• Go into your image folder
• Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image.
• Publish the image! (and a few words wouldn’t hurt, though I dare say I couln’t stop a blogger from adding a few words of their own).
• Challenge six new bloggers.
• Link to them.

I certainly don’t have six sub-folders in my WOW screenshot folder, and my other images folder is full of wallpapers and personal photos that I’m not really inclined to share. So I just went with the sixth image in my first screenshot folder – from 2010. I’m not sure where my first two years of screenshots went…

A Bunny's View of Icecrown Citadel

This screenshot may look familiar as it’s been a part of my banner since I moved to self-hosting over a year ago. I believe this bunny was my rogue, as I primarily raided ICC with her. My guild is always entertained by turning into things, and I’m sure that I had a herd of other bunnies behind me. This was a spot in ICC where we often stopped for breaks. Dance parties, kegs, flames, and other transformation-type items made common appearance here. It’s strange – a tiny part of me misses ICC, even though I was utterly sick of it by the end of Wrath.

And here’s the tagging piece (ie. time to make others suffer through the meme). Apologies if you’ve already been tagged, but I’m just going with six bloggers who I read and have not yet participated. There’s just no way I have the energy to read every post again and see who has/hasn’t been tagged.

• Beru at Falling Leaves and Wings
• Lilpeanut at Heal Over Time
• Lyrandre at I Like Bubbles
• Keredria at Tree of Life
• Dechion at Screaming into the Vacuum
• Gladly and Manners at The Ready Check

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2012. | Permalink | Leave a Comment
Post tags: Meme, screenshots

Site Resources: Shaman | Rogue | Addons

Some members of the WOW community were thinking ahead – already a new forum has sprung up for those interested in Cross Realm raiding. This new site called “Twitterland Raiding” is a fantastic idea, and I’m excited at the potential it holds. I’m not incredibly active on Twitter (more of a lurker), but I’m thrilled at the opportunity to play with some of the vibrant, interesting people that I’ve “met”.

As I registered for the Twitterland Raiding site, my mind started churning. “This is only the beginning,” was one thought that kept bubbling up.

I don’t envy Blizzard. Everything they do has consequences far beyond the immediately obvious. I know their staff is full of smart people, but even they can’t think of every implication.  The introduction of Looking for Dungeon, Real ID, and Looking for Raid have taken a lot of heat and had dramatic effects on the community. Even looking back, it’s hard to tell whether there is an exact correlation between these new features and trends we’ve been seeing in the game. All we can really do is speculate, because Blizzard just doesn’t release the volumes of data we’d need to statistically analyze things.

So here goes a whole bunch of speculating and musing about the past and future.

History

When WOW launched, Blizzard’s technical architecture was probably very different from it is now. As their skill sets in the world of MMO development, scale, and data management have advanced, they have added new capabilities for WOW players. So many things that Blizzard thought they would never be able to do have come to pass: account bound items, Real ID chat, cross-realm battlegrounds and dungeons, automated guild transfers, and so much more. As time has gone on, the concept of a “server” has meant less and less.

Servers are no longer isolated silos (although there are still some remnants of this, like the Mail system). They have an enormous pool of instance servers (virtual and physical) that your character interacts with when they go into a battleground, dungeon, raid, etc. This means that anything that is “instanced” has the potential to break the traditional realm barriers in terms of group makeup. Chat is also a separate service that runs outside of realm boundaries. Blizzard has slowly taken advantage of this architecture. It began way back with inter-battlegroup Battlegrounds. As their technology has improved they were able to expand to Dungeons, Raids, and even scale to go beyond small clustered battle-groups to encompass entire regions.

Initially, these Cross-Realm activities provided enormous convenience to players, shortening queue times dramatically or providing automated solutions to manual tasks. They also seemed to have a side-effect of diluting social aspects of a realm, and guilds.  Although people claimed that these features would be the death of WOW, or guilds, or fill-in-the-blank, the effect was  limited. You still needed a guild to raid Normal or Hard Modes. You also couldn’t actually choose to end up with players you knew from other realms, so anyone who wanted a familiar community of players stuck with their guild and/or realm for core group activities.

Combine cross-ream features with Real ID, however, and you have the makings of a cataclysmic change. It’s still been a slow one… almost a trickle. It’s sneaking up on us in tiny steps.

First, Real ID was announced, and after the kerfuffle died down it left us with a very simple in-game chat program.

Then Blizzard announced the potential for using LFG with Real ID friends – originally as a paid service (remember that?). As Blizzard worked on implementing this feature, they changed their minds about making it a premium service. I can’t claim to know their reasons, but it had something to do with realizing that social interactivity is the core reason players continue to subscribe to WOW. Due to privacy concerns, this again had rather limited impact.

And now we arrive at the Cross-Realm Real ID raiding. Another small and very natural step. It is still limited in a few ways: (1) Real ID isn’t something that many will use due to privacy concerns, and (2) Cross Realm LFR is for legacy raids and Raid Finder tier only, no Normal or Hard modes.

The Future

Blizzard has some very tough choices to make from here on out, if they continue on down this path. The effects of choices already made will continue to be revealed. My mind is spinning with possibilities… I see hundreds of parallel universes opening up, some quite clear, others are blurry, and still others are beyond even my imaginative.

Battle Tags (account pseudonyms) are already on the horizon. This strips away the first limiting factor of Cross-Realm LFR that I mentioned above.

One huge question is looming over us. What about #2? Will Blizzard ever allow you to engage in Cross-Realm raids in Normal or Heroic modes ? It’s obviously not a technical concern for them, purely a strategical choice. Have they decided ultimately that the answer is no, or are they just waiting to see how things pan out?

Whatever the answer, we can still ponder what the future holds. What will happen to server communities? To guilds?

The Death of Realms?

Let’s go down the route of saying that yes, Blizzard opens up Cross-Realm LFR wide, and you can play with whomever you want in any instanced content. Just imagine the potential consequences. Cross-realm guilds could exist loosely, but the game structure doesn’t support or reward this. You wouldn’t get guild achievements, you wouldn’t be able to share items or banks. You wouldn’t be able to quest together.

Mechanic-wise, this would be awkward and not user-friendly, but it could happen. This could leave the remnants of server communities in shambles. Server firsts aren’t meaningful if the guild is made up of members from multiple servers. The entire existence of servers would be an archaic, unintuitive barrier. To make the game truly cohesive, Blizzard would need to kill servers altogether.

Other games exist in single-shard fashion, such as EVE Online. None of these games have quite the scale that WOW does. It would be an immense technical challenge. You couldn’t have millions North American players hanging out in Stormwind at once – it would be impossible to render. Characters would need to be distributed through various servers but it would need to be seamless to the player. It wouldn’t do to be standing in the exact same spot in Stormwind as your friend, but be unable to see them. Condensing WOW into a seamless single shard makes my brain hurt  - I’m just not that smart.

Inevitable Social Change

Even if they don’t allow you to do “real” raids cross-realm, there is a lot of change in the wind. Casual players will be free to do LFR with anyone they meet on the internet. Normal and Hard mode raiding guilds will need to consist of players more truly committed to the idea of raiding. This could be a good thing, in terms of stripping from the pool applicants who only joined because it was the only way to raid and were barely paying attention. But as we have already seen, recruiting is getting very hard. Raiding guilds are dying left and right, due to many of the more committed players losing interest in the game after playing it for so  many years.

The spectrum of what players can accomplish and get out of the game is widening further. The biggest struggle and drama in the social aspects of WOW has always been staying on the same page as the rest of your group. Everyone has different interests, goals, and opinions, and meshing these is incredibly hard. Without limitations like guild, server, etc. for participating in end-game content, players can be even more fickle and flexible with those goals.

Those of us in the “middle” – those of us who like the committed aspects of guild raiding and teamwork, but don’t have time to put in tremendous amounts of effort, are going to face some tough times. Will our guilds be able to raid in the way that we have? Will we lose those players on the one end of the spectrum that we traditionally attracted – those that “sorta like raiding but don’t really care too much about it and just want to hang with friends”?

Despite all the potential unrest, these new features have promise to breath life into a very old game. Being able to play with anyone, without barriers, is a lovely idea. Most of us know people that play the game, in real life and online, but having the ability to actually play with them can stimulate friendships and new levels of social interaction.

Guilds will even receive a really nice benefit from all of this. Players can try to find the right fit without paying for a server transfer. Sidenote: It would be even more amazing if Blizzard could implement an actually useful cross-realm Guild Finder tool instead of the half-assed tool that exists now. At worst, perhaps some community tool will take off in the manner that Ask Mr. Robot has for gear. Recruitment might actually get easier – if people know what they’re getting into they’re more willing to take the risk of committing money for a transfer.

Blizzard’s Grand Experiment

As many others have said before me, WOW is just a grand experiment for Blizzard. Everything they’ve been doing is all leading up to their Next Big Thing, likely Titan. It’s a little frightening sometimes to think about, and leads pessimists to claim that Blizzard doesn’t care whether their choices in regards to WOW are devastating to the game. That’s conceivably true with some other company, but Blizzard has a track record of making things right. That track record is perhaps why they have been so successful in the first place. Blizzard is constantly trying to make the game better – and when they make a big mistake (ala the initial Real ID forum implementation), they tend to admit to it.

That’s not to say that they won’t accidentally kill WOW with these new features. Messing with social networks, and community perception is bigger than even they really understand. But there is also the potential for WOW to become something even more amazing.

Wrap-Up

If you got through this brain dump, then thank you. Being concise has never been a strength of mine. Did I say anything that struck a chord with you? What sorts of things do you imagine for the social future of WOW?

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2012. | Permalink | 6 Comments
Post tags: Battle Tag, Raiding, Real ID, Social Networks

Site Resources: Shaman | Rogue | Addons

What am I using, if not Power Auras Classic?

Weak Auras

Weak Auras has become one of my favorite add-ons. It is everything that Power Auras claims to be, but with visual polish in both the configuration and the display of the auras themselves. The logic is much cleaner and easier to understand (Power Auras confused even my software programming brain). The ability to group auras, use multiple triggers, and even to write custom LUA code for triggers is fantastic.

From the Curse site: “It was originally meant to be a lightweight replacement for Power Auras, but it now incorporates many features that Power Auras does not, while still remaining more efficient and easy to use.”

Weak Auras certainly still requires a lot of set up (unless you use someone else’s settings) and effort, but  I find it easier to set up auras on-the-fly (like for certain encounter mechanics) since it is a bit more intuitive and doesn’t require me to reload my UI to test. It also eliminates the weird issues I was having with Power Auras acting buggy and inconsistent.

Choosing the Kind Of Aura

Weak Auras can be loaded by typing /wa into your chat window. This pulls up the configuration screen. Your screen will of course initially be blank, so click ‘New’ to get started.

Weak Auras has a quite a few different aura varietals, and I think it’s one uh… weak spot… is that it can be a little confusing as to which one to select. They all have slightly different capabilities and fit different circumstances best. Luckily, you can now convert an aura from one type to another if you choose one and find it can’t do what you need.

Progress Texture

These are auras that use visual animations to show “timer” type scenarios such as DOTs/HOTs, or buff cooldowns/durations. It basically fills or drains your aura of color as the timer progresses. I generally use it for DOT tracking.

Texture

These are your standard vanilla auras that equate most closely to Power Auras Classic.

Dynamic Group

I’ve never used this option, but it seems quite powerful. I have seen people use it to replicate the functionality of something like Sexy Cooldown, where icons move along a bar as they go off cooldown.

Model

Another option I’ve never used as it seems like it would be rather memory intensive. It can show a 3D model from game files, which is pretty cool.

Group

This lets you group auras that go together so you can place them more easily on the screen. I use this for some of my cooldown tracking so that I can have a visual Progress Texture and also a numerically cooldown counter together, such as for Riptide.

Text

Very simple, lightweight aura that displays the text of your choosing.

Icon

This aura shows a spell icon in addition to an optional timer or stack count. The nice thing is that you don’t have to find the icon in a huge list of images – it can dynamically find it based on the spell you input in your trigger. I use this for tracking Earth Shield stacks. I generally prefer more abstract, “pretty” auras, but I know that spell icons are preferred by many.

Progress Bar

This aura varietal displays a simple progress bar similar to what DBM uses.

Aura Configuration Options

Once you choose the kind of aura  you want to use, there are a number of tabs for configuration purposes. You can also place your aura on the screen by dragging it to the desired location.

Display

This controls the visual appearance of your aura. Size, opacity(alpha), texture, placement, mirroring and more, are options available to configure. These are all slightly different depending on the kind of aura you chose.

Trigger

The Trigger tab is the meat of the aura configuration – this is where you define the purpose of the aura. Just ask yourself  a few simple questions:  When do I want this aura to appear and why? When do I want it to disappear and why? Weak Auras greatest feature is the ability to define multiple triggers for an aura – this means you can use AND/OR logic to determine when an aura can show up.

There are quite a few different Trigger types:

• Aura – for triggers that concern buffs and debuffs
• Status – for triggers that concern the status of something, whether it’s heath, mana, combo points, cooldown status, etc
• Event – for triggers that occur when a particular event happens, such as a cooldown is ready, or a particular thing occurs in the combat log
• Custom – triggers that are so fancy that you have to write custom LUA code for them

Load

Load allows you to determine for which characters, spec, location, and combat status your aura should appear. I predominately use the spec, class, and In Combat check-boxes.

Actions

This is a tab that I rarely use. It can allow your aura to have more than just a visual component – it can play sounds, announce something in chat, or make a button glow. The chat message action seems the most useful as you could announce when you are using specific cooldowns to your raid.

Animations

Another tab I rarely use. You can give your auras a bit of flair by giving them an animation. Personally, I feel like my screen has enough movement going on already – the static auras provide more impact than something else flashing around.

Importing & Exporting

To import auras from strings like mine that you find around the internet or get from a friend, simply use the import option on the New Aura screen.

To export, just right click on an existing aura and choose ‘Export to string’ in the context menu. Use CTRL-C to copy the string from the window that comes up, and paste it into your desired location on your computer, such as Notepad or a forum post.

Another very cool feature is the ability to share an aura in chat. Just  choose open up the correct chat channel or whisper the right person, and SHIFT + click an existing aura.

Example Auras

Execute

Many specs have an “execute” type ability that they use when a mob is below x% health. One such example of this is the priest’s Shadow Word: Death – to be used when the mob is below 25% health (and you can handle taking some damage).

1. Under New, choose the Texture option
2. Display – choose whatever image and positioning you desire
3. On the Triggers tab, choose a ‘Status’  type trigger
1. Under the Status menu choose ‘Health’
2. Under Unit, choose ‘Target’
3. Then check the ‘Health %’ box (not the Health box – that is for absolute numbers only)
4. Choose the less than symbol
5. Enter in 25% in the box
4. On the Load tab:
   1. choose the class you want the aura to load for (priest)
   2. choose the spec (shadow is the Third talent tree)

Execute Export String (for Shadow Word Death)

dKZkdaGleKTjsMjqP5kvmBPCtPs8neXTrIDkvTxYUPQ9du0prqnmr53uXPfAOisdwQugUioiI6ZaogqohvQwivYsfPSybz5u8qrQ8uLhlQEoOZJqnvjnzjA6OUivkxvKQEgL01HAJav9APsAZsy7c47iGVkvQMgsAEiehgY4qinAKA8c0jbQCleORrjUhqH)sPUSQLjOwGuvJIwPwPQAypBIaa3OQg2hzngzaolwZCGOJVsCY14hKXMRfKWffWZc8wsrswgvQzHTqLOKynvMkiOfqA8dYyZ1aNNVPaL)oKllD8WoD)OUsgBqWoK6qGBiJniyxEze1Hm2GGDiJnilH1iMWffWZc8KyjvgiQwbLIOwT6U7POQccsnLgQSmYrhpQzZMiaWnqvvpiv1ytea4gv1G4qpW9mPMxedQnsDdSGvJjo5AqgXyOggEByYBTEeLlxAqCOh4EE4IIyqn70rEv7vjNwvd7FG7zneMD0WWBJ9rwU0EG7znY5C0XdMDl9quO21GjV16ruU6Tg2kjUlwd7ztea4gvflwSgBIaa3OQgtCY1GmIXqnm820h1yAfsd7JSgJmaN1sUj)EM(OgtRf2Ig9rnM22j5ge7y0icyOrFuJP1cBrd7FG7zneMD0WWBJ9rwU0WWBNCt(9m9rnMwU0sUj)EM(OgtB7KCdIDmAerSMhtPAIaa3avFyncelzA1dkltJ(raAw9GYY0AoOsv1YBiiuvny0d0UgPPbo3wvSggE78gccLlnJt7QQrb34OQIfR5ruUwAOOhrRHH3gM8C5sdM8Cv1Grpq7Q3Qynm825oucHy5sddVThr5kKyTyPMBbFoMVynOgicrLqw0cOEquZYelb

Dot Timer – Vampiric Touch

Weak Auras has very nice dynamic DOT timer capability in several forms. For my priest, I choose to use the Progress Texture, which drains the texture of color as the timer ticks down. You could also use the Progress Bar or Icon auras to provide similar  timer capabilities.

1. Under New, choose the Progress Texture option
2. Display – choose a pretty aura. I choose one of the PowerAuras Heads-Up options so I can center it on my character
3. Triggers – choose the ‘Aura‘ type
   1. In the Aura name box type the name of your DOT – in this case Vampiric Touch
   2. Unit – choose Target
   3. Aura Type – choose Debuff
   4. Check the ‘Own Only’ checkbox so you don’t see DOTs cast by other shadow priests
4. On the Load tab:
1. choose the class you want the aura to load for (Priest)
2. choose the spec (Shadow is the Third talent tree)

DOT Timer Export String (for Vampiric Touch)

dKtxdaGljuBduZeKO5cOzdPBcs52OQplKDkf7LSBrTFHs)uc8xvPXjronvgkivdwcz4QIdkrDyQ6yQQZjLSqKklvcAXsPwoIhIuLNs5Xk8COwgQmvrMSGMUkxeKuxfPQUSsxxrBuaBvOyZaTDqcddIVcsY0qY3fQAKcvEgaJgeJxGCsjXTqkxtQoVK03KuVwG63OS(kjZjRs(wcOFSaRmyzmq7zrrFJJHw91oMB4W8YWY(ftvCxgVSqzHkjBWqzeL0j7iUOOLOKSSNFXkPMVSy88poIBeBrj2CarNSWT9eemv9zLfx5cHwa6dLYyXNliJwv0jBMDNSZtI2tNmiRlcYPgUoImuMpujzdupgRKmSlhHUYGEHvGAlPt2eVVdupgl6KryORsY4NONtjD6KL98RSc9UShISjEFXp7q0jd)SdLKHD5i0vna0jBI33bJVT)eDYM49n75x1wNmqgzJiSzomTbDtYkRs(wcOFSalhgYYyGq16dU8K4XaHol(LuEs8yOTHopWYtIhdS8K45Kr2ihlNQ(SYEiSiYIX3g0njRS2(rWre2mhspgkJOKA(kafmmxVJWHWr1P(WicKwhGA4ua4oCRw96pcaQEPpGUaP1bOgakqDjQFh(xJq95QP6CcKwhGoz(SJ3FowwjzGUSddrjzpKfVNmmeIlhSoDYazKnIWM5q6XqzeLuZxbQB954qGPqO(WuWaGfiTExnCkqhPem1VefchCDnhmSaP176K5cLfJN)XrCJylkXMdiYI3fEqudxhrwqfacI3tn0(fdxxQ(J0cqDxwEYNiUOOLGvZxw1cabX7Pa0k1QUg(37CiiiWFkkbsJQLm)4CSmwjz4ZtoLKfYEht8X4vBD60jZRKSy88poIBeBrj2CarwL8Teq)ybwzWYyG2ZII(ghdT6RDm3WH51jdkuZNcbrNe


Buff Stack Tracker – Earth Shield

Another common usage is tracking the stack count of buffs on yourself or a target. Earth Shield is a key resto shaman ability that is very helpful to track. This aura answers the question “how many stacks of Earthshield do I have on my tank?”

1. Under New, choose the Icon option
2. Display – I just chose the Automatic Icon option which will get the icon for the ability I enter in the Triggers section
3. Triggers – choose the ‘Aura‘ type
   1. In the Aura name box type the name of your buff – in this case Earth Shield
   2. Unit – choose Group
   3. Scroll down and in the ‘Name Info’ box choose Aura Name
   4. In the Stack Info box choose Aura Stack
   5. Aura Type – choose Buff
   6. Check the ‘Own Only’ checkbox so you don’t see Earth Shield cast by other resto shaman
4. On the Load tab:
1. choose the class you want the aura to load for (Shaman)
2. choose the spec (resto is the Third talent tree)

Buff Stack Tracker Export String (for Earth Shield)

dqdecaGEkkTlQOEnOAUufZwOBcOCBsyNaTx0UjA)uu9tvr)vq)wsdLIWGPs1Wb4GujDmbohvKfQkSuksTCk9qavpvzzKONd1uvXKPQMUOlkrNgYZuLUojTrQGhRQ2SkTDksomHPrkFMcFNkLrsr0WivJgKXtrXjPkDlQextcNhq2gO8nQqxwQzapCioVYSTxXV949xLypdqhJHGIu12HdoswVLcBcXH5cCwZ5cofC(C(8WDRYCiZ2euPgxSk85Htf3H)OaJ5doBn28WPqnMiEyYKtf3Hya9Np4Wa6ppCyK0i2e8Lj3pkWyE4WiPrS5MjDfyUcYKjNTnqv5bianh6xLCUH8ticQPZLwKHrB5HdNIp8qK8w5WP4dNR6M8PmceFWPkrjNHTQcGtku0Hi5TYjuTcoPqrJ5HGbCLcBczU7dc1rFMm5mZZ7f3jDqdMomNGP8nq)naM(RsEDrRGtQQ4yrggTftWaoKpxPWMqdc1rFoOgzaLeutNdON3lUt6qrrrGtow86OwHs9xL686IgmoCk(WXMOIKjhWlbpLMMjNGhUsHnHm39bH6OpNxz22R43E8(RsSNbOJXqqrQA7WbhjR3sHnHyYzkcgOPRZKea


Other Tips and Tricks

Converting an aura from one kind to another (ie. from a  Texture to an Icon) is as simple as right clicking on your existing aura and choosing a new kind from the context menu.

Future Posts

The three examples above only brush the surface of what Weak Auras can do. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, although I’m certainly not an expert.

I have a full set of auras  for my Resto/Elemental shaman, as well as my Shadow/Holy priest. I’ll be posting those in the future, so stay tuned!

Links

• Add-on Download Link (Weak Auras is also available on the Curse client)
• WeakAuras Usage from the WowAce portal
• WeakAuras Examples from the WowAce portal
• Weak Auras Guides (with Resto Druid & Shaman auras) from Rhii at Oh My Kurenai
• Elemental Shaman Weak Auras and Holy Pally Auras from The Ready Check 
• Addon Highlight – Weak Auras from Windsoar at Jaded Alt

Any other links related to Weak Auras that I should check out and include?

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2012. | Permalink | 5 Comments
Post tags: Power Auras, UI, Weak Auras

Site Resources: Shaman | Rogue | Addons

I think I’ve officially scared off any readers that I once had. A four-month absence does tend to convince people that you’re gone .

I don’t have any good excuses, and any explanation would be long, rambling, and entirely devoid of interesting content. Let’s just skip to the TLDR: I was burnt out on WOW, video games in general, and feeling utterly uninspired.

I’m not going to make any promises this time about writing weekly or outputting loads of useful WOW guides. I’m just going to write when I feel like it, and about any topic that interests me. The span and scope of the content may vary. I am going to make an effort to filter less — to stop listening to the voice in my head that leads me to leave drafts sitting around for weeks or months because they “aren’t done yet”.

WOW State of Affairs

4.3 revived WOW for me quite a bit. The new heroics are interesting and a decent level of challenge, but most importantly they are short. I can complete one in less than an hour.

LFR has also been a consistent source of entertainment. It certainly doesn’t replace the social, collaborative guild raiding that I enjoy, but it is a nice supplement to my gear and end-game experience. It is definitely full of many scum-of-the-earth types, but I go in with the bar set exceptionally low and am often pleasantly surprised. My luck with gear drops is nearly non-existent, but the hope keeps me going. The quick pace, interesting content, and chaotic vibe of LFR keep me looking forward to each raid reset.

I’ve even dusted off my rogue and geared her up to LFR level. When my guild’s raid team arrived at Hagara, I found myself among the other alt rogues in line to pickpocket her for the first legendary quest item. The epic daggers were so spectacular that I was inspired to find more gear to match, and before I knew it I was playing her on a regular basis. I’m certainly not inclined to make her my main again, but there is something very pleasant about hearing the quick clack-clack of daggers again.

The new Darkmoon Fair was as I expected, something that sounded far better than it was. I do love the artifact piece of it — collecting random drops for turn-ins adds to the mystical vibe of the fair. The games were entertaining for a few days, but in the end the work-to-tickets ratio is just too high. It’s certainly an improvement from the previous incarnation, but I’m left feeling a bit disappointed that it took them this long to revamp it, and that ultimately there is so little content. I was also hoping for more hidden and mysterious secrets to uncover on the island (other than the cannibalistic undead woman selling the flesh of all races).

Other Games

I was absolutely enraptured with Skyrim throughout the month of December. Despite a clunky UI, Skyrim is exactly what I was hoping for. It sparked a feeling of magic and wonder that I haven’t come across in a very long time. The world of Skyrim is vast in a way that an MMO can never be, with procedurally generated quests and dialog, and a sense of isolation. Truly being the hero (or the villain) instead of one among many is rather refreshing.

I play Skyrim as a rogue mage, using daggers and bows to swiftly silence unsuspecting victims, or brute-forcing a crowd with destruction magic. The flexibility to play however I want, with no “right” spec, gives me a sense of relief. I know there are certainly more optimal builds, but it doesn’t matter in a single player game. Ambling around the world from quest to quest, wandering through ruins and discovering secrets… it’s all part of an immersive experience that makes Skyrim a masterpiece.

The other game that everyone is raving about is of course SWTOR. I played a bit on one of the beta weekends, but that is the extent of my involvement. The temptation is great, especially when my guildmates discuss the game with such excitement in their voices. My main reason for abstaining is purely hardware related — we only have one Windows PC. Sure I could install Windows on my laptop, or create a character on my husband’s account, or other various options, but no option seems worth it. I’m left hoping that Bioware will realize the value in releasing a a Mac client (especially given that their main competitor, Blizzard, has had a Mac client from day one). Many of Bioware’s other games have a Mac version, so there is hope.

Reading

I completed my goal in 2011 of reading 50 novels. Check out my Goodreads profile to see what I’ve been reading.

The Kindle’s name is certainly apt – the dramatic increase in my reading is due to the ease that the e-book reader provided. My favorite books are 500+ page fantasy novels, and no longer needing to carry around brick-sized objects has been a huge boon. I’ve also begun replacing any paperbacks in our library with lovely hardcovers – real books are more of an art collection now than functional objects for me.

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2012. | Permalink | 2 Comments
Post tags: 4.3, Reading, Return from the dead

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You can immediately tell from the title that the post was intended to cause controversy, to incite emotion. In other words, it was a big fat attempt at trolling.

Despite knowing that the post is blatantly laid bait, I’m going to bite. This Soapbox post  is representative of all the negative attitudes I’ve seen on the rise lately in the community. I’ve read the Negative Nancy posts about the death of WOW, about the plethora of subscribers quitting. I’ve read the posts from people complaining that some bloggers are being too negative.  I’ve even read the posts from bloggers complaining about those that complain about the negativity.  I’ve just sat back and shaken my head in dismay.

But this post, I just can’t resist speaking about. Grimmtooth rebuts it nicely, but I feel the need to chime in as well.

The gist of the post is this:  the author and his “lady” were the “star”  WOW raiders in their guild. Eventually they got bored with the game, but felt obligated to keep raiding even though they didn’t enjoy it. This built up resentment between them, and with their fellow raiders. Raiding caused the author to lose his temper, get greedy about loot, and act in other ways that made him feel bad about himself. This is Blizzard’s fault for designing a game where raiding is the predominant end-game activity. The entire design of WOW and most MMO’s is a ploy to get you sucked in and stuck doing something you don’t like due to a sense of obligation.

I suggest you go read the actual post and make sure I didn’t miss anything.

Is there any truth to this post? Of course there is. You can’t make a convincing pass at trolling without some seed of truth in your words. That’s what gets under the reader’s skin, makes them wonder. If they are not strong in their opinion, it makes them start to doubt.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t experienced some of what he mentioned. I think most of us have.  The frustration at slow progression. The feeling of boredom when you’re running something for the thousandth time. The anger that rises when you see people making the same mistakes over and over. The jealousy when someone gets that drop you wanted. The sense of obligation on a night that you’re so tired and don’t really feel like raiding but know that others are counting on you.

I’ve experienced all of those feelings. They certainly aren’t good ones. They don’t make me think highly of myself. But guess what? It’s not raiding’s fault. It’s not Blizzard’s fault. When I feel those things, the fault lies only with me. Raiding is my choice.

Raiding is just an activity. It’s an activity with other people – with friends. Doesn’t any team activity have the same sense of obligation attached to it? Let’s say you join a softball team, because you like softball. You form bonds with your teammates, and at first have a great time together. Eventually though, you get bored. You start to resent your teammates for not being as skilled as you. You want to quit but there are no substitutes who can take your place on the team. You lose your temper when they make mistakes that cost you a chance at the championship.  In this scenario, do you blame softball? Do you even blame the person who started the league?

Replace softball with any group activity, be it a sports team, a band, or volunteering for a charity. All of these things can cause similar symptoms, due to societal pressures and our generally competitive human nature. When you sign up for something, there will be peer pressure to keep doing it. If you are the type of person who can’t say no, who lets ties to people weigh them down with a sense obligation, then yes these activities can be unhealthy. But how you can blame the activity itself for your lack of self-control?

If it’s not fun, stop doing it. If it’s not fun and you feel obligated to continue, then weigh the affects of quitting on your relationships with others against your own personal fun.

The Soapbox piece also has an interesting claim: that WOW players get sucked into raiding without knowing what they’re in for. That the design of raiding is “insidious” and tricks you into surrendering your right to choose.

Therein lies the central issue with raiding. You don’t mean to get involved, but in some games, you don’t get a choice if you want to keep playing. And once you’re in, you get caught in a cycle of guilt and obligation that pulls you along even when you’re ready to be done with the whole damn mess. You don’t get to leave, you don’t get to choose, and you wind up fighting over smaller and smaller stakes until that +1 Strength is literally the only thing you’re looking forward to

Ignorance is not a valid excuse. Ignorance of the way a competitive team activity affects you doesn’t mean that you’re not responsible for your own actions.

Raiding is no different from any other team activity. Just because it’s done in a virtual space doesn’t make it any less meaningful. Fighting over a bunch of pixels is not more shameful than fighting over a plastic trophy.

The Soapbox piece is primarily a huge pile of trolling. It’s easy to refute his claim that raiding makes you a bad person. So why did he even post it (besides an attempt to generate traffic)? Well if you read further, you get to the point he’s actually trying to make:

Is there a lesson here? If there has to be one, it’s a simple call for designers to give players options about what they want to do. Certainly there are people who really want to play the raiding game, who know going in what’s going to wind up happening and as such have an easier time stopping at the top. But there’s no reason or argument in favor of forcing players into situations that not everyone wants to be in.

It’s a common complaint about MMO’s – the lack of end-game content aside from raiding. There is definitely merit to this complaint. Even Blizzard realizes it. In a recent episode of the Instance, Turpster did a short interview with Blizzard designers Tom Chilton and Chris Robinson. One of the things they said outright was that they wished they’d focused more on providing alternative PVE content in Cataclysm.

The genre was able to sustain itself on this “traditional raiding = end-game” model in the past, but to ensure continued success at attracting a diverse market, more options are needed. Otherwise people will go back to playing other games, or leave gaming altogether to find a different form of entertainment. Time is precious, and dedicating it to organized raiding isn’t for everyone. The raid finder is one attempt at addressing this (whether it is successful or not remains to be seen).

So yes, the Soapbox piece, does contain tiny nugget of a valid point. I’m just a bit disappointed that it had to be done in such a manner. There are so many respectful and insightful ways to discuss the topic of MMO game design. So many other bloggers have done so. For examples, go and read posts from Gazimoff, or Syl, or MMO Melting Pot.

A trolling post with a title that spits in the face of the majority of its readers may generate hits and comments, but is that really going to help game designers out? Is that really going to encourage them to come up with new ideas? Or is it just going to spread more negativity, spread more harsh misconceptions about MMOs and their players?

What is your take on the Soapbox post? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2011. | Permalink | 3 Comments
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And yet there are a few releases coming around the corner that actually have me excited. They have me promising myself yet again that I will play something else. Whether I actually accomplish that or not remains to be seen. I think part of the energy and excitement comes from being surrounded by non-WOW gamers at PAX. It reminded me that there is a whole other world out there that I have been only on the fringe of.

Skyrim – 11/11/2011

This is the long-awaited next Elder Scrolls release. I loved Oblivion so much. I adored the vast open world with all of its secrets and quest lines to stumble upon. It was the first true “Western” RPG that I played and it completely blew my mind. I started gaming with Final Fantasy turn-base style RPGs and after Oblivion I couldn’t really go back.

Skyrim looks gorgeous – a better, newer version of Oblivion. I didn’t get to play it or see the live presentation/demo at PAX due to insane lines, so obviously I’m not the only one impressed. It looked like what I was hoping for, from the few glances I got of it on the show floor.

Demo Part I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgAk0_z2S8I

Demo Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDZ_CQI0k4c

Demo Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9RFugCeXLw

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – 11/20/2011

Lovely graphics and interesting mechanics with the Wii controller. I actually like the feel of using the motion-sensored controller over the old-fashioned D-pad and buttons. A lot of people find the Wii motion controller gimmicky, but Twilight Princess’s venture into that arena felt very intuitive.  I watched Jardal play the demo at PAX and he seemed to pick the controls up quickly. I look forward to trying it in the comfort of my home.

This game will skyrocket our Wii usage for awhile (and then it can go back to happily gathering dust). I always love the puzzles and the characters. The stories are usually rather simplistic and childish, but entertaining nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dYgrMz_XBI

Star Wars: the Old Republic – 2011?

SWOTR has had the MMO community abuzz for a very long time. Despite the complete failure that was Star Wars Galaxies, the combination of Star Wars with a WOW-like MMORPG has to be complete win, right? With Bioware being held in high esteem as a game developer, hopes are high for this release. Although they claim to be re-inventing the genre, the previews of the game that I’ve seen have revealed it to be essentially to be WOW + Star Wars + Mass Effect.

One of the big features they tout is that it is the first fully voiced MMO. They did a world-wide search for 900+ voice-actors and ended up with over 10,000 speaking NPCs.

Bioware also claims it is the single largest piece of Star Wars fiction in history.

We saw a trailer at PAX as well as a live “operation” (raid) that included audience participants. Operations are 8 or 16 players with multiple difficulty modes. The dungeons sound like they are going to be 4 players.

More details are pouring in around the interwebs, including the possibility of the release getting pushed back to Q1 2012.

Torchlight II – 2011

Too excited to wait for Diablo III? Hate the for-real-money auction house or required always-connected play? Want to use mods or play with your real-life friends via LAN? Then Torchlight II is for you. Priced initially at $19.99, it will be hard to say no.

Developer Site Link: http://www.torchlight2game.com/

Bastion

(already released via Steam and Xbox live)

Bastion has been getting a lot of hype, and the demo I watched at PAX got me interested as well. The graphic style is beautifully stylized – beautiful rich digital art that is easy to fall in love with. It’s an action RPG with a level structure and extensive world. It also supposedly has great replayability.

Developer Site Link:  http://supergiantgames.com/?page_id=242

Orcs Must Die – 2011

A tower of defense style game with an added third-person action component. You can place traps on walls or ceilings and use melee/ranged weapons or spells to defeat the horde of orcs that threatens your fortress. You unlock defenses as you continue on through the levels. The graphics are stylized and attractive, and the gameplay seems very engaging and addictive. We saw this one at PAX and were rather impressed. Like Plants vs. Zombies, this promises to breath new life into a familiar genre.

Developer Site Link: http://www.robotentertainment.com/games/orcsmustdie

Fez – 2011

This indie game looks intriguing –  a 2-D game where you have to change perspective to navigate through the levels. It will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade.

Developer Site Link: http://polytroncorporation.com/61-2

Snapshot

This is another indie game with an interesting concept – you snap “photos” to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.

Developer Site Link: http://www.retroaffect.com/games/1/snapshot/

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Consequently, I’ve had this song stuck in my head for over a week now. Apparently it’s a traditional part of PAX to play “Everyday I’m Hustlin’” when the Penny Arcade guys come out on stage. I’d never heard the song before, but now it’s unfortunately embedded itself deeply in my mind.

PAX itself was not an event I’ll soon forget. 70,000 gamers descended on Seattle (spread out over 3 days). The citywas literally swarming with PAX attendees. We ran into them with every turn – from Starbucks, to the street corner, to our hotel’s elevator. Even our plane from Minneapolis held several groups of geeky-looking guys who most definitely were headed for PAX.

Day 1

The keynote speech we attended the first morning was given by David Jaffe, a game designer known for God of War and Twisted Metal. He didn’t warm up the audience (or even begin his speech with a complete sentence), launching immediately into an intense monologue about how he got to where he is today. It was one of the most rambling speeches I’ve ever listened to, full of personal anecdotes and a heavy dose of swearing. I still haven’t decided whether he’s crazy or just incredibly passionate. Whatever the case, listening to the “voice in his head” has obviously led to great success.

For me, the one of the best parts of the keynote was the theater itself. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We stuck around in the Paramount Theater for a Q&A with the Penny Arcade guys. Jerry and Mike are incredibly entertaining – it was almost like hearing a stand-up comedic act. The chemistry between them is just fantastic. Jardal had me listen to a few of their podcasts awhile back and I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed listening to them ramble about video games and discuss how to make the comic for the day. In my opinion, listening to the two of them together is more funny than the comic itself. I suppose thats part of why they’ve been able to garner such a huge following, and why PAX came to exist in the first place.

As with any Q&A there were some incredibly painful moments, such as people wanting to touch them, or the guy who wanted them to introduce him to Will Wheaton so he could introduce him to Felicia Day so he could give her the amateur script he wrote. Yikes.

We waited in a long line down the street for some sandwiches, and after some wandering on the expo floor, eventually made it to a panel that sounded intriguing. The title was, “Change at a Moment’s Notice… User Interface”, which was supposed to be a panel of a UI team from WB games. I love UI design and was excited at the opportunity to hear a panel of UI experts talk about the subject. Unfortunately it was a rather disappointing experience, with vague metaphors comparing building a UI to building a house, and high-level job descriptions instead of a deep dive into what makes a UI good or bad. I eventually fell asleep.

We ended up leaving and caught a few minutes of the panel of the musical guests, including Jonathan Coulton (of Portal’s “Still Alive” fame), Paul & Storm, and MC Frontalot. I love nerdy music!

Day 2

Saturday was definitely the “biggest” day of PAX, bringing what seemed to be thousands of additional people. The lines were extra-long and even many panels that seemed like they would be unpopular were filled to the brim. There were not only ticket scalpers, but people selling counterfeit badges on the street corners.

We watched the Penny Arcade guys create a comic strip live. Basically Mike drew the strip while Jerry answered audience questions. I loved watching the art transform from sketch to digital ink, to color flats, to a fully shaded drawing. Although Mike’s art style is simple, it’s still impressive to a complete drawing noob like me.

Then it was time wander the expo floor and play some games. There were tons of major gaming companies was in attendance with one or more recent/future releases, as well as a bunch of indie developers hoping to spark some interest. Lines to the more big name titles like Star Wars: The Old Republic, Skyrim, and Battlefront 2 were hours long. Since we’ve already pre-ordered the games we’re interested in playing, I didn’t really see the appeal of waiting in long lines to play them for a few minutes when I can just wait and play them away from the crowds and prying eyes when they release. While it was cool to get early access to games, I just wasn’t as motivated as most people seemed to be.

Another hang-up I had in playing games on the floor is that I simply don’t enjoy being watched when I’m trying to get the hang of new controls. I know it’s somewhat just paranoia, but I couldn’t stand the thought of all the eyes on my screen, silently judging me for sucking it up.

So I really didn’t play many games – just watched other people. That was really enough for me, and was enjoyable in its own way. Stay tuned for another writeup later on the games I saw at PAX (this post is already getting way too long).

Notably absent from the expo floor was Blizzard. There were still echos of Blizzard games floating around, from the WOW TCG card game at the Cryptozoic both, to the Starcraft 2 tournaments, but no official representation whatsoever. I understand that they have Blizzcon, but why would they pass up the opportunity to promote their IPs to tens of thousands of gamers – especially with a Starcraft 2 expansion, and Diablo 3 release on the horizon? It seems like an odd choice, and can be interpreted by the casual observer as rather snobbish? Are they really that confident in their success, that they don’t need to attract new fans or build up more hype?

I took some time to grab Jonathan Coulton’s new album. I still haven’t listened to it yet, but I’m looking forward to it (despite hearing reviews that it isn’t as “funny” as his previous stuff).

JoCo

In the afternoon, we attempted to catch the Skyrim live demo, but the line for the room was full 1.5 hours in advance. Instead we watched the Penny Arcade guys play D&D with Wil Wheaton and another comic artist. I found it rather entertaining, despite the fact that I’ve never played D&D before.

Instead of attending the evening’s concerts, we went out to Brazilian BBQ with some friends. It was nice to get away from the crowds for a bit. Even though the restaurant was in Bellevue (a suburb of Seattle), we found a PAX presence there as well. A bunch of people from Riot Games (developers of the newly popular League of Legends) were there. We met a few of them who had definitely been partying it up, glorying in their company’s success.

Day 3

On Sunday we spent some more time on the expo floor, but my energy level was quickly fading. I decided to play the fangirl and meet some more of the geek “stars”.

Wil Wheaton

Felicia Day

Wrap-Up

So would I do it again? Yes, but probably not an every-year sort of thing. I loved the people-watching, and the vibe of the whole experience, but I’m not sure that I’m really the target audience for the convention. I didn’t really care about playing the games, and most of the panels were good, but nothing mind-blowing. Three full days was also a bit much for me – being around thousands of people constantly is a bit draining as an introvert.

I really wish I could go to Blizzcon now! The live stream is always great, but I realize now that it doesn’t capture the experience of being at a convention – just the content. It would be great to be surrounded by people who share my passion for WOW and Blizzard. It’s amazing how many types of gamers there are – even at PAX I felt like although I was surrounded by other geeks, they weren’t necessarily “my” kind of geek.

Did you attend PAX (or have you ever)? What was your favorite part? What other geeky conventions have you enjoyed?

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2011. | Permalink | Leave a Comment
Post tags: Con, Convention, PAX, Seattle

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The collector in me is squealing with glee at the thought of my assortment of old gear that is stuffed in my bank finally being useful. I love having a reason to do old content! Now’s the time to begin forming our gear wish lists, and farming pieces from all areas of Azeroth (and Outlands).

I’ve decided that to get myself posting a bit more, I’m going to write about gear sets and pieces that I find interesting. Blizzard has put some tentative restrictions on transmogrification that will obviously shape my choices – gear must be the same armor or weapon type, must have stats, and can’t be legendary.

The first set that comes to mind is the no longer accessible Dungeon Set 1 (and 2). Blizzard is looking at ways to put the sets back into the game (possibly as new gear in 4.3) which I’m thrilled about. If they don’t get them in, or it’s just not dropping for you, there are alternatives.

There have been many set look-alikes throughout WOW’s history, and the Elements set is no exception. Featuring a wolf hat and strange shoulders with sticks portruding out of them, it’s not a set that is universally liked. I’ve always found it appealing, as weird as it may be. I’ve listed items below that are mostly from the “teal” look-alike set in Burning Crusade, but there are a few other re-colored pieces thrown in if you’re desperate. The mail spellpower heirloom items also are re-skinned from the Dungeon set. 

It’s not a complete set as the boots and wrists are nowhere to be found, but I’m sure you can pull together something that still looks nice (who really looks at wrists and feet anyways?). If you’re a hoarder like me, you may have some of the original set pieces in the bank. I discovered the gloves, wrist, and belt hiding behind piles of other saved gear.

The hat is my particular favorite, and will likely be a part of other outfits that I choose as well. The teal set is almost more attractive than the original – the colors are more harmonious.

If you don’t play a shaman, check out Wowpedia’s compilation of look-alikes for your own Dungeon set.

Head

Coif of Elements/Coif of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

Mystical Coif of Elements - heirloom version

Mask of the Howling Storm – Mana Tombs (Normal), Nexus-Prince Shaffar

Headdress of Inner Rage – Burning Crusade Dungeon Drop (BOE)*

Big Bad Wolf’s Head – Karazhan, The Big Bad Wolf

Headdress of the First Shaman – Archaeology, Orc

There are also other similar looking wolf-head models such as the Helm of Lupine Grace. It’s not the exact same model, but still captures the general feel of the outfit.

Shoulders

Pauldrons of Elements/ Pauldrons of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

Mystical Pauldrons of Elements / Aged Pauldrons of the Five Thunders - the heirloom versions

Lightning-Rod Pauldrons –  Teal Set, Mana Tombs (Normal), Tavarok

Chest

Vest of Elements/ Vest of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

Vest of Living Lightning – Teal Set, The Slave Pens (Normal), Mennu the Betrayer

Mystical Vest of Elements - heirloom version

Stormstrike Vest – Quest, Hellfire Peninsula: Drill the Drillmaster or The Foot of the Citadel 

Hands

Gauntlets of Elements*/ Gauntlets of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

Stormfront Gauntlets – Teal Set, Caverns of Time: Escape from Durnholde Keep, Captain Skarloc

Waist

Cord of  Elements* / Cord of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

Girdle of the Gale Storm – Teal Set, The Blood Furnace (Normal), The Maker

Legs

Kilt of Elements / Kilt of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

Kilt of Rolling Thunders –Teal Set, Hellfire Ramparts (Normal), Nazan and Vazruden (from Reinforced Fel Iron Chest)

Boots

Boots of Elements / Boots of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

No re-coloring found

Wrists

Bindings of Elements* / Bindings of the Five Thunders – the originals for sets 1 and 2, no longer available but they could be in your bank

No re-coloring found

Weapon/Shield

Weapons were not part of the dungeon set, but will be an important part of your outfit! There are a vast number of options available, but my recommendation for this set would be a tribal-looking mace and shield.

For the mace, choose something like the Runic Hammer (Blacksmithing). Since stats are meaningless, it doesn’t matter that this weapon wasn’t built for shaman. The red coloring would look stunning against the teal look-alike set!

Or if you’re looking for something a little more simple, the Fist of Stone (Maraudon) is a nice choice.

A rustic shield like Saltstone Shield (Green Random BOE) or Savage Boar’s Guard (Razorfen Downs) might do the trick.

Stay tuned for more “Shaman Style” posts – from tier sets to little-known mail sets, to fun or wacky outfits!

*Check the auction house for these BOE’s, or make a note to sell them to other collectors for lots of gold

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2011. | Permalink | Leave a Comment
Post tags: Collection, Dungeon Set 1, Dungeon Set 2, Outfits, Shaman Style, Vanity

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Back when the first round of Circle of Healing appeared in the blogosphere I was playing a rogue. With Cataclysm I chose a new main, and found myself healing on a regular basis.

This Circle of Healing 2.0 meme was started by Saunders and has since been answered by healers of all classes and playstyles. It even had a Tanking spinoff at one point.

1. What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

Kaelyra, Resto Shaman

2. What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

10-mans are my primary environment, as well as 5-mans when I can find the motivation to earn that extra VP.

3. What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?

Riptide! It’s a lovely instant-cast spell that interacts in interesting ways with other spells – providing the yummy Tidal Waves buff and boosting Chain Heal when consumed.  I love casting it on cooldown. I love the pretty Power Aura I created for the Tidal waves buff, and I love seeing the green dot on my raid frames. I cannot imagine Shaman healing without it (I started her in Wrath obviously).

4. What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

This is a tough one – I really feel like I use every spell in my toolbox in various situations. I’ve begun using Healing Surge less and less since it was nerfed, although sometimes it is necessary for a quick save.

5. What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?

Our biggest strength from my perspective is flexibility. We’re don’t particularly excel at anything, but we can do any job that needs to get done. This is very valuable in a 10-man where composition isn’t usually ideal. This jack-of-all trades theme applies to our healing toolbox, our buff totems, and even our ability to CC or use a ranged interrupt.

6. What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?

I’m going to have to agree with other shaman here and say range. In 10-mans,  Chain Heal is near useless on many fights due to mechanics that require us to spread out. Healing Rain is fantastic, but only if people can clump up and stand in it. I just love when I lay down a Healing Rain and the encounter dumps a big patch of fire over the top of it. Our totems are still a bit clunky – making our buffs less desirable than the equivalent in other classes because we have to keep those totems alive and in range of our raid. Even our Spirit Link Totem cooldown is very range-centric.

7. In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?

I’m going to change this question because I’ve never healed a 25-man (except maybe a Vault of Archavon run or two in Wrath).

In a 10-man raiding environment, I think the best assignment for me is a clumped up group of people (ala the ranged in Magmaw). If it’s a fight where that isn’t possible, I usually focus on the offtank and a bit of raid-healing.

8. What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

Druids. It may be partially because my husband plays one, or that I still wish I was a druid. That aside, I love their hots and their raid healing abilities. And despite popular opinion, they can Tank heal quite well. In a 10-man environment they are also very flexible which is a huge value-add. Two of raid’s  five possible healers are druids and I always enjoy having them around.

9. What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?

I’m going to say Disc priests just because I’ve almost never healed with one and I don’t really understand them. The few times I’ve tried to heal with one it ended up being an undergeared priest in a PVP Disc spec trying to fill in in a pinch, and that usually doesn’t work out well.

10. What is your worst habit as a healer?

Getting distracted by something and letting it cause my performance to suffer. This can be someone talking in vent, someone dying, or getting angry at myself because I took avoidable damage  – and it causes my focus to slip and everything goes to hell. I need to get better at keeping that intense level of concentration I require to do a great job. There is such a careful line to tread between tunnel vision and getting overwhelmed by too much data.

11. What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

There are so many things that annoy me (perhaps that is my worst habit as a healer instead of what I wrote above). If I have to pick one it would be someone taking avoidable damage over and over again. If you stand in the same fire every time, or constantly pull threat off the tank I start getting pissed. At that point I begin to question whether it is worth it to keep you alive. Seriously, I’m not interested in healing more than one tank (or two in a raid) and if you continue to pretend you are one, I will not waste my mana saving you.   If you get hit by that avoidable encounter mechanic almost every time, then you are at the bottom of my priority list.

12. Do you feel that your class/spec is well-balanced with other healers for PvE healing?

I think we are safely in the middle of the pack. We have some weaknesses, and we’re not “the best” at anything (as evidenced by Paragon not taking us to their HM Rag kill), but we are very versatile. Our mastery is decent for progression content and useless for farm content. Blizzard has continued to adjust our spells when we fell behind other healers.

13. What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

I look at Recount, and World of Logs (when one of our fine guild members is thoughtful enough to capture it). The biggest evaluation tool for me really is whether people died or not, and if they died, how could I have prevented it.

14. What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

The frequent uproar of top-notch guilds like Paragon not taking us along spreads the opinion that we aren’t good healers. That’s really true – we just don’t provide anything unique enough to be a part of the raid comp of an undergeared, cutting edge team trying to eek every shred of benefit out of composition. They are playing a different game then us, and I’m not convinced that Blizzard can ever balance classes completely at that level. For normal content – even for your typical hard mode raider,  we are still viable.

15. What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

Totems. We don’t have that many actual healing spells, but remembering to keep totems up and choose the right one at the right time is rather complex. Being able to cast Mana Tide, Fire Elemental, Spirit Link,  Tremor Totem, and even Earthbind on the fly during an encounter is crucial to excelling as a Resto Shaman.  Oh, and after you cast one of those specialized short-term totems you have to get your regular totem back up. I’m sure you have enough hotkeys for all that right?

16. If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?

I don’t cast my cooldowns as often as I should. It took me a few weeks after learning Spirit Link Totem to actually use it in an encounter.

My overhealing is generally quite low, at least compared to my usual Paladin and Druid counterparts. My output is usually first or second since I typically raid heal or combo heal the raid with an offtank.

As far as spell choices go, I use Riptide with utter abandon, maximizing  the Tidal Waves uptime. Greater Healing Wave is a frequent choice for tank healing and for players who stood in something bad.

I also make use of Telluric Currents quite frequently by casting Lightning Bolt. I love weaving LB in between heals. On farm content, being able to DPS a bit makes me feel more useful, and on progression content it gives me a mana safety net that is very reassuring. I tend to freak out a bit when running low on mana.

17. Haste or Crit (or Mastery) and why?

I have haste up to the first softcap  of 916 and after that I try to balance Crit and Mastery. The stat priorities for Resto Shaman are rather fuzzy depending on the encounter and raid size so I think the balanced approach works best for me.

18. What healing class do you feel you understand least?

This is a tossup between Paladins and Disc priests. I’ve only healed on my Paladin to level 40 or so, and my priest has always been Holy.

19. What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

I’m an addon junkie – I love configuring my UI, adding auras, and creating macros. Instead of taking hours to explain that here I will direct you to my plethora of UI posts.

• UI-Related Posts
• Addon List

20. Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

Balance is key for me to maintain my versatility. Intellect wins out over anything else, and I like to have as much Spirit on my gear as is reasonable, since I hate having mana issues. Among the other secondary stats I don’t lean too heavily on any one. Mastery is still a foggy area for me but I’ve come to see its benefit.

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2011. | Permalink | Leave a Comment
Post tags: Healing, Late as Usual

Site Resources: Shaman | Rogue | Addons

What is a resto/elemental shaman doing with an agility hat?

It all stems back to my hatred of Murglesnout. Since the expansion launched I have raged about the utter stupidity of the existence of such a fish. Back before fish feasts, Deepsea Sagefish were needed for caster food, and of course they were anti-social fish that didn’t swim in pools. Murglesnout were just salt in the wound – a worthless fish that swam in the ocean, cluttering up your bags and laughing at you each time you caught one of them instead of a Sagefish. Originally you couldn’t use Murglesnout in any recipes (now they just make a non-stat food).

I was quite passionate about this whole Murglesnout issue, and violently destroyed every one I found (ie. sold them to the nearest vendor). To my disgust, they kept making their way into our guild bank. I may have put up a few daily guild messages chewing out those who decided to dump their evil trash fish in the gbank. It didn’t take long before my crusade against the Murglesnout was known. My guildies did not take up the cause – instead they found it hilarious.

I had nightmares about logging in one day and finding my mailbox stuffed full of Murglesnout.

But the days went by, and the Murglesnout kept their distance from me. We fished for Seafood Feast mats instead of Sagefish, and I ran into the evil fish less and less. They faded to nothing more than a bad memory.

Last week we downed the Ascendant Council for the first time. A hunter/enhance hat dropped (of which we had none in our group), and I’m sure some sort of plate. I then heard the cry “Look at that hat!” “It’s a Murglesnout hat, Kae”. And I found it sitting in my bags.

I still can’t believe how ludicrous this fish/murloc hat looks. I’ve been wearing it around town, staring at it. I just can’t look away from this fashion train-wreck.

I think the deepsea Murloc that the hat is inspired by are haters of Murglesnout too. They’re tired of eating it – such an untasty, nasty fish that seems to be everywhere. The word Murglesnout has been adopted into Nerglish as a swear word.

Think about it. When Murloc are chasing you around, they’re shouting something like, “mrrrgrlrlr”. Sounds an awful lot like Murgle. It means something like,  ”go away you nasty non-edible creature or we will kill you”.

So yes, Bark – when you call me MurgleKae, you are swearing at me in Nerglish.

© Kaelynn for Shades of Kae, 2011. | Permalink | One Comment
Post tags: Hats, Murglesnout

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