tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12824823673346393962024-03-13T00:52:57.628-07:00The Chaotic DruidA WoW Blog brought to you by Mayhêm, a Resto/Feral druid aiming to entertain and guide my lovely readers!
ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-64227638964321891722014-03-17T08:48:00.000-07:002014-03-17T08:48:25.159-07:00WoD Healing changes <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since reading the revealed healing changes <a href="http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/13183878/dev-watercooler-building-healthy-gameplay-07-03-2014" target="_blank">here</a>, there has been a thrum of excitement from the healing community on Twitter and in game. The changes make me extremely happy, but have been met with mixed responses - understandably. In my opinion these changes are needed desperately; read on to find out why.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2>
<u>Going back a step</u></h2>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">'If your allies spend more time between 0% and 100%, then it won't usually be overhealing.' - Celestalon</span></b></blockquote>
<br />
I hear many people talking about the healing changes being reminiscent of how it was back in Cataclysm, this inherently requires me to look back into Cata healing and pick apart what was good and what was bad. The first question I have to ask is this: Is taking a step back a good thing?<br /><br />Having not played during Cataclysm I had to trawl forums, ask people in my guild and on Twitter, the answer was a resounding one. It was better than the frankly sorry state it is in now even with the downsides; going out of mana (OOM) very easily if you do not take care and use efficient heals, and the fact that healing potency was far lower than it was now, to the point that poor old druids were pretty much useless until the very end of the expansion where they got a buff... when it was too late.<br />
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<h4>
Cata VS MoP</h4>
<br />So what where the upsides to Cata healing compared to MoP?<br /> <br />
<ul>
<li><u><b>Challenging</b></u> - Healing did not revolve one shot mechanics as it does now, meaning that many people will be hovering around the 50% - 90% and you have to make informed decisions on who you need to heal and what spells you need to cast to achieve that goal.</li>
<li><u><b>Fun</b></u> - Everyone I speak to says that Cata healing was fun, compared to MoP at least. mostly because it was not based on race healing and keeping people at 100% at all times, even if you have to spam and over-heal to achieve it.</li>
<li><u><b>Skill stands out/easily noticeable</b></u> - Good healing does not stand out very plainly at the moment mostly because you can spam heal like crazy to keep people alive and get away with it. 'Good' healers are fairly common, where as back then good healers stood out, were cherished and sought after. This is because being bad was apparent very quickly due to OOM-ing, not using CC and other helpful spells, not to mention the main thing, people dying.</li>
<li><u><b>Meaningful spell choices</b></u> - Healing used to involve informed decisions; is healing that tank from 40% an emergency or can I use cheaper and slower casted spells that cost less mana? As I have said before and will probably say many times during this blog, the current model is spam happy.</li>
<li><u><b>Slower paced</b></u> - Healing back then the heals bars dropped slower and in smaller chunks. This gives healers a time to actually think a strategy through and carry it out, rather than the current model of 'OMG THE HUNTER DROPPED TO 30% HP IN ONE HIT, SPAM EVERYTHING I HAVE TO GET HIM FULL HP NAOWWW!!!'. And then the hunter dies anyway because he got RNG'd by some rubbish boss mechanic before you had time to cast your heal...</li>
<li><u><b>More intelligence required</b></u> - Healers had to know their class more in depth, you had to know how to be 100% mana efficient, any waste potentially could cost lives eventually when you OOM. Now... just no. I would bet money I could heal a flex mode by using just one skill alone!</li>
<li><u><b>Absorbs were not crucial</b></u> - If you have read my previous blog posts you know how I feel about absorbs currently *eye twitch*. Back then they did not rule healing, they facilitated it.</li>
<li><u><b>Healing was far less potent</b></u> - Nowadays you can instant heal a player from 20% to full hp. That has lead to stressful boss mechanics that currently make healing a bad experience, my current motto is 'You wont die if you don't get one shot' and this is 90% true for our raid group.</li>
</ul>
<br />
If any of my thoughts on cata healing are wrong, I apologize. Feel free to correct me, I don't bite! <span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br />
<ul>
</ul>
<h2>
Back to the Future</h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33Q97E7V0XOfSwjKPb9GSFYEvgXzakI2jkZY4ApKaGsxbIPC44ZBTMaBuu_iRTDlBiFNV13ExIkJtiSttpcp9V08eL17PIMFmrXINgKHQQrjyR9ewePbSk5srDv_3vW1RES2tbqmKTcU/s1600/back+to+the+future.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33Q97E7V0XOfSwjKPb9GSFYEvgXzakI2jkZY4ApKaGsxbIPC44ZBTMaBuu_iRTDlBiFNV13ExIkJtiSttpcp9V08eL17PIMFmrXINgKHQQrjyR9ewePbSk5srDv_3vW1RES2tbqmKTcU/s1600/back+to+the+future.jpg" height="158" width="320" /></a><br />So after making a distinction between MoP and Cata are you exited? You should be!<br />
<br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Throughput </h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /><b><span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: lime;">''One
of our goals for healing in Warlords of Draenor is to tone down the raw
throughput of healers relative to the size of player health
pools...Ideally, we want players to spend some time below full health
without having healers feel like the players they’re responsible for are
in danger of dying at any moment.<span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="color: lime;">We also think that healer gameplay
would be more varied, interesting, and skillful if your allies spent
more time between 0% and 100%, rather than just getting damaged quickly
to low health, forcing the healer to then scramble to get them back to
100% as quickly as possible.''</span></b><span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: black;"><b><span style="color: lime;"></span></b><br /></span></span></blockquote>
<br />
This in my mind is first and foremost on the fapping list. No more feeling like the wipe was your fault because you didn't heal someone in 0.2 seconds of them being hit for 60% of their HP. No more feeling useless when a mechanic makes it almost mandatory to have absorb healers. The current healing model is very stressful, because people will die
through no fault of your own, and quite often no fault of theirs,
feeling the disappointment of a wipe just because boss mechanics can one
shot your raid members is very disheartening. My current raid group
have HC Iron Jugs on farm, but the boss still wipes us frequently due to
laser/ricochet/cannon combinations, which cannot be helped most of the
time.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Healing:Damage</h4>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">''To that end, we’re buffing heals less than we’re increasing creature damage. Heals will be deliberately less potent compared to health pools than before the item squish. Additionally, as gear improves, the scaling rates of health and healing will now be very similar, so the relative power of any given healing spell shouldn’t climb so much over the course of this expansion. For those concerned about what this means for raiding, don’t worry—we’re taking all of these changes into account when designing Raid content for Warlords of Draenor.''</span></b></blockquote>
<br />
It is undeniable that Blizz are very keen to mix things up drastically in regards to the healing model, as proven evident in the aforementioned statement. Although it worries me ever so slightly that they are increasing creature damage at the same time as nerfing heals, logically this would imply that there would be a negative ratio of healing to damage? Maybe this will mean that if people stand in bad in raids and take damage they will not die immediately but the healers will find it ever increasingly difficult to keep on top of the healing without oom-ing themselves, eventually leading to a slow wipe where several raid members hover at around 10% HP and eventually die. This would be AMAZING. it would reinforce that 'standing in bad' is a massive no-no, as that extra damage you take will eventually guarantee the raid groups eventual doom. Currently you can get away with it a little bit, unless the bad on the floor kills you pretty rapidly (fallen protectors poison, Garrosh desecrated axe, Siege Crafter lazer beam fire).<br />
<br />
<h4>
Absorbs</h4>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">''All of these changes apply to damage-absorption shields as well. Additionally, we're toning down the power of absorbs in general. When they get too strong, absorption effects are often used in place of direct healing instead of as a way to supplement it. We will, of course, take these changes into account when tuning specializations that rely heavily on absorbs, such as Discipline Priests.''</span></b></blockquote>
<br />
Disc priests are in my opinion, going to be a huge hurdle in the decision making process for Blizzard while putting the finishing touches on the game, and if you currently play a disc priest I actually <b>almost</b> feel sorry for you, because not only are you going to get your hugely overpowered shields nerfed to the ground, but over the course of the months post WoD launch you can probably expect numerous changes to your class, which can be very disrupting and a bitter pill to swallow most of the time.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Smart heals</h4>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">''We also took a look at healing spells that were passive or auto-targeted (so-called "smart" heals). We want healers to care about who they're targeting and which heals they're using, because that makes healer gameplay more interactive and fun. To that end, we're reducing the healing of many passive and auto-targeted heals, and making smart heals a little less smart. Smart heals will now randomly pick any injured target within range instead of always picking the most injured target. Priority will still be given to players over pets, of course.''</span></b><br /></blockquote>
This change is both good and bad; I need to jump into bullet point form again!<br />
<br />
<b>Good:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Prevents mindless spamcasting of smart heals such as chain heal and wild growth</li>
<li>Makes healing decisions more meaningful</li>
<li>Puts much more emphasis on casting the 'right' heals - for mana efficiency</li>
<li>Requires more co-ordination from dps and more insight from healers to maximise the potential heals from your 'ex'-smart heals</li>
</ul>
<b>Bad:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Adds an element of RNG to healing, no one likes RNG</li>
<li>'Ex'-smart heals will contribute to overhealing, and from what I gather overhealing is going to be much more taboo that it is now</li>
</ul>
Overall I am pretty happy about the changes they are planning to make to smartheals, it has already started to make me think about how I should utilize them in the new gameplay to ensure maximum efficiency whilst of course keeping people alive.<br />
<br />
<h4>
AOE VS Single </h4>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">''Another of our goals for healing in this expansion is to strike a better balance between single-target and multi-target healing spells. We've taken a close look at the mana efficiency of our multi-target heals, and in many cases, we're reducing their efficiency, usually by reducing the amount they heal. Sometimes, but more rarely, raising their mana cost was a better decision. We want players to use multi-target heals, but they should only be better than their single-target equivalents when they heal more than two players without any overhealing. This way, players will face an interesting choice between whether to use a single-target heal or a multi-target heal based on the situation.''</span></b></blockquote>
<br />
Yet another mana efficiency change, no longer will plonking down an AOE heal for a single person be a viable option as it is now. It is very apparent that mana efficiency is at the top of their priority list, it gives me a very warm fuzzy feeling that Blizz are aware of the problems within their game and are taking proactive measures to make the healing model much better.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Button Squish </h4>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">''Finally, we're removing the low-throughput, low-mana-cost heals like Nourish, Holy Light, Heal, and Healing Wave, because we think that while they do add complexity, they don’t truly add depth to healing gameplay. (We’re also renaming some spells to re-use those names. For example, Greater Healing Wave is being redubbed Healing Wave.) However, we still want healers to think about their mana when deciding which heal to cast, and so the mana costs and throughputs of many spells are being altered to give players a choice between spells with lower throughput and lower cost versus spells with higher throughput and higher costs.''</span></b></blockquote>
<br />
Although this sounds like a pretty major change, in my opinion this was very long overdue and makes very little impact on the game as a whole. I do not know any healers who actually bother to use any of the heals listed, purely because the current mana Regen allows for the low efficiency higher heal abilities without any negative consequences, ultimately making the higher efficiency lower heals completely redundant.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Mana regen </h4>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">''All of this discussion of efficiency may cause most healers to start worrying about mana regeneration and their mana pool. To allay those concerns, we’ve increased base mana regen a great deal at early gear levels, while having it scale up less at later gear levels. This will make all of these changes play well even in early content such as Heroic Dungeons and the first tier of Raid content, and also play well in the final Raid tier without mana and efficiency becoming irrelevant due to extremely high regeneration values.''</span></b></blockquote>
<br />
This is quite simply a common sense buff, I know from healing Cata dungeons while leveling other toons I felt very bogged down by the amount of mana I had to spend to simply keep people alive, this was probably mainly due to the dungeon group not avoiding a single bit of damage but non-the-less, there is obviously a point where no matter how good you and your group are, you still need a sensible amount of mana regeneration to keep you afloat. I trust Blizz will test and perfect this and perhaps make mana efficiency a little more forgiving at lower levels. <br />
<br />
<h4>
Casters become Casters again!</h4>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: lime;">''Over time, healers have gained a bigger and bigger arsenal of heals that they can cast while on the move, which removes the inherent cost that movement is intended to have for them, while also limiting players’ ability to counter healing in PvP. This left silences and crowd control (which we’re trying to curb—see "<a href="http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/13107743/" target="_blank">Pruning the Garden of War</a>") as the only ways to actually limit an enemy player's healing output. We're still preserving the option to instantly heal, but are reducing the number of instant-cast healing abilities overall.</span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: lime;"><b>All of these changes taken together are intended to make gameplay more consistent between PvE and PvP, and invigorate healers with more dynamic gameplay.</b></span><b><span style="color: lime;">''</span></b></blockquote>
The changes they are making to many instant cast heals pleases me greatly. Casters are meant to cast their spells, is that not the whole point? You use your noggin to pick a decent safe spot and heal away for as long as you can before being forced to move. I find it a little overpowered at the moment where casters have a whole arsenal of abilities at their disposal which undermines the benefits of playing a melee character.<br />
<br />
Resto druids are a prime example of this, there is a barely a spell in my toolkit where I actually need to cast anything at all. The 2 set bonus lets me cast instant heal touches, NS does the same, juve, WG, SM, LB... I can go through whole Heroic raid bosses without casting a single spell where I have to stay where I am. This not only removes the 'pick your spot wisely' element from the game but it also trivialities much of the boss mechanics that were designed to make people move, instant casting completely removes any consequence to movement that i am fairly sure the Devs had in mind.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
All of these changes have pleased me no end, it is extremely refreshing to see Blizzard have listened to their customer base and have made the necessary changes to improve the healing game by a great deal. All we can do now is sit and wait to see if all of our healing dreams actually come into fruition.<br />
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Thank you for reading,<br />
<br />
Mayhem<br />
<br />ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-13971518279910706282014-02-03T05:34:00.000-08:002014-02-03T05:34:10.880-08:00Healing under Scrutiny Part 1 - Absorbs and Smart Heals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
This is the beginning of a series of articles where I plan on highlighting and evaluating possible flaws in the healing system. Using research, my experience and some logical reasoning to try and answer the question that exists on a lot of healers lips at the moment: Is healing broken?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Broken? I heal just fine!</h2>
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">''<i>People blame smart heals and discipline priests and whatever, that's really not the core of the issue --> Healing is stupidly broken</i>.'' - Aladya from Method</span><br />
<br />
<br />
When I say broken I mean it in the sense that sometimes healing does not feel how it should. Sometimes it can can be frustratingly easy and other times it feels like you are mashing buttons in the hopes that people simply stay alive (due to silly 'heal check' mechanics). Healing is something many people have become extremely passionate about and are getting a little bit concerned by the direction that it is heading. I aim to address these concerns.<br />
<br />
Firstly and most importantly, what is contributing to the concept of broken healing at the moment?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Absorbs</li>
<li>Smart heals</li>
<li>Too many cooldowns</li>
<li>Raid design</li>
<li>Ability bloat</li>
<li>Class dependency</li>
<li>Hybrid healing </li>
</ul>
<br />
I appreciate that this has been written about in various forms in various blogs and forums but I am yet to find anything... substantial on the matter. It is more a bunch of opinions and non constructive cries for change.<br />
<br />
My aim is to form a well structured logical and thought provoking article that rallies healers into discussing how we should move forward into WoD. So without further ado...<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Absorbs</h2>
<br />
<br />
<i>''Bring the player not the class, unless you are a healer, in which case bring a discipline priest.</i>'' - Mayhem<br />
<br />
This topic is very controversial at the moment, but why? My thoughts: <br />
<br />
<ul><a href="https://www.abugames.com/images/products/invasionfoil/absorb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://www.abugames.com/images/products/invasionfoil/absorb.jpg" /></a>
<li>Absorbs are 100% efficient at converting your mana into healing, they sit on the target until the shield is whittled away by damage or drops off naturally. It requires very little skill.</li>
<li>Absorbs suppress all other healing throughput. While the raid sits at full HP and shielded, raid damage will be soaked by those shields first and foremost, leaving scraps for other healers.</li>
<li>Absorbs can save lives in ways that conventional healing cannot. Imagine a raider is hit with an ability/mechanic that takes them down to 30% hp (plenty of abilities like this in SoO HC) and then RNG happens and another ability/mechanic hits them for 30% hp straight after, they die. However if they were previously Power Word shielded they would probably end up on around 50% hp after the initial hit, giving them a much larger buffer to heal back up again.</li>
<li>The lack of absorbs in any given raid boss is TOO noticeable, in fact I have heard stories of how boss strategies (during progression) have had to be completely changed purely based on wether they have absorb healers or not.</li>
<li>The vast majority of Absorbs are actually passive (major examples being Illuminated healing, Divine Aegis, Spirit Shell and Blood Shield - Yes i did just go there there!), which if you read the previous bullet points, makes them even more overpowered and very frustrating to deal with for other healers.</li>
</ul>
<br />
First of all I would like to express my awareness and understanding of how irrelevant the healing meters are for talented healers. They should only ever be used as a tool to nit pick at what abilities did the highest amount of healing, counting dispels and finding ways of improving yourself. However having said that the competitive spirits within most of us will always feel good to have good numbers (high total healing, high HPS and low Overhealing).<br />
<br />
With this in mind, if you have ever raided 10man with a priest and to a lesser extent a holy paladin you will quickly start to feel quite... Inadequate. The amount of effective healing and HPS will overshadow even the most competent non absorb based healers, not to mention we end up spending time during raid encounters staring at bars that stay at 100% despite the fact that your raid team is taking damage. Its almost the equivalent of another DPS taking the boss into another realm so just he himself can DPS it while the rest of the raid group sit outside being bored.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Why is this important?</h4>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEchXMb0lTVaXX6AZzzMeXxjoGKxJIQJnpZWWTiD0TJtPlJmZREjgmjm-7wqI3PsSgWmPQHqoGevn3zcdwvYahaiINYAMfO6s18kfNlQWr5TauZKpaWKSAcyUoq44BwzUguoHUYlLFvhE/s1600/Fun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEchXMb0lTVaXX6AZzzMeXxjoGKxJIQJnpZWWTiD0TJtPlJmZREjgmjm-7wqI3PsSgWmPQHqoGevn3zcdwvYahaiINYAMfO6s18kfNlQWr5TauZKpaWKSAcyUoq44BwzUguoHUYlLFvhE/s1600/Fun.jpg" /></a>To me people play WoW because they want to enjoy themselves, and part of that enjoyment for healers is to feel 'powerful' and 'useful', by this I mean healers chose that role to do exactly what you would imagine them to do, keeping people alive. No healer wants to sit in a raid twiddling their thumbs waiting for something to do while the co-healer is having a blast as not even a single raid member's HP drops. This quite clearly detracts from any form of fun that non absorb classes can have while healing.<br />
<br />
Due to the fact that absorbs are (and lets face it) supremely more efficient, effective and useful than your 'bog standard' heals that non absorb classes get, we cant help but feel hard done by.<br />
<br />
If you have read my healing 101 article you will fully understand what healing means to me and why I am so passionate about it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Can absorbs be fixed? </h4>
<br />
<br />
I think they can, and hopefully they will. Going into WoD the blizzard team will hopefull come up with some intuitive ways circumventing the fact that absorbs are overbearingly powerful.<br />
<br />
As for my ideas on the matter:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Place a cap or even remove the ability to shield an already full HP target. This will completely stop absorb classes having 'first dibs' on a lot of healing and prevent scenarios where raid mechanics can be bypassed or done differently to how you would do them with non absorb classes.</li>
<li>Make absorbs interact with other healing in some way based on class mastery. By this I mean make absorbs fun for everyone, not just the person using them, some imagination and adaptation would be required to implement this but it would add much needed flavor back into healing.</li>
<li>Stop absorbs from being passive and make them more deliberate. This is a huge one for me, Absorbs are the most efficient form of healing and yet they are applied by doing almost nothing at all (Atonement/Illuminated healing).</li>
<li> Design bosses that do not require absorbs to make it easier. Bosses that throw out extremely high spikes of damage, or where people go out of range of healers for a small while, or where the raid is stacked up and takes periodic damage from a single target. All of these facilitates a perfect environment for absorbs to thrive, making other healers less effective and sometimes meaning they get benched in favor of absorb classes.</li>
<li>Stop absorbs from being instant. They should have more meaningful casting requirements.</li>
<li>Remove absorbs or give all classes absorbs. This is not because other healers are jealous, it is because other healers are getting very frustrated when they heal alongside priests and paladins. (just look at Sonies blog or twitter!)</li>
</ul>
<br />
While some of these points may seem a little drastic, I still maintain that if something drastic does not change, the problem is only going to get worse with new level 100 talents and stat percentages getting higher and higher.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Smart Heals</h2>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">''<i>A <b>smart spell</b> is a spell that behaves intelligently in response
to a situation. A smart spell's behavior usually involves a selection of
targets, attempting to make the optimal selection from those available.</i>'' - Wowpedia</span><br />
<br />
Smart healing is currently running rampant in World of Warcraft, more or less every healer class has an abundance of smart healing mechanics in their toolbox. The ability
to simply press a button and let the game do all the hard work for you
is lazy, boring, uninspiring, unskillful and quite frankly far too
effortless.<br />
<br />
I feel that to a certain extent Monk healers should be excluded from this list due to the fact that they have lots to consider when fist weaving not to mention eminence only contributes 50% of their damage as apposed to the 90% disc priests enjoy, they also only provide bog standard non overpowered (non absorb) heals which personally I can live with. Healing on a Monk is fun, and healing alongside a monk is equally as fun.<br />
<br />
What is so bad about smart heals then (in bullet point form please mayhem!!) I hear you ask? <br />
<br />
<br />
<ul><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-krfdVeM4c0w/T8T_bQNMrII/AAAAAAAAAFw/nsRhPcJojcY/s1600/Easy-Button.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-krfdVeM4c0w/T8T_bQNMrII/AAAAAAAAAFw/nsRhPcJojcY/s1600/Easy-Button.jpg" height="304" width="320" /></a>
<li>Fire and forget. This means all you need to do is press a single button and poof, the game does the rest of the work for you.</li>
<li>Makes the game easier, the more smart heals that exist the easier the game becomes, until you get to the point where you are just pressing a rotation without even using your mouse while watching the TV...</li>
<li>Takes away intensity from the fight. Those hair raising moments where a someone gets low, you decide on a spell to heal them and.... oh no wait, healing stream totem and Efflorescence just healed them up, never mind.</li>
<li>Takes away player interaction from the fights. While healing you want to be in full control of your character and their abilities, being certain of the people you want to heal and go about making sure they don't die. Letting a computer decide this for you is a loss a control, this loss of control adds to a loss of immersion.</li>
<li>Too strong!! Smart heals are called that for a reason, the game calculates who has the lowest health and goes about healing them in a fraction of the time it would take a mere human, giving you, the player, time to think about other things in the meantime.</li>
<li>Too many!! There are at least 100 quadrillion different smart heals in WoW nowadays (give or take a couple), and as such you tend to find that a lot of heal sniping/collision occurs when you plan on actually 'manually' healing the raid yourself.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Why is this important?</h4>
<br />
<br />
To make the game fun you have to involve the player in the decisions beyond deciding when to press an all singing all dancing button that does 80% of the work for you. The decisions on who we heal should belong to the healers more so than they do now. In my opinion druids are the best example of non smart heal driven healing style. Sure efflorescence and wild growth are Smart heals but without them druids would arguably have very little in the way of AOE healing. the rest of the time everything else is purely based on player decisions.<br />
<br />
Other classes such as Shamans are absolutely fraught with smart healing mechanics, making them not only boring to play but arguably too powerful. This, unfortunately, in turn causes the Devs at Blizzard to make encounters more damage driven rather than tactics/mechanics driven as we have seen from most of the HC encounters in MoP.<br />
<br />
<br />
You don't see any dps that have a button that does their rotation for them while they go make a cup of tea, so why should healers be treated the same way?<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
How could smart heals be fixed?</h4>
<br />
<br />
I honestly believe that this is not something that can be easily fixed without causing a complete uproar from the more casual players of the healing community. Being handed an easier way to heal, that requires less attention and less effort is far more appealing than having to focus on triage, ensuring proper use of spells and coordinating your heals in a more controlled and more situational manner.<br />
<br />
However if I were to try and fix this problem I would probably suggest the following:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Reduce the effectiveness of smart heals, if they are less powerful they suddenly transform from an ability that is essential, to an ability that simply helps.</li>
<li>Make non smart heal type abilities more meaningful and accessible. A perfect example is on a Resto shaman, you will rarely see them casting any of the healing waves, because most of the time other tools in his Kit will get the job done faster and more effectively.</li>
<li>Design raid bosses to involve more interesting healing mechanics, a fight where you are literally spamming all of your abilities like crazy to keep people alive is not as fun as a Tortos style encounter for example.</li>
<li>Lower the amount of targets they effect, or simply remove the smart heal affect and replace it with a new mechanic that either splits healing between X amount of nearby players or adds a healing taken buff for example.</li>
</ul>
<br />
My final point which is slightly too long to get away with in bullet point format is the overhealing element<br />
<br />
Change the way overhealing works.<br />
<br />
Overhealing is more or less the reason smart heals are useful, it reduces overhealing due to the efficient way the game decides who the smart heal with target (Lower HP people are prioritized). If you make overhealing more interesting and useful it suddenly removes the need to utilize powerful smart heals in the first place. Here is the current overheal effects on each of the classes. <br />
<br />
Shaman - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=105284/ancestral-vigor">Ancestral Vigor</a> <br />
Druids - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=145205/wild-mushroom">Wild Mushroom</a><br />
Paladins - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=76669/mastery-illuminated-healing">Illuminated Healing</a><br />
Disc Priest - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=47515/divine-aegis">Divine Aegis</a> (to a certain extent)<br />
Holy priest - <span style="color: lime;">None</span><br />
Monks - <span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: lime;">None</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
From my experience as a healer, the only truly useful overheal mechanics come from Paladins and priests, both of which utilizes Absorbs, these are useful but <b>too strong</b>. <br /><br />Wild mushrooms are a very interesting and intuitive way of utilizing my overhealing on a druid, as the bloom itself is player controlled it brings in a level of control back to druids who typically do quite a lot of overhealing.<br /><br />Ancestral Vigor is not very useful at all unless you are expecting a particularly big hit that would otherwise kill a raid member but the fact that the % of health remains unchanged after they effected player loses the buff makes the ability rather lack luster.<span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: black;"> <span style="color: lime;">Suggestion:</span> <span style="color: lime;"><i>Overhealing i</i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="q"><span style="color: lime;"><i>ncreases an ally's maximum health. Lasts 10 sec. When the effect expires, the accumulated overhealing on each player turns into a buff that increases the healing that the target receives from single target healing spells.</i></span></span></span></span></span><br />This not only encourages shamans to reply more on single target spells but also brings back a level of player control over an encounter by use of careful planning.<br /><br />Holy priests currently have no mechanic in place at all to compensate for overhealing. The main question firstly is - do they need/want it? I have never played a Holy priest before and it has actually been quite rare for me to raid with one, thus I cannot really comment or even make a suggestion on this class.<br /><br />Monks do not have any overhealing mechanics either but I feel that due to the way they work, it is not important for them to have any. Although it seems quite unfair that disc priests get some form of respite from thier overheals, technically making them more efficient.<br /><br /><br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
<br />
<br />
Although absorbs and Smartheals do have flaws that can possibly sap some of the fun from WoW, they are very both clever mechanics that could be a lot of fun if they were tuned correctly and didn't have such a large impact on current Raid content and game play.<br />
<br />I hope you enjoyed reading this article and feel free to leave a
comment below if you dissagree with anything or simply just want to
voice an opinion.<br />
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Thanks,<br />
<br />Mayhem<span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="q"><span style="color: lime;"><i></i></span></span></span></span></span>ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-66345005286206435552014-01-31T17:18:00.000-08:002014-02-03T12:17:15.629-08:00Healing SoO - The Fallen Protectors<br />
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<a href="http://ad-infinitum.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/fp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ad-infinitum.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/fp.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Hello again readers, I sit here in my little air conditioned 2 man room
typing away furiously to bring you another Heroic guide; this time it's
all about the Fallen Protectors.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Three's a Crowd</h2>
<br />
<br />
From a pure healing point of view, this fight is a complete and utter mess, but at the same time its actually pretty well organized... What I mean by this is that at first, when your DPS are not accustomed to the fight, you will be healing so hard that you will be ooming yourself rather quickly. I think both me and my co-healer were pulling 250k HP/s each up until the point we wiped on the first 3 or 4 tries (I think my raid group underestimate HC's a bit too much!). As we all learned to deal with the mechanics a bit better the healing figures went down pretty drastically. This fight puts high emphasis on each individual making the right decisions and as such it tests the skill level of everyone present.<br />
<br />
Lets get down into the nitty gritty shall we?!<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
What is different from normal mode? </h4>
<br />
<ul>
<li> The travel time of the beer barrels thrown by Rook (<a href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143023">Corrupted Brew</a>) decreases by 0.5 seconds every two casts. This effect is reset when Rook enters Desperate Measures. </li>
<li>The adds that appear during Rook's Desperate Measures now have a shared health pool. </li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/147383">Debilitation</a> debuff applied during He's Desperate Measures now reduces armor by 80% for 4 minutes, up from 50% for 2 minutes in Normal mode. </li>
<li>Sun's <a href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/124845">Calamity</a> deals 10% more of players' maximum health with each cast. This effect is reset when Sun enters Desperate Measures. </li>
<li>Greatly increased damage on most of the abilities</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
What the raid should do</h4>
<br />
<br />
The strategy is largely the same as normal when it comes to positioning and dps priorities:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Take Rook to 66%.</li>
<li>Take He to 66% (clear all Garrote bleeds).</li>
<li>Take Sun to 66% (clear all Shadow Word: Bane).</li>
<li>Take Rook to 33%.</li>
<li>Take He to 33%. (clear all Garrote Bleeds).</li>
<li>Take Sun to 33%. (clear all Shadow Word: Bane).</li>
<li>Kill all three bosses at the same time</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<br />
However take note that all of the abilities do hit much harder so it is especially important that the DPS work as a team and try their best to minimize damage where they can. <br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Your job as a healer</h4>
<br />
<br />
As I said earlier this fight is a bit hectic, there are a lot of abilities to contend with. Make sure you know the differences between Normal and HC, it is essential in order to know what to expect when they happen.<br />
<br />
Another one of my famous bullet point guides:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><b><u>General healing notes</u></b></span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Keep an eye out for Sha sear targets, be sure to stick a Juve on them and Swiftmend where necessary. If they are too close to other people throw a wild growth in their direction.</li>
<li>Be constantly aware of who has garrote on them, keep them permanently Juved and wild growth-ed. Be prepared to genesis and re-hot if more than one person gets below 50% HP. Keep your lifebloom on whoever you deem to be the squishiest member of your party with the DOT on them. Do not underestimate this DOT on HC, it ticks for 108k every 2 seconds.</li>
<li>Keep efflo in a 'safe place'. Make it your job to ensure the place you
put your efflo does not have void zones in it, the void zones are small
and green and pretty difficult to spot, but if your dps know that your
efflo's are 'safe' it is on less thing to distract them while they are
busy.</li>
<li>INSTANTLY dispel Shadow word bane, this will make your life 1000% easier. If you fail to do this, you will struggle a whole lot more than you need to. Talk to your co-healer and work out a system to split the dispels so that you both don't try and dispel the same person (I dispelled left side of decursive Krom did the right side).</li>
<li>Be ready for Sun's Calamity well in advance and ensure you know how much % it will hit for this time (it increases by 10% for each cast). If you know her next Calamity will hit for 50%, ensure everyone is full and popping def CD's ready for it, you should pop a tranq right after the last calamity before you push her into desperate measures, garrotes can easily finish off a member in your party who is unlucky enough to get a well timed tick.</li>
<li>Dont be stingy with your instant heals, Corrupted brew hits for around 75% of a raiders HP and leaves them vunerable to be picked off by something silly. The second you see a raider drop <50%, use anything in your arsenal to get them to 80%+ (Swiftmends, instant Heal touch procs, Nat swift Heal touches).</li>
</ul>
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;"></span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><u><b>Rook Desperate measures</b></u></span> <br />
<br />
<ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq2EgmcC1eainIw9E3RbkWnweLvVNOGgiue9SY9esFCD6cob1YO83aFA80XVCuohhq0qNZDT6pf1KNlUxhGs-lLBBV2DStWjgb59eYloNOIJw08y1B_x8q-WXcwfBjV5XAP-XF3B-dNvw/s1600/20130616230811a0di4u5jwsb30ilk.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq2EgmcC1eainIw9E3RbkWnweLvVNOGgiue9SY9esFCD6cob1YO83aFA80XVCuohhq0qNZDT6pf1KNlUxhGs-lLBBV2DStWjgb59eYloNOIJw08y1B_x8q-WXcwfBjV5XAP-XF3B-dNvw/s1600/20130616230811a0di4u5jwsb30ilk.png" height="200" width="198" /></a>
<li>Be wary that whoever is tanking Misery will take some nasty damage from <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/144357">Defiled Ground</a></span>, throw him an ironbark and a Juve to keep him smiling.</li>
<li>Get 4 or so people into your efflo for <a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/101000">Inferno Strike</a> and as soon as that sucker explodes Bloom your efflo. Instant full hp on everyone involved!!</li>
<li>Help interrupt <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/144018">Corruption Shock</a></span> if your DPS are struggling or you see it has nearly completed its cast. You do NOT want this ability to happen, EVER</li>
</ul>
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;"><u><b>He Desperate measures</b></u><u><b> </b></u></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6-XfL7sedWy7snVvTjlUPjgjVbVtLSVPFaYGNA8kGvCGXgELqFFJ9hJBN9PJchuKzdwMWVzZb3MFLgBltmdaz7goaSgFzjiF6pYfIU3DRNdXRGuUVnHZr5j2-95tJ7w0sB7TI8-9iqg/s1600/20130616230837a0di4u5zqvy7sieu.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6-XfL7sedWy7snVvTjlUPjgjVbVtLSVPFaYGNA8kGvCGXgELqFFJ9hJBN9PJchuKzdwMWVzZb3MFLgBltmdaz7goaSgFzjiF6pYfIU3DRNdXRGuUVnHZr5j2-95tJ7w0sB7TI8-9iqg/s1600/20130616230837a0di4u5zqvy7sieu.png" height="200" width="190" /></a>
<li>No doubt the raid leader has decided the rotation for passing the <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143808">Mark of Anguish</a></span> around. Ensure you are fully aware of who is taking it and take into consideration what class they are. </li>
<li>Mages can simply Ice block it and therefore you can carry on healing the raid with no worries</li>
<li>Paladins can be all overpowered and stuff and also be damage immune for a while </li>
<li>Hunters can double deterrence and again will not require healing</li>
<li>All other classes will require some pretty heavy healing while they have this DOT on them, ensure they are iron barked and have every single hot in your arsenal active. There is a margin of error for holding it too long, but it will mean you have to use all of your instant heal abilities to compensate for the mistake.</li>
<li>Don't forget about the rest of the raid, it is quite easy to be sucked into looking purely at the Mark of anguish!</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><u><b>Sun Desperate measures</b></u></span><br />
<br />
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMF2ua6_9Z5TJwdLueSeECOlQlrP-RZyQxzmIdS7wAAHb1QUZ_EV3rAL3cnmiThLbTNK0DEXgZ2Lm-dDCOIL8xbBhm4Pb6Oy5TAZF77v3fm-7TjgDeel1uofWNl0V_cRSJlb898rWKzA/s1600/url.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMF2ua6_9Z5TJwdLueSeECOlQlrP-RZyQxzmIdS7wAAHb1QUZ_EV3rAL3cnmiThLbTNK0DEXgZ2Lm-dDCOIL8xbBhm4Pb6Oy5TAZF77v3fm-7TjgDeel1uofWNl0V_cRSJlb898rWKzA/s1600/url.png" height="200" width="198" /></a>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143559">Dark Meditation</a> will hurt quite a bit on Heroic so be ready for it, add this to all the various other bits of damage it makes a lot of sense to use your CD's here. Tranq will be on CD due to being used just prior to Desperate measures (the last calamity hurts a lot). Natures Vigil and Incarnation combined is pretty powerful as it will raise your healing potential and help the DPS kill all the adds simultaneously.</span></li>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span">Keep efflo where you are all grouped up and don't be afraid to pop it if you think it is getting a little bit hairy!</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="spell_icon_span">Hints and tricks! </span></h4>
<br />
<br />
<span class="spell_icon_span">The beauty of this fight is that the vast majority of the damage on the raid will come from various DOTS and periodic damage (Garrote, Shadow Word: Bane, Mark of anguish, Sha Sear and Dark Meditation), and oh my look at that, you are a Druid who specializes in HOTS, how convenient!! </span><br />
<span class="spell_icon_span">Hotting up Garroted people with Juve/Wild growth/nourish/lifebloom is MORE than enough to allow you to concentrate on your spacial awareness and the few instances of spike damage that can occur. Remember Druids, letting lifebloom expire is a GOOD thing, it does a huge heal if it is stacked at 3, if someone is at 60% HP with a garrote on them but your lifebloom is about to expire than you don't need to heal them for a little while longer. Just be sure to re-apply it afterwards.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="spell_icon_span"> Bloom is amazing in this fight, here are some perfect instances to use it in:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span">After Inferno Strikes</span></li>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span">After Calamity</span></li>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span">Near the end of Sun's desperate measures</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<span class="spell_icon_span">If you have a DK in your raid Symbiosis gives you Icebound fortitude - another defensive CD that you can use to help you mitigate Calamity damage.</span><br />
<span class="spell_icon_span">You can ignore the tanks to a certain extent on this fight due to the low damage the bosses actually hit them for, so just be wary of them during </span><span class="spell_icon_span">Rooks desperate measures (</span><span class="spell_icon_span">Defiled Ground) but the rest of the time just ignore them!</span><br />
<span class="spell_icon_span"><br /></span>
<span class="spell_icon_span"><br /></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="spell_icon_span">Conclusion</span></h4>
<span class="spell_icon_span"><br /></span>
<span class="spell_icon_span"><br /></span>
<span class="spell_icon_span">This fight is pretty fun when you are progressing, there is a lot going on and a lot to keep track of as a healer so the challenge is very engaging and rewarding to pull off. There is nothing like watching 2 people getting a debuff and then instantly seeing both people get dispelled at the same time, I want to high five my co-healer every time!</span><br />
<span class="spell_icon_span"><br /></span>
<span class="spell_icon_span">Good luck with the boss and I hope you have a blast.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSECI_i8iqzLnBspetTdZtVNlr8N3BGSzvecdkMqLyoCsQtgcR75RUEWz4xFkP1C7DdwHJdioDYut-EkNN8oHa1Tv6UWxO1Rx2AOcqKDuBBWpcpfAocrvHONkEPXHVhElKQX7ZqtSK-Q/s1600/Druid_crest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSECI_i8iqzLnBspetTdZtVNlr8N3BGSzvecdkMqLyoCsQtgcR75RUEWz4xFkP1C7DdwHJdioDYut-EkNN8oHa1Tv6UWxO1Rx2AOcqKDuBBWpcpfAocrvHONkEPXHVhElKQX7ZqtSK-Q/s1600/Druid_crest.png" /></a></div>
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<span class="spell_icon_span"><br /></span>
<span class="spell_icon_span">Mayhem</span>ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-41069344501761891502014-01-27T21:40:00.001-08:002014-02-03T11:56:06.331-08:00How to become the perfect DPS<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLbN0ics-0OYg5xD94Atb816vzSf8LpakoOAf7CSScImKwfS8M9i5fGKJh-m2u8nUCmUR4EMit19-pCuDAm7Ct00G0ZXJwKzXU4Jsh6aYvAjI5tneBqbYtOkEf7LSX8DWyN77sklDNcw/s1600/1564180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLbN0ics-0OYg5xD94Atb816vzSf8LpakoOAf7CSScImKwfS8M9i5fGKJh-m2u8nUCmUR4EMit19-pCuDAm7Ct00G0ZXJwKzXU4Jsh6aYvAjI5tneBqbYtOkEf7LSX8DWyN77sklDNcw/s1600/1564180.jpg" height="350" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Are you interested in becoming 'that person' who always tops the charts, hardly ever dies and seemingly knows his class so unbelievably well it makes everyone wish they were that skilled? Get a brew, get comfy and I will teach you how.<br />
<a name='more'></a><h4>
</h4>
<h2>
Gaining the knowledge</h2>
<br />
<h4>
</h4>
<div>
Ever since my wife became a raid leader in our group 2 raid team I started to become increasingly fascinated by what makes a successful raid group, the composition, the teamwork, the gear, the raid leader. All of these things are important but when it comes down to it, raiding 10m boils down to those 10 individuals and how they play.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
My wife took some advice from group the group 1 raid leader to record and post all the logs from the night to <a href="http://www.worldoflogs.com/">www.worldoflogs.com</a>. Ever since then we would both sit down together and look through every scrap of data collected from each night that they raided, we would discuss what went wrong, who needs to improve on what and the possibilities as to why they wiped on the boss.<br />
Armed with this knowledge I personally took each of the weaker raid members from group 2 aside and gave them 1 on 1 help. I explained all the things I had noticed on WOL and asked them to try a few new things out, sat them on a training dummy for a while, requested they maybe try an addon and maybe approach a boss in a different way... the results were astonishing!<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/LwRHAm7Ip94/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/LwRHAm7Ip94/maxresdefault.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out for the count!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Over the course of the next few weeks the WOL logs looked nicer and nicer, all the things we were keeping an eye on were improving and lone behold just a few days ago they Downed Garrosh on normal mode, who just a month earlier seemed an impossible task for them.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
(Good job guys!! So proud <3)</div>
</div>
<div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h2>
What makes a good player... good?</h2>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is extremely important to understand what it is that makes good players shine like beacons to everyone around them, first I will list some aspects and then go into a more detailed explanation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Uses offensive and defensive cooldowns effectively and sufficiently</li>
<li>Only ever loses health if the damage is truly 'unavoidable'</li>
<li>Usually tops the DPS charts</li>
<li>Obeys boss mechanics flawlessly and consistently</li>
<li>Has fast reactions</li>
<li>Uses all the tools in their arsenal of abilities effectively</li>
<li>Always aware of boss abilities and reacts accordingly</li>
<li>Is a team player</li>
<li>Stands in the right place at the right time</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
</div>
I think all of these points are what contain the very essence of what makes a good player but I feel it is more than that. The problem with a simple bullet point list is that it can never make someone TRULY understand what a great raider is. So here is the solution to this problem; I will use one of my very own raid buddies as an example in a short story to illustrate my point.<br />
<br />
For privacy purposes I will call him Huntard (I don't want anyone stealing him from us!!!). I will talk from my usual point of view - as a healer.<br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<i>Huntard always turns up to the raid on time, prepared (read all boss tactics, has pots and food), and in a cheery mood. Before we have even stepped into the raid instance he has already proven himself to be a respectable and well disciplined player.</i><br />
<i>We enter the instance and are confronted with the trash, he courteously awaits the tank/s to gain aggro and then he begins to punish the trash with outrageous dps numbers that makes even me jealous (and i have a 560 feral druid!). While he does this he stands in clear sight of the healers and out of harms way, ensuring that he dodges anything the trash uses against the raid. We kill the trash and move on, he does not dawdle or afk.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>He contributes to the banter and the conversation of the raid-group, the mood is light and happy.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>While we all wander over to the boss he uses aspect to speed us all up and deactivates it just before we reach our destination. He sits patiently while everyone prepares themselves, he is already well fed and has a flask buff, he is standing in his pre-determined spot.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>We pull heroic Immersius, his dps soars but at the same time he immediately steps out from the sha bolt puddle underneath him, the boss casts his buff and within an instant huntard slows his dps down to ensure he does not gain too many stacks, the adds spawn in swathes, huntard waits for the tank to gain aggro and then proceeds to annihilate them quickly whilst still dodging sha puddles and being sure to use defensive cooldowns when Immerseus does his swirl ability (if he cannot avoid it completely.)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Immerseus splits, he immediately uses mobility cd's to reach his designated point, he uses his slows and his snares on the adds whilst killing the maximum number possible, all the while he tries to help soak the sha pool in the center, he asks the healers if they can manage - I toss him an ironbark and say yes. He finishes off the remaining adds and gets back to his position.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Rinse and repeat the boss is dead.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Some agi mail loot drops but an enhancement shammy gets it instead, he congratulates him cheerily and continues onto the next boss with high spirits.</i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/huntard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/huntard.jpg" height="320" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not ours!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
-----------------------------------<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">-------------------------------------</span><br />
<br />
Night after night Huntard performs exactly the same, his outstanding skill is admired by everyone else in the raid group. He is especially appreciated by the healers as we tend to notice the subtler things during raid encounters, such as fast add switching, taking extra caution to not get hit by anything and this guy even stands outside of my efflo until he actually needs healing, his spacial awareness is unbelievable.<br />
To top all this off he is polite, punctual, courteous (very mischievous!!!) and an all round really nice guy!<br />
<br />
Would you like people to say this kind of thing about you? Read on friend. <br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
I'm watching you...</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The first step in improvement will always be assessment and self reflection, you need to be able to measure your worth in order to discover what aspects of your current game play you can enhance. With the right addons it is possible to track endless amounts of useful data from your fights. The one I would recommend is <u><b>Skada</b></u>.<br />
<br />
The basics of Skada:<br />
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Skada is a modular damage meter with various viewing modes, these include:</span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Damage done, DPS, Threat, Enemy damage done, Enemy damage taken, Healing, Overhealing, Total healing, Absorbs estimated, Damage taken, Dispels, Mana regen, Debuff uptimes, and more.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Navigation in Skada is done by "drilling down" to the information you want. You go to a lower level, showing more detailed information, by clicking on it, and you go to a higher level by right-clicking.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Most modes let you drill down for further details. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some modes have several detailed views.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tooltips will display how to reach the different views. </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/asskadamodes-1265259802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/asskadamodes-1265259802.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obviously a druid is top DPS, duh!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It is important that you fully understand how to utilize Skada in order to improve yourself, it is a truly wonderful tool!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><u><b>Extra reading</b></u></span><br />
<br />
When it comes to measuring actual raiding ability one tool stands head and shoulders above the rest, this is called World of logs. This website eats the logs you feed it (I couldn't resist sorry...) and shows you every single shred of information you could imagine based on the time frame you started taking the log. The addon used to collect the log is called <u><b>loggerhead</b></u>, download it from curse client and it is instantly usable by clicking the icon on your mini-map.<br />
To learn how to use WOL to its maximum potential please take a look at this brilliant guide made by Zagam <a href="http://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/1007-world-of-logs-a-comprehensive-guide/">here.</a><br />
<br />
A list of things to look out for on WOL to help you improve your basics: <br />
<ul></ul>
<ul>
<li>DOT Uptime - Keep them above 95% </li>
<li>Buff uptime - Keep them above 95% </li>
<li>Buffs cast - This display is a comprehensive list of all the buffs you gained from passives, normal abilities and cooldowns, how effective they were and how many times you used them in any single pull. I now use ironbark FAR more during every pull thanks to looking at this </li>
<li>Damage taken by spell - Analyze the damage sources you can avoid </li>
<li>Enemy damage taken - How do you compare to the rest of your group when it comes to killing extra adds? Try and be top, switch faster! </li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<ul></ul>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h2>
What to look for</h2>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br />
<h4>
DPS </h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpyzEz0n5mMazxoLDUhppM94aPRSPW4GkoQKkx3LCJ-QuB_4pn3FgXxS4ocUJfe7SLFBnMAKCEoNYFjBVZXDyXiFI_Ekgei1aQcl4gCjmo6uN3BOXZi-nfsCGeescFzNbrzer5EH9oVmI/s1600/Training_Dummy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpyzEz0n5mMazxoLDUhppM94aPRSPW4GkoQKkx3LCJ-QuB_4pn3FgXxS4ocUJfe7SLFBnMAKCEoNYFjBVZXDyXiFI_Ekgei1aQcl4gCjmo6uN3BOXZi-nfsCGeescFzNbrzer5EH9oVmI/s1600/Training_Dummy.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Come at me bro!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So now you know how to utilise Skada and WOL the next step is to fill those badboys with some data. We will first take a look at is DPS - try not to cringe when you read this but... Go to a training dummy!</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now before I explain anything at all, kick the crap out of the dummy for
exactly 5 minutes, don't use any outside buffs, aura's or pots.
Exclusively use what you deem as your 'perfect rotation', run away from
he dummy using mobility cd's when your 5 mins is up. Ready?</div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
3....2....1.... GO!!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ok so you are sitting pretty with a nicely populated Skada, lets take a look at some of these numbers shall we?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>DPS - have a look at what your top damaging spells are by left clicking the bar, does this look right to you? Generally auto attacks should never be your top damage dealt, if this is the case your doing it wrong, visist <a href="http://www.noxxic.com/">www.noxxic.com</a> or <a href="http://www.icy-veins.com/">www.icy-veins.com/</a> for extremely comprehensive dps guides</li>
<li>Buff uptimes - This information view details the % of uptime you had on your buffs. Many classes have to maintain personal buffs to increase thier power, savage roar is an example of such a buff. If your buff uptime is below 90% make a note to improve this</li>
<li>Enemy debuff uptimes - This shows what debuffs you have applied to the dummy and the % of uptime that they were maintained for. If any of your debuffs were lower than 90% make a note to improve this</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<div>
These are the 3 basic things that yield the biggest improvement to your DPS just by hitting a dummy, if you can emulate a perfect rotation as specified by the guides AND keep your buffs and debuffs at 95%+ you should be at the top of your game when it comes to pumping out sheer DPS. Practice as often as you can until you can more or less do your best DPS with your eyes closed!<br />
<br />
When it comes to translating your dummy DPS figures into actual raid time can be a little tricky for the uninitiated, but if you took my advice and practiced enough it shouldn't really be that hard, here are a few pointers on the matter:<br />
<span style="color: orange;"></span>
<br />
<ul><span style="color: orange;"></span></ul>
<ul>
<li>Know your limits - As a melee sometimes you have to bite the bullet and move away from the boss (Garrosh, Iron juggs, Paragons), unless you are confident enough that defensive CD's can keep you alive n kicking. </li>
<li>Your DPS rotation will never be perfect through a whole fight, understand when you are required to switch targets and learn to switch QUICKLY. Everyone respects the quick switcher. </li>
<li>Tunneling the boss just to top the charts is BAD. Do not do this, you will look terrible. </li>
<li>Move as little as possible. If you are required to move out of a void zone there is no need to run to the other side of the map, just take shortest route and continue to face melt the boss with minimal disruption. </li>
<li>Expect disruption and plan for it! </li>
</ul>
<ul></ul>
<br />
I am very confident that if you follow this advice you will gradually become the star DPS of your raid group when it comes to effectively pumping out impressive numbers. \o/ <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Damage Avoidance</h4>
A big part of being a good raider is not only being quick enough to dodge incoming attack (Herioc Iron Jugganaut!!!) but being clever enough to wholly understand the boss mechanics in order to pre-empt incoming damage.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://chsasb.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/dodgeball.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://chsasb.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/dodgeball.png" height="200" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next time you are in a raid ensure you have your Skada mode set to Damage taken, and set the time frame to Total, this will stop you from concentrating on DPS and help you focus on avoiding damage. Keep an eye on where you sit on the list, the lower you are the better, however sometimes you can be unlucky and get hit with unavoidable RNG damage such as the laz0r beams that Iron Juggs shoots....<br />
When you have finished your raid be sure to take a look at each boss segment, Identify and separate the non avoidable abilities and maybe re-think how you will do the boss next time to help lower these numbers. Do this every single time you raid and gradually you will become a little damage avoiding NINJA that leaves other people scratching there heads and thinking 'How the hell is he taking barely any damage?!'<br />
<br />
Sidenote - The healers will become your best friends <3<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Learning the boss</h4>
Although it can be a little nauseating when it comes to knowing and understand the 100's of abilities that Raid bosses collectively use, it is a beautiful thing to witness players execute perfect kills.<br />
<br />
So naturally 'Know thy enemy' should be your motto as a raider.<br />
<br />
The dungeon journal is your best friend in this matter, it painstakingly details every single last ability that the bosses use, it gives accurate damage measurements and even goes as far as to label out all the phases that the boss will run through during the encounter. I spend a lot of time in my journal during raids and it has helped me up my game infinitesimally.<br />
<br />
For even more detail on the bosses make sure you download either<u><b> BigWiggs</b></u> or <u><b>DeadlyBossMods</b></u> from curse client, these will assist you immensely during the encounter by giving you enhanced warning messages about incoming abilities, displaying the list of cooldowns the boss is experiencing on his abilities and will even shout at you when you are stood in fire or doing something drastically wrong (get inside the <a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/101000">Inferno Strike</a> you fool!!).<br />
<br />
Ensure you read boss guides painstakingly written by people such as myself (*puts on cool shades*) and watch the youtube video guides, the best in my opinion are done by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/FatbossTV%E2%80%8E">FatBoss.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Being a team player and utilizing your class 100%</h4>
<br />
I have lumped 2 aspects together here because essentially they are very closely linked. Being a team player during a raid means you become that person that happily sacrifices his DPS in order to help out the raid group by using the other facilities your class has to offer. Here are a few examples<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Free-ing people from the prisons on Sha of fear by using mobility Cd's</li>
<li>Using your various healing cd's as a DPS to help out the healers a little bit during high damage phases (im looking at you druids and shamans!)</li>
<li> Slowing and DPS-ing the mines during Seigecrafter blackfuse</li>
<li>Using powerful defensive CD's to soak the orbs in heroic Malkorok</li>
<li>Taking on the <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143808">Mark of Anguish</a>, using your defensive CD's and passing it on</span></li>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span">Volunteering to be part of the dreaded tower team during Galakras! </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<span class="spell_icon_span">The people that willingly take it upon themselves to do these things immediately become 'that person' all the raid leaders want in their team. You are not some poor sucker who gets all the 'rubbish jobs' you are a HERO, and people can only dream of being as useful as you are!</span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<h4>
<span class="spell_icon_span">Raid mentality </span></h4>
<span class="spell_icon_span">Being a good raider is not necessarily all about the way in which you play, it also encompasses your overall demeanor while playing with your friends or even during LFR's and pugs. Here is a list of things that promote a positive atompshere during raid time:</span><br />
<span class="spell_icon_span"></span><br />
<ul><a href="http://www.smiley-faces.org/wallpaper/smiley-face-wallpaper-widescreen-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.smiley-faces.org/wallpaper/smiley-face-wallpaper-widescreen-001.jpg" height="125" width="200" /></a>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="spell_icon_span">The 3 P's - Be <u><b>P</b></u>olite, <u><b>P</b></u>unctual and <u><b>P</b></u>repared</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Engage in witty banter and contribute to conversation</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Recognize when something completely hilarious happens and point it out</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Why are you raiding if not to have fun? Enjoy yourself! Your smile will transmit when you speak (trust me this is a thing).</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Encourage and foster good performance, compliment your buddies when they do something <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=clutch">clutch</a>. Getting recognition for how awesome you played feels.... <u>AWESOME!</u></span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Make suggestions on how you think something could be done better, don't always expect it to be well received</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<span class="spell_icon_span">Here is a list of things you should try to <span style="color: red;">avoid</span> doing while raiding:</span><br />
<span class="spell_icon_span"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.miataturbo.net/attachments/insert-bs-here-4/60241d1353348594-another-rant-joe-perez-sad-kitten-jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.miataturbo.net/attachments/insert-bs-here-4/60241d1353348594-another-rant-joe-perez-sad-kitten-jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You're making kittens sad :(</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Getting frustrated when you die or wipe</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Getting angry at yourself or others for making mistakes</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Slagging other people off with whispers</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Sighing down the Mic</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Being silent for the whole raid</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Going AFK regularly to check stupid things like Facebook, twitter and looking at silly pictures on the internet</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Not doing what the raid leader asks of you, regardless of how stupid you think it might be</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span class="spell_icon_span">Link DPS meters unless it is asked for</span></span></li>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span"><span style="color: red;">Disagree with your team without having reasonable and logical counter-arguments</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<h2>
<span class="spell_icon_span"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span><br /><br /> Final Note</h2>
<br />
If you have spent time to seriously read this and take my advice I have no doubt in my mind that you will become a very fine DPS indeed, you will be respected and revered not only by your guild but also the WoW community as a whole, people who manage to do all of this above are very few and far between. Be one of those rare gems!! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjgUUop9xkHZacmvWCjlJxRyU6gM838tW3zx7nX_OhbU6ezhn_wWswwQyZhrZBZF1sVsWwlY1jspgvrPYadwA9AURaKx4B8XSFQS2dSSIi6h6PVqZaFvLD_MrWvcnSI_sP3i_YMVcuhQ/s1600/Druid_crest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjgUUop9xkHZacmvWCjlJxRyU6gM838tW3zx7nX_OhbU6ezhn_wWswwQyZhrZBZF1sVsWwlY1jspgvrPYadwA9AURaKx4B8XSFQS2dSSIi6h6PVqZaFvLD_MrWvcnSI_sP3i_YMVcuhQ/s1600/Druid_crest.png" height="320" width="283" /></a></div>
Thank you for reading and good luck!<br />
<br />
<br />
Mayhêm</div>
</div>
</div>
ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-64477608398227756412014-01-26T23:49:00.004-08:002014-02-05T09:39:29.099-08:00Healing SoO - Immerseus<h2>
</h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioSHPAve9yKz5nuhDuxnduCGyxWr89-rRy7NR6e8NkLfX4R_We5uolfnMj2RC3VkK097E_ZKyG6RIwCXI0BH3jgHCJ84cqNgQ3jAY_fQ3HcmN5bD39kk6mVCUXd3ojNuKLd8e4M7lYP-8/s1600/immerseus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioSHPAve9yKz5nuhDuxnduCGyxWr89-rRy7NR6e8NkLfX4R_We5uolfnMj2RC3VkK097E_ZKyG6RIwCXI0BH3jgHCJ84cqNgQ3jAY_fQ3HcmN5bD39kk6mVCUXd3ojNuKLd8e4M7lYP-8/s1600/immerseus.jpg" height="313" width="640" /></a><br />
Greetings from sunny Salalah everyone, I currently have plenty of spare time to kill as I am (for obvious reasons) unable to play World of Warcraft, so instead I thought I would do something constructive!<br />
<br />
This post with guide you through heroic mode Immerseus, he is extremely different from normal mode so beware!<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Immerseus</h2>
<h2>
</h2>
Immerseus is a boss that our DPS seemed to struggle with a little bit, and as such us healers felt the full force of the boss mechanics drain our mana like an hourglass! Once the DPS grasped it, the boss went down pretty easily and has never given us problems since<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
What is different from normal mode?</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Immerseus gains a buff in Phase 1 called <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143574">Swelling Corruption</a></span> the buff has one stack for
every 2 points of Corruption that the boss has.</li>
<li>Every attack made against the boss removes a stack of the buff, and causes
the attacker to gain a stack of a dispellable 6-second debuff , and spawn
an add called <a class="npc" href="http://www.wowdb.com/npcs/71642">Congealed Sha</a>. </li>
<li>The DoT damage from the debuff increases over the course
of its 6-second duration.</li>
<li><span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143295">Sha Bolts </a></span>are far more frequent and will fill up a quadrant quickly. </li>
<li>The ability <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143460">Sha Pool</a></span>
during Phase 2 is a void zone that grows from the center of the room
unless a raid member is standing in it, in which case it will shrink</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<h3>
What the raid should do:</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
<ul>
<li>Form on big line in the biggest open bit of ground (at the back of the room) by the water channel.</li>
<li>Tanks should obviously swap when required and face the boss roughly 60 degrees away from the raid group.</li>
<li>DPS should be very careful to never gain more than 4 stacks of the debuff from Immerseus, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!</li>
<li>Every time a sha bolt hits you, move slightly to the right, just enough to get out from the pool it leaves behind.</li>
<li>Do not get near the tank that is currently holding the boss, <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143436">Corrosive Blast </a></span>really hurts!</li>
<li>During Phase 2 split the raid up into 3 groups to kill/heal the adds, try to have healers standing close to the middle to stop the Sha pool from growing.</li>
<li>Rinse repeat kill boss! </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Your job as a healer</h3>
<br />
<br />
Now that you understand what is expected of the raid group I can go on to explain in detail how this fight usually pans out for us poor healers! Again i will stick to by bullet point fasion because it is easier to read and generally has a more simple straightforward look to it.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Ensure you keep as many people in your Efflorescence as possible, you will be shifting right alot due to the Sha bolts so dont forget to keep moving it.</li>
<li>When the DPS first start killing the boss expect an absolute crap tonne of damage to hit the raid, Sha bolts, congealed Sha, the shadow damage debuff and of course the tank over yonder will be taking a corrosive blast to the face. </li>
<li>During the first Phase 1 do not be stingy with all of your big cooldowns, this is the hardest part of the boss for healers.</li>
<li>Dispell any numpty that has gained more than 4 stacks, failing that you can encourage your best DPS to tunnel Immerseus and you can dispell his stacks from him when they hit 5-6.</li>
<li>When Immerseus splits HOT up as many people as you can to combat residual effects of the DOT.</li>
<li>Look for bunched up heal adds, believe it or not you can actually use bloom to heal them! So place an efflo near the center where they will naturally bunch up, single target heal the other strays and when the group enters your efflo bloom it. I have caught 6 adds in one bloom before, it was glorious!</li>
<li>Genesis is your friend for healing random stray adds ;) </li>
<li>Don't hesitate to throw out a mass entanglement on the bad adds to help out dps a little bit.</li>
<li>Run back to your starting position ensuring that you heal people as you go along</li>
<li>Rinse and repeat!</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Hints and Tricks!</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2gYPpihEsf9WMgZredPhxUccijF_HBnvXB4Ecco7hu4NSHQaQIGLd5N5LRrjrZtjTnrLdLYsJo3BRyDEvSqfNcE7LROeq_K5WWN8wTdMhvfYBgIhDTH9GDAcilVV0s1GsQtW9jfWgz6o/s1600/Druid-tree-form.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2gYPpihEsf9WMgZredPhxUccijF_HBnvXB4Ecco7hu4NSHQaQIGLd5N5LRrjrZtjTnrLdLYsJo3BRyDEvSqfNcE7LROeq_K5WWN8wTdMhvfYBgIhDTH9GDAcilVV0s1GsQtW9jfWgz6o/s1600/Druid-tree-form.jpg" height="320" width="313" /></a>The closer you get the the end of the boss the more healing adds will appear and it will start getting difficult to actually heal them all, but druids actually have a secret weapon up our sleeves for this (other than bloom, OP!), this secret weapon is called INCARNATION! While you are in your crazy tree form you can cast instant nourishes. this means you can innervate yourself and then spam nourish like an absolute madman to heal every single one of those little badboys to full HP.<br />
Another cool trick is that if you cast symbiosis on a Priest you will gain lifegrip, this ability is not only fantastic for trolling your raid team with but can actually be used to pull back the friendly adds if they get too near the pool and you havnt had time to heal them yet! <br />
<br />
<br />
And there you have it folks, I wish you all the best of luck and I will be back soon with the next installment of the Druid healing SoO series!<br />
<br />
Enjoy those Blooms!<br />
<br />
Jase<br />
<br />ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-79426939396355987952014-01-26T14:37:00.000-08:002014-02-05T09:32:15.616-08:00Healing 101<h2>
</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.taarago.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/heal-a-cut-s600x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.taarago.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/heal-a-cut-s600x600.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Keeping your closest friends alive while you are doing a hobby that makes you happy (raiding), holds an extremely special place in my heart, and if you feel the same way about healing you have come to the right place.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Why heal?</h2>
<br />
<br />
I have had a go at all 3 roles while raiding during my time playing WoW,
personally my favorite role has always been, and will probably always
be healing. In this post I will not only explain why being a healer is
quite frankly amazing, but lay down the set of rules that any healer
should try to live by when face to face with Raid bosses.<br />
<br />
As a healer you feel like the most important person in the raid, if you sit there and do nothing you can guarantee that you will wipe, and pretty quickly at that. The same could of course be said about tanks, but as a tank you have to be selfish, your job is to get punched in the face by a boss repeatedly without dying, using your Cd's cleverly and moving into the right place at the right time in order to achieve this. A healer however is the complete opposite, your job is to keep EVERYONE alive, and this job is never simple. Alot of the time you can prepare for incoming damage by tracking what ability a boss will cast next, but what if you don't know who is going to be hit by the ability, what if several people are hit? In my experience both tanks and DPS do not play 100% perfect all the time and can stand too close together for AOE damage abilities such as Malkorok's <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=142986">Imploding Energy</a>. Healers have a large variety of healing abilities that do various different things, which ability should you use that will provide the most effective healing whilst conserving mana as best you can?<br />
<br />
All of this factors into why healing is so fun, the skill required to make GOOD split second decisions, the stress and exhilaration you feel when your raid is being bombarded with various boss abilities and mechanics, the absolute rush you feel when you manage to keep your raid alive even though they made a couple of mistakes, the amount of multitasking that can be asked of you at times (HC Sha of pride!) the fact that no 2 pulls on a boss will ever be the same from a healer point of view. We have no rotation, we have no set pattern, we just have to be in the right place at the right time and press the right buttons. Healing is a roller coaster ride that never fails to thrill!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/eYDjV7ajuMo/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/eYDjV7ajuMo/maxresdefault.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
To be a good healer is to define the very meaning of skill. (see the rhyme?)<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
The Basics</h2>
<br />
<br />
''Healing is the art of keeping your beloved raid team alive while they kick the living daylights out of a boss'' - Mayhêm<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
UI</h4>
<br />
<br />
The first and foremost important thing any good healer can do is sort out their UI. This in my mind is absolutely paramount to being good at your role. You need to be able to see everyone's health very clearly, in a simple and easy to understand manner and in a place on your screen that is not in the way but at the same time is not jammed into a corner so your eyes have to move away from everything else to see them.<br />
Personally I like not only to be able to see what percentage of health that my raid team is on, but to be able to know what class they are (more on this later), if they have any personal damage mitigation CD's are popped and of course what debuffs they are currently experiencing.<br />
<br />
If you sort out your UI first and foremost, half the battle of healing is already won.<br />
<br />
<b><u>ELVUI</u></b> is my personal favourite, a friendly and simple guide can be found <a href="http://www.thepanicattacks.com/elvui-guide/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Triage</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
Triage is a priority based system that determines who are the most important people in the raid that need to survive in order to get a successful kill on any encounter. It should look something like this:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<a href="http://www.thefirstaidsurvivalshop.com/images/products/Triage%20Ribbon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thefirstaidsurvivalshop.com/images/products/Triage%20Ribbon.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a>
<li><u>Tanks</u> - If a tank dies it more or less guarantee's a HUGE disruption to the current fight, 70% of the time it will result in a wipe unless a very fast combat rez is thrown out.</li>
<li><u>Healers</u> - Healers must not die for obvious reasons, sometimes you can get away with one healing through the last 5% of the boss but it is extremely taxing and if they don't have all of their cooldowns available it is quite likely that you will wipe.</li>
<li><u>Best DPS </u>- Unfortunately it is a sad fact of life that if I have to chose between saving our hunter or our shadow priest I would 100% save our hunter. They push out more DPS and therefore rush the boss to its untimely demise before the enrage timer hits. </li>
</ol>
<br />
Exceptions & extra considerations:<br />
<ul>
<li>Shamans - If I am aware that a shaman has Ankh off CD I will happily let him die if it means I could save someone else</li>
<li>Mages - I always tell our two mages to talent into Cauterize purely because it gives me a little more time to top up other dps before popping instant powerful heals to save them once they reach the 'dangerzone'</li>
<li>DK's - If they are specced into purgatory it is the same story as mages with their cauterize. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Overhealing and Mana usage</h4>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndi98Qp0owOY8EW91aEEeajMElw6jwjpLRrG4lebthzdRXSeOxGxvS9KzRFLWckB7BG4aeuunCdxEDz1aju0svPb2YEKQsvzSCuLnBbahlp4GINUjIqKB3Flil4zMd7VV7eQGSfoHCDs/s1600/lei_shi_overheal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndi98Qp0owOY8EW91aEEeajMElw6jwjpLRrG4lebthzdRXSeOxGxvS9KzRFLWckB7BG4aeuunCdxEDz1aju0svPb2YEKQsvzSCuLnBbahlp4GINUjIqKB3Flil4zMd7VV7eQGSfoHCDs/s1600/lei_shi_overheal.jpg" height="118" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You're doing it wrong :/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Overhealing occurs whenever you attempt to heal someone for more than their health deficit is at the time when the heal 'hits'. Overhealing should be avoided where possible for maximum mana efficiency. These are the several types of overhealing to look out for:<br />
<ul>
<li><u>Hot overticking</u> - This is where you apply a hot to your target, and once they hit full health the HOT will continue to tick. This type of overhealing is acceptable because if and when they lose health again the HOT will continue to keep topping up the raid member without you having to use another GCD that could be used elsewhere.</li>
<li><u>Crit heals</u> - Sometimes your heals will crit for well beyond the health deficit, for example if a player is on 70% hp and you throw out a quick heal that you know usually heals them for 50% of their HP but it crits (dealing around double 70% + 50%x2 = 170%), you can expect to gain that extra 70% as overhealing, which is no use to anyone really.</li>
<li><u>Healing CD's</u> - Popping a CD at the wrong time cause HUGE amounts of overhealing and as such should be used at a more appropriate time .</li>
<li><u>Overkill healing</u> - This is when healers use spells that are disproportionate to the amount of healing required, for example a paladin casting lay on hands on a target that has 90% HP. This is an extreme example but I think it proves my point.</li>
<li><u>Heal collision</u>s - Sometimes the healers will attempt to heal the same target at the same time, this can be mitigated with having your UI set up correctly to show incoming heals but unfortunately during high intensity fights it cannot be helped. Having a good relationship with your co-healer/s can help alleviate this problem.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Overhealing only becomes a major problem when you are running out of mana before the end of an encounter or when people are dying due to bad healing decisions. Try to be as efficient as you can and not only will your actual healing numbers increase but so will your effectiveness as a healer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Cooldowns </h4>
<br />
<br />
This is a huge part of what separates the good healers from the average ones. Managing your cooldowns is essential to keeping your raid alive (derr!), conserving mana and beating boss mechanics. Some classes have thousands and billions of healing Cool downs, namely shamans and paladins, and some have very few; priests and druids, but if used correctly it could easily mean the difference between a wipe and a sure kill.<br />
<br />
Keep tabs on every single CD you have that has a timer of 30seconds or more. I track all of mine through <b><u>WeakAura's</u></b>. Custom make your weak aura's to flash, beep, wink, and dance at you when they are ready for use.<br />
Personally I play resto druid (of course) so I have wild growth, natures swiftness, iron bark, tranq, swiftmend innervate and all the various talent CD's all with their own special icons configured. They dissapear when I use them and they sit just below the middle of my screen when I don't.<br />
<br />
I will go more in depth into how they are used properly in the advanced section.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Know your class</h4>
<br />
<br />
This may sound a little cliche' but how are you expected to be a good healer if you don't truly understand your class, right down to the very last word on that random passive you discovered 2 days ago...<br />
<br />
Alot of the classes has abilities with long tooltips that do more than one thing, or have subtle little side effects that if ignored it doesn't really matter all that much but if you actually utilize them you can squeeze out much more from your class. Take your time to learn your class through and through, understand exactly what every one of your abilities does and how it interacts with your other abilities or passives. A perfect example is that hardly any Resto Druids I know actually let <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=33763/lifebloom">lifebloom</a> expire on purpose when the target lifebloom is on is at low health, they instead single target heal them to reset the timer, this costs precious GCD's that they could have spent healing other raid members!<br />
<br />
When it comes to Heroic rading simply playing whack a mole with health bars does not cut it, understanding <b>what</b> type of heal they need and <b>why</b> is the key to being an exceptional healer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Gear, trinkets and stat weights</h4>
<br />
<br />
I have seen far too many guides that go into ludicrous detail about this topic, but to be perfectly honest with you guys I heal Heroics with 2 LFR trinkets (Yes i am that unlucky and no PLEASE DON'T MENTION IT!!!!) It is down to what
works best for your class and what suits your play style best, so ensure
you know how your class interacts with his stats in order to be able to
maximize your healing done. If you are a spammy healer that prefers to keep his raid at 100% hp all the time go for more spirit, if you are confident in your ability to keep people alive pump more into a secondary stat.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><u><b>Extra reading</b></u></span> <br />
<br />
Not too long ago I was having a heated discussion with another raid member (also Resto druid) about how personally I prefer mastery over haste (I have my weak aura's set up to more or less scream at me if my harmony buff runs out), but he was 100% convinced that haste is better, all the guides say it, all the pro's are saying it blah blah blah.<br />
Later that week our other group 1 healer had to take a night off for some reason, so this other Druid filled in for him (he is a regular group 2 healer and he is IMO just as good as me). We cleared up to Iron Juggs and I consistently out healed him on every single boss. His gear is actually better than mine but he simply could not keep up.<br />
<br />
This changed his opinion on the haste/mastery thing and to be honest it made my opinion on playing how you want to play even stronger.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Advanced Healing</h2>
<br />
<br />
Now you have a basic idea of how to heal here are some tips and tricks I have learn along the way to make me a super effective healer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPn_iLpxHL6jThRX8hE8gXWEsor2steAm6LpZtakKnrOtm5LYaoVeotkXZ6DYD0EpytpuhiXpOrPftm89wooAQOBps_um7qdR3lWPWFvZk20FwFq2c7FLIUPOXbX__8RCF9PwBCFMFays/s1600/think_outside_the_box_by_scandinavianpinapple-d2z0tb5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPn_iLpxHL6jThRX8hE8gXWEsor2steAm6LpZtakKnrOtm5LYaoVeotkXZ6DYD0EpytpuhiXpOrPftm89wooAQOBps_um7qdR3lWPWFvZk20FwFq2c7FLIUPOXbX__8RCF9PwBCFMFays/s1600/think_outside_the_box_by_scandinavianpinapple-d2z0tb5.jpg" height="168" width="200" /></a>
Think outside the box </h3>
<br />
<br />
Here is a philosophical question for all you Raiders out there, is a healers job simply to top everyone's HP up when they get hit by 'stuff'?<br />
<br />
My answer is a resounding <span style="color: lime;">NO</span>.<br />
<br />
I learned a very valuable lesson while I was in the proving grounds. There is a lot healers can do to prevent damage done to the raid; slows, stuns, roots, weakened blows, awesome spells like <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=102793/ursols-vortex">Ursols-vortex</a>, not to mention interrupting. If doing any of these things actually PREVENT damage being done in the first place then why not do them? It results in less healing for you and you co-healer after all.<br />
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<br />
<h4>
Heal like a robot</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
This is something I am absolutely passionate when it comes to healing. Basically what I mean by the subtitle is that you should set yourself a bunch of rules and regulations that you should abide while raiding. It will be much easier if I simply give you an example of what I mean.<br />
<br />
Heroic Fallen protectors is a perfect example of a fight that can be very messy for healers if the DPS are not paying special attention. There are steep single man HP spikes - <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143023">Corrupted Brew</a>, Steep 5+ man HP spikes - </span><span class="spell_icon_span"> <a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/101000">Inferno Strike</a>, Steep Raidwide spikes - </span><span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143544">Calamity</a>. Along with those spikes you can expect heavy DOT damage provided </span><span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143434">Shadow Word: Bane</a></span><span class="spell_icon_span"> by and </span><span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143198">Garrote</a></span> and heavy raidwide damage for the durarion of <span class="spell_icon_span"><a class="spell" href="http://www.wowdb.com/spells/143559">Dark Meditation</a></span>.<br />
<br />
Here is the set of rules that I try to abide by as a Resto druid:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Player falls below 100% hp</span> > Cast Rejuvenation<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Player falls below 80% hp </span>> Cast Rejuvenation and lifebloom<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Player falls below 50% hp</span> > If swiftmend is not available use Natures swiftness then healing touch. <br />
<span style="color: lime;">Player falls below 20% hp</span> > If swiftmend or natures swiftness is not available cast Rejuvenation > Genesis > Healing touch<br />
<span style="color: lime;">2-3 Players fall below 100% hp</span> > Cast Rejuvenation on each<br />
<span style="color: lime;">2-3 Players fall below 80% hp</span> > Cast wild growth and rejuvenation as required<br />
<span style="color: lime;">2-3 Players fall below 50% hp</span> > If swiftmend, natures swiftness or Wild Growth is not available cast Bloom, or rejuvenation on each and use Genesis<br />
<span style="color: lime;">2-3 Players fall below 20% hp</span> > If swiftmend, natures swiftness or Wild Growth is not available cast Incarnation and spam regrowth<br />
<span style="color: lime;">4+ Players fall below 100% hp</span> > Cast Wild Growth<br />
<span style="color: lime;">4+ Players fall below 80% hp</span> > Cast wild growth and rejuvenation as required<br />
<span style="color: lime;">4+ Players fall below 50% hp</span> > If swiftmend, natures swiftness or Wild Growth is not available cast Tranquility or a Tier 6 Talent<br />
<span style="color: lime;">4+ Players fall below 20% hp</span> > If swiftmend, natures swiftness, Tranquility or Wild
Growth is not available cast Bloom or Incarnation + a tier 6 talent and spam Regrowth/Wild Growth.<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Target has a DOT on them</span> > apply rejuvenation and lifebloom if you cannot dispel <br />
<span style="color: lime;">Several targets have Dots on them</span> > Hot up/dispell the Priority targets first<br />
<br />
This is a rough guideline that I use when healing, I find that the more strict I am in sticking to it the more effective I am as a healer, I stay calmer during stressful periods of healing and my reactions become FAR quicker due to the fact that I am almost 'pre-programmed' to apply the appropriate heal in my 'script'. Not to mention mana consumption is slashed by a great deal due to a lack of any serious overhealing.<br />
<br />
There are a few other things you should have set aside in your mind as well, such as:<br />
<ul>
<li>Using your own personal damage mitigation CDs to reduce healing required on yourself</li>
<li>Pre determining when and where damage is going to come from in order to heal it the instant it affects the DPS</li>
<li>Staggering your CD's with your co-healers during periods of high damage</li>
<li>Dispel squishy classes first</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Understaning boss encounters</h4>
<br />
<br />
Not only is it important that you understand what you have to do as a healer for each boss, I find that it is always beneficial to know what being a DPS or Tank entails as well. Having this deeper sense of understanding can help you pr-empt incoming damage and know where to place your AOE healing spells,<br />
<br />
Have <u><b>Deadlybossmods</b></u>/<u><b>bigwigs</b></u> set up perfectly. You really should be paying attention to timers in this game as a healer, it will tell you exactly what spell you are coming to expect and you can plan to react rather than simply react.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Understanding and learning to read Skada/Recount</h4>
<br />
<br />
These tools are not what most people use them for - bragging rights. Personally I use them to analyze my performance and find out where I was going wrong, was i dispelling enough? What enemy spell did the highest amount of damage? Why was I doing so much overhealing?<br />
<br />
All of these questions and more can be uncovered simply and quickly using either recount or skada, and being critical of yourself should help you improve your skills as a healer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
The co-healer </h4>
<br />
Your co-healer is, for obvious reasons, a hugely important aspect of healing raids. He should be healing roughly the same as you, if the skill levels and classes match up (priest healers can go die in a fire, seriously just go and find a giant fire and jump into it!).<br />
<br />
I feel a bullet point list coming on! Here are some interesting points to be mindful of;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Your relationship with your co-healer must be ROCK SOLID, he is your other half, the yin to your yang, your <u>balance</u>. Know this, understand this.</li>
<li>Understand your co-healers class almost as well as your own. This will help not only eliminate heal conflict but help you come up with devious plans to heal though particularly tricky bosses.</li>
<li>Trust and respect your co-healer, there is no need to try and tell them how to play unless they are obviously bad, let them do what they need to do, let them focus.</li>
<li>There are 2 healers for a reason, it can sometimes feel like you are the only one healing but your co-healer has your back, work out a system and work in conjunction with each other. </li>
<li> Work with your co-healer, not against him. Alot of healers i know get overly proud of their numbers and get competitive, this will lead to wipes and sometimes the other healer feeling demoralized and burnt out</li>
<li>Compliment your co-healer. they have earnt thier place to heal just as much as you, they are as AWESOME as you, make sure they know this when they do something cool (My shammy co-healer has done some sickeningly good spirit links, seriously...)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4>
Conclusion </h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<br />
<br />
With this guide I have no doubt your healing skills and knowledge will reach Heroic levels in no time with a bit of practice. Thank you for taking the time to read this post.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Good luck!<br />
<br />
Mayhemghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-23795114296904242192014-01-26T02:20:00.002-08:002014-02-03T12:14:18.435-08:001-90 As a MoP Baby<h2>
</h2>
<br />
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I remember my leveling experience in WoW being truly terrible. I have spoken to various people, and also had a look on the WoW EU forums regarding this matter and everyone is more or less saying the same thing, if you smothered peanut butter all over the keyboard and unleashed a Chimpanzee into the room, he could lick its way all the way up to level 90 within week.<br />
<br />
Ok, ok... i may have exaggerated a TINY bit, but bare with me...<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Tedium</h2>
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<br />
I admit I was a little bit naughty in the fact that I rushed way to level 90 in order to raid with my brother-in-laws guild, I skipped the vast majority of the story text and chained dungeons like a baws. But even so, where is the difficulty in this game sub level 90? At no point would I ever require cooldowns, or even manage to complete an actual DPS rotation to kill even 'Elite' mobs. This in turn massively effected the immersion and 'sense of fear' that comes from playing a correctly tuned game. In all honesty I was completely bored for the first week that i spent licking the peanut butter off of my keyboard.<br />
<br />
If anyone has played games like DayZ, Final fantasy 7 (taking on that snake outside of <i>Nibelheim </i>that Sephiroth had killed), or even just Mario for god sake. You try your best not to die, you take care, you calculate risks and the character you play slowly becomes worth more and more to you the deeper you delve into the game.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thegameeffect.com/contentMedia/images/users/smappdi/warz-7-24-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thegameeffect.com/contentMedia/images/users/smappdi/warz-7-24-2012.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OH SHHHIIIII....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In WoW I could happily ROFLstomp several adds 2 levels higher than me with AOE spells whilst barely batting an eyelid, and hey if I do decide to try and chainpull 100's of mobs in a dungeon and somehow die, who cares? Simply run back to corpse and feel a little bit silly for trying to tank on a dps class!<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Heirlooms </h4>
<br />
<br />
I find out a few months later the existence of Heirlooms. I purchased a full set and decided to level another character to 90 but this time round I would take my time in reading all/most of the quest text provided, I
have to admit I rather enjoyed the time and effort put into some of the
stories and lore. But alas this only slightly sweetened that fact that I could kill mobs of my level with auto attacks on a caster spec character. <br />
<br />
All the old players are saying the same thing, the glory days are gone, welcome to WoW, where the game begins at level 90.<br />
<br />ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282482367334639396.post-24516132646357729702014-01-26T01:38:00.002-08:002014-02-03T11:58:40.660-08:00Planting The Seed<h3>
</h3>
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<h3>
</h3>
The start of my journey into WoW began when me and my wife went to visit her parents over Christmas in 2012. As it was so far away it was only common sense that we stayed for a couple of days before moving on to the next family members.<br />
I got a little bit bored one day and wandered off into her brothers' bedroom, where he could usually be found in his room on his computer, playing either WoW or some random indie game that he had discovered before it became cool. This time it just so happened that he was playing WoW. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Giving in to temptation </h2>
<br />
<br />
I have always wanted to play WoW, but at the same time I had always resisted the urge to plunge myself into such a huge 'commitment' for various reasons such as - Will i have enough time? Will such an old game actually be any good? Will the subscription be worth it? It was about time I found out from an actual person, so i set about assaulting Cats poor brother with 100's of questions.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I asked him everything I could think of to get more information about the game; do you really use all of those buttons? Can you still find stuff to do after all this time? Are all the classes balanced? Do people actually still play WoW?! He sat comfortably in his gaming chair with a small grin on his face, answering all my questions like he was some kind of WoW guru without barely taking his attention away from the archeology he was doing at the time, all the while I'm sure he knew what the ultimate conclusion of the conversation would be, without even trying he would completely sell me the game. I remember thinking 'how could he act so cool over something that has such a huge stigma attached to it?' WoW in my eyes is the holy grail of geekyness.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa451/Seyna-Turalyon/Mounts/UltramarineBattleTank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa451/Seyna-Turalyon/Mounts/UltramarineBattleTank.jpg" height="176" width="200" /></a>After I was finally satisfied with my answers I though to ask him one last question; ''How do you not find that boring?''(in reference to the archeology he was doing), He told me that he was looking for the Qiraji Battletank mount and that if he found it he would be one of the very very few people on the whole of the server to own one. I think that was the final nail in the coffin for me, I am extremely competitive and being able to have a mount that only 0.3% of people on the server owned... that is pretty cool.<br />
<br />
I bought the game via my phone that very same day. I have never looked back.
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<h3>
About me </h3>
<h3>
</h3>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me And my Wife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hello readers, my name is Jason, I am a 25 year old communications specialist within the Royal Air Force, but more than that, I am a gamer. I currently live with a cat called Panda and my wife/fellow gamer/best friend called Cat, she is as passionate about gaming as I am, and you know what they say: 'couples who play together stay together'. All we need is a Panda called Wife and the strange name triangle would be complete! <br />
<br />
<h3>
<a name='more'></a>A traumatic gaming past... </h3>
<h3>
</h3>
I started playing games as soon as I was old enough to be able to hold a control pad, The first game I ever played was pong on the Atari, I do however have slightly bad memories of that game ever since my big brother got angry after I beat him, he proceeded to rip the power cable out from the plug socket in such a manner that he electrocuted himself and ended up on the other side of the room... Despite that slightly traumatic event my insatiable love of video games has never stopped, my favorite games were Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9 and 10, Tekkens, Gran Turismo's, Time splitters, Golden Eye, Borderlands, Baulders Gate... The list is actually quite endless!!<br />
<br />
Upon reflection I actually think that my love has grown even deeper ever since I finally gave in to Sirens call that WoW was throwing my way, the game, the community, the players, I love them all and I do not think I will ever stop for as long as they stay so truly amazing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Not a complete noob!</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
I would like to quickly express that I was definitely not new to the Warcraft universe when i started WoW, I played Warcraft 1, 2 and 3 on the PC, I very much enjoyed all the mods and extra online games that the community created for well over a year on Warcraft 3, it is nothing short of astonishing what the gaming community can come up with when they are handed a little bit of power to play around with the engine (Skyrim is an excellent example of this). Thus I was partially familiar with some of the characters and a lot of the lore prior to finally getting stuck into WoW for the first time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TD in Warcraft 3!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Next Article, How it all began... <br />
<br />ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09440594935147515421noreply@blogger.com0