Packing and moving this week so I won't have much time to play, if any at all.
Don't expect many updates for about 2 weeks.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Movin on Up!
Packing and moving this week so I won't have much time to play, if any at all.
Don't expect many updates for about 2 weeks.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Eff Joo, Tidewalker!
Thats about how I felt tonight. We had a few no-shows so the raid started an hour later than scheduled but we still managed to one-shot Lurker, Leotheras and Fathom Lord. We wiped 3 times on Tidewalker and called it a night which dissapointed a few people but with the late start we were already 30 minutes over raid time.
Total Dominance does the Tidewalker fight a lot different then Grand Theft Kodo did. TD uses a Pally tank to bring all of the murloc spawns to Tidewalker so the AoE damages him as well. It works OK until the Pally tank gets the Watery Grave 3 times and a row and wipes the raid.. and the same thing happens every attempt thereafter.
I somehow managed to get Velvet Boots of the Guardian from Lurker on my first night. I think the other 3 people were rolling for offspecs and when they noticed I was rolling they all kindly passed to help me gear up with them. It was very welcoming and something I had never seen in GTK. I definitely feel like a part of TD right now, even though I'm still in recruit status.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Just a crit buff? I think not.
It seems that a lot of people are ignorant to what a Moonkin brings to the raid. I will honestly say that 90% of the players only see a Moonkin as a +5% spell crit buff for casters but there is more to us than that.
+3% hit to the entire raid - A Moonkin specced in to Improved Faerie Fire brings a valuable utility to the raid with 3% hit. Not just melee, not just spell hit. As long as the Moonkin's Faerie Fire is on the mob the entire raid gets this buff.
2% avoidance for tanks - Insect Swarm is a DoT but also reduces the mobs chance to hit by 2%. Yes, it even works on raid bosses.
25% reduction of attack speed - Hurricane is an unappreciated AoE that is usually lol'ed at for it's lack of damage. What people DON'T know is that ANY mobs affected by Hurricane has their attack speed reduced by 25%. Sure, all Druids get Hurricane but a tank or healer isn't going to be using this very much.
More aggro on the tank - Brambles increases the effectiveness on Thorns which in turn increases threat generated by the tank while taking damage.
An additional Innervate - Moonkin provide good single-target DPS while also bringing the utility of an additional Innervate for the healers. This is a risk free Innervate because the Tank sure isn't popping out of form to use his/hers and the Resto Droods don't have to stop healing to use theirs.
An additional Rebirth - The same benefit as listed above for Innervate. The healers don't have to stop to use theirs and it adds another one to the pot. Good times!
Backup Healing - Balance Druids get talents that increase their spell damage and healing by a certain percentage of their Intellect and pack a lot of it. In situations where tanks need that extra healing, a Boomkin can pop out of form and throw up every HoT a Resto Druid has, albeit less effective.
Treants - Ok so this is just a fun spell to use and it never fails to hear someone on vent say "WTF?". Sure it brings nothing to the table but I don't leave home without them. Sometimes wiping repeatedly brings everybody down but Treants turn that frown upside down. I'm a rapper. Quote that.
+3% hit to the entire raid - A Moonkin specced in to Improved Faerie Fire brings a valuable utility to the raid with 3% hit. Not just melee, not just spell hit. As long as the Moonkin's Faerie Fire is on the mob the entire raid gets this buff.
2% avoidance for tanks - Insect Swarm is a DoT but also reduces the mobs chance to hit by 2%. Yes, it even works on raid bosses.
25% reduction of attack speed - Hurricane is an unappreciated AoE that is usually lol'ed at for it's lack of damage. What people DON'T know is that ANY mobs affected by Hurricane has their attack speed reduced by 25%. Sure, all Druids get Hurricane but a tank or healer isn't going to be using this very much.
More aggro on the tank - Brambles increases the effectiveness on Thorns which in turn increases threat generated by the tank while taking damage.
An additional Innervate - Moonkin provide good single-target DPS while also bringing the utility of an additional Innervate for the healers. This is a risk free Innervate because the Tank sure isn't popping out of form to use his/hers and the Resto Droods don't have to stop healing to use theirs.
An additional Rebirth - The same benefit as listed above for Innervate. The healers don't have to stop to use theirs and it adds another one to the pot. Good times!
Backup Healing - Balance Druids get talents that increase their spell damage and healing by a certain percentage of their Intellect and pack a lot of it. In situations where tanks need that extra healing, a Boomkin can pop out of form and throw up every HoT a Resto Druid has, albeit less effective.
Treants - Ok so this is just a fun spell to use and it never fails to hear someone on vent say "WTF?". Sure it brings nothing to the table but I don't leave home without them. Sometimes wiping repeatedly brings everybody down but Treants turn that frown upside down. I'm a rapper. Quote that.
You Live & You Learn.
As I continue raiding with Jandrae, a few things have come up that I'd like to point out as well as some macros that I would like.
In Zul'Aman, spamming Rank 1 Entangling Roots on the Scouts is just as effective as the max rank and is far more mana friendly.
On raid bosses, using Rank 1 Faerie Fire with the Improved Faerie Fire talents provides the same +3% hit rating as is far more mana friendly.
Being a Moonkin that normally runs with a Paladin and isn't as geared as the rest of the DPS, it's kind of pointless to take the Subtlety talent and I should have taken Intensity isntead for 15% mana regen while casting.
If a boss has no aggro table (i.e. Aran) I can blow my entire mana bar in 20 seconds. That sucks. I need to learn how to conserve mana. Badly.
I need to make a macro for Entangling Roots that casts the max rank with a shift modifier for rank 1 (for times like ZA or PVP).
Thats about all I can think of at the moment.
In Zul'Aman, spamming Rank 1 Entangling Roots on the Scouts is just as effective as the max rank and is far more mana friendly.
On raid bosses, using Rank 1 Faerie Fire with the Improved Faerie Fire talents provides the same +3% hit rating as is far more mana friendly.
Being a Moonkin that normally runs with a Paladin and isn't as geared as the rest of the DPS, it's kind of pointless to take the Subtlety talent and I should have taken Intensity isntead for 15% mana regen while casting.
If a boss has no aggro table (i.e. Aran) I can blow my entire mana bar in 20 seconds. That sucks. I need to learn how to conserve mana. Badly.
I need to make a macro for Entangling Roots that casts the max rank with a shift modifier for rank 1 (for times like ZA or PVP).
Thats about all I can think of at the moment.
4 Out of 6 Aint Bad?
Got the Eagle, Bear, Dragonhawk & Lynx bosses down tonight on my first "official" raid in the new guild. Went well outside of the Dragonhawk boss. We missed the 2nd chest by 2 minutes I think but wiped on the Dragonhawk about 3 times. 2 shotted Halazzi which was nice considering one of our healers was a PuG. Since it wasn't a full guild run we decided to call it after Lynx instead of heading to Malacrass.
The Bear boss dropped the Fury of the Ursine bracers which are a very VERY slight upgrade from the Windhawk bracers I crafted but they're cloth and would ruin my set bonus. I passed on them for a Mage. I did manage to get enough badges to pick up these sexy shoulders (instead of the boots). I didn't notice the amount of spell hit on them before and they were a HUGE upgrade from the crap shoulders from Aran. The boots are a nice upgrade as well but the ones I have at least had crit and MP5 on them as well as damage.. where the shoulders from Aran have the ever-useless spell pen. It doesn't hurt that they're sexy as well!
But man.. I'm so tired T_T. I have to get up in a little over an hour for work.
Also just wanted to give super kudo props to my wife's guild, Endless, for getting Bloodboil to 1% twice. I'm sure they'll down him if they go back on Sunday. Also wanted to congratulate my friends in Grand Theft Kodo for their first downing of Supremus. Although I'm not in the guild anymore, I DO have friends that still raid over there and just wanted to commend THEIR actions.
On a side note, I took Mutoh out of that new Kara guild, respecced BACK to Elemental and put him back in Forsaken for the time being. I need some badges for him so hopefully there is a Kara run sometime this weekend.
The Bear boss dropped the Fury of the Ursine bracers which are a very VERY slight upgrade from the Windhawk bracers I crafted but they're cloth and would ruin my set bonus. I passed on them for a Mage. I did manage to get enough badges to pick up these sexy shoulders (instead of the boots). I didn't notice the amount of spell hit on them before and they were a HUGE upgrade from the crap shoulders from Aran. The boots are a nice upgrade as well but the ones I have at least had crit and MP5 on them as well as damage.. where the shoulders from Aran have the ever-useless spell pen. It doesn't hurt that they're sexy as well!
But man.. I'm so tired T_T. I have to get up in a little over an hour for work.
Also just wanted to give super kudo props to my wife's guild, Endless, for getting Bloodboil to 1% twice. I'm sure they'll down him if they go back on Sunday. Also wanted to congratulate my friends in Grand Theft Kodo for their first downing of Supremus. Although I'm not in the guild anymore, I DO have friends that still raid over there and just wanted to commend THEIR actions.
On a side note, I took Mutoh out of that new Kara guild, respecced BACK to Elemental and put him back in Forsaken for the time being. I need some badges for him so hopefully there is a Kara run sometime this weekend.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Kiss My Malacrass
I was informed with about 24-30 hours notice that I "may" be needed for ZA tonight with the new guild, Total Dominance. Thats awesome! I like ZA and I've never had the chance to attempt Malacrass or Zul'jin but apparently they run 2 groups with full clears on Thursdays.
I woke up and watched a "how to" video for Malacrass before work but didn't have time to check out Zul'jin. I DID manage to send myself some of the boss strats via work e-mail to check out during my night shift here.
I have a list of things I need to do when I get home before the raid. I wish I had gotten more notice but the guild leader really wants to gear me up before taking me in to Hyjal and ZA is a nice step in the right direction. If we fully clear I'll be 1 badge short for the Moon Walkers.
When I get home, I need to check the AH for any shadow resist gear, get my boots enchanted, put +shadow resist on my cloak, farm mats for another Flask of Blinding Light, re-watch the Malacrass video and actually find and watch a "how to" Zul'jin video. Oh, and I need to respec to put some talents points in other places. I've been told that I need to keep Brambles for Imp Thorns on the tank and I suppose I'll keep Imp Faerie Fire until I reach 12% spell hit.
Hopefully I don't make a fool of myself tonight because I'm still used to raiding as a Warlock and not used to having important things to do during the raid like Innervating healers or battle rezzing. All in due time, I suppose! I also need to farm about 6k more honor and 8 more EOTS tokens for the PVP neck. *sigh* I hate PVP sometimes.
I woke up and watched a "how to" video for Malacrass before work but didn't have time to check out Zul'jin. I DID manage to send myself some of the boss strats via work e-mail to check out during my night shift here.
I have a list of things I need to do when I get home before the raid. I wish I had gotten more notice but the guild leader really wants to gear me up before taking me in to Hyjal and ZA is a nice step in the right direction. If we fully clear I'll be 1 badge short for the Moon Walkers.
When I get home, I need to check the AH for any shadow resist gear, get my boots enchanted, put +shadow resist on my cloak, farm mats for another Flask of Blinding Light, re-watch the Malacrass video and actually find and watch a "how to" Zul'jin video. Oh, and I need to respec to put some talents points in other places. I've been told that I need to keep Brambles for Imp Thorns on the tank and I suppose I'll keep Imp Faerie Fire until I reach 12% spell hit.
Hopefully I don't make a fool of myself tonight because I'm still used to raiding as a Warlock and not used to having important things to do during the raid like Innervating healers or battle rezzing. All in due time, I suppose! I also need to farm about 6k more honor and 8 more EOTS tokens for the PVP neck. *sigh* I hate PVP sometimes.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
And Back to Raiding I Go! + Knowing When to Say When.
An officer from the guild I had applied to whispered me last night in the middle of a horrid Kara group on Mutoh. He had mentioned wanting to take me on a Kara run on Jandrae later in the night once he gets more people and I agreed to go to make a good first impression.
We WTF pwned Kara but left behind Nightbane because no one had their urn on them and we were in a hurry to finish the place so it wasn't worth the 2 badges. I'm now 10 badges shy of my Moon Walker boots. Wewt!
After the run, he whispered me again and said they were prepared to give me a guild invite and would like me to run SSC with them on Friday. I R EXCITED!
So by Friday I somehow need to obtain 10 badges and 9k honor.. ouch..
So yeah.. as of now.. I am a raiding Boomkin. <3
On to part 2!
A new guild had formed on our server and said they were just looking to farm Kara for badges once a week. I had whispered the guild leader and said that I had a Shaman I would like to bring and since they were short on healers I would respec Resto.
He shot me a guild invite and the way they were all talking in guild chat you would figure they've all been to Kara 100 times, they were geared and were just looking for a fast one night clear per week for 22 badges.. yeah right.
Tonight was our first night in Kara and it was a total nightmare. We didn't start the first pull until almost an hour after the raid started and the people that showed up didn't even have the gear to run heroics, let alone Kara. The healer assigned to the MT was in 60% greens with the Wal-Mart Healer package of the Crystal Pulse Shield and Essence Focuser. Nothing against those two pieces of gear but at least get them enchanted before you walk in to a raid.
Lets take a run down the raid list here. For our healers we had a Priest with a few pieces of S1, some greens and some isntance blues. A Holy Paladin which is who I spoke about earlier with mostly greens and the AH blues, and me. A Resto Shaman with +1400 healing,, 200 mp5 while casting unbuffed and the only person in the entire raid using consumables.
Our tank was pretty geared in a few pieces of S1, the badge shield and Thunderfury. He was the raid leader and I was actually pretty impressed with his tanking ability and raid leadership. Sadly, he was the only one in the raid that I was impressed with. Out OT was a Feral Druid with full S1. No PVE gear at all.. and he was taking a TON of spike damage.
Our DPS consisted of a Hunter, a Warlock, a Mage, an Arms PVP Warrior and a Rogue. The Hunter was wearing PVP gear which is OK for Hunters I guess. The Warlock had a few Kara epics so I figured they knew what they were doing but they seemed to die every.. single.. pull.. The Warlock and the Rogue were in a DPS race trying to out-do each other but they both just seemed to pull off the tank and die very very often so I stopped healing them.
The Warlock wore their Argent Dawn Commission trinket the whole time and said they didn't have anything else to wear. The Rogue was to concerned with his DPS and died regardless of how much gear he might have had. The Arms Warrior kept attacking shackled targets and was wearing the S1 2h sword and the blue pvp rep gear that came out with the last patch. Let me tell you, it was a great time and more than 2 hours after the raid started we wiped on Moroes for the 2nd time. 2h 30m in to the raid we finally down Moroes and then most of us wipe on the next trash pull so I called it quits.
My question is this. When is it OK to say when? If you don't dislike anyone in your raid group but you just don't want to spend your entire night wiping on Kara with a group that has no business being there, when is it OK to tell the raid leader "I give up"?
During our second Moroes wipe I whispered the raid leader and told him that I was very familiar with Kara and didn't feel that we had the right group makeup or the gear to be in there. He whispered back and said it was a lot of their first times in Kara and to be patient but there has to be a line there. Is it worth being patient when 80% of your raid isn't geared enough to even run heroics?
I made an excuse and told the raid that my mains guild whispered me and needed me for something and I couldn't tell them "no I'm running something on an alt", hearthed, left the raid and have little to no interest in signing back up for their Kara runs. Part of me feels like a total jerk for doing that but at the same time I was told they were geared, experianced and just looking for a "weekly, fast" Kara runs which was far from true.
At least this allows me to focus on raiding 3 nights a week on Jandrae =X
We WTF pwned Kara but left behind Nightbane because no one had their urn on them and we were in a hurry to finish the place so it wasn't worth the 2 badges. I'm now 10 badges shy of my Moon Walker boots. Wewt!
After the run, he whispered me again and said they were prepared to give me a guild invite and would like me to run SSC with them on Friday. I R EXCITED!
So by Friday I somehow need to obtain 10 badges and 9k honor.. ouch..
So yeah.. as of now.. I am a raiding Boomkin. <3
On to part 2!
A new guild had formed on our server and said they were just looking to farm Kara for badges once a week. I had whispered the guild leader and said that I had a Shaman I would like to bring and since they were short on healers I would respec Resto.
He shot me a guild invite and the way they were all talking in guild chat you would figure they've all been to Kara 100 times, they were geared and were just looking for a fast one night clear per week for 22 badges.. yeah right.
Tonight was our first night in Kara and it was a total nightmare. We didn't start the first pull until almost an hour after the raid started and the people that showed up didn't even have the gear to run heroics, let alone Kara. The healer assigned to the MT was in 60% greens with the Wal-Mart Healer package of the Crystal Pulse Shield and Essence Focuser. Nothing against those two pieces of gear but at least get them enchanted before you walk in to a raid.
Lets take a run down the raid list here. For our healers we had a Priest with a few pieces of S1, some greens and some isntance blues. A Holy Paladin which is who I spoke about earlier with mostly greens and the AH blues, and me. A Resto Shaman with +1400 healing,, 200 mp5 while casting unbuffed and the only person in the entire raid using consumables.
Our tank was pretty geared in a few pieces of S1, the badge shield and Thunderfury. He was the raid leader and I was actually pretty impressed with his tanking ability and raid leadership. Sadly, he was the only one in the raid that I was impressed with. Out OT was a Feral Druid with full S1. No PVE gear at all.. and he was taking a TON of spike damage.
Our DPS consisted of a Hunter, a Warlock, a Mage, an Arms PVP Warrior and a Rogue. The Hunter was wearing PVP gear which is OK for Hunters I guess. The Warlock had a few Kara epics so I figured they knew what they were doing but they seemed to die every.. single.. pull.. The Warlock and the Rogue were in a DPS race trying to out-do each other but they both just seemed to pull off the tank and die very very often so I stopped healing them.
The Warlock wore their Argent Dawn Commission trinket the whole time and said they didn't have anything else to wear. The Rogue was to concerned with his DPS and died regardless of how much gear he might have had. The Arms Warrior kept attacking shackled targets and was wearing the S1 2h sword and the blue pvp rep gear that came out with the last patch. Let me tell you, it was a great time and more than 2 hours after the raid started we wiped on Moroes for the 2nd time. 2h 30m in to the raid we finally down Moroes and then most of us wipe on the next trash pull so I called it quits.
My question is this. When is it OK to say when? If you don't dislike anyone in your raid group but you just don't want to spend your entire night wiping on Kara with a group that has no business being there, when is it OK to tell the raid leader "I give up"?
During our second Moroes wipe I whispered the raid leader and told him that I was very familiar with Kara and didn't feel that we had the right group makeup or the gear to be in there. He whispered back and said it was a lot of their first times in Kara and to be patient but there has to be a line there. Is it worth being patient when 80% of your raid isn't geared enough to even run heroics?
I made an excuse and told the raid that my mains guild whispered me and needed me for something and I couldn't tell them "no I'm running something on an alt", hearthed, left the raid and have little to no interest in signing back up for their Kara runs. Part of me feels like a total jerk for doing that but at the same time I was told they were geared, experianced and just looking for a "weekly, fast" Kara runs which was far from true.
At least this allows me to focus on raiding 3 nights a week on Jandrae =X
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