. I know that I am one to border on obsession with a lot of my interests. For example, I recently listened to a few Queen songs, and now they are the only band that I care to listen to. I have searched youtube to find as many videos with their songs, and I absolutely love them. Now, I am assuming that most people would listen to some of their songs, like them (how can't you), but they would still have a bunch of other bands that they like. While I like all types of music, I have found that I compare everything I hear, and how that singer isn't as good as Freddie and how that guitarist isn't Brian. So I know that I take my interests close to the extreme. But there has to be more to it than my obsessions. What is it about WoW that makes it so compelling (to me at least)?

I think that it has to do with two main factors. One; I am paying for this game every month. If I am paying to play this game, I am going to get the most out of it that I can. This goes beyond the in game, but into looking up information about my class, quests, raids, and everything I can find to know more about how to play and what goes into playing well. Second; I am playing as a character that I created. Every time I log in I am playing as my characters. I control their actions, I make get them gear to make them better, and I determine how they interact with the world (...of warcraft) that they "live" in.

I never really gave this much thought before, but this has caused me to become attached (in a strange way) to my characters. I care about which ones I play more, which ones get certain achivements, and I care about how cool (or stupid) they look.

My paladin is my achievment guy (excluding ICC). My preist is my main healing guy (love the playstyle). And my other paladin (yes there are two) is the cool lvl 60 grand marshal with the big ass sword guy. I have a bunch of other characters, but those three are the ones that I really put the thought into. I care about playing them well, how they look, and them having cool stuff.

I guess that about covers it. After thinking about this, I am pretty sure I will be the best dad in the world because a baby is something that I create (with help of course), and it is definitely something that I will spend money on.

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.

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.