3.3 Patch notes
There isn’t much to report on the patch notes thus far for resto druids, but there are a few changes that peaked my interest.
“Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects”
GotE might be the most controversial and misunderstood druid talent in the resto tree, but with this change in 3.3, it may now be a no-brainer talent. Five talent points get you a 10% spell haste buff along with a 10% shorter GCD on lifebloom. The “haste cap” may be a thing of the past, but improved haste on all our spells is a giant buff to raiding trees. Is there any down side here?
“Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation: This glyph allows for the druid’s haste to reduce the time between the periodic healing effects of Rejuvenation.”
This is an interesting proposition, especially with the four set bonus allowing Rejuv ticks to crit, but is it better than the other major glyphs? Personally, I’m a swiftmend whore who likes to have that button armed for as long as possible. From a strictly raid healing view, however, it does sound like a powerful glyph to run with.
“Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.”
Wow. Just, wow. Basically every druid, in every raid, will have a battle rez up for every encounter. Should we revist the Rebirth glyph and think of our B-Rez as a 100% hp heal? That’s probably going a bit overboard, but still.
“Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.”
Blizzard is doing a little house cleaning here. This will have no effect on level 80 raiding druids, but it’s clear from this and other patch notes that Blizzard is revisiting the leveling process, attempting to make it as efficient as possible. Is this continued movement toward easy mode proof that rumors of Cataclysm being the final chapter in WoW are being realized?
“Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.”
More house cleaning.
“Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.”
Now, with the Improved Tranquility talent, you’ll be able to cast this party heal every 3.2 minutes. Will we be rethinking our raid group set up in 3.3 to allow this heal to effect tanks and melee? I think the mana cost on this channeled spell still makes it an inefficient heal in a raid environment, but it will be interesting to see if some druids are able to make it work.
“Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying.”
Hallelujah. There’s nothing more bush league than a fail laser turkey flying around ice crown trying to make toons fall to their deaths by typhooning them off their flying mounts. I’m glad to see Blizzard is making that a thing of the past.
And finally…
The totally revamped dungeon system makes looking for a group as simple as joining a BG. As if the new heroic dungeon emblem system didn’t make gearing up easy enough, you can now queue yourself up to earn those emblems with the click of a button. I’ll save my rant on this topic for another day, but it’s clear Blizzard wants the path to end game completion to be as quick and convenient as possible. Here are some of the highlights…
“Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.”
“Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.”
“The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.”
“The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.”
“Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.”
“Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player’s inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon System.”
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Healing on the run: Anub'arak
Healing on the run: Anub’arak
Phase 1:
Where to stand – Get your butt to the middle of the room, near an off tank if possible. As always, do not stand in front of the boss.
What to watch for –
Phase 1:
Where to stand – Get your butt to the middle of the room, near an off tank if possible. As always, do not stand in front of the boss.
What to watch for –
1. Nerubian Burrowers! – Two sets of adds will spawn during phase one. The first set will easily be picked up by the off tank and brought to a patch of ice to be dps’d down. The second set of adds, however, is far more dangerous as the off tank will likely have farther to run to pick them up (and the movement slowing affect of the ice patch to deal with as well). You’ll be healing your tanks quite a bit at that point, so don’t be surprised if the adds spawn with you as their target. Do yourself (and your off tank) a favor by stopping your heals and running toward your OT until he/she can gain aggro.
2. Penetrating Cold. – Anub’arak will cast this DoT on random toons (2 in 10 man, 5 in 25 man) throughout phase one. It’s easily healed through, but certainly worth your attention if you’re assigned to raid heals. Keep an eye on your Deadly Boss Mod for this cast.
3. Downtime. – That’s right, I said it. If all goes well in phase one, you’ll likely find yourself with very little healing to do. Only your tanks and a handful of your fellow raiders will need heals, but do NOT get complacent. Damage spikes still occur in this phase and Anub isn’t exactly tickling your main tank. Keep everyone topped off and stay sharp. Phase two will have you (literally) healing on the run.
Phase 2:
Where to stand – You won’t do a lot of standing during phase two. Toons, adds, scarabs, and Anub will all be running around like crazy, and if you’re smart, you will be too. The only advice I can give you is to pay attention to where you are and what’s going on around you.
What to watch for –
1. Anub’arak! – Phase two begins when Anub burrows underground, making him invulnerable and wiping all aggro. He will randomly target one of your raid members and chase after them (slowly at first, then gaining speed until he cannot be out run) only stopping when he runs into a patch of ice. If you’re his target (you’ll know by the skull that appears over your head) find the furthest ice patch from Anub and go stand BEHIND it. (Some guides will tell you to stand on the ice, however doing so will slow your run speed and often still results in a damaging hit from Anub.)
If you are NOT Anub’s target, pay attention to who is the target and get out of their way. Also pay attention to where Anub is while underground. Many toons have died from standing in his path and you do not want to suffer the embarrassment of being one of those toons. If you see his spikes coming in your direction, move.
2. Scarabs! – These little buggers don’t hit hard and they don’t have a ton of health, HOWEVER, they do stack a DoT on their target which will eventually make life miserable for your healers. Pay attention to when you’re picking up aggro and start kiting them early. You do not want any stacks of their DoT on you.
3. DoTs! – More times than not, a few toons will end up with a good number of scarab DoTs stacked on them. This DoT lasts 30 seconds and does roughly 1k damage per stack per tick. Add that to Penetrating Cold when Anub reemerges, and a once easy healing fight will now be crazy hectic. If keeping the raid alive is your responsibility, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Heal hard and heal fast. Oh, and more adds will be arriving soon, so expect to have aggro when they appear.
4. Your tanks. – With everyone kiting mobs, moving out of Anub’s way and dpsing the scarabs scattered all over the room, it’s easy to end up out of range of your tanks. Find them BEFORE the end of phase two and HoT them up. Anub’arak will start beating on your MT when it reemerges from underground, whether your healers are ready or not.
5. End of phase. – Phase two ends when Anub reemerges, then it returns to phase one until Anub’s health is under 30 percent. The overlapping of the two phases is the most dangerous part of the fight, so stay on your toes.
Phase 3:
Where to stand – Phase three is tank and spank, with a twist. Stand in range of as many toons as you can.
What to watch for –
1. Leeching Swarm! – Anub’s swarm damages everyone in the raid and leeches 10% of their current health every second (returning that health to Anub as a HoT). In other words, your job as a healer is to keep EVERYONE under 50% health without letting them die (except for maybe your tanks who you will likely keep topped off). This fight is tailor made for Resto druids because it basically boils down to HoTs vs. DoTs. Normally I don’t tell my fellow trees how to heal these fights, because everyone has their own build and their own style. In this case, however, I will make an exception. Healing Touch, Nourish, Regrowth and Swiftmend should NOT be used during phase three. Those spells just crit too often and heal too big for this phase. Trust your Rejuvenation and Wild Growth spells to work their magic. Save lifebloom only for spot emergencies and don’t stack more than 1. I know keeping everyone in raid at such low health goes against all your instincts as a healer, but once you get used to all the red health bars on your healing addon, it really isn’t that bad. Think quantity instead of quality in this phase, and it’ll be easier than I make it sound.
2. DoTs and adds. – When phase three begins, any adds that are out or DoTs (like penetrating cold or scarab poison) that are up will still need to be healed through. Don’t be afraid to use a big heal to save a life at this point, but once they’re all down, put those big heals away for good.
Should I freak? – Yessir, you should. This is THE end game encounter (for the moment) so downing Anub’arak is as tough as it gets. This fight truly is a skill check. If you can heal through it, you can heal through anything.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
My nightmare worsens
Earlier, with the release of patch 3.2, I wrote a blog on how gear scores and emblems had soiled the WoW experience for me a bit. Not only did blizzard make gearing too easy, but they made it a competition. I've since sworn off caring about wow-heroes, recount lists and emblem farming, and have tried to focus on enjoying guild progression (epic fails or not). For a while, life was good.
However, (there's always a 'but') as the title of this blog indicates, the simple joys of WoW-hood are becoming harder and harder to hold on to. The latest craze among WoWers is the uber annoying and ultra-snobby "gearscore" addon. It's intention, to make PuGing raids easier and more efficient. It's actual affect, raising noses of elitist jerks to an all time high.
It's hard to say which is worse, toons in a raid bragging about their dps... even though they died from standing in fire, or toons in a raid bragging about their gear score... even though they died from standing in fire. Either way, both leave the bulk of the heavy lifting to the "lesser" toons. You know, the ones who don't raid with their recount window open so they can see what they're standing in and stop dpsing long enough to move out of it? Yeah, those toons.
I know it's clear to everyone that gear score does not guarantee skill. I don't have to share stories of "under geared" toons out dpsing, out healing, out tanking, out lasting, or out classing their uber geared counterparts to convince you of that fact, because I know you've all witnessed it yourselves. Instead I'll sit here, biting my tongue, earnestly hoping you don't allow yourselves to get caught up in the pointless WoW addons that cause me so much annoyance.
If you care enough about playing your character well (and I'm certain you do if you're reading blogs on your class) then don't preoccupy yourself with the numbers of this game. If you spend as much time learning the fights as those "other" toons spend farming daily heroics, then gear won't matter. You'll always be in the right place at the right time, and that's something you can't measure with an addon.
However, (there's always a 'but') as the title of this blog indicates, the simple joys of WoW-hood are becoming harder and harder to hold on to. The latest craze among WoWers is the uber annoying and ultra-snobby "gearscore" addon. It's intention, to make PuGing raids easier and more efficient. It's actual affect, raising noses of elitist jerks to an all time high.
It's hard to say which is worse, toons in a raid bragging about their dps... even though they died from standing in fire, or toons in a raid bragging about their gear score... even though they died from standing in fire. Either way, both leave the bulk of the heavy lifting to the "lesser" toons. You know, the ones who don't raid with their recount window open so they can see what they're standing in and stop dpsing long enough to move out of it? Yeah, those toons.
I know it's clear to everyone that gear score does not guarantee skill. I don't have to share stories of "under geared" toons out dpsing, out healing, out tanking, out lasting, or out classing their uber geared counterparts to convince you of that fact, because I know you've all witnessed it yourselves. Instead I'll sit here, biting my tongue, earnestly hoping you don't allow yourselves to get caught up in the pointless WoW addons that cause me so much annoyance.
If you care enough about playing your character well (and I'm certain you do if you're reading blogs on your class) then don't preoccupy yourself with the numbers of this game. If you spend as much time learning the fights as those "other" toons spend farming daily heroics, then gear won't matter. You'll always be in the right place at the right time, and that's something you can't measure with an addon.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Healing on the run: Twin Val'kyr
Twin Val'kyr - Fjola Lightbane / Edyis Darkbane
Where to stand:
Where you stand during this fight will depend on your healing assignment. If you're healing a tank, you will want to position yourself on your tank's side of the room near an essence portal holding the opposite color of your current essence (so that you can change our essence quickly without having to move too far). If you're raid healing, position yourself in the center of the room as close to an essence portal as possible while keeping everyone in range.
Also, use command: "/console cameraDistanceMaxFactor 4" before you begin this fight. This will allow you to zoom out your camera further than normal (which helps a great deal in this fight)
What to watch for:
Dark/Light Vortex! - Throughout the fight the Twins will cast a few special abilities. The one everyone in the raid must watch out for is the Dark or Light Vortex. The vortex is a huge AoE that does 5-6k dps on every player with the opposite color essence for 5 seconds (8-9k on 25 man). Your deadly boss mod (and hopefully your tank) should tell you when this is about to be cast and what color essence you should have. If you have a light essence and the light vortex is cast, you can just stand and heal (keeping your eyes peeled for any raid members who were late changing their essence). If, however, you have a dark essence while the light vortex is being cast, stop what you're doing and run to a light portal immediately. (Trust me, the worst kind of healer is a dead healer.) The same is true for the dark vortex. Just make sure you have a dark essence when it's cast, then go about your business of healing.
Concentrated orbs! - During the fight, light and dark orbs will be flying around the room. Orbs of the same color will give you a dps buff (which you obviously don't need as a healer), orbs of the opposite color will cause you a fair amount of damage (which you obviously want to avoid). First and foremost, you want to zoom your camera out as far as possible so that you'll have plenty of warning when a bad orb is coming your way. Secondly, a captured orb will do a small AoE which can still hurt you if you're standing too close to someone who grabs an orb of the opposite color. Do your best to not stack on anyone with an opposite color essence. Thirdly, do not go out of your way to collect orbs of the same color. Your dps will be trying to collect enough orbs to trigger the "empowered" buff and they'll be none too happy if you're running around making things harder on them. Stand your ground as much as possible in this fight, and only move as far as you must to avoid an orb.
Surge of darkness/surge of light. - As soon as this fight begins, you'll notice everyone's health slowly ticking down. This is due to the Twin's surge ability. Take some time to HoT up your raid members because your tanks won't be needing too many heals at the onset.
Damage spikes. - The only real damage spikes your tanks will be taking will come via opposite color orbs, and you'll be able to heal through two or three of those without much trouble. The twins don't hit hard on their own, so if you're tank healing do be afraid to lend a hand with raid heals.
Twin's Pact. - This special ability means everything to dps and means nothing to you as a healer. Basically all dps will need to burn down a shield on one of the twins so that this ability can be interrupted or else the Twins will be healed for a substantial amount of health. Your raid leader may call out for everyone to change their essence, but really only dps need to make the change. You can just stand your ground and heal, as your essence doesn't affect this ability in the least.
Should I freak?
No way, Jose. Spacial awareness is key in this fight, and seeing as you've graduated from Naxx and Ulduar to ToC, watching where you stand should be like second nature to you. Stand, heal, be prepared for the Twin's one big ability (vortex) and this fight will be a cake walk.
Where to stand:
Where you stand during this fight will depend on your healing assignment. If you're healing a tank, you will want to position yourself on your tank's side of the room near an essence portal holding the opposite color of your current essence (so that you can change our essence quickly without having to move too far). If you're raid healing, position yourself in the center of the room as close to an essence portal as possible while keeping everyone in range.
Also, use command: "/console cameraDistanceMaxFactor 4" before you begin this fight. This will allow you to zoom out your camera further than normal (which helps a great deal in this fight)
What to watch for:
Dark/Light Vortex! - Throughout the fight the Twins will cast a few special abilities. The one everyone in the raid must watch out for is the Dark or Light Vortex. The vortex is a huge AoE that does 5-6k dps on every player with the opposite color essence for 5 seconds (8-9k on 25 man). Your deadly boss mod (and hopefully your tank) should tell you when this is about to be cast and what color essence you should have. If you have a light essence and the light vortex is cast, you can just stand and heal (keeping your eyes peeled for any raid members who were late changing their essence). If, however, you have a dark essence while the light vortex is being cast, stop what you're doing and run to a light portal immediately. (Trust me, the worst kind of healer is a dead healer.) The same is true for the dark vortex. Just make sure you have a dark essence when it's cast, then go about your business of healing.
Concentrated orbs! - During the fight, light and dark orbs will be flying around the room. Orbs of the same color will give you a dps buff (which you obviously don't need as a healer), orbs of the opposite color will cause you a fair amount of damage (which you obviously want to avoid). First and foremost, you want to zoom your camera out as far as possible so that you'll have plenty of warning when a bad orb is coming your way. Secondly, a captured orb will do a small AoE which can still hurt you if you're standing too close to someone who grabs an orb of the opposite color. Do your best to not stack on anyone with an opposite color essence. Thirdly, do not go out of your way to collect orbs of the same color. Your dps will be trying to collect enough orbs to trigger the "empowered" buff and they'll be none too happy if you're running around making things harder on them. Stand your ground as much as possible in this fight, and only move as far as you must to avoid an orb.
Surge of darkness/surge of light. - As soon as this fight begins, you'll notice everyone's health slowly ticking down. This is due to the Twin's surge ability. Take some time to HoT up your raid members because your tanks won't be needing too many heals at the onset.
Damage spikes. - The only real damage spikes your tanks will be taking will come via opposite color orbs, and you'll be able to heal through two or three of those without much trouble. The twins don't hit hard on their own, so if you're tank healing do be afraid to lend a hand with raid heals.
Twin's Pact. - This special ability means everything to dps and means nothing to you as a healer. Basically all dps will need to burn down a shield on one of the twins so that this ability can be interrupted or else the Twins will be healed for a substantial amount of health. Your raid leader may call out for everyone to change their essence, but really only dps need to make the change. You can just stand your ground and heal, as your essence doesn't affect this ability in the least.
Should I freak?
No way, Jose. Spacial awareness is key in this fight, and seeing as you've graduated from Naxx and Ulduar to ToC, watching where you stand should be like second nature to you. Stand, heal, be prepared for the Twin's one big ability (vortex) and this fight will be a cake walk.
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