Naxxramas (Heroic)
On Tuesday we went to Heroic Naxx. It went well. We cleared Arachnid and got all the way up to Heigan in Plague. We were making very good time until our first attempt at Heigan. So many people died during the first dance that when we got back to the stage, only one person was able to cure the disease. I, along with the majority of the others still standing, died within seconds from the disease. Then we watched...and watched...and watched...as 4 people tried to bring him down. Two healers on the stage, the tank and one tank-turned-dps (druid tank that switched to cat form during the fight). It was going to take forever! After each round, they were only lowering him by 2% and they were at 25%. I read a book while waiting. Then about 20 minutes later when the tank-turned-dps died to the lava waves, I finally suggested they wipe it and let us try with the full group again.
We wiped, went back and downed him in three dances. So much time wasted...
I got the Sash of the Parlor, which I'm not sure is much of a helpful upgrade from the Plush Sash of Gusbah. I've lost a lot of hit by switching it out. I'll see how it works out tonight when we go back to finish Naxx.
Obsidian Sanctum (normal)
After Naxx on Tuesday I went to a quick OS run. The DPS was so good that we decided to try to do it with 1 drake up. We tried three times, but we just weren't getting it. It was fun trying though!
VoA (Heroic)
We went to 25-man VoA last night and killed the first boss with just enough time to distribute loot before we were booted from the instance. We wouldn't have been so close if half of the raid hadn't chosen to go to Ulduar right before going to VoA. It annoyed me because the raid invite that they sent out was so stern about everyone showing up 1/2 hour before starting time, but the organizer and her guild were the ones who went to Ulduar. They didn't get out until about 10 minutes after the time we were supposed to start -- so they were technically 40 minutes late!
Warlock Leveling
After the VoA run I logged and watched So You Think You Can Dance. When I returned it was fairly late so I was only going to do a few things on my lock. I ended up playing him until 2:00 a.m. Yikes! I joined a Ramps group which went well. My dps was at the bottom...even below the tank's! But it was all good because we flew through the instance. No drops...but a lot of fun.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
June 23, 2009
Warlock Fun
The last few days I've only played on my Warlock. He's level 62 now. For several levels it was getting a bit boring since all skill-ups consisted only of higher levels of existing spells. I had been hoping for new spells to change the experience/rotation. I finally got something new -- Haunt. It has been fun to see the healing come from mobs and I've been enjoying trying to maximize the amount of healing it gives. I also just last night got Fel Armor, which should make my DPS go up.
Last night I found a Ramps and Blood Furnace group. They both went well, though I was really disappointed with my DPS. There was a Demonology Warlock in the group as well, so I was mostly comparing myself to him. And, considering he was one level below me, I expected to have higher DPS on bosses. (I ignored trash DPS, since Affliction locks don't have enough time for their spells to ramp up before trash dies.) So, on bosses I did the recommended rotation of spells, followed by refreshing them as they expired. His DPS was in the 500s. Mine was in the 300s. Very disappointing. The bosses went down fairly quickly, which might have made a difference. Affliction locks are all about sustained DPS over long periods of time. I can see that against raid bosses I'll do a decent amount of DPS. But, my guess is that I'll never get impressive numbers in 5-mans because the bosses go down far too quickly.
Why does this concern me? Because I want to make sure to get invited back to groups, especially when I hit Northrend and start finding more grouping opportunities. If my DPS is low in 5-mans, people will not want to invite me back.
I'll have to do some research to see which spec is the best for 5-mans. Perhaps I'll need to dual spec, saving the Affliction spec for raids. I'm still 18 levels away from raiding, so I theoretically have a lot of instances to run before then.
On another note, I got my first complaint about life-tap from a healer last night. First, he asked me and the other lock in the party why our life suddenly dropped to 1/2 health. Oooh...it brought back memories of me asking the same question when I was leveling my priest. The one warlock in our guild had never used life-tap, so I was completely surprised to encounter it when healing a PuG (this was a LONG time ago). I remember how concerning it was as a healer to see someone's life drop suddenly.
So, the other lock and I explained how the spell works and assured him not to worry about us -- we also had Drain Life and Haunt, so we could generally take care of healing ourselves, unless we were actually taking damage.
After a brief pause, he responded, "Please stop using it in combat."
Ah...the memories. I completely sympathized with him. I remember how long it took me to get used to Warlocks and their fluctuating health. (As a healer I watch both the health and the mana of Warlocks. If I see a drop in their health but no increase in their mana, I throw a heal on them, knowing that they are actually taking damage. Also, if I have mana to spare, I'll throw a Renew on them if they're just tapping.) I tried to kindly assure him that he really could ignore our health bars unless we were getting attacked directly. But, he insisted. And it got to the point that he refused to heal us when we life-tapped. The funny thing was that between battles when we life-tapped, the tank used bandages to "heal" us. I couldn't help but laugh.
It's so good to see the game through the eyes of each class. It makes you understand why they do certain things that are foreign to you otherwise.
Naxx (heroic)
This week is our 25-man Naxx week. So, tonight I'll stop hiding on my lock and go to Naxx on my mage. I hope it doesn't take an hour to gather 25 people!
The last few days I've only played on my Warlock. He's level 62 now. For several levels it was getting a bit boring since all skill-ups consisted only of higher levels of existing spells. I had been hoping for new spells to change the experience/rotation. I finally got something new -- Haunt. It has been fun to see the healing come from mobs and I've been enjoying trying to maximize the amount of healing it gives. I also just last night got Fel Armor, which should make my DPS go up.
Last night I found a Ramps and Blood Furnace group. They both went well, though I was really disappointed with my DPS. There was a Demonology Warlock in the group as well, so I was mostly comparing myself to him. And, considering he was one level below me, I expected to have higher DPS on bosses. (I ignored trash DPS, since Affliction locks don't have enough time for their spells to ramp up before trash dies.) So, on bosses I did the recommended rotation of spells, followed by refreshing them as they expired. His DPS was in the 500s. Mine was in the 300s. Very disappointing. The bosses went down fairly quickly, which might have made a difference. Affliction locks are all about sustained DPS over long periods of time. I can see that against raid bosses I'll do a decent amount of DPS. But, my guess is that I'll never get impressive numbers in 5-mans because the bosses go down far too quickly.
Why does this concern me? Because I want to make sure to get invited back to groups, especially when I hit Northrend and start finding more grouping opportunities. If my DPS is low in 5-mans, people will not want to invite me back.
I'll have to do some research to see which spec is the best for 5-mans. Perhaps I'll need to dual spec, saving the Affliction spec for raids. I'm still 18 levels away from raiding, so I theoretically have a lot of instances to run before then.
On another note, I got my first complaint about life-tap from a healer last night. First, he asked me and the other lock in the party why our life suddenly dropped to 1/2 health. Oooh...it brought back memories of me asking the same question when I was leveling my priest. The one warlock in our guild had never used life-tap, so I was completely surprised to encounter it when healing a PuG (this was a LONG time ago). I remember how concerning it was as a healer to see someone's life drop suddenly.
So, the other lock and I explained how the spell works and assured him not to worry about us -- we also had Drain Life and Haunt, so we could generally take care of healing ourselves, unless we were actually taking damage.
After a brief pause, he responded, "Please stop using it in combat."
Ah...the memories. I completely sympathized with him. I remember how long it took me to get used to Warlocks and their fluctuating health. (As a healer I watch both the health and the mana of Warlocks. If I see a drop in their health but no increase in their mana, I throw a heal on them, knowing that they are actually taking damage. Also, if I have mana to spare, I'll throw a Renew on them if they're just tapping.) I tried to kindly assure him that he really could ignore our health bars unless we were getting attacked directly. But, he insisted. And it got to the point that he refused to heal us when we life-tapped. The funny thing was that between battles when we life-tapped, the tank used bandages to "heal" us. I couldn't help but laugh.
It's so good to see the game through the eyes of each class. It makes you understand why they do certain things that are foreign to you otherwise.
Naxx (heroic)
This week is our 25-man Naxx week. So, tonight I'll stop hiding on my lock and go to Naxx on my mage. I hope it doesn't take an hour to gather 25 people!
Monday, June 22, 2009
We've Had Our Time To Shine
A wise boss once told me, "As a manager, you should no longer expect to do the fun and interesting stuff. Our staff members do that now. We've had our time to shine. Now it's their turn."
I've been thinking that way about WoW recently. I think I might have had my time to shine.
I didn't hit max level until a while after BC was released. So, I missed raiding in classic WoW and, by the time I did hit 70, people were mostly past Kara and into Sunwell. I went into Kara on my hunter a handful of times, but my focus wasn't raiding back then. It was mostly leveling alts, doing dailies and saving lots of gold. During that time I also leveled my priest. But by the time she reached 70, her gear was completely inferior to that of other healers. I couldn't get into a heroic or raid to save my life, except for one or two Kara runs.
Then Wrath was released. Everything changed. The best decision I ever made was to level my Priest first -- and to do so as Holy the entire way. Even though I had only one epic from BC on her, her healing skills were definitely needed and appreciated. I found groups easily and, by the time I hit 80, my friends list was full of people to group with. I flew through Heroics long before most of my guild mates. And I was the first in my guild to get into Naxx. Even before I had cleared 10-man, I started going to 25-man Naxx.
Naxx was difficult at first, but I loved it. It felt like Kara all over again. As my gear improved, it got easier. I became a very well geared priest with a reputation as a good healer. I was getting invites right and left from various guilds (as you can see by reading previous posts in my blog) to run with them. I was on the top of the world.
Then Ulduar was introduced. Everything changed again for me. I've been on a handful of Ulduar runs and have only been able to down the first boss. The second one seems close to impossible, at least with the groups I've been running with. The other guilds I was running with are either deep into Ulduar without me or still doing Naxx, but on alts now.
And Eye of Eternity, I've only tried it a few times and it has been beyond hard. Just this past weekend I tried it again and I kept running out of mana. I just couldn't keep up with the damage. And then the part where you mount the dragons? I'm completely lost during it. I am simply uncomfortable with being forced to play in a way other than that which I have chosen -- I'm a priest. I want to cast my spells, not sit on the back of a dragon and figure out how to target and castits spells. (One thing to note is that some of the difficulty I have with it is that I have no easy way to target players. Using Grid/Clique and with party frames off, I am unable to select players easily. Next time I go there, I'll have to make some adjustments.)
People have said for a while that Naxx is easy mode. I shook my head at that at first. But, seeing how difficult EoE and Ulduar are, I'm beginning to see what they mean. Naxx is not easy, but it's simple. The strategies are not complex and, given the right gear, they are simple to execute.
But, Ulduar, ugh.
As I look back on the month following Wrath's release, I see myself in my glory days. I felt like I was on top of the world, raiding every chance I got, getting shiny epics right and left.
Now, a few months later, I'm still in Naxx, unable to move into Ulduar.
Perhaps I've had my time to shine.
I've been thinking that way about WoW recently. I think I might have had my time to shine.
I didn't hit max level until a while after BC was released. So, I missed raiding in classic WoW and, by the time I did hit 70, people were mostly past Kara and into Sunwell. I went into Kara on my hunter a handful of times, but my focus wasn't raiding back then. It was mostly leveling alts, doing dailies and saving lots of gold. During that time I also leveled my priest. But by the time she reached 70, her gear was completely inferior to that of other healers. I couldn't get into a heroic or raid to save my life, except for one or two Kara runs.
Then Wrath was released. Everything changed. The best decision I ever made was to level my Priest first -- and to do so as Holy the entire way. Even though I had only one epic from BC on her, her healing skills were definitely needed and appreciated. I found groups easily and, by the time I hit 80, my friends list was full of people to group with. I flew through Heroics long before most of my guild mates. And I was the first in my guild to get into Naxx. Even before I had cleared 10-man, I started going to 25-man Naxx.
Naxx was difficult at first, but I loved it. It felt like Kara all over again. As my gear improved, it got easier. I became a very well geared priest with a reputation as a good healer. I was getting invites right and left from various guilds (as you can see by reading previous posts in my blog) to run with them. I was on the top of the world.
Then Ulduar was introduced. Everything changed again for me. I've been on a handful of Ulduar runs and have only been able to down the first boss. The second one seems close to impossible, at least with the groups I've been running with. The other guilds I was running with are either deep into Ulduar without me or still doing Naxx, but on alts now.
And Eye of Eternity, I've only tried it a few times and it has been beyond hard. Just this past weekend I tried it again and I kept running out of mana. I just couldn't keep up with the damage. And then the part where you mount the dragons? I'm completely lost during it. I am simply uncomfortable with being forced to play in a way other than that which I have chosen -- I'm a priest. I want to cast my spells, not sit on the back of a dragon and figure out how to target and cast
People have said for a while that Naxx is easy mode. I shook my head at that at first. But, seeing how difficult EoE and Ulduar are, I'm beginning to see what they mean. Naxx is not easy, but it's simple. The strategies are not complex and, given the right gear, they are simple to execute.
But, Ulduar, ugh.
As I look back on the month following Wrath's release, I see myself in my glory days. I felt like I was on top of the world, raiding every chance I got, getting shiny epics right and left.
Now, a few months later, I'm still in Naxx, unable to move into Ulduar.
Perhaps I've had my time to shine.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
June 17, 2009
I only did one thing last night -- 10-Man Naxx.
Naxxramas
I went to our weekly run of Naxx. We've started an alternating 10-man one week, 25-man the next week schedule. So, last night was 10-man. It went swimmingly. :) I got two new shinies. A flashy new cloak and a much needed new trinket.
I love being an enchanter...I get an new item and seconds later it's enchanted and wearable.
I'm now substantially over the hit cap again. So, I might swap out a gem tonight to increase my SP again.
The trinket has been awesome so far. After equipping it, I quickly made a Power Aura to let me know whenever it procs. It says Speedy! upon proc. It came up several times, so the proc rate seems decent. Also, there was one point at which it procced while I was under the effect of Icy Veins and heroism. The speed at which I was casting was INSANE! I loved it. hehehe
We got through Arachnid and Plague. In Construct we stopped after an attempt against Gluth. We didn't have the right party makeup to effectively handle the zombies in the back.
Going back Thursday -- we'll see what the party make up is then.
Naxxramas
I went to our weekly run of Naxx. We've started an alternating 10-man one week, 25-man the next week schedule. So, last night was 10-man. It went swimmingly. :) I got two new shinies. A flashy new cloak and a much needed new trinket.
I love being an enchanter...I get an new item and seconds later it's enchanted and wearable.
I'm now substantially over the hit cap again. So, I might swap out a gem tonight to increase my SP again.
The trinket has been awesome so far. After equipping it, I quickly made a Power Aura to let me know whenever it procs. It says Speedy! upon proc. It came up several times, so the proc rate seems decent. Also, there was one point at which it procced while I was under the effect of Icy Veins and heroism. The speed at which I was casting was INSANE! I loved it. hehehe
We got through Arachnid and Plague. In Construct we stopped after an attempt against Gluth. We didn't have the right party makeup to effectively handle the zombies in the back.
Going back Thursday -- we'll see what the party make up is then.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
June 16, 2009
In my last post I pointed out that a guildie or two seemed to have found my blog because they were making vague references to it. They also criticized our sister guilds and the people in them. I was tired of all the complaining so I dealt with the issue by sending an email that explained how things had developed into the current state of affairs. Things seem to be better now -- one of the guildies even apologized to me -- but I'm not 100% sure what's behind the peace. Is it that they truly understood my perspective and how unfair they were being? Or is it that they think I'm a loon and they're just keeping quiet with their opinions around me. I guess the motivation doesn't matter -- the end result is I'm not hearing complaints about people I like, which is a good thing.
I haven't actually played since Friday night, so there's really nothing to report from the game-play perspective. On Friday night my priest got a drop for the first time in ages. She finally replaced a blue wrist item with a purple. Unfortunately, I can't link it here because either the armory hasn't been updated or I mistakenly put my old bracers on before logging out.
Tonight's Tuesday, so raids are reset. I'm scheduled to go to a Naxx 10 run tonight.
I haven't actually played since Friday night, so there's really nothing to report from the game-play perspective. On Friday night my priest got a drop for the first time in ages. She finally replaced a blue wrist item with a purple. Unfortunately, I can't link it here because either the armory hasn't been updated or I mistakenly put my old bracers on before logging out.
Tonight's Tuesday, so raids are reset. I'm scheduled to go to a Naxx 10 run tonight.
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Risk of Exposure
Last night some things were said in guild chat that made it clear to me that a couple (at least) of my guild members have found this blog and have figured out it is me who is writing it. I knew it was a risk, but lately I thought it didn't matter.
Well, apparently it does. At least one of the members is using what I've said in this blog against me.
The thing that I find most interesting is that they actually found this blog! I mean...honestly, I thought the likelihood of anyone finding it very remote. And, if they did find it, I assumed it would be so boring to them that they wouldn't read it closely or thoroughly enough to figure out that it was me.
I knew from the start that the risk was there. So, I'm not saying "woe is me". I'm just surprised it actually happened, considering how boring my "diary" must be to the outside world.
Well, apparently it does. At least one of the members is using what I've said in this blog against me.
The thing that I find most interesting is that they actually found this blog! I mean...honestly, I thought the likelihood of anyone finding it very remote. And, if they did find it, I assumed it would be so boring to them that they wouldn't read it closely or thoroughly enough to figure out that it was me.
I knew from the start that the risk was there. So, I'm not saying "woe is me". I'm just surprised it actually happened, considering how boring my "diary" must be to the outside world.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
June 10, 2009
Nothing much worth noting happened this past weekend or the last two days. I got a little annoyed when my Naxx spot was given to someone else because the invite for the return to Naxx hadn't been sent out until after I went to bed.
Naxxramas (Heroic)
I sulked a little then found a 25-man Naxx that needed heals. We sailed through Arachnid but failed miserably on Patch. The tank I was healing was killed with one hit -- three times in a row. I was seriously thinking it was my lack of healing skill. Honestly, though, how many times have I healed Patchwerk? Come on...I know what I'm doing. After the third attempt, the party started breaking up with lots of people accusing the tanks of "not doing their job". People were saying, "you didn't stack!".
Honestly, I don't understand what they were saying. But, I'm relieved to know is was the tanks at fault, not me.
So...another wasted Naxx 25 raid id.
Naxxramas (normal)
I healed a Naxx 10 group for Guild #2. We did a full clear. Easy as pie. Of course, my priest didn't need any of the drops, so it was all in the name of fun and helping friends. Meanwhile, the group who gave my mage's spot to someone else also cleared all of Naxx. So...definitely no opportunity for her to get anything until this week.
Naxxramas (heroic) -- new week
Last night was our first organized Naxx 25 run. It took until about 45 minutes after the scheduled time for us to gather all the players. It included two of my guildies who just last night returned from sabbatical. (More about them below.)
This run was almost exactly like the one I did over the weekend. Arachnid went down easily. (Though one funny thing was that I was master looter but didn't know it. So, after the first boss kill we were all waiting for the master looter to do her job. I was about to say something when someone asked me when I was going to start. Oops! lol) Then we moved on to Construct and failed on Patchwerk -- in exactly the same way as the previous group. The tanks went down more quickly than any heals could have saved them. Once again, "stacking" was identified as the key reason. I'll have to read up on that.
So, we skipped Patch and went to Plague. Noth went down easily. It was there that we stopped for the night.
Drops? None. Though I'm beginning to wonder if that's my fault. There were several items that I could have rolled on but they had Spirit on them. Figuring spirit equipment is usually for Priests, I didn't roll. But, I noticed afterward that other mages rolled on those items. Maybe I need to stop waiting for the +hit equipment and just roll if something is an upgrade.
Guild
As I mentioned above, two of my guild members are back from sabbatical. Although I'm really happy to see them, I was reminded during our Naxx run how not-so-nice they can be.
The husband complains constantly about not getting any loot. He's completely intolerant of others, so if anyone suggests something that he doesn't agree with he starts writing bad things about them in Guild chat. He also threatens constantly to leave raids because of anything that is making him unhappy -- no loot, stupid raiders, too slow, boring, etc.
The wife is much nicer, but she has her moments. Last night she got tired of waiting for the group to be ready for the boss fight, so she jumped up and pulled. Instant wipe. What was the point of that? All it did was make us wait even longer since everyone had to get a res or return and rebuff.
I don't know. Once again I ask myself, "am I in the right guild"?
Loot
None at all. None on my priest. None on my mage. None on my warlock, even though he gained 5 levels over the weekend.
Naxxramas (Heroic)
I sulked a little then found a 25-man Naxx that needed heals. We sailed through Arachnid but failed miserably on Patch. The tank I was healing was killed with one hit -- three times in a row. I was seriously thinking it was my lack of healing skill. Honestly, though, how many times have I healed Patchwerk? Come on...I know what I'm doing. After the third attempt, the party started breaking up with lots of people accusing the tanks of "not doing their job". People were saying, "you didn't stack!".
Honestly, I don't understand what they were saying. But, I'm relieved to know is was the tanks at fault, not me.
So...another wasted Naxx 25 raid id.
Naxxramas (normal)
I healed a Naxx 10 group for Guild #2. We did a full clear. Easy as pie. Of course, my priest didn't need any of the drops, so it was all in the name of fun and helping friends. Meanwhile, the group who gave my mage's spot to someone else also cleared all of Naxx. So...definitely no opportunity for her to get anything until this week.
Naxxramas (heroic) -- new week
Last night was our first organized Naxx 25 run. It took until about 45 minutes after the scheduled time for us to gather all the players. It included two of my guildies who just last night returned from sabbatical. (More about them below.)
This run was almost exactly like the one I did over the weekend. Arachnid went down easily. (Though one funny thing was that I was master looter but didn't know it. So, after the first boss kill we were all waiting for the master looter to do her job. I was about to say something when someone asked me when I was going to start. Oops! lol) Then we moved on to Construct and failed on Patchwerk -- in exactly the same way as the previous group. The tanks went down more quickly than any heals could have saved them. Once again, "stacking" was identified as the key reason. I'll have to read up on that.
So, we skipped Patch and went to Plague. Noth went down easily. It was there that we stopped for the night.
Drops? None. Though I'm beginning to wonder if that's my fault. There were several items that I could have rolled on but they had Spirit on them. Figuring spirit equipment is usually for Priests, I didn't roll. But, I noticed afterward that other mages rolled on those items. Maybe I need to stop waiting for the +hit equipment and just roll if something is an upgrade.
Guild
As I mentioned above, two of my guild members are back from sabbatical. Although I'm really happy to see them, I was reminded during our Naxx run how not-so-nice they can be.
The husband complains constantly about not getting any loot. He's completely intolerant of others, so if anyone suggests something that he doesn't agree with he starts writing bad things about them in Guild chat. He also threatens constantly to leave raids because of anything that is making him unhappy -- no loot, stupid raiders, too slow, boring, etc.
The wife is much nicer, but she has her moments. Last night she got tired of waiting for the group to be ready for the boss fight, so she jumped up and pulled. Instant wipe. What was the point of that? All it did was make us wait even longer since everyone had to get a res or return and rebuff.
I don't know. Once again I ask myself, "am I in the right guild"?
Loot
None at all. None on my priest. None on my mage. None on my warlock, even though he gained 5 levels over the weekend.
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