Well I went and did it. A new main, new expac and a now a new blog to match.
Please come join me at my new location www.raidtrauma.com
The plan is for a more generally raid focused blog, with guides, tips and discussion.
I hope you all enjoy the new look and content. Posts here will clearly stop, but I hope you keep reading at the new location. The new site is still in a bit of flux, so please be patient as the final look and feel is finalized in the coming weeks.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Getting raid ready - playing catch up
Where I am currently at in the game is playing catch up. All my guildies are geared out, working on alts, bging and otherwise resting on their epiced out asses. Being late to the cata dance I don't have this luxery.
As a healer I am getting raid invites, which is really nice, but as someone who takes raiding fairly seriously I dont want to be a hinderence to my team, so I am doing my best when outside of raids to gear up as fast as possible. What this means, I am sure you all can guess, is grinding heroics. Grinding for gear first, and now grinding for rep and valor points.
Some things I have noticed in the heroic grind 8.0:
1) Going as a dps is really relaxing compared to gonig as a healer. Relaxing does not mean you can play foolishly, nor does it mean good dps aren't vital, because they are. It just means that a run where you are not soley responsible for whether your group is successfull or not is more relaxing than one where everyone is counting on you to keep their asses virticle. As such, when I have a bunch of dailys to do I will often queu up as dps, and just get carried along through the instace as shadow.
2) The better I get at healing the less I like going as shadow. Whenever I go as dps and someone dies I get mad at myself for queueing as shadow. I don't know if this is normal or not, but it's true. As a healer, even one running as dps, I feel personally responsible for the lives of my group mates. I think this is a good trait, but it can be damn annoying.
3) Healing dumb people is part of a healers job. Here is a message to all healers who are "going to let the dumb ass dps die in the fire." You arent teaching anyone anything, and are activly hurting your run. In raids we never do this, and I would argue that a raid healers job on several fights is to help out those to dumb to move the hell out of the way (thankfully I am in a guild where this is very rare). Now healing them at the expense of healing the tank, yourself, or really anyone else is dumb too, but not healing someone out of spite just makes you a jerk.
4) Good tanks are not always well geared, and well geared tanks aren't always good. It's amazing how many people assume gear equals skill in this game, especially for tanks, when it simply isn't the case. A healer in our guild just leveled a DK tank alt and we basically started heroicing the day he hit 85, with truly terrible tanking gear. You know what? The runs wen great. Why? Because he is a smart player, used cooldowns effectivly, and knew the fights. Skill > gear, even for tanks. Tanks please think about this on occasion. A good tank makes a healers life a lot easier.
5) Gearing up is a grind. Obvious? Sure. Still true though. Gearing can be fun when doing it with guildies, chatting over vent, and doing your best to mix things up a bit. That being said, it's still a chore, and getting raid ready still takes a large time commitment and focus. I am enjoying it, and seeing your character improve day by day is nice. It's still a pain in the ass though. Putting in the effort to max out your character outside of raids is what really separates successful raiders from unsuccessful ones in my opinion. This is true for anything, not just raiding of course. Put in the time when no one is looking and it will show up when people are.
More observations to follow I'm sure. Thus far I have healed 4/5 BoT, and BWD up to chimera, which we are working on heroic (an odd fight to heal, but a fun challenge). Next raid is scheduled for Sunday, going to do heroic Mag, and then finish out BoT normal I think. I will have a post Monday detailing how it went.
On a blog related note, I think my posts need more pictures in general. And the color scheme, title and header are all very warrior focused. Looking back this blog has been more WoW in general, even before the main switch, and I am thinking of a new name and color scheme which will make more sense. Look for changes upcoming, though nothing has been decided yet.
As a healer I am getting raid invites, which is really nice, but as someone who takes raiding fairly seriously I dont want to be a hinderence to my team, so I am doing my best when outside of raids to gear up as fast as possible. What this means, I am sure you all can guess, is grinding heroics. Grinding for gear first, and now grinding for rep and valor points.
Some things I have noticed in the heroic grind 8.0:
1) Going as a dps is really relaxing compared to gonig as a healer. Relaxing does not mean you can play foolishly, nor does it mean good dps aren't vital, because they are. It just means that a run where you are not soley responsible for whether your group is successfull or not is more relaxing than one where everyone is counting on you to keep their asses virticle. As such, when I have a bunch of dailys to do I will often queu up as dps, and just get carried along through the instace as shadow.
2) The better I get at healing the less I like going as shadow. Whenever I go as dps and someone dies I get mad at myself for queueing as shadow. I don't know if this is normal or not, but it's true. As a healer, even one running as dps, I feel personally responsible for the lives of my group mates. I think this is a good trait, but it can be damn annoying.
3) Healing dumb people is part of a healers job. Here is a message to all healers who are "going to let the dumb ass dps die in the fire." You arent teaching anyone anything, and are activly hurting your run. In raids we never do this, and I would argue that a raid healers job on several fights is to help out those to dumb to move the hell out of the way (thankfully I am in a guild where this is very rare). Now healing them at the expense of healing the tank, yourself, or really anyone else is dumb too, but not healing someone out of spite just makes you a jerk.
4) Good tanks are not always well geared, and well geared tanks aren't always good. It's amazing how many people assume gear equals skill in this game, especially for tanks, when it simply isn't the case. A healer in our guild just leveled a DK tank alt and we basically started heroicing the day he hit 85, with truly terrible tanking gear. You know what? The runs wen great. Why? Because he is a smart player, used cooldowns effectivly, and knew the fights. Skill > gear, even for tanks. Tanks please think about this on occasion. A good tank makes a healers life a lot easier.
5) Gearing up is a grind. Obvious? Sure. Still true though. Gearing can be fun when doing it with guildies, chatting over vent, and doing your best to mix things up a bit. That being said, it's still a chore, and getting raid ready still takes a large time commitment and focus. I am enjoying it, and seeing your character improve day by day is nice. It's still a pain in the ass though. Putting in the effort to max out your character outside of raids is what really separates successful raiders from unsuccessful ones in my opinion. This is true for anything, not just raiding of course. Put in the time when no one is looking and it will show up when people are.
More observations to follow I'm sure. Thus far I have healed 4/5 BoT, and BWD up to chimera, which we are working on heroic (an odd fight to heal, but a fun challenge). Next raid is scheduled for Sunday, going to do heroic Mag, and then finish out BoT normal I think. I will have a post Monday detailing how it went.
On a blog related note, I think my posts need more pictures in general. And the color scheme, title and header are all very warrior focused. Looking back this blog has been more WoW in general, even before the main switch, and I am thinking of a new name and color scheme which will make more sense. Look for changes upcoming, though nothing has been decided yet.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A new expac a new main
Well, after a long break from WoW due to law school and work getting crazy, i returned a couple of weeks ago to a guild in need of healers and a long haul to get raid ready.
I chose to level my priest instead of my warrior.
I am still amazed by this too. I mean, my warrior was all set up! He had all his professions ready, mounts, random gear to teleport me to odd places, flasks and food. I mean hell, he had my high capacity bags! All this set up, wasted. I suppose wasted is a little strong, but at least the benifits will be delayed in the reaping.
My priest, the final toon i got to 80 before Cata, was my leased prepared character. Only one profession over 300, the other at about 100 and I dont even like it. Epic flying and dual spec, but thats about it. Not even heroic Wrath gear, much less full raid gear like my war.
So how has it been with a barely prepared toon and playing catchup? All i can say is thank god for guildies willing to help and an easier leveling expirience. My priest has been a ball to play actually, leveling as shadow and healing as holy (the character is destined to be a healer, so healing as I leveled was helpful).
Once i hit 85 the slog really began, working on factions and grinding out heroics. From not feeling comfortable healing my first few heroics to this weekend healing 4/5 BoT, it has ben a whirllwind couple of weeks. It was an altand mains who missed the raid run, but was nice to get taken along, shown the ropes, and get my first healing raid expirience since vinilla under my belt. Our priest class lead spent an hour pre raid talking me through holy raid healing and gave me tips for each fight. Invaluable help from a guild member is worth more than all the guides you can read in my opinion, and Cynthesis, I apretiate all the help.
Do I miss the warrior? Hell yes. Will i go back? Maybe, but probably not. Healing is oddly addictive, especuially raid healing. Unlike dps where you are in a race, healing feels more like a team sport. I am enjoying that aspect of it a great deal, and seeing as my guild is hoping i replace a pretty terrible healer, I dont want to let them down.
What do you all think about rerolling for your guild? Well worth it for a group you enjoy playing with, or is your class choice more than simply another aspect of an mmo for you, a more defining aspect of your game enjoyment?
Oh and I dont know if I am going to change the blog name. Maybe.
I chose to level my priest instead of my warrior.
I am still amazed by this too. I mean, my warrior was all set up! He had all his professions ready, mounts, random gear to teleport me to odd places, flasks and food. I mean hell, he had my high capacity bags! All this set up, wasted. I suppose wasted is a little strong, but at least the benifits will be delayed in the reaping.
My priest, the final toon i got to 80 before Cata, was my leased prepared character. Only one profession over 300, the other at about 100 and I dont even like it. Epic flying and dual spec, but thats about it. Not even heroic Wrath gear, much less full raid gear like my war.
So how has it been with a barely prepared toon and playing catchup? All i can say is thank god for guildies willing to help and an easier leveling expirience. My priest has been a ball to play actually, leveling as shadow and healing as holy (the character is destined to be a healer, so healing as I leveled was helpful).
Once i hit 85 the slog really began, working on factions and grinding out heroics. From not feeling comfortable healing my first few heroics to this weekend healing 4/5 BoT, it has ben a whirllwind couple of weeks. It was an altand mains who missed the raid run, but was nice to get taken along, shown the ropes, and get my first healing raid expirience since vinilla under my belt. Our priest class lead spent an hour pre raid talking me through holy raid healing and gave me tips for each fight. Invaluable help from a guild member is worth more than all the guides you can read in my opinion, and Cynthesis, I apretiate all the help.
Do I miss the warrior? Hell yes. Will i go back? Maybe, but probably not. Healing is oddly addictive, especuially raid healing. Unlike dps where you are in a race, healing feels more like a team sport. I am enjoying that aspect of it a great deal, and seeing as my guild is hoping i replace a pretty terrible healer, I dont want to let them down.
What do you all think about rerolling for your guild? Well worth it for a group you enjoy playing with, or is your class choice more than simply another aspect of an mmo for you, a more defining aspect of your game enjoyment?
Oh and I dont know if I am going to change the blog name. Maybe.
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