7 LittleThings People Tell You About Healing (That aren't true)

I've been healing since 2005 and I've always heard the same common lies about healers. There are things that are pure opinion and the rest is just pure false information. Well I've decided to clear the air about it all. Here we go!

You have died

7. Healing is just whack-a-mole!
  I find this statement funny because I see some 8 year old whacking his keyboard with a giant mallet. There is a lot more to healing than just watching life bars. You have to watch dispells, pay attention to your mana use, know when to drop healing cooldowns, and you have to keep that mage over there alive who thinks fire is a buff. 

6. Healers are super easy to play.
  Ha! This statement has been true and false in the past. I however like to think it takes intermediate skills to play a healer well enough to raid. When you are a raid healer you have to watch basically everything that's going on as well as watch life bars. You also have to be prepared for someone to aggro an extra trash pull or pull aggro in a heroic. These thing can be hard on someone who hasn't been healing long. I feel that it takes a good while to fall into the the pattern of doing them, then you are on your way to being an awesome raid healer.


5. Healers don't have to learn fights. 
  This couldn't be further from the truth. We have to learn fights the same way DPS and tanks do. We just learn them in a slightly different way. We have to know where the large spiky raid damage will come from. We have to know if there are things to dispell that are good or bad. You have to know if there will be things dps will stand in and when a good spot to battle res someone would be. We have to learn just as much as DPS do and in some cases even more. (Dreamwalker)




4.Triage isn't fun. 
  Some of you have been hearing this term over and over the past few months. I've always referred to it when it comes to WoW. Lets define what Triage is before we go further into this topic. Triage:a process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition. Now lets put that in wow terms. Triage: a process on weather or not you've pissed your healer off today.  I personally love triage. It allows me to take my support role even further and pick who gets to live. Did that Mage in your guild throw down a port to Stonard instead of Orgimmar? Well he's dead! Have to choose between that guy everyone hates and the top dpser? Guess who died! Honestly though I like the fact that we can turn the tides of battle with one choice.

Yes I like the Y U NO guy. Deal with it B-)

3. Healing is boring!
 It was in some aspects in Wrath and Vanilla WoW, but it can also be loads of fun. I like having to make choices when I heal.  Is it boring when no one in your group takes large amounts of damage?  Yes  Is it boring when you can pull an entire heroic with all the bosses at once and AoE them down? (Lol H UK) No, I think that's fun. Can it be fun when the everyone is taking damage? Yes and No  Yes, because I have many aoe healing tools and I've been doing it for years. No, because I'm new to healing and feel overwhelmed. From my point of view healing is fun because of the people I play with. I have fun when I join the RDF (random dungeon finder) because you never know what type of players you will come across. If you find yourself bored with healing no matter what you do then healing isn't for you or you need to try a different healing class!

2. My gems don't matter so long as I just press my buttons.

 Call me an ass. Call me a nerd rager. Call me an Elitist but please please please stop with this. Gems MATTER!  Gemming correctly in many peoples eyes is just another aspect of playing the game.  Minmaxing your gems and spec can greatly increase your healing output. I've had hour long discussions about this. Sure, You can press your healing spells and so long as everyone lives what the point right? The point is if you don't know your class/spec inside and out you aren't playing to your max potential.What does that mean exactly? Well, if the 24 other people in your raid are gemmed, enchanted, glyphed and specced to minmax output then you are being CARRIED. I've seen people with Legendarys who aren't specced, gemmed or enchanted properly. This makes me sad. 

1. It's always your fault.
 No, its rarely the healers fault. The tank and dps are almost always the people to blame for the wipe. Tanks often never pay attention to mana bars and never check the healers gear. Dps classes like to pull aggro or walk into extra mobs. My favorite thing a dps or tank says when they die "No heals?!" They never notice that you are either oom or already dead due to lack of aggro gen or the hunter feign deathing adds to you. I will admit to being distracted and letting people die. I've even tabbed out mid fight to chat on aim. I've done some stupid shit but I always take the blame for it. Tanks and DPS rarely take the blame for doing stupid things. Just remember its not always your fault no matter what people say. 


Now that I have that out of the way. I just wanted to add that I bought a bag of skittles from a vending machine and I was so ready to taste the rainbow. There was only one problem. ALL OF THE SKITTLES WERE ORANGE AND GREEN! Last time I checked the rainbow had more than two colors. I want my 50 cents back.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Time for me to slip into a food coma in a few hours. While I was taking the screenshot above someones turkey pet photobombed me. I'm thankful for my ingame friends. I love you guys so much! I'm thankful blizzard decided to release the shattering before thanksgiving. The non nerdy things I'm thankful for are my family, friends and where my life is right now. I'm very happy with everything (except this damn coughing!) in my life right now. I'm thankful that my significant other loves video games as much as I do and fully understands what I mean when I say "Omg WE just WIPED to BQL Srsly" I'm thankful for you guys out there reading this. I love to write and you guys make it possible!

Sick Rage

So, I've been sick now for 2 full weeks. All I do is Cough,  COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!!  Have you ever been so sick that you threw up from non-stop coughing? Yeah.. That's me right now. It's strange really. I feel fine otherwise. Have you ever been so sick that it makes you mad? I'm so sick of being SICK! I'm sure it doesn't help that I smoke either. This is probably a sign that I should give it up. Sadly however I would probably bladestorm someone IRL if I quit smoking. I've tried every home remedy I can think of so I need your help! 

 

Repost : The reason I play male toons.

You might be wondering why I'm reposting this. Well a recent thread over at MMO-Champ reminded me about it.  Lucky for me in my current guild there are some AWESOME females. I love you guys!  Enjoy. (Oh and no not all my toons are Blood Elves. I tend to favor Undead/Trolls. Honsue is just my main currently)

Hi, I'm Fabulous

I get this question a lot. "Why do you play male toons you're a girl?" "Do you have penis eveny?" "Why are you out of the kitchen?" and so on. The reason behind me playing male toons is simple. I'd rather be judged on my skill first than my tits. I'm usually the quiet one on vent just doing my job and listening. Sadly however I tend to open my mouth and that's where the trouble starts. It goes from "Wow Honsue you are a great healer" to "Wow Honsue your voice is hot now make me sandwhich" if your female then you know exactly what I mean and if you are male then chances are you are 99% guilty of doing the same thing. I'm not a crazy feminist or anything but female gamers get a bad rap when it comes to MMO's and WoW in general. Have you ever had that one female in your guild that was either the guild leaders wife or an officers girlfriend? This person is generally terrible at the game.They always find their way into main raiding slots or even hardmode attempts. They always die to standing in fire, or some variation. They always have very bad dps and have no idea how to spec/gem. The worse part of it all is no one tries to help them. No one tells them nicely that they need to fix their spec, gems, enchants and rotations. When you do decided to say something to the person they get offended. Don't get me wrong here this person isn't always female its sometimes male but rarely.

Don't I look stylish?

Females also get a bad rap in WoW for being e-skanks. Whats an e-skank you might ask. Well these are the females who make statements like "Oh ouch my boobs hurt or "I just like got out of the shower and I'm all wet" attention whores 100%.  These females generally aren't terrible at the game but they aren't good either. If you play Horde they are  generally female bloodelves. If you are Alliance then female gnomes or nightelves.  E-skanks always try to befriend the guild leader or officers and get what they want from the guild and move on. They rage quit over loot or for not getting a raid spot. I've come across all types of females in my wow career. The worst one was the married woman who was an e-skank and her husband played along with it. She sent the guild leader nude pictures for raid spot and gold. The word got out about her naked pictures and she ended up changing her name. She is still at it though. I'll never understand why females are this way. If someone comes to you to help you make your toon better listen or take the 5 -10 mins out of the day it takes to read up on your class. There is no need to whore yourself out over a video game to get raid spots or loot. If you are knowledgeable about your class and an overall reliable raider you'll always get a raid invite.

Goodbye Old Friend

The Shattering of Azeroth happens tomorrow. I am both excited and sad about this. I have so many good memories of adventuring across her vast zones. I'm excited to make many new memories. Goodbye old friend.

Eye Candy

Playing on an RP server can be loads of fun. Last night my friend Gabbana and I had a little "Lady's Night Out" fun. We hit up a few in game bars and had a rockin' good time. You know it's a good night when you wake up in the morning looking like this:

Wonder where my shirt went

 

Guide to Healing Cata instances through the Random Dungeon Finder Part 2

Yes folks it's that time again! Time to take a trip back through the Random Dungeon Finder and see what bosses await us in Cataclysm! Now on with the show!

The Stonecore: Deepholm

Level Range:82-84

Entrance Location:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l16rW_4tV_M

Bosses: Corborus,Slabhide,Ozruk,High Priestess Azil, THE FIRST PULL OF THE FUCKING INSTANCE. 


The First Pull: Once you zone into The Stonecore you are greeted by a 6 pull and your favorite gnome mage of all time. Milhouse Manastorm! So you buff up and the tank marks CC targets. However you have no CC just 3 DK's a Warrior tank and you a <insert healing class here> (disregard this if you are a shaman healer) Once the marks are out and the tank calls for CC he charges in full blast and starts to do his tanking thing. Everyone starts taking damage because they are all attacking a different targets and AoEing. Wipe and start over. This trash pack has two mobs called "Earthcallers" these earthcallers need to be CC'd or killed ASAP otherwise they summon large earth elementals who stand in place and do large amounts of AoE damage. If you lack the CC to control them then you need to have your DPS interrupt their summon spell. After wiping to the first pull the tank blames you and leaves. You leave as well and try again. You manage to finally get into a group who makes it past the first pull. Yay!   /facepalm



 Corborus: Alright! Boss time. This boss has two abilities. The first one is called Crystal Barrage. She will randomly focus cast it on a party member. You should move out of this as fast as possible. Sadly however that mage just stood there spamming arcane blast and took it to the face. (Sigh) The second ability is Dampening Wave which deals a small amount of shadow damage to all enemies within 60 yards and those afflicted (everyone) will absorb up to 4k healing. This isn't a large issue unless your DPS doesn't move away from the barrage. Lucky for you the DPS like to stand in things so they are making you work for it. The debuff is a magical one so its easy to dispell or just flat out heal through. Her other phase she burrows into the ground like Anub'arak and summons waves of small tiny crystal spiders. These are easy to AoE down as they have little health. Avoid the dust clouds she leaves while burrowing. Rinse and Repeat and you are good.

Slabhide: This boss is so easy a caveman can do it! Ahem, Sorry I had to. Anyways, This boss has two abilities as well. First off the dragon spawns lava on the ground. Dps WILL stand in this so prepare for that. The second ability is a falling rock type of thing. Shadows will appear on the ground don't stand in them its as simple as that. Again DPS will stand in this so prepare for them to QQ when they die.

Ozruk: This boss has some fun stuff to make a healers life a living nightmare. This boss needs to be tanked up against a wall. He has a knockback so have your tank pull him into the hallway and have the tank put his back against the wall. He also has a charging ground slam that does cone damage in front of the boss so just run through him when he does this. Oh look the rogue died because he was dpsing from the front. He also has a small spell reflect (20%), but its nothing major so the casters can keep on facerolling. This boss drops a nice caster trinket! Good Luck!

High Priestess Azil: This boss is a Dark Jedi (Sith). Force Choke, A light saber and lighting. Sound bad ass right? Well. WRONG. Once you engage this boss she will constantly summon waves of adds. These adds have very low health and die very easily. Oh whats that black circle the tank is standing in? Yep VOID ZONES! Looks like the tank just herp derped his way to the gy. Once you get back and buff back up you start again after avoiding the Void Zones you make it to her phase. She starts to throw rocks at you. These are easy to avoid so don't stand in the shadows. She will randomly force choke someone its fairly easy to heal through. This boss drops a nice healing trinket which a warlock will probably roll on. 

First pull of Doom

Vortex Pinnacle: Skywall, Uldum
 Level Range: 82-84
Entrance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mcE0d0QhfU&feature=related

Bosses: Grand Vizier Ertan, Altarius,Asaad
Sidenote: This instance is beautiful. One of the best ones in WoW. (IMO)

 Grand Vizier Ertan: When the boss is pulled he spawns whirlwinds around the room. Some of them spawn on top of him and around the room. These cause damage and slow you if you stand in them. The best way to deal with these is to group on the boss. It looks like that Huntard wants to stand at 40 yards so he's probably dead.  Every 40 seconds he shifts and the whirlwinds and the shift to the boss. The best way to deal with this is to run out. You can heal through it but its the RDF so run out.


Altarius: This is a dragon boss so don't stand in front of the boss or die like that DK just did to the breath attack. This boss is very simple. There are winds around the boss and when they shift you get a buff. Stand downwind of the winds, get buff, kill boss. Simple Simple Simple.


Asaad: This is a simple tank a spank fight. (Get the hint that this instance is fairly simple?) This boss has 1 ability. He will cast a spell called "Unstable Grounding Field" Once the are of effect is up EVERYONE even the tank must stand inside of it before he finished casting his second spell "Supremacy of the Storm". That's all there is to it. Overall this instance is really easy and very quick. 

Ooo Pretty Colors

 

Lost City of the Tol'vir: Vir'naal River Delta, Uldum

Level Range: 85

Entrance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3b7atmKs2Q

Bosses: General Husam, High Prophet Barim, Lockmaw, Siamat


General Husam: Tank and Spank fight. This boss randomly spawns glowing discs on the ground and when you stand on them they explode for medium damage and knocking back players within 10 yards of you. People will stand on these so prepare for that. He also randomly sends shockwaves in 4 directions. (These look like dust clouds) Don't stand in them they do a large amount of damage and knockback as well. 

High Prophet Barim: The first boss was trolling you. This instance isn't easy. This boss hits tanks really hard. He periodically gains a buff called "Fifty Lashes" Used your healing cool downs because god forbid the tank pushes his damn buttons. (If you have a Tank by the name of "Nethres" then just leave the instance and re-queue). He will randomly summon a beam of light on a random target don't stand in it. At 50% he starts to cast " Repentance" this pulls all players to him and stuns them for 5 seconds. Once you are no longer stunned you are now in the spirit world (Yeah I know wtf raid boss abilities) Barim is immune to all attacks while in this phase, but you better believe that shadow priest is gonna try his best to kill him! A mob will spawn while in the spirit world called "Harbinger of Darkness" The tank needs to pick this up ASAP. Avoid the "Hallowed Ground" effect and kill the add. Once the add dies phase 1 repeats until the boss is dead.

Lockmaw: This boss spawns with a little pygmy named "Augh". Augh doesn't need to be tanked. He randomly casts a debuff on a player called "Scent of Blood" this will spawn 4 adds who will focus target the player with the debuff. The tank can taunt the small adds to get them off the player or you can AoE them down. They deal a decent amount of damage.  Augh will randomly cast wirlwind. The tank should taunt him but since he probably wont you need to kite him. At 30% Lowmaw enrages so if you have a way to remove the enrage do it. Otherwise use your healing CDs on the tank because he won't use his.

Siamat: My god this boss is BRUTAL. I honestly don't even know where to begin. Once you engage the boss he spawn storm clouds. You should avoid these as best you can. Shortly after the pull the boss cast a buff called "Deflecting Winds" on himself. The buff makes its so he takes 90% less damage. He will stand in the center of the room in this phase and randomly cast lighting bolts at people. He doe not need to be tanked during this phase. Throughout the phase he spawns adds that need to be burned down. The smaller ones will kill themselves over time so focus on the bigger adds. After killing a few adds the boss will cast "Wailing Winds" this will send all players flying around and cause medium aoe damage. During this last phase the boss MUST be burned down before the healer becomes overwhelmed by the aoe damage. Also during the last phase he will continue to spawn small adds these should be ignored. You will wipe to this boss A LOT. Siamat is fairly hard to heal even with a decent group because of the amount of damage he throws out. Good Luck with this one. You'll need it.

 

 

 

Siamat feeds on your tears.

That's all I have for now folks. Look out for Part 3 sometime this weekend. Don't want to go through the pain of using the Random Dungeon Finder in Cataclysm? I would suggest joining /creating a guild. Being in a guild will play a major role in Cataclysm. Well it's time for this old girl to go to bed. Have a great weekend! Don't forget Harry Potter this weekend!!!!!

PTR Fun!

Well the end of old Azeroth is here! The Shattering has hit the PTR in full swing. New class/race combos, Revamped Zones, Shiny new Orgimmar/Stormwind, and a few hidden changes! Now we all know the changes to priest currently on the PTR and if you don't here is a brife list (Thank you MMO-Champion!) 

Holy

• Binding Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 3960 - 5091 ] to [ 4752 - 6110 ]
• Greater Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 6968 - 8098 ] to [ 8361 - 9717 ]
• Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 2613 - 3037 ] to [ 3136 - 3644 ]
• Flash Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 5227 - 6074 ] to [ 6272 - 7289 ]

 However, there are 2 awesome changes to holy they didn't mention! First off we have Chakra. Now when you are in a Charka state the icon of HolyWord:Chastise spell changes depending on your state. This is an awesome change. Also, the built in Power Auras shows a spell effect when Chakra fades. Another welcome addition! Next we have Body & Soul. This is my fave new change. They changed the sprint portion of B&S to a new spell effect. Watch my video below to see the changes.I made this video in a hurry so it looks best in 1080p and sorry for the watermark and the laggy PTR. I'll get another video up with more content as soon as I can and Yes I am a Gnome (shudder)

Guide to Healing Cata instances through the Random Dungeon Finder Part 1

So, You have lost your mind. You decided you wanted to do Cataclysm instances through the Random Dungeon finder as a healer. My god have mercy on your soul because these bosses won't. Listed below is my guide to healing the random dungeon finder. Lets get started shall we.


Throne of the Tides: Abyssal Maw, Vashj'ir
Level Range: 80-81
Entrance Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7gAel8cRTs

Bosses: Lady Naz'jar, Commander Ulthok, Erunak Stonespeaker, Ozumat

Lady Naz'jar: This boss is fairly easy. She has two phases. Phase one is a tank and spank. She will randomly cast a blue vortex that your dps will stand in and they will probably die. The vortex throws you up in the air and you take a nice amount of falling damage. As a healer its your job to let the retards who can't avoid these die. Phase two she becomes invulnerable and spawns adds. Your DPS in the group will continue to hit the boss while she is immune to damage while your tank keyboard turns to pick the adds up. As a healer you'll die to the adds while the DPS blame you for dying.  Once you gather your body and get buffed up again you manage to some how down the boss and the mage need rolls on the spirit cloth. You make your way to the next boss.


Commander Ulthok: This boss is a really fun boss. This boss spawns void zones that tick for a huge amount of damage. Your DPS will stand in these and die. These can and will spawn under the tank. If your tank suddenly takes huge amounts of spike damage he's probably standing in one. If your dps manages to live through standing in a void zone RNG will probably play an evil joke on you. This boss always has a squeeze much like Kologarn in Ulduar. It does 5k damage every 4th second for 20 seconds. You can't heal yourself if you happen to be squeezed so make sure you keep yourself topped off. If you manage to make it past this boss I commend you. 

Ernuak Stonespeaker: This boss is actually really fun unless you have bad luck. If you are anything like me then you have terrible luck. This boss starts out as a mind controlled NPC. Phase one is fairly simple, Dps the boss to 50% HP to release him of his mind control squid. Once the Squid has been release he turns into a mindless one. The mindless one will jump on the person with the highest threat. Once he is on the persons head that player must be brought down to 50% HP. That's right payback time for those retards who have no idea how to avoid stuff. The mindless one jumpped on the mage and he decides its a good time type in chat "Lol afk for a bowl" You secretly wish he would choke and die on his "bowl" Repeat the mindcontrol stuff 3-4 times depending on how decent your dps is. While the mage is still afk move on to the next boss.


Ozumat: Oh boy, where do I even start. This fight is a huge cluster fuck for the RDF. You have to defend Neptulon from Ozumat. The fight starts off with swarms of none elite adds. As a healer you'll be doing a lot of tanking in this fight. Hope you are ready for it. As you watch your tank keyboard turn his way around the room you die a little more inside. As the smaller adds die more powerful adds begin to spawn. These adds need to be picked up by the tank. Oh did I mention theres a stacking dot on everyone and the boss now spawns void zones along with adds? Yeah you read that right. The DPS need to focus target the "Mindless Sappers" once they all die phase 3 can begin. Yeah I know asking people to focus fire in the RDF is like asking a mage for a table or a pally for a buff. Its just not going to happen. If you manage to get these guys down you hit phase 3. In phase 3 Neptulon gives everyone a buff 500% Health, Healing and Damage. You must down Ozumat in 60 seconds. Which SHOULD be fairly easy given the buff.  There you have it. That's how to heal ToT via the Random Dungeon finder.

Throne of the suck

Blackrock Caverns: Blackrock Mountain, Searing Gorge

Entrance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTgdmT0WBp4

Level Range: 80-81

Bosses: Rom'ogg Bonecrusher, Corla, Hearld of Twilight,  Beauty, Acendent Lord Obsidius

Rom'ogg Bonecrusher: This boss is easy. He only does two things, but those two thing require DPS to pay attention. *facedesk*  He randomly spawns earth quakes on the ground. DPS will probably stand in these and die. If they manage to avoid these then his next ability will kill you all for sure. Every so often he will pull everyone on top of him and begin casting an AoE spell. To break free of the chains DPS needs to DPS the main chain down. Since this is the RDF you'll probably die to this. If you manage to down the boss without the group falling apart then kudos!

Corla, Hearld of Twilight:  This boss can be done two different ways. The easy way and the still easy way but requires thought process. So, Lets do it the retard friendly way. This boss has 3 adds channeling purple beams. They are harmless until the beams turn them into dragons. They hit the tank really hard when they are in this state but if you focus fire them down you can dps the boss. Yeah, I know asking DPS in the RDF to focus fire is a bad idea but the other option is worse I promise. After the adds are down DPS the boss. Simple as that. 

Karash Steelbender: Haha, this boss has fire which is my personal fave. There is a center pilar of fire that your tank must drag the boss through it. Once your tank drags him into the fire the boss can begin to take damage. However, Once in the fire he starts to do an aoe attack. The longer he's in the fire the more damage he does which will lead to your group wiping. So its up to the tank to drag him into fire hold him there for 3 stacks and then move him out. You repeat this process until the boss is dead. This will be painful on you as a healer. If the tank is horrible he'll end up walking through the fire which will kill him or he will keyboard turn and leave the boss in there too long. Either way prepare for a wipe. 

Beauty: Another boss with fire. This one however will require your DPS to avoid it. This fight is very very very simple. Avoid the fire patches and dps the boss. This boss has 3 little baby corehound adds. All three of these adds can be pulled at the same time. However. try to avoid killing Runty. That will cause the Boss to enrage which if you are in a bad group is going to wipe you. If you manage to down this boss without wiping to fires then congrats! 

Ascendant Lord Obsidius: This boss has two dwarf adds. These adds must be kited. They can be slowed, rooted and frost trapped. They will switch places during the fight and do a soft enrage. You want to continue to kite the unenraged one while killing the enraged one. That's it there is nothing else to the fight.  All you have to do is have DPS kite an add. Easier said then done.

Soon to be your doom.

 Still want to punish yourself some more? Stay Tuned for Part two of my guide. Don't like my sense of humor? Then you must be the dps that dies in the fire every time or the keyboard turning no CD popping tank. If you are these guys then I hate you. I hate you with a burning passion. 
 

New Hottness

A fabulous poster over at MMO-Champion by the name of Crazytaco93 made me my lovely new header. Thank you so much Crazytaco93.

I'm Famous in Eastern Kingdoms

Oi, I'm sick. It's times like this I wish I was a priest IRL. I'd cast a few spells and BLAM all better. Anyways, I'm all done with Eastern Kingdoms! Loremaster is proving to be a major time sink but it's bringing back such wonderful memories. Do you remember the first time you set out on your first quest? I'm going to tell you guys the story of my very first character in World of Warcraft.

Dear badlands. I hate you. Signed Honsue

I played WoW when it was in beta for about 2 weeks. I mostly played Alliance but decided I would go horde because I liked the way the Forsaken looked. Well, I thought warlocks were neat in beta so I made one. I was a little tiny level 4 when I ventured outside of deathknell. I wanted to see what was on the other side of those walls. I began running to Brill getting attcked by a few darkhounds along the way. I even died once because I thought it would be a good idea to check out that neat little farm along the road. Those zombies did not fall for the whole me being a zombie thing. Once I made it to Brill I saw the neat towers just outside of the small town. I thought "Oh wow what are those?" and off I went to check them out. As I climbed the long and winding staircase I saw the zeppelin pulling up and was blown away. I quickly hopped on the zeppelin and waited for it to take off. I was excited to know where it was going. Now, I had a pretty terrible computer back in the day. It took me a really long time to load on loading screens. Once I loaded all the way in the zeppelin was still moving so I thought I would hop off it and explore my new found lands. Bad idea. The zeppelin was hovering over the thunder lizard cavern and I died upon landing on the ground. I had no idea you couldn't jump off those things like that. I released and started running back towards my body. I got very lost and by very lost I mean lost for almost 45 mins. I was so frustrated that I logged off and deleted that character. I said to myself ok this time I won't go adventuring until I know more about my surroundings. I made a male undead rogue with a purple mohawk and named him Anthrax. We went through some epic times together. I remember when I first stepped foot into Shadowfang Keep. I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen in a video game before. Anthrax and I had a hard time trying to figure out how rogues worked but once we got the hang of working together we were an awesome team. We stabbed, kicked, blinded, and posioned our way to 60 in about a month. 

My first video game boyfriend. <3

 Shortly after I was 60 I joined a raiding guild. I knew what raiding was from my experience with running UBRS. However, I had no idea what I was getting into. I farm and farmed and farmed to get my full shadowcraft set. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I mean who doesn't like a ninja hood? I know I do. I must of run UBRS 30 times to get the chest to drop. I remember yelling "WOOOOOOO" really loud at 3am when I finally got it. My dorm neighbor wasn't happy. The night I joined a raid group for a place called "Molten Core" I was excited. We ran through and attuned people about an hour prior to the raid starting. I got on a little program called Ventrilo and started chatting. Before I move on.. Back then female WoW players were unheard of and the harassment I got then gave me the thickskin I have now anyway back to the story.. after vent chilled out we all started to zone in and bam I was instantly hooked and we hadn't even started on trash yet. I was taken back by the amount of people we had. There were 40 people that was a lot more than the 15 we had in UBRS and the 10 we had in Stratholme! We managed to kill two bosses that night. I made out with a pair of nightslayer bracers. My very first purple. Anthrax and I raided our way through Vanilla WoW slaying deadly bosses and grabbing their phat loots. With each passing day my skill grew stronger. I remember the first time I had someone comment me on my playing. We were mid way through a Blackwing lair raid and we just wiped to Chromaggus. The raid leader opened his mic channel to yell at us for wiping. I remember his exact words. "Listen we need to stop wiping to bosses we know we can kill. The dps is aweful. Guys, you are being beaten by a girl. Anthrax is third on the DPS charts. How does that make you feel?" I was grinning from ear to ear. I know its not really a compliment but to me it was. I stayed with that guild until the bitter end. The guild eventually parted ways when we got stuck in Naxx. Anthrax is still there to this very day forever locked at 60 and he will always have a special place in my heart. As will vanilla WoW. I will always and forever remember Azeroth as it once was. Please if you read this share your WoW memories with me. Let us have an epic nostalgia session.

Cooldowns, How do they work?

Today you get an added bonus post. We have a tank in our guild who doesn't use his tanking cooldowns. As a healer you know how annoying this is. He's a Deathknight. I KNOW I KNOW I'm not hating on Deathknights but its very typical right? Anyways, Yesterday we're doing HM Sindra and our MT died in Phase 3 twice in a row and we were running by a few ways to save the wipe if it happened again the following conversation took place on vent.

Raid Leader: "DK can't you just taunt and Pop your CD's on Frost Breath while we Battle Res the Pally"
 
Pally Tank:"Yeah that sounds like a good idea"

DPS Guy: "You're asking him to use his Cooldowns?"

DK: "I don't use CD's on Frost Breath" 


Healers in the healing channel: "WHAT?!"

Anyway we killed it on next attempt without the MT dying in P3. This is just a public service announcement for tanks out there. Call out your tanking Cool Downs over vent or use the add on that says when you've used your CD's in raid chat. This will save your ass in sticky situations and help the healers know when to rotate their healing CD's. You'll make things a lot smoother. /Signed Healers Everywhere.

Y U NO USE THEM?

You Were Prepared!

I may of said this in a post a few weeks ago but I plan on getting a server first achievement on my priest. The past two weeks between raiding, Loremaster and work I've been gathering things to prepare for the grind. I've built a pretty nice Shadow leveling spec from 80-85. If you are a reroller I'll post it in a level by level format. Lets get down to it shall we. 




General Info: 

• Set Your Hearthstone to Orgrimmar or Stormwind prior to 4.0.3a but do not log out in the city. Your toon may become stuck in walls, rocks, the ground and buildings. 
• Get your Justice Points to the cap. 4k This will allow you to get a jump start on getting geared for Heroics/Raids.
• Decide which starting zone you are going to hit first. My personal suggestion is Hyjal. The questing flow is slightly better here which is key for powering through. However, Once you've leveled don't skip out on the beauty that is Vashj'ir.
• Clear your bags. We all know questing is the fastest way to to power level if you do it properly. Leave all your healing/pvp gear in the bank. If you don't have full 24 slot bags buy them. They'll save you an extra vendor trip. (If you are on Wyrmrest Accord Horde I'll make you some bags)
• Respec your second spec to an optimized leveling spec. (Check below for my suggested shadow leveling spec.)
• Make or buy buff food. Every little bit helps to speed the process of killing mobs. I suggest pure SP or Haste food. 60-80 should be enough.
• Buy or Make Health/Mana pots. I suggest 80 of each. These will lower downtime and help in a pinch if you grab adds while questing. (The mobs hit a lot harder than they did in Wrath. Think TBC and dying in Hellfire.)
• Use any left over raiding flasks while leveling. These will help speed up the process of killing mobs and they won't be useful @ 85.

Mana Mana

 Now that you have gathered the stuff that will help you along your way while leveling in game it's time to buff your health bar IRL. 

Staying awake:

• Keep cool. Warm closed off rooms will make you sleepy faster. It'll drain your mental energy fast. 
• Drink ice cold water. It'll help you stay alert and if you start to feel the sleep creeping in splash some cold water on your face. 
• Chew gum or breath mints. Anything minty will help you stay awake. 
• Low Carb snacks. Fatty foods will slow you down faster.  Fruit and Veggies will give you the energy you need. 
• Every hour or so stand up and take a stretch. 
• Turn on all the lights in the room. The darker it is the more you'll want to sleep.
• Find a leveling buddy to chat with on vent or pump some upbeat tunes. (Personal fave Techno.) 
• If all the healthy stuff isn't you then stock up on 5hr Energy. However the crash from this stuff will be bad so prepare for that. 

Its bad for you but oh so good.

 

Now for the fun part! Lets build a Shadow Leveling spec. I know you crazy people out there who want to level as holy or disc but lets face it guys Shadow is the fastest way to level. I'm going to break this down per level bracket to help all you rerollers out there and you guys leveling from 80-85. 

Levels 10-19

2/2 Improved Shadow Word: Pain
3/3 Darkness
1/2 Twisted Faith

Levels 20-29

2/2 Twisted Faith (1 point from last level)
3/3 Improved Mind Blast
1/1 Shadowform

Shadowform at level 29 is awesome. It makes lowbie leveling so much faster.

Levels 30-39

2/2 Improved Devouring Plague
2/2 Improved Psychic Scream
1/1 Vampiric Embrace 

The nerf to VE makes this damn near worthless for endgame but while leveling every little bit helps so I decided to take it.

Levels 40-49

1/1 Silence
2/2 Masochism

1/2 Veiled Shadows
1/1 Vampiric Touch

Silence I've added for caster mobs and its needed if you are leveling at higher levels on a pvp server. Silence is a must! Don't forget to purchase Dual Talent Specialization. It's only 100g now and at this level healing instances as shadow becomes troublesome. 

Levels 50-59

1/2 Pain and Suffering
2/2 Harnessed Shadows
2/2 Veiled Shadows (1 point from last time)
1/1 Psychic Horror

Pain and Suffering is just filler for now to help you progress down the tree. It's not very good for leveling at low levels. Psychic Horror is good CC for PVP servers and decent CC in instances. 

Levels 60-69

3/3 Shadowy Apparition
1/2 Phantasm
1/1 Dispersion

Here is where the fun begins. Outlands mobs will die really fast while will allow you to pull more than 4-5 at a time. AoE SW:P and Shadowy Apparitions are fun. 

Levels 70-79

3/3 Twin Disciplines
2/2 Improved Power Word: Shield

At 78 you can travel to the new Cataclysm zones where the mobs hit A LOT harder than they did in Northrend. Imp PW:Shield is a must for lowing downtime.

Levels 80-85

2/2 Evangelism
1/1 Archangel

Yeah, I know its nerfed now but more damage output = faster killing = faster leveling. Use the last two points where ever you see fit. Going back and maxing out Phantasm is what I did. 

Glyphs
This is an easy one. 
Prime: Dispersion, SW:P, and Mindflay
Major: Pyschic Horror, Spirit Tap, Pyschic Scream
I went with the Physhic scream glyph because feared mobs like to bring friends to the party. Faster CD on Horror is nice while leveling.
Minor: Levitate, Fortitude, and Shadow Fiend.  

Well that's it guys. This is the spec I plan on using. Is it perfect? Nah probably not I'm sure there is some crazy numbers guy out there who has a better spec. Stay tuned for my instance guides and how to find them post over the weekend. I probably won't post it until Saturday. I mean a girl has to see the new Harry Potter!

Haters Gonna Hate

I've been working on Loremaster for the past week. Well, For the time my priest wasn't stuck in the Twisting Nether. As I sit here looking around at the Burning Stepps I realize this is one more thing to add to my "Hate List". I'm like an old grouchy lady. I hate everything and the older I get the worse it gets. So today my fellow gamers I give you my hate list. The list is made up of stuff in games in general and in real life. 

• MMO's with insane UI's. Aka Lord of the Rings. I mean really what is all that shit on the UI? I get it you went Free to Play, I don't need to see the shop add pop up everytime I level. 
• The people bitching about the Female Worgen Model on MMO Champ. GET OVER IT. 
• Wrath of the Lich King Heroics.
• Deathknights. Its not because everyone and their mother has one. I just hate the way they play. I've tried countless times to level one and I always give up around 65-67. The play style is too close to being like a ret pally with dots for my taste. 
• People who drink can soda with a straw. I mean really? 
• People who assume all gamers are neckbeards or fat women. Not all of us are mouth breathing window lickers.
• People who use "Gay" when referring to somthing that is  dumb, stupid,lame, retarded and so on. 
• "Relax man it's just a game" Yes, its just a game that you are terrible at.
• People who spam trade chat with song lyrics. Just a small town girl..
• Ads on you tube videos. I understand you're trying to make money. Go away with the ads before videos. Stick to banners and sidebar ads. 
• Talking ads. "CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE KNOWS YOU ARE AWAKE NOW HAHA!" 
• People who stare. I mean don't get me wrong I like to people watch just as much as the next person but there is a limit to how long you stare!
• HERP DERP HURR DURR. This stopped being funny a long time ago.
• People who type "alot" it's A LOT not alot.
• People who sit too close to you in waiting rooms or stand too close to you in line. 
• Close Talkers. You know the ones. HEY LETS GET IN EACH OTHERS FACE AND CHAT. I do not want to smell the garlic you had for lunch kthx.
• That one person in your guild that EVERYONE hates and is pretty awful but no one bothers to ever say anything about them.
• Facebook spammers. I DON'T CARE IF YOU JUST GOT OUT OF THE SHOWER!
• E Skanks. I mean really? You feel the need to whore yourself in a video game? 
• Badlands Quests. The amount of craftable items you need from the quests here is ridiculous. 

• 

  Angry cat agrees with my rage.

Now for part 2 of my hate list.

• Socks. I hate these things. They might make your feet warm in the winter but my fuzzy slippers do the job just fine.
• People who post screenshots of battle ground stat menu. Grats you did damage in a BG. You were probably that asshole camping the bot in the Alliance GY while the rest of us were actually running the flag in WSG. 
• People who ask trade "Whats the best spec for x class" Guys, Its called Google. Use it. It takes 5-10 mins of reading to figure out the most played spec of your class. All with detailed info on how to play it.
• People who don't understand how gemming in WoW works. Just because that socket is blue doesn't mean a BLUE gem has to go in it. They make hybrid gems for a reason.
• PvE nerfs to balance PVP. Honestly blizzard make pvp trees and specs for PVP. Leave the PVE players alone and Vice Versa
• Ke$ha Please crawl back into your trailer and just die already. 
• People who constantly ask you "What ya doing?" When clearly they can see what you're doing.
• Sports fans. I don't like sports and you don't like video games. So why do you think I care about the Flyers game? Do I tell you about me killing The Lich King? Nope Didn't think so. 
• Gold Spammer whispers. Ex: "Hey Whats up?" *Shift Right click* [Stolenaccout Level 1 Shaman, Durotar] It always makes me feel like someone actually wants to talk to me. HUGH LET DOWN 
• Warhammer Online's PVE. Yes I know its a PVP game but seriously Mythic you could of tried a bit harder with the quests.
• The shitty amount of XP you gain in low level battlegrounds in WoW. Give us XP for killing players blizzard. Make it have the old honor diminishing returns.
• The way people think its raging when you disagree with their statements about their gear.
• People who correct you in the middle of a sentence. I realize I dunno how to pronounce that word. Do I care? No and you shouldn't either. (Side note these people are fun to piss off.
• Twilight. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Twilight is only for gay men, little girls and lonely old fat women/housewives.
• Guild Rules against "bad words" I'm sorry but if your child plays online video games he/she has already seen the word fuck and if not from video games then from school. Turn on the profanity filter if you are offended by "bad" words.
• The fact that Guild Wars has no jump button. What a stupid thing to leave out of a game.
• People who stand on top of NPC's with their mounts. 

• People who hover in Dalaran on their flying mounts. Grats you have a Green Proto Drake. So does the rest of WoW. 
• People who afk during heroics, raids, BG's and group quests to "Smoke a Bowl" Then complain about dying, wiping, losing and not getting quest credit.

Me every time someone afks to smoke pot.

As you can see I can keep going on forever.but I won't. I think this is enough for now. Stay tuned for more posts this week. I'm working on a "Preparing your Priest for Cata" and I plan on posting detailed info on all the new 5 mans and their boss strats.  (Edit: I have no clue what that white box is down there. It won't go away no matter what I do. So I now hate it too.)

Loading Screen of Doom.

Picture it: You log in to WoW just a few minutes before raid time to gather flasks and whatnot. You've been working on achievements so the nearest city is Thunderbluff. You hop on a flight path and head to the city only to crash while flying over the rolling pains of Mulgore. You pick up your authenticator and attempt to log back in. As you sit there waiting at the loading screen you realize its taking a lot longer than it normally does. You hang your head knowing you have to Alt F4 and try again. After trying four or five times you decide to disable addons to see if this works. The loading screen some how seems to take even longer now. You hang your head down even further now. You realize that your toon is stuck in the twisting nether and you're going to have to get help from a game master. You sigh in frustration because you know what the outcome will be.

Just your everyday GM party.

So, You log into an alt explain to your guild why you can't raid and open your ticket. "We are currently experiencing a high volume of petitions" This doesn't phase you. You already knew that would be the outcome. You goof around on your alt while listening to your guild attempt hardmode Halion.  You check the clock and realize it's been a few hours and still "We're currently Herp Derping". You log off in frustration. You spend the rest of your night watching "The Venture Bros" and relaxing.You decide to check your toon one last time before bed. Damnit, Still can't log in. You check your alt to see that status of your ticket. "Lol, Do you really think we care?" Sigh, You decide its time for bed after all there is always tomorrow. 

Makes Perfect Sense.

Day Two: You get off work and head home for a snack and some raiding. You sit down at your computer and suddenly it hits you. Damn Damn DAMN... You'd forgotten about your toon being stuck. As you type in your authenticator code you hold your breath. Loading... Loading... LOADING.. FUCK!! Looks like another night of not raiding. You sigh and log into your alt to see about your ticket. "You really thought We'd answer by now? LULZ" Sigh, You decide to just log off for the night. You realize it's not worth waiting. You lurk around facebook and 4chan all night and you check your e-mail a few hundred times in hopes of getting a beta invite. Maybe you are just hoping for some glimmer of hope in the darkness. After you've had enough FBF pics and trap threads on 4chan you head to bed. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day?

It haunts your dreams...

Day Three: You had the day off so you slept in til 3. You grab a bowl of fruit loops and plop down in front of your computer. You check your email, facebook, MMO-Champion, and all your other daily sites. You load up WoW and decide to check your bank alt first. Awesome, all your auctions sold! Even those way too overpriced glyphs. Looks like today will be a good day! You select your main and attempt to log in. The loading screen flashes for a second and bam booted back to the select screen. What the fuck? You rub the sleepiness from your eyes and try again. Same thing, The loading screen is trolling you. It's mocking you. You could of swore you saw that nightelf pointing and laughing at you. You've had enough. It's time you called tech support,  because the in game support just isn't responding. You take a deep breath and dial the number. After a series of menus you are stuck on hold. The music blasting through your phone is Star Craft 2. Ahhh, you set your phone to speaker and lay is down on your desk. You mutter to yourself "Why must the music be so loud" You browse around on the web for a bit. You check the time. Has it been 10 minutes already? Sigh.. You continue to surf around passing the time. Finally 29 minutes later  "
Thank you for Calling Blizzard Tech Support this is "The guy that will be ruining your day" : How can I help you?

You: I've been having issues with my toon. I crashed a few days ago on a flightpath. I was having issues with be stuck at the loading screen. Now the loading screen flashes for 2 or 3 seconds and I'm booted back to the select screen.

"Ruining your day guy" Did you delete your WTF folder? or run the repair tool?

You: Yes, I've tried all the basic stuff. I've had an open ticket in game for 3 days with no response. 


"Ruining your Day Guy": Do you mind if I place you hold for a 2 minutes?


You: No that's fine I just want the issue fixed.
*Hold Music*
"Ruining your Day Guy": Hi sorry for the wait. I've looked into your issue and it's possible its your service provider. 


You: Well, I can log into every toon on my account but this one. Are you sure its my service provider.


"Ruining your Day Guy":  Really, Do you mind holding for a few more minutes while I look further into this issue.


You: Sigh, Not at all. (At this point you realize this guy has no idea how to help you)


*Hold Music*


"Ruining your Day Guy": Sorry to keep you waiting. This issue requires you to speak to a Games Master in game. They will have to move your character for you to allow you log in properly.

You: Right, I've had an open ticket for 3 days. Is there any way you solve this faster? I haven't  been able to raid all week or do anything on my main.


"Ruining your Day Guy": I'm sorry but there isn't anything I can do for you. This is an in game issue. Is there anything else I can do for you?

You: Well seeing as you did nothing for me now I guess not. 

"Ruining your Day Guy": Thanks for calling Blizzard Tech Support. You will receive a survey on the service I provided for you via email. Please fill it out. Have a good day.

*Hangs up*

You sigh in frustration.  You realize that compelete morons work for blizzard tech support. You log in your alt and update your ticket to add the issues you chatted about with the Tech support guy and log off. Your day off is mostly gone now. You play some Dragon Age and watch TV. You check your ticket status before bed. "We are currently pointing and laughing at you" Grrr.. You are starting rage fairly hardcore now. 

It doesn't

 Day Four: It's 10:30 am EST. You just finished talking to a GM. The GM tells you that he is sorry for taking so long to answer your ticket. You chat with the GM for a bit and he offers to  give you 3 days of playtime for the inconvenience. 




Sorry for this long and drawn out post. This is the longest I've ever had to wait for an in game issue to be fixed. I've been playing WoW since it was in beta. I know I know I should just relax blah blah blah. I think 3 days is more than enough time for in game service that you PAY for to assist you.