RestoDude

Closing Shop...

2011-05-28T07:40:00.000+02:00

It's been very hard for me the last new months to keep going with WoW, my guild hasn't seen me in decades and while I have a few idea's for my blog I just can't find the time to work on them. Therefore I have made the hard but needed decision to pretty much close RestoDude.

I'm going to keep the blog up with the guide and I'll try to adjust it as Blizzard changes things, I'll also "try" to make gear lists for Resto like I have done for the previous raids, but everything else is going to stop. RestoDude started out as a small project and became a very loved hobby so writing this is very hard on me but what can I say, RL goes first :).

I want to thank everyone for reading and supporting my blog and I hope that via twitter we can still stay in touch! Good Luck everyone, love you all.

Moonra out...

4.2 And WTF?! Renewed

2011-05-15T08:08:00.000+02:00

Quick and small post on what I saw and witnessed on Mmo-champion today. I'll try not to spit my opinion about our Tier 12 "Druid" set as it is obviously a mistake from Blizzard and they forgot to mention that it is a late april the 1st joke... (~~I hate it~~) *renewed* (I still hate it, but less than before)

WTF MASTERY?!

Symbiosis (Mastery) has been removed and replaced with Harmony. Harmony increases direct healing by an additional 10%, and casting direct healing spells grants an additional 10% bonus to periodic healing for 10 seconds. Each point of mastery increases each bonus by an additional 1.25%. Healing Touch, Nourish, Swiftmend, and the initial heal from Regrowth are considered direct healing spells for the purposes of this Mastery. All other healing from druid spells is considered periodic

I'm not sure what Blizzard is up to, they probably hired new folks and said "instead of taking the piss on Paladins, lets bully Druids!" If you're a Druid thats mainly healing tanks than be happy, because this will obviously boost your output by a lot! If you're a raid healing Druid (like me, myself and I) than I feel for you...

It's not that bad for raid healing Druids (although for 25 man this sucks) and it places Nourish in a very important spot (cheap heal that we can throw around to apply the HoT buff) but the fact that we need to CAST to have good HEALING OVER TIME spells sounds absurd to say the least.

The old tricks like using Wild Growth before you pop Tranquility or using Rejuvenation as a power-up for almost everything else that follows will be a thing of the past. In general this will nerf our output, because now we'll have to sacrifice a ~2 second cast to benefit from our Mastery one ONE person, instead of just using Wild Growth or a few Rejuv's to gain a boost on MULTIPLE people.

~~Gg Blizz...~~

So it seems that my quick reaction and probably also the fact that english isn't my first language got me on the wrong side of things. So instead of applying a buff on the target (which I thought it would do) Harmony give you a buff that increases both casts and HoT spells by X%. This ends up being a boring but decent buff to our mastery (that is changing for the second time now).

For 10 man raiding this could be a tiny nerf/buff depending on what you do. Tank healing wise this can be a buff, because the mastery gives you 10% extra on casts so you can drop Empowered Touch, and use Lifebloom's bloom more efficient. It also doesn't need you to reapply a HoT to get decent healing on casts if you would lose all your HoT on your tank for some reason, meaning that it is easier to pick up the healing again. If you intent to heal like you have been doing than this is a tiny nerf (cause the new harmony adds 1.25% per mastery, current one adds 1.45% if I'm not mistaken, so you'll get less power our of your mastery.) While raid healing this is a buff, because you don't really need one HoT to make another one more useful, because they all are as long as you cast or use Swiftmend ones every 10 seconds, which should be impossible to miss :).

In a 25 man setting this is probably works the same for tank healing as it does on 10's, for raid healing it's again easier because you don't need Wild Growth to buff Rejuv or Nourish or whatever spell you'd use after. I don't raid 25's so I can't really find anything else that could be different from 10's, besides the fact Harmony will have a lot more effect that Symbiosis would (cause Symbiosis is better for small groups).

I would also like to apologise for my quick (and faulty) post, I tend to make up my mind about stuff pretty quickly and scream blood and murder while there isn't really much to worry about. I'm still young, I'll learn... :)

On a side note I would like to thank all the people who commented showing that I was terribly wrong, however Blogger seems to had a very bugged few days and all recent comments have been deleted. Blogger promised to get all the lost comments back by the end of the weekend so fingers crossed.. I also removed the tags on this post as they were bugged as well.

Ding!

2011-05-03T21:00:00.006+02:00

It has been a while since I posted but RestoDude has lived through it's first year in the blogosphere! Now I know that the last few months have been pretty dead (RL is tense to say the least) but I have decided to keep the blog online even if I can only write ones every few days/weeks. RestoDude had a very rough start as I knew nothing about blogging or how to get a blog to be noticed but thanks to some help from "the big fish" out there it was only a matter or time before my blog meant something :).

RestoDude really exploded when 4.0 hit the servers and I had finished my guide (which still has to be updated on 4.1). Since that day I have had over 130.000 pageviews and they are still doing up pretty fast :). The guide alone was responsible for more than half the views! Aside from this I also scored a few blogposts that made it on wow.com and had several requests if my guide could be translated and posted on forums around the world.

Blogging has been and still is great to do (you just need to find the time for it :P) and I hope that I can continue to do so for a long time, even if it is at a slow pace!

Thank you all for reading and commenting!

Much love, Moonybaby!

(keep in mind that I am always up for questions or chats on Twitter! or e-mail.)

Restoration Review! How Does Druids Perform Compared To Other Healers

2011-04-09T21:00:00.000+02:00

Cataclysm is going hard! And most people have mastered a (several) class(es). But how are Restoration Druids doing compared to other healing classes? Here's how I see "my class" and how it fits in the big picture.

Personally I think that Druid's have drastically changed compared to Wrath or even TBC, while raiding I noticed that I take the responsibility as a tank healer (while in Wrath I hated it). We don't have the tools Paladins have but with our HoT's I believe we still have an advantage in heavy movement fights. But then again Disc isn't so bad either with those "all absorbing bubbles of win!" I haven't played on my Shaman yet but they probably have something awesome as well that Druid's could use... Let's compare, let the battle begin!

VS PRIESTS!?

Raid healing: Priest 1, Druid 0
Tank healing: draw

If you ask me Priests are godly for raid healing (yes Potz!). If you're looking for an alt to level and to heal raids in the (near) future go level a Noam Priest! The nice change to Efflorescence in 4.1 and Tranquility will even the battle between Priests/Druid but as long as Druids don't have a short cooldown burst heal, we're not going to win this one. However there is one part where we might own Priests and that would be mana. Moonglow, Furor, Revitalize, Innervate and OoC (LB in ToL) are giving me so much return that I am already considering to just drop +Spirit gear and just get more regen as I get more +Int. Priests have a decent set of tools to preserve/regain mana however they spend it like it's HoT.

VS PALADINS!?

Raid healing: Paladin 0, Druid 1
Tank healing: Paladin 1, Druid 0

Paladins are still king of the hill when it comes to tank healing, not only because of their healing output but also because they have nice cooldowns they can use to save people. When it comes to raidhealing they lack the constant ability to heal several people. Paladins have nice AE heals, but they're all on cd.. Plus you can say what you want, but that odd winged knight does not own my Tranquility... While Tree of Life is just a Druid version of their wings, it also alters our Lifebloom (which is again beneficial to raid healing). Sorry Thor, you lose!

VS SHAMANS!?

No. Idea. As I've said I haven't played on my Shaman yet and our guild doesn't really have a Restoration one present. From what I know about Shamans I would say this:

Raid healing: draw
Tank healing: Shaman 1, Druid 0

Earth Shield and Riptide's haste buff make Shamans heal hard and fast on one focussed target but raid healing wise I would take the bet and roll Druid!

FINAL LAP!

As you can see, we're not the best around. But I still heal like a nutter! If you want to be the best of the best in a roll then you might want to skip Druid but if you want to have an awesome class, don't look any further!

(Create your own Achievements!)

Blackwing Descent, Restoration Loot!

2011-03-26T21:00:00.000+01:00

Last one (for now!) :), here's a list of all the potential good/great loot for Restoration Druids!

MAGMAW!

Incineratus: Very nice main hand weapon! And easier to get than the mace from Cho'gall!
Scorched Wormling Vest: Very nice chest piece although the Tier 11 chest is better if you're aiming for the 4T11 set bonus.

OMNOTRON DEFENCE SYSTEM!

Security Measure Alpha: Very nice ring and it drops often! :)
Passive Resistor Spaulders: Best in slot shoulder piece, yet I have never seen it drop *cry*

MALORIAK!

Jar of Ancient Remedies: Personally I believe that Restoration Druids should only loot at +Intellect trinkets but this might be worth a try.
Leggings of Consuming Flames: Probably the best pants besides the Tier 11 Moonkin pants or Tier 11 Restoration pants if you're aiming for the 4T11 set bonus.

ATRAMEDES!

Helm of the Blind Seer: The Tier 11 one is better but this works if you're not farming Nefarian yet!

CHIMAERON!

Manacles of the Sleeping Beast: Best bracers around! If these drop you should be all over them :)

NEFARIAN!

Tier 10 Helm Token: Best helm piece in the game! go go go! :)
Andoros, Fist of the Dragon King: Although it has an awesome name, I would advice to got for the dagger from Magmaw or the mace from Cho'gall (if you prefer an main hand/offhand setup)
Belt of the Nightmare: Wildhammer reputation belt is better.

Good luck with the drops!

Welcome To 4.1! The Build V2!

2011-03-25T21:00:00.002+01:00

Everyday more and more information gets revealed about the next big patch 4.1. When the patch hits I'm going to change my spec quite dramatically! A while back I wrote about what I saw as the best build to get when raid/tankhealing in raids, but that's all going to change now :)!

A few crucial changes are Efflorescence that will become a smart heal, and instead of healing everyone it will then heal up to three people (who need the most healing) for an amount far more desirable that a mere 500 heal a second. Another change to Efflorescence is that it will no longer require Living Seed (yes! fuck yes!) so that's going to be dropped in 4.1! One final change is that Nature's Swiftness, aside the fact that it makes your next spell instant, will increase the "healing" by 50%. The spell that you use with Nature's Swiftness must be a healing spell to gain this benefit!

Besides the obvious Restoration change I am also going to drop Furor, I'm getting a lot of feedback about my mana regen being to overpowered (I never run out of mana these days) so it is time to cut back on the regen talents and to start investing into brute force! I'll be doing this with Blessing of the Grove (yes it isn't that good but still, it's worth it) and Genesis. I might switch the two points in Moonglow over to Furor but I believe that Moonglow is better in therms of mana. There's also a part of me that is considering to drop Tree of Life, but then where would I spend that one point :).

Small blog post I know, I'll try to do my very best to get RestoDude back on track but real life is very busy so again, I apologise!

Throne Of The Four Winds, Restoration Loot!

2011-03-12T10:00:00.003+01:00

As I summed up all the loot in Bastion of Twilight (and thanks to the many comments I noticed how much loot I left out...) it is now time for the most confusing loot providing place in whole of Uldum.. You know, the windy place! These items are very very rare because you have so many version of each armor type that the chance of you getting one of these is very slim. Good luck though!

(screenshot from Wowhead!)

CONCLAVE OF WIND!

Gale Rouser Belt (of the Undertow): +380 Stam, +232 Int, +160 Haste and +160 Spirit. Sounds like a dream! OR..
(of the Wavecrest): +380 Stam, +232 Int, +160 Mastery and +160 Spirit. Not as good as the haste one but still...

Planetary Band (of the Feverflare): +285 Stam, + 190 Int, + 126 Haste and +126 Mastery. OR..
(of the Fireflash): +285 Stam, + 190 Int, + 126 Haste and +126 Crit. OR..
(of the Undertow): +285 Stam, + 190 Int, + 126 Haste and +126 Spirit. OR..
(of the Wavecrest): +285 Stam, + 190 Int, + 126 Mastery and +126 Spirit.

AL'AKIR!

Sadly and to my surprise Wowhead does not have any loot on this boss while I know he drops a lot of crap that is never really useful for me... When I looked up the chest that contains the loot on this fight I only found four bits (mail, plate and a ring) which don't fit my handsome elf thing. I am truly sad...

Bastion Of Twilight, Restoration Loot!

2011-03-05T21:00:00.006+01:00

Loot is everything (joke....) and I thought it would've been a good thing to quickly sum up all the good bits you can (hope) to find in Bastion of Twilight! I will also try to make a post like this on Blackwing and Throne of the Four Winds!

HALFUS WYRMBREAKER!

Wyrmbreaker's Amulet: Best in slot necklace with +Spirit on it!

VODKA & TONIC!

Drape of the Twins: Best cloak in the game for us so far!
Valiona's Medalion: Nice necklace but without +Spirit, beware of the mages burning your twigs after you win this one.

TWILIGHT COUNCIL THINGS!

Scepter of Ice: Good offhand but might not be "the best", because the off-hand you can get from Justice Points ain't bad either! *beware: cold!*
Hydrolance Gloves: Very nice gloves! T11 ones are better though.

CHO'GALL!

T11 Shoulder Token: Pretty obvious :)
Signet of the Fifth Circle: Haste and Mastery but no Spirit! This ring fits 10man content raiding more than it does for 25man because of the mastery.
Twilight's Hammer: Very nice main hand to have!
Fall of Mortality: I think this trinket has the same average spirit as the Valor Point one BUT it does not require you to "click" it = win!
Treads of Hideous Transformation: Good slippers but the Valor Point ones are better!

Shared Topic: When should you let someone die?

2011-02-27T20:00:00.000+01:00

A shared topic over at Blog Azeroth by Ecclesiastical Discipline got me to thinking about a simple yet needed question as a healer: When do I let someone die? It's a simple question yet it sometimes takes a second to make the decision and then you'll wonder, did I make the right choice?

Letting someone die can point out several things. But the first thing you need to ask yourself as a healer is who is more important in the group? In progress fights people will die, but as a healer it is your job to help the group get past the encounter even if it's only a part of the group who's alive at the end :)

Tanks and healers are in general top priority, you could do with a dps less but losing a tank makes most fights impossible and losing a healer puts more stress on the other healer(s) still alive, which then could force them to let people die because of the damage being to high for them to handle.

Letting someone die could mean that:

You are not yet geared enough to keep everyone alive;
The person who died asked for it (I like fire it makes me look shiny!);
You had to pick between two people and choose to pick the most important one;
Your mana regen does not allow you to heal the whole group much longer (this happens often when levelling in instances).

I'm currently levelling my second Druid in instances only and it's common to see a simple trash pull go bad. Mana regen at my Druid's level is close to nothing so for every spell I cast I have to consider "will I be able to cast it again". The more people I try to keep alive, the more fuel I spend and sometimes endurance wins the race, not force.

HOW TO AVOID IT?

There are ways to avoid death is situations where any of the point above are in place. You could let the group know that, if they don't do something fast, you'll have to start playing God.

Crowd Control is something that seems to have left this world, but in high danger situations it might be a better idea to lock a mob out of combat rather than trying to blow it up all by yourself.

Making sure that, before you pull, all targets are marked so the tank doesn't lose control in midfight, also save loads of mana.

Running AWAY from the tank/healer when you have aggro is basically asking to die, I'm watching healbot, I don't have time to follow you around.

CONCLUSION

Take good care about your healer :) and if you do die, don't start flaming him for it cause sometimes it's the only way!

Efflorescence V2...

2011-02-26T11:59:00.003+01:00

Everyone loves forum QQ and trash in the mornings! A very HoT topic at this moment is the changes to Efflorescence on the 4.1 PTR. Besides the obvious visual effect there seems to be a change in how the talent works as well. The general idea is that it no longer heals everyone in the green zone but rather heals one person every second for seven seconds. This "should" be a smart heal so that the person with the lowest health benefits from this heal, this "HoT" will probably also switch targets if it's main target is no longer the lowest hp person inside the green zone. As always on the forums you have two big parties that start an endless battle of "who is the biggest whiner" or "you are wrong, I am not". Lets drop the forum crap and actually focus on Efflorescence!

EFFLORESCENCE V1!

The current Efflorescence heals everyone in the green zone for up to 30% of your Swiftmend heal and if more than 6 people are in this zone the healing will "spread out" so each person receives less but everyone still gains some benefit. Now keeping in mind that I only do 10 man raiding this can be useful, although the situations where Efflorescence proves to be lifesaving are rather rare... At this moment I can only think of three situations where I would want Efflorescence and that is a bit poor for a six talent point investment won't you say so?

There are a lot of people that have flamed the PTR version of Efflorescence because they want Druid's to be efficient raid healers. So do I! But lets face it, 500-ish health per second isn't going to be doing much raid healing wise and the more people you try to heal with it the worse it gets. So please stop praising Efflorescence like it is the biggest AE heal Druid's have to offer in 25man raid healing. People throw around numbers saying that Efflorescence does 5-10% of their total healing output, personally I thought healing was about keeping people alive and giving them a heal that could save their live. Efflorescence might look good on a meter or log but a 300-600hps AE heal is bad! You're better off getting a Shadow Priest in your raid, he'll do more healing that Efflorescence will....

EFFLORESCENCE V2!

The PTR version of Efflorescence heals only one person at the time but for a bigger amount as it does now. For example now it would heal six people for about 500 every second while in the PTR it would heal one person for 3000 every second (I used simple round numbers). Personally I am a bit disappointed about this, it would be nice for tank healing Druid's if there aren't to many melee camping on or near the tank. And as a raid heal it would prove more useful because even if you have a lot of people standing in it it would actually heal someone who needs it (assuming it is a smart heal) for a number that can keep them alive.

What I don't like about the change is that when we do need to heal several people at the same time we still still lack power. The new version will heal up to seven people over it's full duration which would be very nice in 10man, but not so much in 25.

I did love one comment that I read about the PTR Efflorescence "It's like a weak lightwell, the only benefit is that people don't have to click it". This is pretty much what Efflorescence is on the PTR, a poorly healing lightwell that doesn't require other peoples effort to work.

IT'S A BUG I TELL YA, A BIT ASS BUG!

There is another theory going around and that is that the PTR version of Efflorescence is actually... A trinket! There are going to be trinkets that work like Althor's Abacus and some people believe that Efflorescence is actually bugged and instead of doing what it is suppose to do it acts like one of these new trinkets. So all this QQ and cheering could be for nothing...

Living Seed And Why Playing A Discipline Made Me Cry...

2011-02-19T20:00:00.007+01:00

Alt's aren't my thing, but ones every blue moon I like to log onto another character and queue for a simple dungeon or two. Today I blew the dust of my Priest and specced into Discipline, queue for an dungeon and overly enjoyed the power of smite spec (smite, smite, smite, smite, bubble!.. Smite, smite...). I was inspecting my talents to see what would be nice to test besides Achangel and Evangelism. While I was going through the talents I came across Divine Aegis, which basically represents the Priest version of Living Seed. However, after a few trash packs I quickly noticed a rather significant difference between both talents.

DA VS LS!

Every Restoration Druid knows that Living Seed is a nice talent, if it would actually get some use. Most of the time when I'm raiding as Restoration Living Seed end up at 1-2% of my total healing. However, a DiscPriest's Divine Aegis also proc's off Healing over Time critical hits! While this bubble is very small (30% of a critical HoT heal) it still adds a significant amount of power to the HoT. If Living Seed would proc of HoT crit's it would become a lot more useful for raid healing Druids! Last time I checked Living Seed does heal when getting hit by spell damage (I think in Wrath it only procced of physical damage, but I could be mistaken).

LIVING SEED SHOULD CHANGE.. NOA!

I understand that 30% of a our HoT critical hits might be a bit to much, but making it proc on HoT crits while making it only 20% of the critical heal seems reasonable. In it's current state Living Seed is just a roadblock you have to pass to get to Efflorescence, which is not how it should be. If it would act the same way as Divine Aegis it would get a lot more use and people wouldn't feel like they wasted 6 talent points to get a mediocre AE heal. Personally I would welcome a buff to Living Seed very much :)!

I STILL LOVE YOUR BUBBLEZ

Before all Discipline Priests gather to kill me, I am not starting a crusade to nerf Disc here! I'm simply trying to point out that two different talent points that are build in the same fashion, should also work the same way. I am a very Druid orientated player, everything that seems to discriminates Druids gets me all worked up :) but in the end I do love your bubbles!

Small post, but I had to get it out of my system :) I hope you've enjoyed the read!

"The" Build...

2011-02-15T21:00:00.008+01:00

When it comes to finding a good talent build I must say "holy %*$@" on the Druid part. Creating a balanced build for me to raid with wasn't something that I could've done in lets say 5 minutes :) but after lots of headaches, comparing talents and a class trainer that filled his wallet with my gold I finally solved my puzzle (with help though). Before I reveal my work of art I first would like to make sure that everyone understands the "raid" bit. This build might not work for you, personally I wouldn't use it in heroic dungeons (more on this later). Some people will hold on to their opinion about how good/bad a certain talent is, that's actually the main reason why I could no get a good build together for myself :)!

AND THEN CAME MY SAVIOR...

When trying to evaluate talents I talked to several people online, on Twitter and on forums. In my last attempt to get more thoughts and idea's I posted an experimental build on the Mmo-champion forums. After a few days I read a few replies that make clear that my build was total shit, rubbish or bollocks as most of my guildies would say. Myrrar, moderator on Mmo, finally gave me the reply I was looking for! Moments later I created my very special build that "should" make me useful in heroic raiding content!

THE BUILD!

This build is yet another tuned version of the 8/2/31's (yes, you'll find loads of those out there).

As you can see the main Balance/Feral talents stay as they are in most 8/2/31's. Moonglow and two point in Furor should provide me with enough mana regeneration/conservation. The big difference is in Restoration of course! As you can see I only took one point in Naturalist, while many (most) people will always take two point in this. The reason why I am doing this as a raid healer is because of two facts. One: lowering Nourish's cast by another 0.25 seconds is not needed because of Nature's Bounty. Nature's Bounty will provide enough +Haste on Nourish (plus the occasional Nature's Grace proc) to give me a rather quick cheap heal whenever I need it. Two: Healing Touch does not need to be fast, mainly because on my last few World of Log report I rarely used Healing Touch, so why enhance it if I rarely use it?

Another talent that has been the cause for much discussion is Nature's Swiftness. Do I feel like it is useful? Is it worth a point to me? No! In Wrath is was a second lifesaver, a tool to use when Swiftmend was on cooldown and someone was on the brink of dying. In Cataclysm this talent has lost most of it's original shine. The second fail on this talent/spell is the long cooldown! Yes I could use Glyph of Healing Touch but as I've mentioned before I rarely use Healing Touch and even if I did the glyphs that I have now are far more useful. (Jar has posted an article today with idea's on how NS could improve, I simply love how he thinks! here's the link!)

Third obvious factor is that I won't be dispelling any magic effects with this build. I trust the über awesome Thorir (he changed his name *again*) to do most of the dispelling. Since I have just mentioned him again on my blog he has no other option besides accepting the fact that he needs to do more, even if he GCD's are against him. Thor, you're my hero! Of course no magic dispel would mean that this build is less useful in heroics (since you're the only one dispelling, at least I assume so). Magic effects in heroics can cause more damage that anything else, a good example is the ogre boss in Grim Batol heroic (yes, I am very bad with names). Who, when he's in his sword phase, applies a very nasty magic debuff on the tank that will kill him if not dispelled.

WHY IS IT SO GOOD?

The main issue I had while creating a build was deciding between Efflorescence and Nature's Bounty, most builds that I made had one but not the other, or had both but not a full power. This build however has both filled up! Efflorescence is a great extra on heavy AE phases while Nature's Bounty is great to fill health bars while staying mana friendly. What most people ignore is that Living Seed + Nature's Bounty make a very nice combination when you're in Tree of Life (another reason why I did not want to lose Nature's Bounty). It is true that Living Seed/Regrowth heal are mostly at the bottom of your healing done breakdown but when you're using Tree of Life I am guess you would want all the extra's you can get, or am I wrong?

ANY PERSONALISATION POSSIBLE?

The only thing that I would chance is Moonglow (or Furor) and spec into Genesis, but I do not think that I am at a level where my mana will last long enough in heroic content :) so for now I am keeping both!

For those interested, here is the code from Wowhead to quickly import the build into WoW itself. In order for it to work you just need a blank talent spec (all points available) and enter this code in your chat, hit enter and voilà!

(since the code was fighting with how my blog looks I'll have to just give the link to wowhead, then you just hit "Use in-game!" and copy the string that it gives you. Link!)

The Crash Patch... And More! 4.0.6 Review...

2011-02-11T21:03:00.000+01:00

4.0.6. has finally arrived in both the US and EU! Personally I was looking forward for this patch quite a lot! Mainly because of the change to Nature's Bounty. As you might or might not know I do not get myself worked up in the whole PvP environment, so the changes that might or might not affect PvP situations won't be discussed in this post. Although some of them might have an effect in PvE as well, yet I still have to find an encounter where shifting into Cat/Bear to break a CC is possible/helpful. Let's get into the main subject, Restoration!

OW MY PWETTY TWEE... GOT NERFED...

Tree of Life, our useful/useless cooldown has taken a beating. The main duration has been lowered from 30 to 25 seconds and Natural Shapeshifter only increases it to a max of 6 seconds, down from 10. Why this change occurred is something I yet have to figure out, al thought I guess PvP has something to do with it. Also a max duration (talented) of 31 seconds feels odd... 30 I can understand but 31? /shrug!

Another change that directly or indirectly affected Tree of Life is the part where Empowered Touch only refreshed the last stack of Lifebloom cast in Tree of Life. This prevents going into ToL, getting two stacks of Lifebloom rolling and then keeping them both up with Nourish/Healing Touch/(Regrowth). I haven't done this in the past but a few people feel like this was a way to divide the good from the bad Resto's. Personally I agree, it was a nice trick that needed coordination and could've been useful in some fights, nonetheless it is a thing of the past!

Side note: for those wondering why I noted that ToL is one of our useful/USELESS cooldown's is because I have read and seen a few Druid's without it. My thoughts on it: you fail to see the potential! Nuf said..

ALL I WANT IS TO GO FASTAH!

Nature's Bounty... Yep... It is here... Nature's Bounty decreases the cast time of Nourish by up to 30% if and only if you have three or more Rejuvenations rolling. Personally I would've changed the talent a bit making it more useful yet keep it's power. This would've been my idea: For each Rejuvenation you have active, you reduce the cast time of Nourish by 10%. Up to 30% maximum. (but then something like giving Rejuv 33% chance to do so per talent point)... I hope you get my point, I can be confusing at times :)

I see two sides in this change, one of it being that it gives raid healers a quick, cheap cast to fill the gaps where needed. The other side is where some people might feel "forced" to keep those three Rejuv's up and rolling and in the process of doing this they might spend to much mana. I am yet to see if this change will be of any use in heroic raids (starting next lockout!). I'll try to report my findings when I have enough experience with heroic content!

WILD GROWTH, MASTERY AND ALL THAT JIBBERISH!

Wild Growth was also part of the winners with the coming of 4.0.6.! A 30% healing increase was needed and is very welcome, also the cooldown got lowered which I find odd because Blizzard wanted to step down from the blanket tactic. Yet I think most of use will agree if I say that we need some sort of a blanket to be efficient while raid healing -> mastery.

And yes, also our mastery has gotten a small but noticeable buff. Tank healers will benefit from this the most! However if you're only raiding 10 mans (like I am) than the buff to mastery will also affect us, even more! I believe that it +Mastery Rating has become more important than +Critical Strike Rating for 10man raid healers. While gearing up I have been focussing on haste and mastery a bit now, I still reforge where I can into haste but I tend to pick mastery over crit now.

That's it for now, I have also updated my Restoration Druid Guide for 4.0.6, so check it out when you can! Now if you can excuse me, I'm going to laugh a bit with the guy that is trying to get a Nefarian pug together... Thanks for reading :)

Defenders Of A Shattered World!

2011-02-05T11:00:00.000+01:00

It finally happened! Void killed every single raid boss on normal difficulty! While most bosses weren't really an issue we did have a few nights on Nefarian but last Thursday he died. The kill was sloppy but that's how all first downs are :) I think we had one person alive and the adds were moments away from killing her as well! Gratz Naynaan for being a true hero!

Everyone had to bring their best performance forward! But I want to give a special thank you to Milesmilitis for taking the time to work out the best tactic and leading us towards many, many victories! Dragonfang for sharing the Druid buff so many times and remembering that a Cat spec isn't viable for tanking! Tankmeat (Fry) for joining us "mid season" and sporadically reminding the healers what they are meant to do :)! Dammasas for not only fighting epic bosses but also wrestling with his router (which was probably the hardest fight of all)! Kattia for his "let's calm down and relax" speeches and occasionally reminding Miles that he is not the best dps in the world :)! Nivho only for his lock cookies... And maybe for his performance as well.. Naynaan for being the most careful dps of all (least damage taken!) and for giving us that final kill! Potz for keeping at it even with mana problems and for being the guild's personal vendor (need cookies? flasks? epics? he's got it all!) and last but not least, Thoriss for being my scapegoat! And for his exceptional insights in some encounters!

But in the end... Everyone knows that I was the MVP! :)

On to heroic content!

Simple PowerAura's For Restoration (Part II)

2011-02-04T21:00:00.000+01:00

As a few people requested I created two nice looking aura's for both Wild Growth and Swiftmend cooldowns. They've set up very easy and they aren't in the way of any of my previous shared aura's (check my first Power Aura post!).

here's the code for each!:

Wild Growth one: Version:4.9; b:0.098; g:0.5137; icon:Ability_Druid_Flourish; buffname:Wild Growth; r:0; x:-144; bufftype:15; texture:23; spec2:false; wowtex:true; combat:true; size:0.3; y:107; inverse:true; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:105; timer.x:-146; timer.UseOwnColor:true

Swiftmend one: Version:4.9; g:0.2314; icon:INV_Relics_IdolofRejuvenation; buffname:Swiftmend; r:0.1608; x:-145; bufftype:15; texture:23; symetrie:1; spec2:false; wowtex:true; combat:true; size:0.3; y:45; inverse:true; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:43; timer.x:-143; timer.UseOwnColor:true

Where To Start? Raiding In Cataclysm!

2011-01-28T22:00:00.001+01:00

More and more guilds are starting to get a piece of Cataclysm raid action! A few guild even started on exploring heroic content on my server (Lightbringer EU). But where do you start? What is hard and what is not? Because a few people asked me where they should go first I thought it would've been a good idea to make a small blog post about how and when to progress! I will try to now view this in a Restoration point of view because my own guild is accusing me of being a lootwhore, I might be to be honest :)!

FIRST BLOOD...

Void started on Magmaw and we killed him/her/it pretty fast although I have to admit it was pretty healing intensive without "good" gear. Blackwing Descent is probably the best place to start if you're looking for a raid where you can down a few bosses without having to change instances. Magmaw and Omnotron D.S. are somewhat equal in difficulty, yet both have a different point of attention that can cause trouble. Magmaw is easy to understand but can be a bit troublesome on your healers and can go wrong quickly if you don't focus, ODS is not that healing intensive (it's the only fight so far that we two healed because we lost a healer at the start) but it might be confusing cause of the many mechanics and boss abilities that you have to be aware of.

In Bastion of Twilight you have Halfus Wyrmbreaker. Halfus is a pretty straight forward fight, the rare attribute about this fight is that it becomes easier the further you progress! At the start healers will probably have to use a cooldown or two to keep everyone save but ones all the drakes/whelps are down you can basically heal the fight with your cheap heal alone :).

In Throne of the Four Winds you have the Conclave of Wind, this fight is at the level of the Gunship in ICC ones you understand all the bosses (Rohash is sooooooooo boring to heal). The only trick here is that the loot is kind of a gamble, it drops epic gear with random enchants. While there is some BiS gear it is very very hard to get the exact piece that you need, therefore I would not recommend to start here, because the change to improve gear-wise is low.

Personally I would advice Blackwing Descent, mainly because you have two bosses that are close to each other without to much trash in between. Halfus is easier to down, but the thing with Bastion of Twilight is that every new boss is a level higher in difficulty so after downing Halfus you might be forced to go to Blackwing anyways. Conclave is only there for an extra bit of Valor Points, not much else to find there (unless you are very lucky!).

ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL!

Ones you got the first bosses down and got some upgrades across the group you might want to consider to move forward in Blackwing Descent! Void kept pushing further into Bastion of Twilight, Valiona & Theralion are not that much of a complicated fight but the following fight (Council) is a big step up the difficulty ladder, if you struggled with Vodka & Tonic than Council will give you some headaches!

In Blackwing Descent you have three bosses that are rather easy, with Atramedes being the easiest! Chimaeron looks scary but it really isn't and Maloriak is also rather simple, you just need to have some well timed interrupts. Personally I had loads on fun on these fights, because Atramedes and Chimaeron introduce some very interesting and unseen raid mechanics!

In Throne of the Four Winds you only have Al'akir left after downing the Conclave, I would leave this big lad for later! :)

So after you finished off the first few fights you can either move forward in Bastion or Twilight or Blackwing Descent! Personally I would go Blackwing, the fights there aren't "uber hard" and you will gain more upgrades for your raid than in Bastion, which helps with the progression of course!

THE LAST PUSH...

After downing 5 out of 6 in Blackwing Descent and Vodka & Tonic in Bastion of Twilight you only have Al'akir, Nefarian, Twilight Ascendant Council and Cho'gall alive! I would advice to go into Bastion of Twilight and finish Council plus Cho'gall! Cho'gall is a nice change from the rather mediocre fights in the first half of Cataclysm normal raiding tier. It needs a good awareness and understanding and teamwork of course. Al'akir is a bit like Conclave, for me killing him was only worth the achievement, I don't think Void will be going back to kill him anytime soon :). Currently we're wiping with a smile on Nefarian and from what I can tell he's the pinnacle of the first tier of Cataclysm. Keep the best for last they say... Nefarian is that bit!

Void wishes everyone the best! My guild and myself hope you all enjoy raiding as much as we do :) if you have any questions please to not hesitate and leave a comment or mail me!

Simple PowerAura's For Restoration!

2011-01-28T12:00:00.002+01:00

Recently I installed PowerAura's to get a bit more performance out of my Druid. I'm still exploring most of the addon's functionalities but so far I have been able to create a few very basic but useful aura's that help a lot during boss fights!

As you can see I have four basic aura's up (they only show while being in combat, I used the "test all" command in the screenshot).

The exclamation mark (light green) is basically a small warning when I do not have a single LB stack running, by creating this I increased my LB uptime by nearly 10% on some fights (yes, I was a bit failing on that bit). More LB uptime = more Revitalize proc's/Omen of Clarity proc's!

The bright green inner aura is OoC, I disabled the standard Blizzard one because I didn't fit with PowerAura's. The little green timer (same colour) shows how long I have left on my OoC proc before I lose it.

The light blue aura is actually two aura's, one proc's when I go under 81% mana (for innervate) and the other one proc's when I have below 25% mana (ow ow time to panic). Basically when I have one blue aura up I can use Innervate on every single cooldown without having to worry that I'll cap my mana and lose on Innervate regen.

here's the code if you want to copy my aura's!

OoC (green aura): Version:4.9; b:0; icon:Spell_Shadow_ManaBurn; buffname:Clearcasting; r:0.051; begin:1; texture:7; alpha:1; symetrie:1; spec2:false; wowtex:true; finish:0; timer.Texture:Original; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:BOTTOMLEFT

Lifebloom check: Version:4.9; b:0.5843; ignoremaj:false; icon:INV_Misc_Herb_Felblossom; buffname:Lifebloom; r:0; texture:15; alpha:0.97; isResting:0; stacksOperator:>; GTFO:2; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; combat:true; size:0.2; y:120; inverse:true

Mana 80%: Version:4.9; g:0.5373; icon:inv_alchemy_elixir_02; r:0.5843; begin:3; bufftype:9; texture:7; alpha:1; threshold:80; spec2:false; wowtex:true; combat:true; size:1

Mana low! 25%: Version:4.9; g:0.5373; icon:inv_alchemy_elixir_02; r:0.5843; begin:3; x:-1; bufftype:9; texture:7; alpha:1; symetrie:1; threshold:25; spec2:false; wowtex:true; combat:true; size:1

I'm still playing around with this but I might add a PowerAura section to my guide if I find more useful stuff!

Irony And Warcraft... Tis A B*tch...

2011-01-21T21:25:00.000+01:00

Yes! I am still around! I know that I have been neglecting RestoDude a bit lately but that's because of of two main factors.

My guild that I love and appreciate, which means that I have to raid every single day possible to kill kill kill those nasty bosses! (10 out of 12 on normal now, Al'Akir be warned...)
Real life that's changing quite a lot (new job) so that includes lots of tears on one side and lots of paper work on another...

However recently I did get something in WoW that I have been looking for for a long long time. It is probably the best mount "EVAR" and it fits the Druids class quite nicely. Yup, you've guessed it, I was waiting for a raid invite when I thought "let's solo Anzu again, you never know". A Feat of Strength followed that idea rather fast :)!

The rather iconic part about this is... People don't really use ground mounts anymore... Which is a bit... Lame...

It is still the most awesome mount you can have if you ask me :)!

(side note: Miles... You are awesome!)

Shared Topic: When A Guild Fades...

2011-01-12T21:00:00.002+01:00

Being in a guild brings several benefits; people join guilds for social reasons or to compete with others in PvE/PvP environments or simply for both reasons! While being in a guild bring many benefits it can happen that you do not feel happy about your guild and you feel that it is time to move on or in a worst case scenario the whole guild seems to fall apart. What do you do when this happens? Or how do you inform your members that you are leaving? This has been brought up at Blog Azeroth and I’ve decided to write about it because it a rare subject but many people experience it!

First off all it is important to know why guilds or guild members decide that it has been enough. Personally I believe that there are two main reasons for it:

There is an argument within the guild or some people do not agree with the execution of basic rules. Or just a difference in idea’s between major groups within the guild.
The guild has lost track of whatever goal it was trying to reach (eg: progressive raiding or pre-made PvP battles are no longer possible).

There are many reasons why you’d leave a guild but I believe that most of them can be placed in the two main issues above. Sadly enough I have some experience with leaving guilds or seeing a good guild fall apart but then again that would make me the right man to write about this! I’m going to try to write this in a member point of view instead of talking about the events within the guild as a whole.

A DYING GUILD…

Yep, been there got that t-shirt! Finding out that your guild cannot live up to the promises anymore is not a pleasant fact. I’ve been in raiding guilds most of my World of Warcraft career and I have been put into the situation where there was an argument within my guild and most of my raiding team left because of it. At that time I was stuck between A) my guild leader and a good ingame friend and B) a good team who gave me a few of the best raiding experiences ever. I wanted to stay neutral but that is a very hard task, in the end I decided that it would be best for me to go my own way and not pick a side.

It’s not a nice feeling to have when you log on and you find your guild shattered, it always worth it to try and get people to talk but you’ll find that impossible at times. As a person you then have to decide what to do. You can stick with your guild and try to recover, you can join those who leave because you share the same thoughts about the whole situation or you could do like I did and try to find a new guild/home while trying to stay in a neutral position.

IT HAS BEEN GREAT BUT…

Again, been there done that. I really enjoy raiding and I think that as long as I can keep it going I will be raiding in WoW. Being in a raiding guild that does not raid is something that drives a lot of people to leave the guild. Or simply because the quality/quantity of the raids isn’t what it should be. Or another example (check my two main reasons above) would be that you do not agree with the rules or how they are being used. You must understand that by leaving the guild you’ll created some mixed feelings, some people will thank you for what you’ve done and wish you the best and others will hate you for “abandoning” then. It’s important to leave in a decent manner, calling people names and swearing in guild chat before you jump out of the plane isn’t very adult-ish. Personally I don’t think you can find a correct way to leave a guild but you can try to be calm and friendly at least.

Leaving a guild as individual is one thing but leaving a guild as a group is something different. In the final stages of Wrath a few of my current guildies and myself decided that we wanted to raid differently in Cataclysm. So we explained the situation on the guild forums and we all left roughly at the same time. I know that some people hate me for it and I believe that it is there own right to do so. It’s easier to leave a guild and join a new as a group because you know most of the people already. Again whatever you do it’s wise to try and handle it kindly!

WHAT? WHY?

Something I haven’t experienced is being kicked out of a guild. This can happen because of your attitude, performance or a misunderstanding. Again always try to talk with people in order to try and resolve the issue, even if you can’t you should try to find out why you have been kicked (that is if you don’t know already). If that doesn’t work just leave it and move on. You might hold a grudge but insulting people in /trade is going to ruin your own reputation as well :).

Where Have You Been Sweety? Rejuvenation Returns!

2011-01-07T08:28:00.000+01:00

Everyone has probably read the new patch notes by now! 4.0.6. brings some very interesting changes for Restoration Druids and I quickly want to share my thoughts on them. (At work so this will be short 'n sweet!)

OMEN IS GONE?

Not really.. While the "passive" Omen of Clarity has been removed for heals we can still gain it thanks to Malfurion's Gift. Al though we will lose some proc's (I think we can get 4% on LB only while we had 4% on LB and 2% on all our other heals) this will not affect our mana management that much because of the changes to Rejuvenation.

SHE'S BACK! MY HIGHSCHOOL SWEETHEART REJUV...

Rejuvenation is making a stunning come-back. Mana cost has been decreases from 26% base mana to 16% base mana. This will set Rejuv to about 2.7-2.9k mana with a 8/2/31 build. Which is kinda cheap! And there is more! Nature's Bounty loses the cooldown reduction proc for Swiftmend but now gives up a very large haste buff on Nourish if we have three or more Rejuv's running.

SO HOW DOES THIS AFFECT HEALING?

This changes a lot on terms of raid healing, Rejuvenation will become a more basic spell again and more Healing over Time spells on the group also mean that our mastery (Symbiosis) will get a lot more use. This could change the way we gear slightly (since +Mastery Rating will most likely become more important, al though more on this later when 4.0.6 is live). A few people on the blog and on Twitter cheer/fear that the blanket healing strategy is back for Restoration. I am not sure but I doubt it, Rejuvenation still isn't the cheapest spell and being able to blanket will still cost a lot of mana (that might not be needed). Keeping three Rejuv's up will be situational in starting gear. The speedy Nourish is a good thing, it might not heal a lot but the spells hps will increase and the overal use as well, mainly because it will be easier to cast a few on heavy movement fights. If you have Naturalist + 30% less cast you should have a 1.5 Nourish in decent gear.

Tank healers lose the cooldown reduction proc for Swiftmend from Nature's Bounty but gain more output on Regrowth (+10% extra healing from Empowered Touch). Casting three Rejuvenations to gain from the haste proc might not always be an option, but it could prove useful (again I need to experience the changes).

GLYPH OF REGROWTH... WAIT WHAT?

Glyph of Regrowth will make the HoT part of the spell refresh itself on people at or below 50% of their total health. This is a very nice change and creates even more dynamic healing for Restoration Druids. If people are below 50% and you get an OoC proc than with this glyph it will be more useful to cast Regrowth instead of a powerful Healing Touch. This change will not make spamming Regrowth a good option, always thing manamanananananana wise!

AM I EXCITED?

Yes! Very!

Issues With Raid Healing As Restoration Druid!

2011-01-03T21:00:00.007+01:00

Yesterday Void had his third raid and the first of many in 2011. We had an amazing night where we downed two new bosses (Omnitron and Halfus) and for the first time in my World of Warcraft career I actually downed a progress boss on the same night that we started practising. Usually I wipe a full night on a boss and then get the kill on the next day. However it wasn’t all fun and glory for me, as I got more experience while raid healing I finally found out how “bad” Druids have become. But please let me explain the issue before everyone rolls a Priest :)!

IN WRATH OF THE LICH KING…

Druids were excellent raid healers in Wrath! In 10 man content we could heal everyone, all the time, for as long as needed. Even if our “rotation” wasn’t the most complicated one around we still did what had to be done!

Raid healing in Wrath was based around two spells; Rejuvenation & Wild Growth. The whole point in gearing was to get GCD capped so we could toss even more Rejuvenation around. And all of this while keeping a Lifebloom stack on each tank plus a few 27 second Regrowths where needed. But nothing lasts forever they say and with the coming of the Cataclysm we Druids changed beyond recognition.

IN CATACLYSM…

Druids in Cataclysm have “evolved” in a more hybrid-ish healer. Now we can both tank and raid heal with a simple change of glyphs/talents and attributes on gear. With the right build (and skill) we can be very very mana efficient healers, with the gear I have now I don’t think I’ll run out of mana unless I want to. Our healing over time spells can now get critical hits and haste gives us more benefit than ever before. Tranquility has been transformed in a massively powerful cooldown and our Tree of Life proves to be pretty damn awesome as well! But last night I felt disappointed…

THE ISSUE…

In Wrath I wanted to be tested, I wanted to do the fights with massive raid damage to show my guildies that I could handle it. Last night on Halfus Wyrmbreaker we had a moment like that, massive raid & tank damage while the dps and tanks tried to get everything done as fast as possible. The first good try gave me a very good idea on what Druids lack.

The main issue we had last night was huge damage; we had the nether and time scion with the whelps as active drakes on the encounter. I had a bit of trouble understanding how the fight actually worked but thanks to the great teamwork and some research we quickly got a grip on the whole fight. As I’ve said the main issue was massive damage in the first few minutes of the fight while all the whelps and drakes are alive. When I looked at recount after the first two wipes I saw that our guild Paladin has a nice 15-16k hps, however he said on vent that he could not hold it because he mana was gone in the first bit of the fight, which shouldn’t happen.

As a Restoration Druid I like to say that I did everything I could as a raid healer, sadly enough I don’t feel like I was doing my job. We had to assign our Paladin and Priest to one tank each while I had to keep the raid alive. On Halfus everyone is moving a lot, so Efflorescense isn’t going to be of much help. Wild Growth is great as a raid heal and a buffer for our other spells (Symbiosis) but it’s on a 10 second cooldown which doesn’t help when you need a lot of AE healing in a short time peroid. So when you take Effy and WG and put them on cooldown, then what? In Wrath of the Lich King I would’ve done the job with Rejuv but now those cost 4k+ mana so I have to be careful when and where I cast those. The only option I have left is ToL and/or Tranquil, which are both cooldown based spells as well. After using Wild Growth I just feel like I’m hitting a wall, I want to cast a few Rejuvenations but I know I can’t cause of mana. I felt that using ToL was the only option I had, but those 40 seconds go by so quickly…

It seems that I’m not the only one that has noticed this flaw, Jar from R4HT has written about it when he saw a forum post from Xaar who explained that Restoration Druids lack burst AE a lot. It seems that on end game heroic content we are probably the worst healers to take just because of this.

HOW CAN I FIX IT?

I have no idea… Lissanna from Restokin mentioned the idea to give our Shrooms a healing effect as well, or make Restoration Shrooms heal instead of doing damage (could be done with a talent). Jar suggested to give our Efflorescense a buff that would act like a HoT so that we could heal everyone in the green zone with the benefit from Symbiosis but that wouldn’t be that helpful on fights where there is a lot of movement involved.

Personally I feel that the ShroomHeal would work, instead of having an AE heal on cooldown we would have an AE heal which is a bit tricky to set up but it does the job! It would be a unique Druid heal and it would make the Shrooms useful. As our lovely guild Shammy Naynaan said to me yesterday, Shrooms are the new sentry totems, they could be awesome but they aren’t at the moment. I only use mushrooms as a timer for breaks during raids…

YOU SHOULD KEEP IN MIND

It was our very first Halfus run, mistakes were mad and you always need some time to get used to the new encounters. While writing this post I realised that I could’ve done a few things different, like using ToL a lot earlier because ones the drakes and whelps are death the fight becomes very boring. I also noticed that I’m the worst geared person in the guild (damn you Thoriss for stealing my rings/cloaks/trinkets/whatever else you took)! So with better gear things might be easier, although I don’t thing gear is that big of an issue at the moment. We’ll see how it goes when we try him again!

Thank you all for reading! If you have any idea or want to share theories please do so, if I’m doing something wrong then I’d love to know about it!

Are YOU Ready For Raiding?

2010-12-31T21:00:00.000+01:00

When I have the time I try to take a more detailed look at my analytic program that is linked to RestoDude. One big part of it is checking what people actually look for on Google when they get redirected to my blog. This is very important because you know what goes on in the mind of your readers and what questions they might or might not have! Something that has come up a lot recently is how you, as a Restoration Druid, know that you’re ready for the real deal? There isn’t really a real “mark” that you need to reach before you’re ready for raiding but there are a few points that I can advice people to get before trying to group/tank heal!

MENTAL PREPERATION!

I shouldn’t be telling you that you cannot step into a raid without even knowing how healing works/feels in Cataclysm. Personally I tried healing every single heroic first in order to get a grip on the changes and to test my ability to heal in different situations. When you get pushed to the limit you automatically develop tricks to help you complete the encounter. This can go from changing a few addon options of even a change in you’re healing “rotation”. I’m not going to say that you’ll know everything you need to know just from heroics but raiding as a healer virgin is not adviced!

THE RIGHT TOOLS…

Everyone nowadays uses addons, some people use them more than others. Personally I try to use as few addons as possible simply because I don’t really need all that fancy stuff on my screen :). However I can share a few tips that every healer should be able to use when setting up their addons for raiding!

Healing Frame: There are a few very solid examples of healing addons in my Restoration Druid Guide, I’ve had people telling me that these are considered “cheats” or some even say they are worthless but I beg to differ! Setting up this kind of addon correctly will be your upmost highest priority!

Knowing your timers!: I believe it’s important to always be aware of the current state of your cooldowns, whether you have or have not used them yet. Make it easy for yourself and set up your addons so you can quickly see how much time there is left on a cooldown!

Your fueltank!: Your own mana pool has to be very visible! You need to more or less always know how much fuel you have left in order to plan mana replenishing cooldowns. I don’t use an addon for this but I do keep my focus frame set on myself and I position it just under my healbot, so it’s always visible even when I’m very focussed on healing!

Awareness: Having lots of fancy addons is very cool and could (should) be helpful but keep in mind that you always need to be aware of what’s going on around you, if your addons prevent this then you should consider changing your UI or removing troublesome addons. Something that comes to my mind while writing this is constant lua errors popping up even if you have the latest version, the cause of these errors should be disabled!

Updates and more updates: Make sure you check for addon updates every two or three days, there can and will be plenty of big updates that will help you run everything smoother!

GEAR WISE

This is something that shouldn’t be said but you can’t force a raid leader to invite you to a raid when you don’t have the best possible enchants and/or gems, however it can be a bit hard to find someone that can supply you with top level stuff (at a decent price/cost). I can understand a bit of flexibility while enchanting/gemming gear, for example I currently have +15 stats on my chest while +20 is the best possible. Al thought I couldn’t find anyone with the resources to do +20 so I’m going to use +15 for now. You should be able to get all the top gems at a decent price (except maybe your meta but don’t forget that the old meta gems still work, +21 intellect and +2% mana is a good place holder for the updated version).

Potions, flasks, Elixirs… Currently on Lightbringer the +Int and +Spi flasks go for about 200-300 gold each. This gives a total of 800-1200 gold per raid night. This is possible for some but for most people this amount of gold is too much. One way to counter this is to get your own herbalist and farm the herbs you need and then ask an alchemist to make your flasks. This however can also be to time consuming for you schedule. You could also use a Ghost Elixir instead of a Flask of Flowing Water; sadly there is not intellect elixir so if you need intellect then you’ll have to go for the flask.

Another question that I’ve heard a few times the past weeks is about average item level. At what AIL (average item level) should you be before attempting a raid? I can’t really answer that simply because I feel that skill is more important that “good gear”. I tried to reach a 100k mana with an 8/2/31 build simply out of a mana regeneration point of view. I like to believe that everyone has their own gearlist, so try to get as many slots as you can but don’t hold back on raiding if you feel like you’re ready for it. Personally I was at 341 AIL when I entered my first Cataclysm raid but it can be done with slightly lower AIL!

ENOUGH TALK, GIMME NUMBERS!

In order of helping you gear up I thought it would’ve been a nice idea to post my stats. This is what I currently have with only Mark of the Wild buffed:

4823 Stamina (106k health)
4917 Intellect (103k mana)
2195 Spirit (3506 mana regen/2218 combat regen)
6636 Spell Power
13.91% Haste (1781 Haste rating)
15.06% Crit (292 Crit rating)
9.01 Mastery (181 Mastery rating/11% Symbiosis)

Here is my armory profile

Do You Have What It Takes... Heroic Stonecore!

2010-12-26T21:00:00.000+01:00

People say that heroics are hard, that’s not really true. You just need people with a functional brain and you should be fine! When people say that Stonecore on heroic is hard well… it is! Heroic Stonecore is a brilliant mix of mechanics that make some fights seem impossible and I’m not talking about bosses only, even the trash makes me pull my hair out at times… I believe as a healer in blue gear, you cannot call yourself a “good healer” before you have healed through this one, mainly because of that “bedspring” (Corborus). Also as a tank you get tested if you're made out of the right stuff! Ozruk is impossible if you're tank (and dps) fail to understand a few mechanics. My first run into "The Stonecore: Heroic" took about 3 hours and I felt it was special enough to write about :)!

CORBORUS!

Corborus aka "the worm" aka "bedspring" is the first and probably the most annoying boss in Stonecore. He really has only one very annoying mechanic if you look at him in a healing point of view and that is Dampening Wave. Corborus works in two phases, one where he is visible and attacks the group and the other where he goes underground and you have to handle the adds. Here are a few point to reassure you get out of it alive!

When he starts to spit out crystals: MOVE!
When the crystals haven't been killed instantly and they move towards you: MOVE!
When he's underground and you see a line or dust under or near you character: MOVE!

Any question?

As I've said before in a healing point of view the Dampening Wave will probably be the worst mechanic about the whole encounter. Simple because he does it quite frequently and there is a lot of damage going around. The damage during the encounter is rather small, al thought it builds up. This is because the wave debuff absorbs 15.000 healing and causes some damage as well. This makes all of our HoT's useless unless you dispel the debuff. There is of course a downside to this as well because dispelling 5 people every 20-30 seconds is not very mana friendly (I don't have an exact timer on when he casts Dampening Wave). Basically said, do not enter Stonecore with a group that's low on dps. The main tactic that I use on Corborus is that I'll let the debuff "expire" on people that are still about 75% hp, because they don't really need any healing (yet). And I'll always dispel the tank and myself first.

During the underground phase you can take a small pause because there is no wave as long as Corborus is in a digging frenzy. However here's the part that perfectly mixes with the debuff: Adds! The adds need to die super fast! Because they apply very random aggro if the tank is not picking then up, then the boss pop's back up and throws a wave on the group. Now you have a healing debuff and a group at 50% hp or less, you can see my point :).

DruidLoot: None :(

SLABHIDE!

Slackhide is a very easy boss if you keep one annoying mechanic in mind: Line of sight! He'll cause rocks to fall down once he goes flying (they fall fast!) and they can cause massive LoS issues. Just try to always stay in LoS of the tank and you should be fine. Also advice your dps to move out of the dust as soon as possible before it turns into a lava puddle, less healing needed = more focus on the tank (tanks can get quite a beating). Overall this fight is very easy!

DruidLoot: Deep Delving Gloves

OZRUK!

Ozruk is the third boss and mainly a tank encounter, if your tank screws up then you're done for :). Paralyze is the only thing you should "worry" about. You can and should avoid this by casting Moonfire/IS when he uses Elementium Bulwark, this will cause the DoT to reflect onto yourself and it'll break the stun from Paralyze :) = no 50k damage spike! When he enrages just use Sooth and keep the fight going. If everything goes perfect you should have to heal very little!

DruidLoot: Tendrils of Burrowing Dark (I don't like it as a healing trinket but it could be beneficial for tank healers)

HIGH PRIESTESS AZIL!

This one has the potential to be very hard if you don't know how to handle the adds correctly, the idea is to force the adds into the voidzones, so you have to "plant" those void zones a bit strategically. In a healing point of view you should try to remove the curse she applies as fast as you are able. When she starts throwing rocks around just makes sure you are not in it's flightpath or landing area. I thought this boss was going to be harder on heroic but it ends up being very boring. She dies very fast because of her low health.

DruidLoot: Prophet's Scepter, Tear of Blood, Book of Dark Prophecies

The Stonecore: Heroic is and will be a pain if you're still not used to the whole mana change. It drops a few of the best Restoration Druid slots you can have before stepping into raids or having saved up a bunch of Valor Points. I advice everyone to try it, it's actually good fun... I guess ;)

The First Of Many...

2010-12-22T22:00:00.000+01:00

The first boss is down! Magmaw is said to be one of the hardest AE healing fights, main tactic considers two tanks or one tank with insane healing... we did one tank because... well... we only had one online :). (Go go Void healers!)

Damn great fight! I'm still sssss... sssshaking!

I think we as healers earned us a cookie, over 8 minutes and nobody went out of mana :)! Next: Omni-thingy!

Raiding In Cataclysm: Guild = Team!

2010-12-22T21:00:00.002+01:00

Let’s say you bought Cataclysm on release day, you installed it and directly started to level like a maniac. You reached level 85 in less that 24 hours play time and you begin to work on your professions, you figure out your talent build, complete quests and run normal dungeons to get into heroic etc. etc. At some point you’ll be ready to wipe on the real deal, the whole reason why you levelled your character in the first place, you want to start raiding! However at that point you find out that you’re one of the few in your guild that is at that stage already and suddenly you hit a boring phase where you have to wait for others in your guild to get raid ready.

I was the first level 85 in my guild and not shortly after my “ding” a few others capped their level as well. I’m very proud to say that Void has been very very team friendly in order to get everyone raid ready although it surprises me that not every guild has done this (at least those that I would expect to try and raid as soon as possible). Here’s a few examples of how my guild prepared for raiding!

THREEHUNDERDTWENTYNINE

Everyone knows at this point that you need an average item level of 329 to get into heroic dungeon content. From the point that Void has enough level 85 members we started to run normal dungeons together and target dungeons so everyone got a few pieces that would push them over the 329 border. The part where I said “together” is very important; most PuG’s are just horrible at this point so guild runs bring the most relaxed gameplay. It also helps people understand and learn about each other’s class, what they are capable off and what mechanics can be used to make a tricky situation less tricky. Also the feeling that you’re grouped with people you “know” makes running heroics less of a pain and you can make mistakes without having to worry about random and offensive reactions.

IT’S GOOD TO SHARE!

Another great aspect to help people into the gear they need is professions and how you can help others with the professions you have! We had people cutting gems, enchanting gear, farming herbs/ore/leather and gathering Chaos Orbs (another benefit if you only do guild runs in dungeons) for nothing in return. If you want to raid you have to remember that you need 9/24 other people to help you with it. So avoiding you guildies with an excuse like “I don’t make gold if I give everything up for my guild” isn’t going to get you in raids any faster and your guild won’t be jumping up and down to help you when you need a helping hand.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER… = WIN!

If you are a guild master or raid leader you need to make sure that everyone is aware of their own task within a raid group. For example if you have a Restoration Druid in your guild and you want him/her to raid heal then you have to make sure they know before they get a bunch of upgrades. Else they might get into the situation where a lot of gear piece have the wrong attribute or have been reforged without it having any benefit. Even worse would be that the same healer finds out that he/she is expected to tank…

Putting up a deadline can help people, it gives clarity so that everyone know when they are expected to show up for raiding. It can also give a raid leader an idea of who will be ready and who will need a bit more time. Everything helps to organise raids (organising a raid can be the hardest part of being an Officer…).

THE BIGGEST WEAPON OF ALL TIMES… KNOWLEDGE!

One thing that has annoyed me more than anything else in a raid group is people showing up without the slightest clue of how a new encounter works. Personally I’m a big fan of Tankspot, it doesn’t take much time to watch the video of the encounter your group is about to tackle and take a few notes if needed. You cannot expect to do this during actual raid times, only when the raid leader calls a break to watch the video or other reasons. Always remember that World of Warcraft is about team play, whatever you do wrong affects everyone. So please invest some time into some slight research, it benefits everyone! Tankspot.com offers video explanations and written tactics on its forums, besides this you have the opportunity to listen to Aliena’s voice. (Which is probably why I’m a Tankspot fan, but shh don’t tell anyone!). A great way to help guildies find the videos is posting a link on your guild forums!

FINAL WORDS

I hope this bit can help people and guilds! I hope everyone gets the progress they want! Happy wiping everyone!