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Hitting Arvash with the nerfbat!
Stealing inspiration from my buddy Arvash!
In the new Mist of Pandaria expansion, Druids will be getting a new spell called Symbiosis, which will allow them to “trade” a spell with another player, based on the player’s class and combat role and the Druid’s specialization.
So my question is, if you could have any spell you want from any other class, current spells or new ones in MoP, what would it be? How would you work it into your rotation, gameplay, etc.?
The one spell for my Priest Liyhe would have to be a Battle Rez! It would be nice to have one, because lets face it, how many DK’s save up their runic power or how many people actually raid with warlocks? (They smell like imp poo!)
Other notable mentions:
Travel Form – but instead of a cheetah or a stag – a unicorn! lol
Healing Shrooms – but instead of making a smurf village – make a bunch of heretics burning at the stake!
Summon Ghoul/Demon/pet etc – Angels!
But to expand upon Arv’s initial question if I could have an ability from any MMO, it would be simple. From FFXI:
And it’s upgraded version:
I don’t really tank in WoW, it’s too much work! However, I did tank as a ninja in FFXI.
Now the ninja in FFXI originally was not thought out by Square Enix to be a tank. It the players who made the ninja into a tank.
Now to be a ninja tank in FFXI, you needed good gear, and the ability to time your casts well. If you were good xping was easy street, get a bad one and it was painful. A good one would only get hit maybe a few times here and there, a bad one was worth then a noob DK tank in Hellfire Ramparts.
It was simple, when you had both versions of the spell – Ichi – took about 4-5 sec to cast, Ni was almost instant cast.
1.) Prepull – cast Utsusemi:Ni – if you were main job ninja – you got 4 shadows
2.) As the mob s beating on you – keep track of how many shadows you have left, before the last one is gone, start casting Utsusei:Ichi so the last Ni shadow would go before Ichi finishes casting. But if for some reason the mob misses your shadow, or you dodge, one had to cancel the last shadow from Ni. Why you ask? Because Ichi cannot overwrite Ni, while Ni could overwrite Ichi shadows.
3.) While doing this you had to make sure maintain threat – by using your WS when poss, and other ninjitsu spells as needed.
Busy work really takes some time
Have you ever noticed how busy work really adds up?
Between logging in and out of all my toons, seeing which addons work, rewriting macros, and AHing, the next thing I knew, it was 11:30!
1st impressions of 5.0.4
1.) Vanity gyphs are very amusing – Stag form baby – oh yeah!
2.) 102k mana pool will take some getting used to. Now is the time to practice maximizing HPS vs mana conservation.
3.) The new talents – some are great, others not so much….
4.) Broken addons fixed quickly – bless your hearts addon writers, you rock! (please let there be a VuhDo patch soon!)
5.) Account wide pets and mounts – thumbs up on this one!
6.) Being able to cast Penance while moving…..omg so awesome! And the new lolwell which dones not require clicking…win!
What I don’t like so far:
1.) Talent choices – in my opinion, once again there are definitely some “you would be dumb if you choose this” choices in the trees. However, the flexibility to change on the fly is nice, and a good idea and about time it was implemented.
2.) Loss of prime glyphs, I understand why but…I still miss them.
What do you like? Not like?
5.0 Priest Talents
Blizzcon 2011 has come and gone. I know others are hating it (*cough* Zerl) and others are loving it.
5.0 MoP will bring about lots of changes – from QoL changes to revamping the talent tree.
Others are saying it is making the game easier while others are optimistic about the changes. For me overall, I am pleased with the annoucements at Blizzcon. Sure I can see that the new system is dumbing down the game to an extent. However, overall WoW is not only about the raiders. Cata for me was raiding ONRY. MoP appears will be raiding, some PvP, some Pokemon, some other things to improve oneself in other than raiding expansion. In otherwords it will bring more balance and QoL improvements for citizens of Azeroth. And also PANDAS are awesome…must be the Ranma 1/2 fan in me and the Chen Stormstout fanboy in me. MoP will be more about doing then sitting in Org or SW waiting for your Queue.
Going back to the talent trees, players will still pick their “spec” at level 10, and then a talent point at 15 and every 15 levels their after. Many abilities/former talents will be baseline for the class.
Seeing I am a priest I will take a look at the Priest talents.
Level 15 – Tier 1
Void Tendrils – sounds much like the druid roots spell.
Psy fiend – pet emits psychic scream to an enemy with 40 yds – every 2 sec for 10 sec. Interesting.
Psychic Scream – just like the original.
Overall for me, a meh tier. All of them have their uses perhaps while lvling – the Tendrils being the biggest one. Overall more use in PvP. PvE priests I bet will be picking the Tendrils. Because we all know unglyphed Psychic Scream is bad in PVE.
Level 30
Body and Soul – 30% more speed over the current version and the loss of a free cure disease.
Path of the Devout – 25% more speeds while levitating.
Phantasm – removes movement impearments when casting fade etc.
Once again meh – each point has it uses in PvP and PvE. PvE priests I assume will be picking Body and Soul.
Level 45
From darkness comes light
Surge of Light (caster form)
Smite, Heal, Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal have a chance to trigger a free Flash Heal (6% chance)
Surge of Darkness (shadow form)
6% chance when you mind flay to cause your next mindblast to be free and consume no shadow orbs.
Divine Star
Fires a star that will travel 20 yard, enemies in the path will be damages and allies in the path will be healed. It will then travel back to the caster and do the samething.
Archangel
Interesting 2 min cooldown now. or is 30 for archangel and 90 sec for dark?
Archangel is pretty much the same but no more mana regen.
Dark Archangel – now uses shadow orbs instead.
Around level 45 is where things get interesting. Right off the bat I would have to say From Darkness comes light is meh.
Archangel is still cool, but if we have to smite for it, I am not sure how many will go for it, I myself run no AA/A spec.
I being the anime dork will prob pick Divine Star for shits and giggles. As Analogue and Reversion from Looking for More stated. MOON PRISM POWER! Hell yeah Sailor moon time!
Level 60
Desperate Prayer – like the current one. It’s not bad if you remember to use it lol.
Angelic Bulwark – increases shields used on yourself.
Final Prayer – places a shield on you when an attack knocks you below 30% the Shield str is 20% of your total health.
Overall, priest survival cooldowns/abilities/talents….all decent choices. With the stronger ones being Desperate Prayer and Angelic Bulwark. Final Prayer to me – seems to more of a PvP thing or for those who are forgetful to use Desperate Prayer/Healthstone/Potions.
Level 75
Twist of fate – increases damage and healing done to target at or below 25%
Power Infusion – same as current.
Serendipity is now combined with Mind Melt when in Shadowform.
Overall I think this Tier a no brainer for Disc and Holy – Power Infusion. Twist of fate is interesting from a healing perspective, with depending on your healing comp this may not be needed. Besides the odd huge raid wide hit…how often is the raid at below 25%?
Level 90
Vow of Unity – kinda like Beacon of Light. Whenever you heal your target you are healed for 20% of the amt. Furthermore, 50% of the damage the target takes you take over 6 secs. Also when the target takes a hit that is greater then 30% of their life the Vow ends.
Void Shift – Yuo swap Life totals with target and then healed for 25% of your total health.
Vampiric Dominance – when you deal damage or heal – 15% of the amount is healed to 3 low health allies.
Tier 6 wooo~ I personally like the idea of the Vow of Unity and the Void Shift. For Shadow Priest the Vampiric Dominance is awesome, possibly also useful for Smite Priests.
I see myself trying out the Vow, combined with a Desperate Prayer or even pre-emptive shield with Angelic Bulwark and other shield str abilities. the Vow could be quite awesome. But if assigned to raid healing the Vampiric might be better. Void Shift has so many choices but will have to be timed…dont want to waste a LoH and Void Shift. Also soooo many trolling opportunities with it…..*evil grin*
Funny search terms….
ok…I know others have made posts about ways to get to your blog…thought I would share some…
1.) sexy space marine – Space marines…sexy? Not sure if they belong in the same search term lol.
2.) 4.2 disc reforging…ok this i can touch on
I like to think of it was int/spirit (play around to find where you are comfortable)/haste/mastery crit
Now this is not set in stone – this will depend on your preference on playstyle and your raid composition.
Int is important/king obviously.
Spirit is up in the air – mana regen is important, but how much do you need? too much and you lose out on troughput stats you could be going for. too little and you wont last the fight. (personally, i think i may reforge some of mine away – gonna overhaul gems/reforging tonight)
Mastery – probably out biggest thorn in our side. It helps our niche well (damage mitigation) but at the same only effects a few of our spells – Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis.
Crit – unreliable at best. With the change to crit heals it makes it appear to be very desirable on paper..but in reality don’t gem/enchant/reforge for it.
Haste – a nice throuput stat. Helps to push out those heals, PoH’s faster etc. However, haste does this at the cost of your mana pool. Watch the mana consumption.
When you take into account of raid size – 25 or 10 man. Your choices can deviate farther. in 25 man you may have the chance to specialize in your role – straight up PoH machine (haste), or tank healer (mastery). Also buffs you maybe missing in 10 you will more then likely have in 25 man raids.
What is in your healing team?
10 man – disc/rdruid/hpally – with the holy focusing on tanks and resto on the raid you may find yourself with a balance of three. In 10’s there will be lots of crosshealing as well.
10 man – disc/rsham/hpally – see above, but with a bit more raid healing.
10 man – disc/hpriest/hpally – once again see above disc/rdruid/hpally.
3.) funeral pyre or smoldering censer of purity for a disc priest?
My personal preference would be the Censer – haste would be better – especially if your OS is holy or shadow. Although you could reforce some of the crit on the Pyre – meh. Also with the spirit on the Censer one could play around with it if you have too much spirit and want to dump it.
Before I forget a rant! and…..pulling a slice = sanity retained
….
I knew this would happen….Call to arms….there are poeple in there who should not be tanking…see Pulling a slice! also there are people in there hoping with the increase in healers and tanks in Heroics…hey maybe they can drag my gimp ass through. F THAT!
…..
You know that moment of dread one gets when you zone in….NOT AT THE BEGINNING of an instance….
1.) Either everyone is dead and running back
2.) The DPS have more health then the “tank”
3.) The tank/DPS say omg a healer….
Deadmines…..sigh…..
Zone in…..ok looks like they have killed the 1st ogre dude….great!
Get to them…..inspect em all….
The tank appears to be ok, some non enchanted stuff but appears to know their stuff and it positive.
Hunter appears to be wellgeared….cant pull more then 6k on trash….on the robot boss….lets not go there….
Rogue is ok, decent gear and good numbers.
WARLOCK – WHY ART THOU ALWAYS THE BIGGEST FOOLS, that and DKs…..
Lock appears to have some JP gear and the crafted epic belt…..they are destro, ok great. Look at their DPS…..4-5k at one point 6.6k….
How can hunters and locks be so fail…..
Get to Ripsnarl….everyone asks….how does this fight go……./facepalm.
I reply “Kill boss, when adds come, kill adds, then back on boss.”
…
….
……
………
…………
Lock ooms about 75% into the fight and stands there to regen mana and than RAIN OF FIRE ONE 1 target! Then goes back to picking nose. No life fap, no wanding….this was the 1st time I was close to letting someone die…..
Hunter Autoshots….
Rogue pewpews boss…
I think the tank and i killed most of the adds….and i am HOLY Pally….
OK Ripsnarl eventially dies….onto Cookie….”eat food as needed, balance good food with bad etc etc” “k” We go….lock stands in bad and dies from food AoE…as does the hunter, as does the rogue, as does the tank….yeah i dropped after that.
**************************************************************************************
People….WoW is not hard.
Don’t give me that I only want to have fun…or I don’t want it to be like work…..
Let me put it this way…if you play console games, or board game, D&D, or card games….you have to learn the rules to play…you have to advance oneself somehow….how is that any different from putting a little elbow grease into WoW….THERE IS NONE!
That is great and all, but don’t waste my 12.95 a month with your fail. If you want to run Heroics, make sure you can at least perform to the level of mining monkey. Otherwise I am pulling a Slice once again.
Blackwing Descent 4/6 + the loot pinata
Ok I know we are not the fastest raid group ever 😛 (Damn real life getting in the way of raiding!)
I am not going to complain sticking to the plan of getting used to one instance seems to be working out for our group.
Also, there is no “raid leader” in this group. I tell people, “Hey go watch this and learn it NAO!”, but people do not really need an explanation. There is no need for the most part to tell people to move.
People will also call themselves out if they get frozen, people move by themselves with or without a verbal cue. Although, we may still say something on vent, people really don’t seem to need it. They learn and play it seems to instinctively act.
Sometimes I wonder at time if a “raid leader” is needed? With a group like SR, I dont think so, but if this was a 25 man group then yes.
2-22-11 – Blackwing Descent
The parse if you are interested.
Arvash – Prot Pally
Dubstein – Prot Pally
Droslice – Fury Warrior
Lyssianna – Aff lock
Roorknug – Marksman Hunter
Moogik – Boomchicken
Dankiel – Shadow/Holy Priest
Liyhe – Disc Priest
Sorak – Resto Shaman
Zarm – Resto Druid
Omnotron Defense System
1 shot – the 4 stooges…one silght hiccup, but we made a nice recovery and powered thru. This fight is proving to be definitely 2 healable.
Security Measure Alpha Grats to me! 🙂
Poison Protocol Pauldrons Grats to Moogik!
Magmaw
Killed in the 2nd attempt. *stares at Sorak* lrn2chain worm 😛
I admit I am almost tempted to try to 2 heal this next lockout. People are now avoiding bad they can and mitigating what they can. Worms are dying faster and faster, and with the addition of Moogik, aka the fluffy one, the Typhoon pushback was very nice indeed.
Symbiotic Worm Grats Dubstein
Scorched Wormling Vest Grats Zarm!
Chimaeron
Down on the 5th try. A few small mistakes here and there caused the wipes, the 1st phases is all on the healers, so if a raid member dies from something a Caustic Slime + Massacre….I admit its a healers fault. Other then a few healing oops and other weird mishaps he went boom!
On this fight assigning poeple to groups helps out a lot, also assigning your cooldowns for the feud phases helps out a lot.
For example:
For the 1st feud we used 1 Tranq and 1 Divine Hymn, I slso threw down Power Word:Barrier (glyphed for the extra 10% healing).
2nd Feud – I threw the barrier and Divine Hymn and the 2nd druid used their Tranq.
Also during the 2nd feud is when we used the healthstone etc.
For both Feuds, anyone who can heal should help out healing. DPS uses bandages etc. Paladins should pop Divine Radience and Divine Protection if spec’d into it.
Manacles of the Sleeping Beast Grats again Zarm 😛
Chimaeron Armguards Grats Roor!
The thing that amused me most on the kill attempt is this dialogue.
Me: 2nd feud coming up….tranq?
Zarm: Not up…
Me:Up?
Zarm: x seconds
Me:!#%@
Maloriak
Woo~! 2nd night of attempts, down on the 2nd try. Great job all! Interrupting the 1st add spell, and letting the next 3 go thru I think helped lessen the dmg on the OT. This fight the dmg on the MT and OT is not bad, and as long as the raid avoids the dmg it can…this fight I feel is 2 healable.
Dragon Bone Warhelm Grats Droslice!
Treads of Flawless Creation Grats Sorak!
Mail boots in BH dropped as well as did a BoE sword (from Trash). both went to GB i think. 🙂
For the remainder of the raid, took some potshots at the Puff the Blind Magic Dragon, for our 1st initial attempt, got him down to 69%. I will not complain, his fight does not seem as bad as it sounds. Clean up a few items and boom! I think for this I will have peopke swap out to the Boot Enchant Earthen Vitality for the movement speed buff, in addition to whatever ability that may have, this will help on Atramedes flame breaths.
I will admit last night, I was a bit riusty on the strat, I had read it earlier but was still a bit unsure, I guess when it comes to this game, in game experience is better then wathing/reading a strat…for me at least.
Nefarion….on the other hand….looks kind of nuts. 😛
P-P-P-Pally Powah!
After a bit of problems with the computer…for some reason it was not showing the 2nd video card, and a ongoing lag problem last night, the pally finally hit 85. Feels odd, Orangeslice literally had NO issues with questing in the highlands like Liyhe did. My priest pulled more then 1-2 mobs and it was priest pate.
All I have to say is leveling in a tank spec and being able to burn down multiple mobs speeds things up tremendously. (Also having Mr Popularity rank 2 and a buttload of rested XP never hurts as well!) Getting 9-11k XP for a mob and 9-10k xp for a mining node is a bit ridiculous.
Now that the pally is 85…time to run dungeons and gear up! Woot!~ my favorite thing to do.
But first most time to fix the prot spec and the holy spec.
Snooping around at other Paladins – think I will go with this for Holy.
For Prot…there is a lot of variety lol it appears. Playaround with the talents I am coming up with this.
I am not to certain on this one…but the increased range of judgements seems odd and not needed, so the chance to reflect magic seems better. Reckoning seems lol. And Grand Crusader maxed odd does not seem to be needed, as the extra proc would get in the way of generating holy power.
Woohoo!Short post is short.
1st off…this made me happy!
Circle of Healing Radius
This information is actually incorrect. In addition to Circle of Healing receiving a 30% healing buff, its radius (around the target) is also being increased from 15 yards to 30 yards in patch 4.0.6.
Also with the huge buff back to Power word:shield and improved Power Word Shield…it maybe time to make the offspec…disc…bubble priest back into the fray?? Other bloggers have been saying it is getting better. I may have to try it out again.
Also to copy my friend Del! Bovine Edition
1.) yes, Runescape sounded tedious and stuff, it has nothing on FFXI.
-prior to even getting to the old level cap of 75, one 1st had to complete the subjob quest. You then had to go back and level the appropriate subjobs to your mainjob.
-So if you were a white mage, you would need to get Black Mage, Red Mage, Summoner, Scholar to 37.
-Another pain was if you wanted to level and advanced job: Ninja, Paladin, Summoner, Samurai, Ninja, Ranger, Beast Master, Bard, you had to get to level 30 in a normal job and then go back and unlock the appropriate advanced job via a quest. The quests varied from easy to freakin annoying.
-You lost XP when you died…so you could dlvl.
-Crafting…no 100% chance for a skill up. A wonky system on who to get HQ items made, and if you failed you lost materials.
2.) I hate snow. But I hate hot weather.
3.) Magic!!!!! The gathering that is…Mirrodin 2.0 looks sweet! Magic!
Consecrated Sphinx looks sick as does Thrun the Last Troll.
Am I ready? (for Heroics?)
“Am I ready for Heroics?”
Item Level 329 – check, dungeon enterences found – check, Ready to Faceroll – check!
……….
no, no, no, no, no.
You are sorely mistaken my friend if you think you can just wander in like that….
General guidelines for preparing for a heroic!
1.) Make sure you spec is up to date! (no lvling specs please!)
2.) Have a general idea of what to expect in the instance, this will save you and your guildmates or PuGmates a lot of time and headache.
3.) E-R-G. Enchant, reforge, gem as approp!
4.) Remember patience, it will save you in the long run.
5.) If you need to CC, remember to watch it, also do not break it as well. If you need to CC, use it. Mobs have inflated health pools and for the most part are a mixed bag of mob types, with various abilities and mechanics which can faceroll your 5 man group!
6.) If you have a means to heal yourself, try it out and save your healer a GCD.
7.) Don’t stand in bad. bad = death in many heroics now. (Forgemaster’s fire shield in Grim Batol, Corobus’s tunneling ability, standing in harvesting etc.)
For healers:
1.) Food, Flasks, Potions. These are your friends in your initial trips into the waters known as Heroics. These can help make up the weak spots in your gear and help your healing as well.
2.) Review your spec and know what does what. (Wuuuu I haz lolwell?) Make sure your group understands your abilities and uses them! (DROPPING LIGHTWELL! DPS THAT IS YOUR ONLY HEALING USE IT!!! *cracks whip*) Lifegrip errr Leap of faith – watch out when you use it. Seems like if you are trying to save a tank, and the mob has a cleave…be careful!
3.) Patience…especially if healing a PuG group.
4.) E-R-G! – this maybe especially even more important for a healer – especially when first starting to run Heroics. The extra stats help out a lot!
5.) Break the habit of trying to top people off. The Wrath days are gone! 50-75% for DPS is the new 100%
6.) Don’t stand in bad and don’t try to heal stupid.
But what about stats???
This will vary from player to player but this is what I found out for my priest.
I would say getting around 1800-2000 spirit will help out your regen, where you may not be gasping for mana every pull.
70K+ mana should be ok as well. More the merrier!
Oh yeah having a mostly guild group helps out as well. 🙂
Black and Blue – ouch ouch ouch!
First time into the raid known as Blackwing Descent…I would say not the smoothest of runs but still fun and educational.
The 1st 2 bosses are going to be:
Magmaw (to the left) and Omnitron Def. System. (to the right)
Magmaw, as many others have noted is a heavy raid damage fight. However, the real issue is the managing of the spot points and the adds that spawn. We put some attempts in, but the adds in the end was the mechanic that got us in the end.
The Def System, I have to say is a lot more fun. Or at least a very colorful fight. Even more mechanics to keep you on your feet. Observations to note – dont DPS that shield down to far, so the tank with that add does not inadvertantly blow it up lol. Run away from slimes, pull them out of their buff zones, place them in debuff zones. I am not too worried about this fight, the Magmaw fight has me more worried.
Anyone have any hint/tricks for the adds in Magmaw’s fight? And is there a proper cooldown order for the tank to handle mangle easier?
Our setup was:
1 prot pally
1 ret pally
1 fury war
1 aff lock (can’t stop the dots!)
1 Boomchicken
x2 Survival Hunters
1 resto druid
1 resto shaman
1 Holy priest (me)
Parse: Blackwing
For all the Magmaw fights – I do admit I got a little trigger happy with the PoH but when he was finally on the ground and chained, I was not gasping for mana. Where we had a mana issue was with our boomchicken at times, and when I would panic and spam ><)
We had two gathering points for the ranged and the healers, when he would cast flame pillar we would move to other spot, hunters were placing frost traps in between the two gathering points. Boomchicken would typhoon at the right moment.
I don't think it was the healing as, the dmg he causes is very healable, and once we get used to the fight I bet could even 2 heal this. DPS appears ok? But I am not 100% sure on that.
Orangeslice > Other Sodas 