Shy at WoW

2012-04-26T08:08:00.001+02:00

Another pretty.

I found it here.

Pink Cubes!

2012-04-07T09:08:00.003+02:00

I found these pretty cubes in Western Plaguelands, aren't they gorgeous!

Report Player

2012-04-04T11:10:00.002+02:00

Love love luuuuurve this!

Tyrande, you are beautiful

2012-03-31T12:46:00.001+02:00

Oh, how I missed you cube!

2012-03-30T12:20:00.002+02:00

Mists of Pandaria - Press Info First Impressions

2012-03-19T08:52:00.000+01:00

I read through a lot and found some funky things. The one that stood out to me the most was this one:

From Cory Stockton:
New Talent System
The choices that you make should actually matter, make your character feel unique, and add customization.

General Information:
You shouldn't feel like you have to take a certain talent if you are a healer. You can take any of the three talents and have fun with those.

Yeah, right…which one is it, guys? Or is it so that only for healers it doesn’t matter which talent you pick? I’m having a hard time putting this in line with the whole ‘mana should matter’ mantra as well.

I’m also reading some things that I’m shaking my head at:
"Have Group, Will Travel" will be replaced for example, because the goal in MoP is to emphasize on going out into the world to do stuff.

The goal is….yeah, but I read here, ‘it will take you longer to get organized for raids because everybody will have to fly there themselves.’ Not sure if that is a good choice, but hey maybe they’ll still allow raidleaders to summon the raid to them.

Then there are the pet battles, which I am looking forward to immensely, but I read this:
There are roughly 100 wild pets across Azeroth to collect.

And I’m thinking ‘holy crap monkies, you can overdo it Blizzard.’ Spreading this out instead of turning the bucket on players at launch seems like the better tactic.

Overall I’m actually quite excited about a lot that I’ve read, and I think this expansion will do quite a bit better than Cataclysm.

Things I am most excited about:

Players will be able to sort of earn dungeon levels, if you have not completed the right challenges you cannot do certain stuff. Yes! Finally a method to separate out players on something else than item level. I’m not sure how this pans out, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. I have always thought that a way to qualify for dungeons/raids/etc based on skill should exist.
A boatload of new models/mounts/etc to collect
A mass of new dungeons and raids.
Curious how the monk will work out, disappointed that the healer part of the monk will work on mana. Sounds like a pallie in leather.

Things I am most disappointed about:

During Blizzcon it was mentioned to have all character slots per account on one server. 11 character slots is somewhat disappointing comparatively. Actually very very very disappointing.
Mounts are not account wide, so switching mains is still not an option. Which makes me sad, so sad.

Woah, pretty!

2012-01-20T10:33:00.000+01:00

This is absolutely gorgeous...has of course nothing to do with the fact that I play a priest (cough)

Newly added Fanart, submitted by Rui Zhang (linxz)

Get rid of the gear check

2012-01-17T20:36:00.002+01:00

I was reading a topic in the forums (oh my god!) yes, I was bored, so what!?

This topic was all about how this dude got vote kicked in the most brutal way, and how he thought that vote kick should be removed.

His main reasoning was that people should not be allowed to vote kick for under performing players.

I disagree...well of course. Way too many people who are disgustingly rude in LFR, and who come in just to spoil the fun for others.

So here's my idea to make this better.

Get rid of the item level check, and put in a performance check instead.

Based on performance levels set by Blizzard you earn the right to loot. And if your performance was bad you don't get loot-locked to the boss and get to try again later. (this would also work perfectly for DCed players btw)

LFR is meant to learn the fights, but a lot of these people aren't learning or willing to learn. They come in and ride along for the loot. That should be finished. Give them second chances, but don't give them the reward until they've earned it.

Better yet, they have to prove through certain content that they can handle the raid. Have them go into a solo dungeon (NPCs for the rest of the group) and if they do not make it until the end because they screwed up too heavily they are not allowed to queue for LFR.

They should learn, not get kicked without reasoning, explanation, or whatever. These people can be valuable raiders for your core raid later on. That is...if they're willing to put the time in.

Right now they're walking off with loot that was earned for them by others who do know what to do.

Just a random thought...

Pretty Pictures

2012-01-10T08:49:00.001+01:00

I was told that I should share more often the pics I find online.

Well here you go. A pretty picture from a priest.

I got it from the site http://bestwowspecs.com which is a horribad site and is infested with commercials and probably all sorts of stuff you don't want to know about, but it did have some pretty pictures.

I liked the one for the rogue a lot as well :)

2012-01-05T15:49:00.001+01:00

Template is a work in process still, but much better than the standard notebook!

War of the Ancients - Titans Tribute Teaser

2012-01-05T12:04:00.000+01:00

Funny...we were talking about a scenario like this on vent the other day. But then in game...wonder what that would bring. Looking forward to the full film.

Working on getting a new template still btw...but I've been a bit lazy. Watching other people's work instead of creating stuff myself. Add to that the raidfinder and well..you get nothing. Enjoy the video at least :)

Argel template broken!

2011-12-23T13:21:00.000+01:00

So I just noticed that for some reason my template got broken. I'm working on fixing it in some way, apologies in the mean time >_<

EDIT: Of course there was no way that I could find the old template back so ....well, new template. It'll have to do.

Kick more noob!

2011-10-28T10:57:00.001+02:00

Frustration on.

I just came out of a dungeon that I stepped into on my own as a tank, so I would not have to wait for a queue and hey they bag would be nice too.

But this group suuuuuucked. First healer DCed, second left in the middle of the fight, and the third healer left when we finally reached the last boss.

Granted, the dps was shite, and on top of that they blamed the healer for getting killed by the spirits, but I wanted my bag. But for one small moment I didn't think and figured that I would invite a guildie to help this group finish the instance.

Never thought about the fact that Blizzard policy is to punish for the fact that you invite a friend. No bag.

I think there is something seriously wrong with a system that rewards for kicking players, and punishes the fact that you find a friend to finish what was a trialing run already anyways.

You hear me Blizz? Wrong...it is wrong to motivate people to skip their guildies in favour of a bag. It shouldn't matter how many pug slots there are in the group, if there is at least 1 pug slot that bag should be rewarded.

And the fact that my guildie who stepped in to help finish didn't even get the valor points because for him it wasn't random is completely dumb too. Yeah, right, better off doing this on your own and ignore friends and guildies, because that is what Blizzard rewards.

Gaaaah....dumbdumbdumb

Kay, frustration out.

All the Ninja Raiders

2011-10-10T12:20:00.002+02:00

Kay, so first watch this:

Well, listen is more like it...the video is not much special. I love this one, very catchy song...QQ QQ QQ QQ...

Now watch the one below the cut, and imagine the dude in hunter gear...

Warning, this image will burn itself into your retina and every time you hear the song you will see....oh well...on your own risk!

Wrought

2011-09-30T16:19:00.001+02:00

I was working on the most boring task evah at work so to keep myself happy I was playing youtube videos and wow machinima.

Loved this one, figured I would share :)

Healing is

2011-09-22T12:17:00.000+02:00

I haven't written much for a while now. Part of that is because I didn't feel much like writing and summer was here, but part is also because I felt that I just didn't have anything much to say.

Instead I just waited, cause there were promises out there that once the gear would improve, the mana situation would improve and well..healing would be more fun again.

It hasn't, and I've been trying to find out why that is..and I think I may have figured it out...
Back in school I was one of those students who learned though understanding a situation or a subject. The world is quite a logical place most of the time (luckily), and by knowing the basics of what I was getting myself into I generally managed to improvise myself through tests and exams.

I was also one of those people who got into trouble when I would have to sit down and actually learn stuff by heart. Not because I couldn't do that, but because I had, and still have, a great dislike for it. I speak 4 languages, but I learned those in practice by speaking them, not by sitting down and learning lists of words by heart.

World of Warcraft healing has gone from logical and reactive thinking to learning things by heart.

Where in ICC I could go into a fight knowing only the bare basics and improvising the rest, trusting on my knowledge of the priest and knowing that I knew how to apply my spells to any situation that would come up. In Cata you have to know beforehand what is happening. And this for the entire fight.

So while I can still go in and learn the fight while doing, I can no longer fully succeed while doing so. And I don't like this learning things by heart. To be fully successful I need to know when to use my specials, when to fall back on less mana intensive heals, when I catch a break to run my hymn of hope, etc. I need to know from beginning to end how the fight goes, and I need to learn it by heart.

So while I was thinking it would be the mana issues that would bug me the most, it really is the fact that I'm still a slug when it comes to reactivity. I still feel like the slowest role possible.

Funny enough they tried to get 'whack a mole' (though I never thought it was that) out of the game for healers, but seem to think it's a good thing for dps and tanks. Retribution is more whack a mole than healing has ever been. And I've been reading about tanks needing more buttons to press so they have stuff to do. Meanwhile my priest still feels like a beached whale, while I try to pre-actively think about everything cause otherwise my slowpoke spells won't arrive in time.

The other part that bugs me enormously is that I am no longer the savior. I cannot save people any longer, when they set their feet down wrong during a fight, they die. No more buying them time by healing them more. No, stand in the wrong spot and you die, death, game over. I have no influence over that, except for the rare time I can get a guardian spirit off.

So not only has the game gone from reacting to having to know beforehand, you also have to know 95% of the time. No leniency for human error, no crap lets not do that again, no learning on the run. Nope, people making mistakes generally means start over from the beginning. And it's harsher for 10s than for 25s, since losing a person has a much larger impact there.

I guess I can just count myself lucky that my school wasn't this strict or I would still be there trying to pass my exams.

What's disheartening to me is that I read everywhere that people are happy with the changes, and the designers themselves say that this new healing model is generally considered a success.

I feel like a sluggish beached whale, that should have a memory like an elephant, and it's considered successful...huh. Guess I have to live with being the minority, or find another role to enjoy.

The verdict on that one is still in the air...

In the meantime I'll have to look into writing on other topics I guess, maybe something on raiding next time.

Innervate nerfed for feral and balance due to healer mana

2011-06-17T12:23:00.000+02:00

"We cut back on the power of Innervates from Feral and Balance druids because we felt they were contributing to too much healer mana."

The above was quoted directly from Ghostcrawler himself as he explains why certain balancing changes are being made in the upcoming Firelands patch.

It's stuff like this that makes me wonder if Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street has ever attempted to heal 10man heroics...
Funny enough I was talking to the moonkin/resto druid for my own 10man the other day about mana restoration. Innervate from a moonkin gives 20% of the moonkin's mana pool when cast on someone else.

This moonkin is not at all badly geared, full 359, so where she should be for 10man heroics. However, the mana I was getting from her innervate totals about 30K mana. On my 150K mana pool this is not at all enormous, and if she plans it well she can perhaps use it twice during a fight on me.

The fact that healers are scrambling so much for mana in 10man heroics that they feel like they absolutely need the boomkin innervate to survive the fight tells me not that the innervate contributes too much to the healer's mana. It tells me that the mana situation of healers is so dire that the choice has to be made to let a dps or a healer run oom.

If the healer could take care of themselves don't the designer's feel that they would?

So they nerve emergency options..but I haven't seen buffs to compensate for this. So in the end it just became another tiny step more difficult to heal.

Funny enough I was talking with this same person about the difference between 10s and 25s and she indicated that the 25s she had healed in were mostly composed of 'lalala' healing. 2 of the 7 healers died and that was the point she felt she actually had to start healing somewhat more properly, yet still not to the level of healing 10man heroics.

And then I see blue messages like this one and I get this small knot in my stomach that says: 'Oh my god, I hope they also kept 10man heroics in mind when they made this change...'

Thank you, Oestrus!

2011-04-17T17:22:00.000+02:00

I wanted to say thanks to Oestrus. He has checked my priest spec, glyphs, logs, etc. And while I haven't followed all of the pointers, his advice did make me take a long hard look at my spec and glyphs and take a second look at choices that I had made at some points.

Our raid finally got the Nef kill, after 130 or so wipes and it took a lot of adjusting and a lot of fiddling with things. I'm still hoping for upgrades, but hey...soon.

Anyways, thanks again Oestrus :)

Priest Frustration

2011-04-10T08:33:00.000+02:00

So I just stepped out of my own raid purely out of frustration with my class. We had someone sitting and that person needed stuff from the next boss anyways so it wasn't the worst move, but when I feel like screaming at the fact that my class is so frustrating...

We were working on heroic Halfus and worked with 3 tanks, 3 healers. Now you need to know that we normally 2 heal just about everything, but for heroic Halfus that wasn't an option of course. So our druid moonkin/heals switched into her resto offspec....and outhealed me. And why? Because I am out of mana.

So I check my overhealing, I had the least overhealing of all 3 healers. I'm pretty damn sure I press the right buttons, I'm geared out for regen already because I generally have mana issues, but this...I just felt so powerless.

When I check logs I have less active time, less healing, and all because I cannot spare the mana to keep healing like other classes can seem to. I've gone over my spec, gone over my glyphs, my spell usage...and now I am lost on what to do better. On what to improve.

I am at a loss on where to squeeze my character for more mana, and while I could slide my stats somewhat towards throughput it won't help my healing much.

To be frank, it's not the first time that my priest frustrates me this badly. I've actually been at the point where I had announced that I would quit healing completely. Good thing I didn't cause then we would've had only one main spec healer in the raid...but blergh.

We've been at Nef for weeks now, and when I get into a mood like this it completely feels as if I'm the one holding back the raid from progressing. My raid is good about not taking damage when they can avoid it, and while I know I'm good, I'm lacking somewhere. I just wish I could put my finger it.

I must have missed something, somewhere, but I don't know where to look anymore.

Any and all help welcome btw...

Wazzup?

2011-03-02T16:04:00.000+01:00

So, it's been a while again since I posted. I think it may have to do with the fact that I'm getting busier in real life again, and bored with the game. Yes, there, I said it. I'm a bit bored with the game.

I'm currently working on getting my pallie leveled, but it's already the 4th character that I run through the same content within 3 months time. I have started looking at other hobbies a bit as well, bit less gaming, but more creativity perhaps?

I used to do a lot of written RP and I admit it, I miss it. So I went over to the community that I used to post a lot at and started poking for a wherewolf game. If you have no idea what a wherewolf game is, go here. And hey, maybe you might like the idea and sign up for one too.

In other news, my guild forums seem to explode with Rift posts lately, maybe I should have a closer look at it. The word on the street is that it is much like WoW Vanilla though and I'm not sure if I'm up for that. I mean I may be bored with Cata, but to go back to Vanilla...hrm.

Anyways, I will be updating the site with some easter stuff soonish, valentine was fun, but it will be back next year. And with that...laters!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:29:00.000+01:00

This morning there was a gorgeous bouquet of red flowers on my table, and underneath it stood a little package. Inside it I found a new pandora bead. This one:

It's my second charm where part of the money paid for them goes to a good cause. This one is for the fund of Asthma, and the previous one Thror got me went to the association that trains guide dogs for blind people.

So yes, my valentine's day started well. How about yours?

Everybody is Responsible

2011-02-12T17:41:00.000+01:00

Heroics are getting easier and last week I've already had two dps in the group who were doing stupid stuff. Standing in just about everything, or absent-mindedly breaking CC. When asked I got the replies that they were not paying attention, or watching television.

And you know what?

THOSE PEOPLE ARE SELFISH IDIOTS!

If everybody does their job the heroic is fun for everyone in there. Stuff is CCed in our group, not because I cannot heal through it, but because it makes everything go a lot smoother. I don't have to drink as often, and I don't have to stress out over healing. The healer, the tank, the dps all have a much more relaxed time if everybody carries their weight and simply does their job.

If one person starts slacking off, the healer has to pull more tricks and has to drink more often. The tank has to be a lot more vigilant on where threat lies, and the dps themselves risk to get a close-up of the floor.

And you know what?

If you end up in my group and you start screwing up because you're not paying attention, or because you're watching television, or doing other stuff you should not be doing....expect to be kicked. I generally bring a guild tank and a guild dps so we're with three of us, and you will get kicked.

Don't be that idiot and you'll probably have the smoothest run you've had all week, with chain pulls, at least 1 dps above 16K and a healer and tank who have now been working together for almost 4 years.

Goodbye Righteous Orbs

2011-02-07T15:29:00.000+01:00

I've been horribly behind in my reader (even though I don't even read that many blogs anymore), but when I finally caught up yesterday I read that Tam and Chas from Righteous Orbs have decided to stop blogging.

I read it yesterday, and yesterday it made me sad. I read it again with more attention today, and it still makes me sad. I think Righteous Orbs was a gem amongst the wow blogs. And not even because what was written there was always stuff I agreed with, but simply because I really, really enjoyed reading it. I've followed this blog since it Tam was still standing in the back with his sissy robes, and I will miss it, but I understand and respect the decision. Good luck Tam and Chas!

In the words of Bilbo Baggins (or close at least) "And they lived happily ever after... to the end of their days."

Honeymoon? Oy, shouldn't I at least get some time to think?!

2011-01-21T17:42:00.000+01:00

I was browsing through the blogs that I follow, and Larissa wrote a post about how she felt that the blogging community is experiencing a wave of people burning down the Cataclysm expansion. I read the entire article, and I think I caught it right after posting since there were no comments yet.

I did start writing a comment and then realized it had become so long that it would fit better in a post of my own. So here goes.

My thoughts on Cata so far.

I have levelled a nightelf mage to 62. So yes, I have gone through the new levelling process, of course not entirely since there are several zones that I didn't do, but I think it gave a good idea about the current style.

I thought it was a lot of fun, the flow felt nice, but it was definitely a solo experience. No groups needed, no dungeons needed. And even if you do dungeons...well who needs a tank. Or a healer for that matter, just blast your way through them, or at least most of them.

I have levelled two characters to 85, and am working on my hunter who has just dinged 83. On my main, priest, I did all the 80-85 quests that I could find even.

Again, a lot of fun, great story lines, but very much a solo experience. Some quests do eventually lead to dungeons, but there is no absolute need to do them and you can level easily without them. I did not at all get the boardwalk feeling as much as some have described, I mainly enjoyed how I was actually fully pulled into the story for a change.

My negative is that I would indeed like to see some group quests, and would actually love the difficulty tuned up a tiny bit for some special quests. Mind you, in general I thought it felt well tuned.

On my main I have run every Cata dungeon on heroic mode, and have probably run all of them at least five times. I like them. I keep wishing for scaling difficulty, because my gear is already making them much easier. B

My negative here is that I absolutely hated having to spend 2-3 hours in a dungeon. No, I don't spend that time there anymore now, but it's quite taxing to do so, and I did not experience that as a lot of fun especially.

And oh...I am still affraid of pugs, but if you go in a guild group things are a lot of fun.

We have also started raiding again. We have killed 4 bosses and I am LOVING it! I do find the healing quite frustrating at times, but once I got my head around the whole thing of the healer not being the saviour anymore, but just doing their job, it did get better.

The one thing I feel I cannot really comment on is PVP. I tried a BG once to see if I could learn more about healing, and discovered that it simply sucks as a healer since you get chopped down faster than you can get a heal off almost >_<

The changes to my class? I still hate mana management. I wish they would come up with a way to make healing more challenging without mana management. I just really don't like that I either have to chose not to heal, or well...I cannot heal at all. Which is still what I think that mana management basically comes down to.

I am very much looking forward to trying out Disc once the next patch goes live, and seeing if my favourite spec is a valid raiding spec again, since currently holy just crushes disc in raids. And while I have come to like my circle of shiny healing numbers, I still muscle memory towards my penance button.

Overall? I think that the raiding is brilliant, but solo content is lacking sorely at 85. My priest has nothing left to do but dailies (I hate dailies) and the daily obligatory random heroic for valor points. Sure, I can go fishing for guild achievement or farming herbs for raid flasks. Not really too exciting.

So...I level alts. I do hope that more will come soon though, since I am on my third alt and lets face it...80 to 85 just doesn't take that long!

Must frustrating thing in the game at the moment: Archaeology having upgrades pre-raid. Should never have been put in like this, I see various guildies digging themselves to boredom and annoyance for hours on end because there are no other ways to get upgrades for them except for raiding.

Most amusing thing in the game right now: The economy. I have been seeing glyphs go from 100G one day to 10S the next. Tradeskill gear goes for gigantic amounts, and I am just in awe how much gold there is amongst players. What does worry me a little is that gold sellers have become increasingly active since stuff is hard to get, so they probably get more business again. (more gold sellers = more hackers = more disappointed people)

End verdict? So far I still like Wrath better than I do Cata, but my 10man did really, really well in that expansion..so maybe I'm a bit biased ;)

Quick Guide to Halfus Wyrmbreaker

2011-01-18T17:43:00.000+01:00

We've been raiding a few weeks again already, and I have to say. It's not going too bad! My 10man has so far killed Halfus, Valiona and Theralion, Magmaw, and Omnotron....and we have made a couple of decent attempts at Ascendant Council; which I am confident we will kill upcoming weekend.

So I figured that I would share some tactics.

However, since there is quite some guides out there already I figured I would take a different approach. This will be more of a reminder guide, and a quick overview. Not so much a full-blown step by step fight guide.

Halfus Wyrmbreaker 10man

Composition: 2 tanks, 3 healers, 5 dps (yes, I know some say it can be done with 2 healers, but you shouldn't need 6 dps so why risk it?)

Halfus has 5 dragon type pets, and the proto behemoth. He will chose 3 each week to assist him, and the behemoth is always active.

Drakes in order of importance to free and kill:

Storm Rider – Shadownova on Halfus. Releasing the Storm Rider reduces the cast time of Shadow Nova and makes it possible to interrupt it.

Whelps – Killing the whelps significantly reduces Halfus’ damage and increases his damage taken.

Nether Scion – Halfus gains 100% attack speed when this drake is active. Releasing the Nether Scion will reduce Halfus’ attack speed, hit chance, and damage by 25%.

Time Warden – When released it roots player periodically, including the fireballs from Halfus’ protodrake. Causes fireballs to move much more slowly.

Slate Dragon – When Slate is active Halfus will put a mortal strike debuff on your tank reducing healing taken by 5% each time he hits a target. This ability stacks. When Slate is released it stuns Halfus periodically for 12 seconds.

Unless you have the top 3 to deal with you can free the most important two from this list and then ignore the third while you kill Halfus. If you do have Storm Rider, Whelps and Nether you will have to free all three.

At 30% he will start doing a pulse that will stun the entire raid. Each pullse will come ticks of 3. Make sure to interrupt shadownova still if Storm Rider was one of your dragons.