Healing Casually

Never Again / The War Amps / Les Amputés de guerre - YouTube

2012-11-11T14:52:00.001-05:00

Mists Impressions

2012-09-26T20:32:00.002-04:00

This'll be a short post, but I wanted to give my first impressions of Mists of Panderia.

I LOVE IT.

Now, this isn't to say I didn't like the quests in Cataclysm. They were fun, but they lacked something. Maybe it was the fact that you could fly everywhere, but I never felt as part of everything questing in Cata as I feel now. In fact, I haven't had this much fun questing since the early days of Wrath, questing in Howling Fjord.

I've so far only found two lorewalker scrolls, but they've both been interesting and I look forward to hunting the rest down.

Despite the fact I've been playing on Proudmoore, one of the most populated servers, I'm far enough behind the curve that I haven't had problems with crowding. Well, I have occasionally run into the not-enough-spawns issue, but I always seem to be about 5 minutes behind the curve. That is, I'm there about 5 minutes and suddenly I'm almost alone again. Until the next quest, where it's the same thing.

The biggest thing that makes me realize how much fun I'm having is that I'm about 2/3rds of the way to 86, and I actually only know that because I looked so I could write this post. I haven't cared about levelling up at all, I just want to see what's around the next corner.

I'm Back!

2012-09-08T06:15:00.000-04:00

Don't know if anybody's still reading this, but: A year and a half since I last posted, but I'm finally back. My WoW burnout had three main causes:

1) Pressure. My Pally guild wanted me to level fast to join them in raids, my friends from back in SWG days wanted me to play my hunter so I could play with them, another friend wanted me to level on his server, and I'd set myself a goal of playing one of every healer for this blog. Whatever I wanted to do, I felt I was letting someone down.

2) Health. My mouse arm had been getting worse and worse since the launch of TBC. Around the time I stopped posting, I could only play WoW 2 to 3 times a week, in short spurts. If I even thought of raiding, I was down for a week or more recovering. Add in that I sometimes wanted to do other things (like trying to become a published author, though admittedly I'm still working on that), with the limited time my shoulder was in good shape, and my time was limited even more. Trying to combine this kind of time limitation with the pressure above, it just made things worse. My father's stroke added even more stress, and further limited my time. (He's fine now, by the way.)

3) Difficulty. When Cata launched, dungeons were hard, especially as a healer. I admit, I was very much intimidated. Worse, even soloing 80+ (at least as a Paladin) was hard. I frequently found myself going back to my lowbie alts, just for a more relaxing experience. Going back to issues 1 and 2, this left me no time to level the characters my friends wanted me to level, and one at least kept complaining. (I found out later he wasn't being serious, he was just playing up his Horde leanings by complaining about me being Alliance, but as pressured as I felt at the time I took it seriously.)

So, how am I going to keep things from happening again?

1) I've decided not to let anybody pressure me. I'll take the game at my own pace and do what I like with it. Cross-server groups help with this, too, but I'll be telling my friends that I plan to play the game in my own time and in my own way, and if they want to play with me they can make characters themselves to do so.

2) I finally managed to explain to my doctor what my symptoms were, and he gave me a muscle relaxant. It's a miracle drug. I still have days where I need to rest my arm, but it's not anything before. Yesterday, I played over 6 dungeon runs, plus did some daily questing (Darkmoon, Cooking, Fishing, and JC), and PVP. Playing that much in one day before would have crippled me for a week or two. I'm taking today off, but my arm is still not even very sore, more like it would be after a very short session without the muscle relaxants.

Also, on the days when my shoulder is bad still, I've discovered a piece of software (thanks to Ablegamers) which allows me to use voice commands. It's called VAC. This allows me to play some casual questing only using the mouse to loot and accept quests. So if I really feel like playing, I can.

3) Without issues 1 or 2, difficulty is less of an issue. It becomes a challenge again rather than another layer of stress. Also without issues 1 or 2, if I decide to level an alt instead, I don't feel a problem with that. For example, last night, one of the dungeons I did I tried out tanking on a level 60 DK I haven't played since early Wrath. (And I actually enjoyed it. I need a lot of practice, but having a tank alt might be a nice change of pace sometimes.)

I won't say I won't stop posting again, but I will say I'll try not to.

Cool Video

2011-02-20T15:37:00.000-05:00

This is slightly off topic as it doesn't relate directly to WoW, it does indirectly. Digital download options seem to be rising fast and the last two Blizzard releases (Starcraft 2 and Cataclysm) both had release-day digital download options.

While I don't necessarily agree with its' predictions of the future, I do think it makes some cool points.

Off-topic: My dad

2011-02-16T13:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, my dad had his brother drive him into the hospital because of headaches, confusion, dizziness, blurred vision, etc. (It took a lot of convincing by me and my mom to convince him to go in, he's always very reluctant to see doctors about problems.) They tested him and he didn't show signs of a stroke while he was there, so they scheduled him for a CT scan later in the week and sent him home. Today he was fine up until about an hour ago. He made me a salad for lunch and was fine while making it, but by the time I'd finished eating it he was all confused and this time his speech was slurred.

So, we called an ambulance, and he's back in the hospital now. The paramedic thought it might be another ministroke since he was starting to recover even as they were assessing him, but they saw enough of his symptoms that I'm sure this time they'll do more before sending him home again.

So now, it's just wait and see.

Edit: Hopefully I'll be able to write more about WoW soon. I'd planned to get back into it yesterday since I finally got my account back after the post-Christmas bills killed my ability to pay my subscription (my ability to write about WoW seems based on my ability to play it), but then this all started.

http://chum.ly/n/6bb89c

Off-topic: Power of the Internet

2011-01-29T10:16:00.002-05:00

Events in Egypt, (and also Algeria, Yemen, and Jordan that I've heard about) are definitely interesting, it's like watching history. CNN is calling it the Facebook Revolution, because there's no organized groups or political parties leading the protests but just a flow of people who mostly organized themselves on Facebook and Twitter, who realized after events in Tunisia that they could stand up for themselves.

Just shows how powerful the internet can be.
http://chum.ly/n/639875

Ninja Looters

2011-01-19T05:21:00.001-05:00

I haven't been playing much since Christmas, but the other day I decided to take my blood elf priest into Shadowfang Keep. Well, I was looking for a dungeon in general, and I knew if I took random I could get Wailing Caverns. I hate that dungeon, way too long. It was fantastic for the first half of the dungeon. I noticed everything was being rolled need, but I didn't pay too much attention. It was a low-level dungeon, I figured it's probably likely that people do need those items.

Then, about halfway through (by which point I'd already levelled once), the bear tank noticed that the shaman was rolling need on mail. (I didn't even think it was possible, but somehow in our dungeon run it was.) When called on it, the shaman disconnected. Then, a few minutes later, someone else is doing the same thing, rolling need on items they can't use, so they get kicked.

I'd never knowingly encountered a ninja looter until that dungeon run, and in it there was two. Thankfully, I didn't miss out on any healing gear because of it.

Other than a few wipes on one of the bosses (the tank kept pulling the boss along with the adds rather than seperating them), the rest of the run went splendidly and I managed to level again a second time. Jamiale is now level 21! She's now riding one of those ugly birds the blood elves get... man, I hope my Goblin rep gets to exalted soon.
http://chum.ly/n/5e8b40

Blog Resolutions

2011-01-15T02:06:00.001-05:00

I know I'm very late with this post! 10 days and a couple hours late, actually. I'm afraid I have no real excuse. Life sometimes just distracts me and I fall behind. Going to try not to let this happen again, though!

Now, on to the resolutions!

1. Ironically, I've managed to break my first resolution before I even make this blog post, but: I'll do my best to be on time and post every Tuesday and Friday.

2. I'll create some some serial articles to stir things up every now and then. (Either I'll write one a day for a week or I'll do one a week for a month or two, or maybe something in between.) As of yet, I have no idea what I'll be writing, but we'll see!

3. I'll try to create a system of tags or something along that line to better organize my blog posts. As I make more and more posts, it'll get harder and harder to find specific ones. Organization!

4. I'm going to try to make more helpful blog posts, at least every now and then. As I've mentioned before, I'm not an expert player, I don't even really get all that much time to play very often. However, even if I'm not helping you min-max your stats or find the perfect raid-healing rotation, I may be able to help in other ways, like tips for how to get more out of limited in-game time, or great questlines to do while levelling. Feel free to suggest subjects! I'm willing to put in research time even if I don't know something already.

5. Finally, I'm going to start a series of off-topic blog posts. These won't be taking up a tuesday or friday posting spot, but they'll be an outlet for me to discuss other things, whether it's other games, novels or movies I enjoy, or anything else I feel like sharing. These won't be often, but just slipped in on occasion, to help you know me as more than just a WoW player.
http://chum.ly/n/5cef0f

Christmas!

2010-12-21T19:23:00.001-05:00

This will be my last post until most likely after New Years. I rarely get any time at all to play WoW during the holidays, so much so that it's a miracle I've gotten the Winter Veil achievements on even one character.

So, I just want to say Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! Happy Solstice for those who prefer that! (I have a good friend who does.) And, Happy Holidays to anybody else whose holidays I either don't know about or don't know how to spell!

I'll be back with a post on January 4th with my WoW blog resolutions, and no it won't just be repeating about my intention to level a bunch of alts.

See you in the new year!
http://chum.ly/n/5399fe

Character Updates

2010-12-17T16:52:00.002-05:00

As I've mentioned before, my playtime is severely limited. If I could play as much as I wanted to, I'd likely have a lot more progress to report so far. Still, I do what I can.

First of all, an update on Todan. He's currently about half way through level 81 and advanced into the Shimmering Expanse of Vash'jir. I've taken him on a single dungeon run, into Blackrock Caverns, and in fact that's where he dinged 81. At 80/81, I didn't see much in the way of the new difficulty, but I'm nervous of later levels. We'll see. So far, my only complaint is the respawn rates in Vash'jir. Now that the crowds are gone, they're just a little too intense. I've often ended up fighting 5 mobs in a row as they instantly respawn when killed.

I've also been working on my new Worgen Druid, Julvin. I have to say, I love the Worgen starting area, but I have to agree with some that have said the Goblin zones are better. Anyway, I've gotten him to level 13 and he's just arrived in Darkshore. He's an engineer since it's my favourite profession. Engineering doesn't seem very druidic but whatever, I already have an inscriber and an alchemist and a jewelcrafter on that server, I figured I might as well go with what's fun. And, I imagine Julvin sees chemical reactions as all part of nature as well.

So far I haven't done anything else on any other characters lately. I so wish I had more playtime available. Especially with Christmas coming up my available time is going to go down as well. Still, I have fun with what time I can squeeze out of it.
http://chum.ly/n/517631

Vash'jir

2010-12-14T14:28:00.001-05:00

So far I haven't even gotten very far into Vash'jir on my Paladin, but I'm loving every minute of questing in it. The zone is so beautiful, the quests have a great story, and I get to ride a seahorse!

Art is the first thing I list because there's no other zones that, in my opinion, compare to Vash'jir. The underwater scenery is just so beautiful I've caught myself just staring at it until I notice I'm getting attacked. This is the first zone to come along since Nagrand where I wouldn't mind being stuck for an extremely long time, just because I love the scenery so much. The atmosphere is also amazing, I really get the feeling like I'm underwater.

The quests are fantastic as well. I won't go into details but there's the over-arching story connecting events together where, at least for the first part of the zone, the theme is survival. I love that, I love that in the story we're survivors and fighting for our lives. It makes me feel like a part of the events in the zone, in a way that I didn't feel when I played Hyjal in the beta. I think Vash'jir may be one of those rare zones that I won't mind doing over again, just because the story is that cool.

And the seahorse is just plain cool. I so wish I could bring him out in any underwater area.
http://chum.ly/n/4fb647

A Kink in the Plans

2010-12-11T06:40:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm very late. Not only did I miss my Tuesday post but I missed yesterday as well. There's a reason!

For the last few weeks, I've been dealing with a slowly-dying router. It would quite regularly need a hard reset, but in addition to this it would reset itself every now and then. It's been doing this since Blizzcon, I think I wounded it streaming that coverage.

Tuesday I tried to play WoW and found that I was disconnecting every few minutes. I managed to get far enough along in Vash'jir to get my seahorse and a couple quests beyond, but I was so fed up after that of constant disconnects, often in the middle of fights (luckily there were always enough players around to notice and save me.. either that or my autoattack is good, came back every time alive and with a dead enemy), I couldn't bring myself to post. I was seriously so frustrated I couldn't think straight.

The rest of the week I couldn't stay on long enough to even browse the web in peace. (And, really, web browsing is how I usually get my inspiration for subjects to post about.)

Last night, my trials were at an end. My mother took pity on me and the router my parents were getting me for Christmas was given to me early. I was able to play again!

And I played. I played WoW until my arm hurt too much to continue. Rather than continue Vash'jir, though, I started a Worgen, going druid after all, and played him up through level 6. (Yes, only level 6, my arm's still a little weak from the bad pull a few weeks back.) Still, it was a blast to be back, to play without interruption once again, and this took me past midnight. I also, after a small rest, played a few matches of Star Battle in Starcraft 2, something much easier on my arm than WoW, and a map I've been wanting to try all week.

So! I'm back, and assuming I didn't overdo it tonight and damage my arm again (I don't think I did), I'm back to playing. So, my posts should once again be back on schedule as well!
http://chum.ly/n/4e13dc

My Plans for Cataclysm!

2010-12-03T06:52:00.003-05:00

What can I say today, just days away from the release of the expansion? I've already mentioned that I'm in no way a hardcore player, so I can't give much in the way of spec advice. And, I did my best to avoid quest spoilers in beta other than questing through part of Hyjal, so I can't give much advice on where to find the best lore in the new levelling zones either.

However, I can talk about my plans, and my specs. Specifically, how I plan to take my Paladin to 85, which will be my primary goal before I turn attention to any other alts. Whether my plans and specs are good, however, is yet to be seen.

First, comes my levelling builds. In beta, I tried out both protection and retribution for solo-questing and by far retribution is the better choice. Protection no longer has the aoe ability that used to make up for its' lack of killing speed, and given how tough mobs are in Cata, the fights just stretch on too long as Protection. I never tried levelling Holy in the beta, but I imagine it's the same.

So, for Retribution, this will be my spec as soon as I go in and change it for Tuesday.

I plan to get Judgements of the Just and Toughness for my next 5 points, as they should add to my survivability very well, and that's an important factor. As I'll never dungeon in this spec, (I can't stand melee DPSing), I have no need to maximize every point of dps.

For dungeon healing, this is my current spec.

I plan, over the next 5 points, to get Improved Judgement, another point in Crusade, and then get two points in Pursuit of Justice. I'll lack the healing bonus of Divinity but I think it's worth it to get the movement speed bonus, given how movement-heavy dungeons and raids are in this expansion.

As for what I plan to do to get myself to 85, I plan to jump into Vash'jir and start questing. When I get tired of questing or fed up with the crowds that are sure to be there the first few days, I'll switch specs and hop into a dungeon.Questing will be my primary means of getting XP, however, as I very much want to see all the new questlines.

Hopefully, this works out alright!

http://chum.ly/n/4b4393

Portals

2010-12-02T01:59:00.001-05:00

I had honestly planned on doing a review of the Shattering-changed zones on Tuesday, but due to my bad shoulder I've barely had a chance yet to experience them. I can say Dun Morogh is fantastic, flowing much better than before. And from beta I can say that Tirisfal and Silverpine are great as well, especially Silverpine. But, that's not much of a blog post.

So, I'm going to bring up a topic I've seen debated quite a bit these last few weeks, especially since 4.0.3a went live. Portals, and the removal of such from Dalaran and Shattrath.

I very well see the point those complaining have made. It makes the game just that little bit more like work than it was before. I get that, believe me. I have a limited playtime myself and anything that adds time needed to do things is just that little bit annoying.

However, I have to ask, why do you need to go back and forth now? If you're questing in Outland or Northrend, you have no need to go back to the old cities to train or, I believe, to use the AH anymore, as they're right there in Shattrath and Dalaran. If you're questing in the new Cataclysm zones, your new hub cities are Stormwind and Ogrimmar.

I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything of the kind. I honestly would like to know what it is that people are planning to do where the lack of portals are such an inconvenience.

For me, I'll be happy to leave the lag of Dalaran behind me until I have characters in the 70s again. http://chum.ly/n/4ae449

Level Flow

2010-11-26T18:15:00.001-05:00

I've just been looking at Zeror's level flow map on MMO-Champion.

It's definitely vastly improved over the original old-world, especially Horde-side which had a couple quests here and a couple quests there once you hit the twenties. Alliance was similar, the quests started to spread out unless you went the Southern EK route, which is still mostly intact today.

The new levelling flow seems to give a lot more options. It depends, though, how many quests are available. I have trouble imagining many Horde quests in Redridge or Duskwood, for example, even though they're marked in white on the map, and that would be a difficult route for a Horde player to take anyway.

Going through the direct routes indicated on the map, it seems that the Horde have two main levelling paths, one in Eastern Kingdoms and one in Kalimdor. Alliance, meanwhile, seem to have three, two in Eastern Kingdoms (Southern and Northern routes) and one in Kalimdor. This makes me think levelling up Horde alts may be in for a lot more crossover in quests than Alliance-side.

So, taking this knowledge it's helped me plan out my characters a bit better. My original plan was to level my four new healers, (a shaman and priest Alliance-side, a druid and priest Horde-side), to level 85, and a Worgen Hunter, a Goblin Mage, and my currently level 24 Warlock to level 60. However, I think I'm going to change my plan a bit so not to do much crossover before 60 since I hate repeating quests.

So, my plan is as follows.

My Dwarf Shaman: I'll keep him and continue to level him up the Northern Eastern-Kingdoms.

My Draenei Priest: I may race-change him to Worgen just for the racials, but whatever the case, I plan to level him up entirely in the dungeon finder.

My Worgen Hunter (?): I'm going to be taking him the Kalimdor route, with a detour to Winterspring at 50 instead of Un'Goro. May choose to make him a druid instead, not positive yet. As you know, I prefer healing, but I want to level at least one healer on my main Horde server so unless I decide to dual up on druids I'll probably stick with Hunter.

My Blood Elf Priest: Not on my primary Horde server, I play him to play with a friend of mine. Again, like my other priest, this will be levelled entirely in the Dungeon Finder. (I find priests too squishy to quest comfortably.)

My Troll Druid: I plan to take him entirely through Kalimdor, per the route on the map most likely.

My Goblin Mage: Yes, I'm doing mage despite my preference for healing. He'll probably entirely be PVP if I get him to max level since I don't like DPSing in dungeons much, but might give me a change of pace if I don't feel like stressing over keeping people alive. I'll be taking him through Azshara, then hopping continents to level him from Hillsbrad through EPL.

That will give me one Alliance levelling path to use for any alts I crave in the future, and I know I will. I'm an altoholic.

So, anybody else have any plans for levelling characters? Or are you less obsessive about avoiding repeating quests than I am? :) http://chum.ly/n/49598e

Welcome to The Shattering!

2010-11-23T16:08:00.003-05:00

Patch 4.0.3a is here! Azeroth is changed forever! Or, will be, whenever it is the servers come back up.

This is likely the biggest patch in history. If you're looking for a detailed list of changes to the world, MMO-Champion's your best bet. Today, I'm going to talk in more general terms, and hopefully provide a few useful links for the more useful tips about the changes.

First of all, how have things changed for the various races? (Warning, some spoilers for the novel The Shattering.)

Tauren find themselves with a new, barely-tested leader. Baine Bloodhoof is young but very much his father's son, giving a promising new beginning. At the same time, they have found a new way of spirituality, worshipping the spirit of the sun and bringing in the ways of the Light. For their plotting to bring down Cairne and take over Thunder Bluff, the Grimtotem have been expelled from Thunder Bluff and all allied Tauren settlements. What will they get up to in their exile? I'm looking forward to finding out.

The Orcs also find themselves with a new leader, Garrosh Hellscream, who recently became the new Warchief of the Horde. He may be a warmonger, but he is what his people need. Ogrimmar was seriously damaged during the Shattering and the events leading up to it, requiring massive portions of the city to be rebuilt. However, Orc resources were already stretched way too thin before the earthquakes started, and now are on the verge of disaster. Garrosh has led Ogrimmar to rebuild with metal to replace the dwindling wood supplies, and gives his people hope by promising glory and honour. We'll just have to see if he can deliver, or if he's leading them into further destruction.

The Trolls have returned to their home islands and have reclaimed their honour as well as those they left behind, the new druids of the Darkspear tribe, even as Vol'Jin finds himself losing faith in the Horde under Hellscream's leadership. Can Garrosh and Vol'jin find their common purpose?

The Forsaken, up until now they've been focused almost entirely on defeating Arthas, Now that that is accomplished, they find themselves a new purpose in destroying the Alliance who despise them, and have found new allies as well in the Val'kyr, allowing them to replenish their numbers. But how will this change their relationship with the Horde, and can they deal with the Worgen on their borders?

The Humans have hit troubled times, having lost many to the war with the Lich King and with a King that is filled with hatred for Orcs and the Horde in general. Like Ogrimmar, Stormwind struggles with dwindling resources as they attempt to rebuild from Deathwing's attack, and King Varian puts more and more resources into the war effort. How will his people react, and will he change his ways?

The Dwarves, meanwhile, have their own problem. After King Magni Bronzebeard died in an attempt to communicate with spirits of the Earth, his daughter Moira returns and lays claim to the throne, bringing those Dark Iron she controls with her. After being talked down from trying to remove her from the throne by his son, King Varian orders the Dwarves to form a new council, the Council of Three Hammers, holding a representative of each of the three Dwarven Clans, (Muradin representing the Bronzebeard, Falstad representing the Wildhammer, and Moira representing the Dark Iron), and now we must wait to see if they can hold the peace or whether they are destined for civil war.

The Gnomes have taken back the surface levels of their home city of Gnomeregan. While the city proper is still contaminated and full of enemies, the Gnomes adapt and now live mostly on the surface outside of the city itself. Meanwhile, after discovering in Northrend that they share a very similar history to that of the Dwarves, some Gnomes have taken to following the Dwarven way and worshipping the Light.

The Night Elves have recently been gifted with the return of Malfurian Stormrage from fighting the Emerald Nightmare, only to have lost many to the Shattering and Deathwing. Meanwhile, the Shen'dralar have rejoined their Night Elf brethren, bringing magic back to a people who, on the whole, despise it.

As for the Draenei and the Blood Elves? Absolutely nothing's changed.

Now, onto gameplay itself. For the healers, here's some useful links to help adjust to the new changes.

Paladins: kurn.apotheosis-now.com/?p=1532
Shaman: wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/23/totem-talk-bringing-you...clysm
Priests: wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/14/spiritual-guidance-leve...t-bet
Druids: http://www.restokin.com/2010/11/cataclysmic-resto-talents-changes-for-4-0-3a/ (Thanks to Tarinae!)

Overall: www.mmo-champion.com/content/2086-Patch-4.0.3a-on-...-week

http://chum.ly/n/486373

My UI

2010-11-20T03:02:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned previously, my UI is, in general, a mess. It's definitely improved today over just a couple weeks ago, but I still have a long way to go yet. Here's a screenshot:

First of all, here's all the addons I have installed :

Ackis Recipe List (a very very useful addon for crafters)
Altoholic (since I am an altoholic)
ArkInventory (brand new, just installed last week but I'm loving it)
Atlas
AtlasLoot
Auctioneer (I seriously have trouble functioning without this one)
Bartender4 (Also recently installed, it's helped make my UI cleaner by itself)
BonusScanner Continued
CensusPlus
Deadly Boss Mods
Decursive
Enchantrix
Fishing Ace!
FlightMap
Gatherer
Informant
Junkster
LightHeaded (super valuable quest data)
LilSparky's Workshop (ties in with Auctioneer and gives cost vs. average sale price for each item in crafting, very useful)
Mapster
Mik's Scrolling Battle Text (Way, way more useful than the default SBT)
Omen3
OmniCC
Outfitter
Overachiever
Postal
Power Auras Classic (don't actually have anything setup anymore, not since 4.0.1, but have it in case I want to)
Quartz (not even sure I need OmniCC and this, but I depend on this for the casting bar, might experiment with turning off OmniCC sometime and see)
RatingBuster
RecipeKnown
Recount
TomTom
VuhDo

As you can see, I'm an addon addict. However, there's only one where I won't logon the game if it's not working, and that's VuhDo. I depend on it when I'm healing. I'm sure I'm perfectly capable of healing using other means, but I'm not setup to do it and I would have to adapt. Much easier just to wait until that patches up.

I'm sure I have the tools to put my UI in order in a way that's both beautiful and functional, but for the moment I've just got functional. That, of course, is what matters most as far as I'm concerned.

I know I don't have that many readers yet, but any who are, do you have any suggestions?

http://chum.ly/n/473a28

Posting Schedule and Elemental Invasion

2010-11-16T03:19:00.001-05:00

First, I'd like to mention my posting schedule. I know for the first few days I was posing every day, but that's unmaintainable in general. If I posted every day, I'd be posting nonsense just to keep the topics flowing. So! For a regular schedule, I will attempt to make at the very minimum a post every Tuesday and Friday. However, I'll also make extra posts from time to time as I feel an idea of something to write about.

I had planned a post about my UI today... or, rather, my lack of a proper UI setup and the rather chaotic mess that my screen is, functional though it is. However, with limited playtime today I forgot to take screenshots in the chaos of holiday events.

So, instead, I'll talk about those events!

I'm probably one of the few who has actually enjoyed the lead-in quests before today. Primarily because they re-introduce the Twilight's Hammer and they tie well into the novel Shattering. I'm very much a lore nut, I fully admit. The quests themselves were quick and not very interesting if you ignore the story they try to tell, but I think that does the quests, any quests, a disservice. Questing is as much about the story as the actual quests themselves. That's not to say they shouldn't be fun to play, I hated the quests in the original old world because they were rather boring. However, an interesting enough story can hook me as much as any Plants vs. Zombies quest. (I am, I should note, very much looking forward to doing that quest anyway.)

And now, they've gotten even better, hitting the meat of the event. Elementals are invading major cities, and you have to help shore up the defences and then clean out the city and rescue civilians. This was a blast. Total chaos as half the server population flowed through Ironforge, but fun anyway. Advancing from that, new 5-man bosses open up in the dungeon finder, and I got to play two of them, the two from Ironforge, though I only beat one.

The fire boss, Grand Ambassador Flamelash, was relatively easy... or would have been if people didn't keep standing in the fires. We lost first our tank then the DK who took over as tank to the fires, but luckily the other two DPS managed to stay out of the fires, and didn't take more damage than I could heal.

The other boss I faced was Crown Princess Theredras, the earth boss. That may have been an easy fight as well, there was no fire to worry about there. However, the fight happens on a little island at the top of a waterfall that goes a long way down. I, unfortunately, failed to look around and from my camera angle it looked like the water went all the way around, so I didn't think much about the knockbacks from the rocks she throws.

Yep, I got knocked right back, over the waterfall and down, down, down into the water below. I had no clue how to get back up and after the group wiped I left group in frustration. Of course, that gave me the deserter debuff and I was thus unable to queue for it again or for the two Stormwind bosses. I'll have to try it Wednesday, assuming the potential patch tomorrow doesn't stop the event.

I do have good but unrelated news, though. I brought Jamiale on after all that and got her up to 15 and took her through her first dungeon-finder RFC run. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take screenshots of my UI then as well.) She's now almost level 16. My next goal: Get her to twenty and get a mount! http://chum.ly/n/459126

My Second Priest

2010-11-13T22:04:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently levelling two priests. My first priest is level 24 and I will be levelling him holy when I start working on him again. (When he was my only priest, which was just last week, I was planning to take him disc. I got all of one dungeon run as disc before changing my mind, but I haven't respecced him yet.) When a friend of mine asked me to join him on a third server from the two I normally play on, I of course had to start a new character. So it was I created Jamiale, blood elf priest. Another friend of ours was already levelling a holy priest, so I decided to make her disc and have been levelling her as such.

I have limited playtime, and lately I've been spending most of it on Todan, my level 80 Dwarf Paladin. However, I've been popping in here and there to level her up, and managed to grab almost two levels from the pre-Cata quests the other day. When I logged on today planning to spend most of my playtime today levelling her, she was just barely level 10.

My first step today was a trip into Warsong Gulch, to see how the XP:time ratio was for that. Well, the XP wasn't all that great, (alright it was terrible), but I had a blast. I even helped contribute to the victory, though it was all luck that I was in the right position at the right time to do so. As with most WSG games most of the time was spent running back and forth, but I loved popping shields and renews as I ran to keep my teammates alive, and when I could stand still I could nuke the daylights out of people with Penance. We spent most of the match tied 1 to 1, but with about a minute to go we got the flag. The Alliance poured everything into killing that flagbearer, but by pure luck alone I was running back from the graveyard and managed to get ahead of him. As he ran by me I popped a shield on him with just a hairline of a health bar left, hit renew, then Penanced him back up before he was out of range again. That, along with a serious defence holding back all but a couple of the Alliance, was just enough to keep him alive long enough to capture the flag with just five seconds to spare before the match ended.

That's the kind of experience I hope to see more of with the introduction of rated battlegrounds.

In any case, after that my friend logged on and he brought a lowbie Paladin alt around to help me quest. I finished the entirety of Eversong with his help and went on to do a couple quests in Ghostlands (including having him bring his DK out to help me get Lurzon and Knuckle for the 2500 XP from that quest) before I had to call it a night. All told, I got up to just 3000 XP from level 15 and the unlocking of the dungeon finder, which is my true goal.

So, all in all I have to say today was a very productive and enjoyable day. http://chum.ly/n/44ba9f

My History of Healing

2010-11-12T17:12:00.001-05:00

I've been an MMO player for a very long time, but I haven't spent a lot of that time healing. In EverQuest, I started out with a Magician because I thought it was cool. I eventually tried a low-level healer but never got very far with him, as by that time most players were max level and I had trouble grouping with anybody.

It was Dark Age of Camelot where I first tried a healer, playing a Bard. It was more of a mezzer than a pure healer, but it showed me that I enjoyed healing as I got to do that. Only my fear of PUGing kept me from carrying that Bard to maximum level, and I still got about half way.

I played a number of other games along the way, including Star Wars Galaxies for some time. In SWG one of my characters was a Doctor/Musician, and while I wasn't combat healing I skilled up the character by healing wounds. This too, I enjoyed quite a bit, and this character I took to maximum skill. Unfortunately, I only got to maximum shortly before the Combat Update, after which I left the game for a time, only to come back right before the NGE, which took things to a point where I gave up and changed him into a full-time Entertainer. (If you haven't heard about the NGE, it should be easy to find. The internet is full of rants about how it ruined Star Wars Galaxies.)

Finally the time came for World of Warcraft. I first tried it out during the stress test before launch, and during that I played a Dwarf Priest. When I could find people to group with I loved it, but I was dying a lot with it solo so when I finally got the game a couple months after launch, I went Hunter. And I played that Hunter for some time. I did some other classes, including levelling up a Paladin for a while as Ret, but it was my Hunter I took to maximum level first.

As time went by, however, I felt the itch. I'd tried healing before on other games and I loved it, so why wasn't I doing it in World of Warcraft? So when some friends asked me to join them on another server, I dug out that Paladin and started levelling him and healing in dungeons, first only with my new guild and then branching into PUGs when the dungeon finder was released. I realized that I'd never truly enjoyed the game like I did now. I took that Paladin from regular 5-mans, to Heroics, to raids. When I'd never gotten past early Naxx on my Hunter, I took my Paladin into ICC first as a tag-along on an alt run, and then on to a full alternate for the guild's main raiding team. I was even invited to join the team full-time, but my schedule just didn't allow it.

And that brings me to today. I've come to realize that there's nothing I enjoy in World of Warcraft, or MMOs in general, more than healing. This has made me decide to start levelling healing alts. I dug out an old Draenei Priest and started levelling him in the dungeon finder and started another priest on another server with a RL friend with the intention of doing the same. Once Cataclysm comes out I will level a Shaman and a Druid as well, to experience the new content. I've also decided to start this blog, as it allows me an outlet to discuss this so enjoyable element of gaming. http://chum.ly/n/445ace

Welcome!

2010-11-11T20:17:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Healing Casually! Please forgive me if things are still a little bumpy, I'm still fiddling with templates and design elements, and I will eventually be getting my own domain for this blog. For those following me at chum.ly/bj of course, this won't be so much of an issue, so if you're not there feel free to follow me there if you prefer. (And join the community while you're at it! It's a great service with a great bunch of people using it.)

If it wasn't obvious, this blog will be a blog about healing in World of Warcraft. I make no claim to be an expert, there's many blogs out there that will be better help if you're looking for just the right gear or talent specs to be a top end raider or PVPer. Instead, I'll be discussing news as it relates to those of us who heal, and my personal, inexpert opinions on everything from patch notes to talent specs. Right now I have a max level Paladin healer and that will likely flavour a lot of my posts, but by the end of this expansion cycle I hope to have a healer of every available healing spec to max level, from the two priests I'm currently levelling to a Dwarf Shaman and a druid of a race I haven't decided on yet come Cataclysm. So, I'll also be making posts chronicling those characters as they level. I'll post about my experiences healing in raids those times I get called up, I'll talk about funny or interesting experiences in battlegrounds. I'm also sure I'll think of things to post about that aren't even occurring to me now!

In any case, I hope any who read this stick around. And please feel free to comment, on whatever it is I post! http://chum.ly/n/44132c