January 21, 2010

Another busy week at work, along with a few sick days, so I haven't had much time to write.

Shaman Leveling
I've leveled my shaman quite a bit -- she's now 63. Almost all of the XP has come from healing instances. Pretty much the only time I've actually quested on her has been while sitting out on raids. I can't get committed to an instance, since I can be called to join the raid at any moment. I'm not complaining, though. I'm sure when I raise another toon that is pure DPS, I'll do more quests than instances. So, I'm enjoying this opportunity to sail through the leveling process.

One observation about DK tanks in the early 60s: Some are good, but most are very very bad. At least most of the ones I've experienced. No situational awareness, no line of sight pulling, no understanding of mana=heals. I'll break each one of these down a little:

• No situational awareness: Many of the DK tanks I've encountered stand in fire, don't pay attention to pats, and generally don't pay attention to their surroundings. Anyone with a DK has to have a lvl 80 somewhere. So, it's not that they're completely new to the game. Perhaps they're new to tanking? Maybe they're used to barging on in and surviving pretty much any group of mobs they encounter while questing? Or maybe heroic farming has made people think that all content can just be steam-rolled. If we are in heirloom gear, yes we have an advantage in the leveling instances. But, no matter how geared you are, you can't live through a 12 mob pile up. I'm a good healer, but I can't heal that.
• No line of sight pulling: This really seems to be limited to DKs. All other tanks I've encountered know the concept and use it when needed. Perhaps it's because they have spent so many more levels in instances, since DKs skip all the pre-55 instances. Or maybe it's just that they lack basic tanking skills, or even worse, don't care. Steam rolling again...easy to do in heroics with epic gear on. Not so easy to do in lower level instances, even in heirloom gear.
• No understanding of mana=healing: A particularly bad DK tank said one of the most surprising things to me. After three large unwieldy pulls, I had to stop for mana. I said this in party chat. As I sat down to drink, I watched as the tank and the rogue sauntered off to the next mobs. Every healer has gone through this decision making process before -- do I run up and do my best with the very little mana I have? Or do I just let them die? I chose the former...it was a mistake. We all died. While running back, I reminded the DK that I had said I needed mana. He didn't respond. Then...next couple encounters were equally mana intensive as the previous ones. I indicated in party chat that I needed to get mana back. Once again, he and the rogue went bravely forward to engage the next mobs. This time I let them die. The tank started calling me obscenities for not healing him. I reminded him that I had said I needed mana. His response was shocking. He said, "So what? There's nothing I can do to help you get mana. How the *%*& am I responsible for that?" How the heck did this guy get to level 80 on another toon without understanding that when the healer says she needs mana, that means everyone needs to sit tight while she drinks up?

Honestly, I can't wait to hit max level so I won't have to deal with so many idiotic death knights!

ICC 25 (Priest)
On Tuesday night we went right into Icecrown to get to the new content. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone in the WoW universe had the same idea -- the lag was horrific. We could barely cast spells or move. After we killed Saurfang, we decided to call it a night. There was no way we could do the harder encounters with so much lag.

ICC 10 (Priest)
We made it to Professor Putricide last week, but we used up all 10 attempts without getting him down. We went back again on Tuesday night. We one shotted everything up to and including Festergut. We called it a night at that point then returned last night. For the life of us, we couldn't get Rotface down. It was very frustrating. After a few hours of attempts, we finally decided to get a peek at the new content. That's some hard stuff! We died within seconds of starting the Princes encounter. After three wipes, we decided to leave Icecrown.

OS 10 (Priest and Mage)
In the past week I've gotten the "...of the Nightfall" title on both my mage and my priest. My mage even won the roll on the drake. Pretty cool stuff.

Raid Leader Craziness
So, our 10-man raid leader has been close to intolerable lately. He does two things that really annoy the crap out of me.

1. Whenever he's out of mana or dead, he'll declare a wipe. If it's early on in the encounter, I can see how his death might mean a wipe. But, if it's close to over, I might be able to handle the healing to the end. He seems to dismiss my healing skills. He gives the impression that without him healing, we're doomed to failure. That's annoying, but it's even more offensive.
   
2. He has been going into rages over mistakes we make. It's one thing to be disappointed when we wipe. A good leader brushes it off and provides contstructive criticism and advice on how to do better the next time. He tries to do this, but he fails. Instead, he screams into the microphone at us. Then, when he regains his composure, he won't analyze what has gone wrong. If we step in to do so, he shushes us. I don't know what his deal is, but it's getting very annoying. I'm playing to have fun. Not to be screamed at by someone.
   

He's a great guy normally. I really like him a lot. He's very knowledgable and is able to orchestrate strategies very well. But, he seriously needs to work on the two points I made above. I mean, last night people were laughing at him, comparing him to the "More dots!!!" and "Minus 50 dkp!!!!!" guy.

That's all for now...