So, tonight in guild chat there was a debate about how people heal.
There's mouse-over, there's clique, there's grid, there's healbot, there's keybindings, there's a combination of any of the above!
The conversation delved into that a healer with grid/clique will out-heal a healer that uses the regular UI.
And I (and Boon who uses no healing addons) who use ONLY Grid more as an organizational tool than anything else, had to disagree.
Yes. I'm a "bad" healer. I click on my button on my standard UI bar, and then bring the mouse over to the grid box and click the box.
But I will maintain that I will heal just as fast as someone who is using grid/clique.
Because honestly - you can only heal as fast as your heals are off cooldown, and GCD is cooled down.
Can I see how a DRUID healer would be slowed down without using something to help, considering the nature of instant-cast hots? Yes. But when you play a class that doesn't have a lot of instant cast spells... by the time I CAN cast another spell, I have it ready to be cast.
So sure - you may use less motion than I do - but I'm still healing just as fast. ABC baby.
Does it honestly matter HOW I heal, provided I do the job, and do it well?
When people start to randomly die because I fail as a healer, I'll go ahead and change.
I use grid because it lets me see if people are in or out of range, who has aggro for pre-emptive healing and what class they are and how hurt they are at a glance.
So... how do you heal, and what pros and cons do you feel it offers you?
Friday, September 11, 2009
September 11th - 8 years later
Last year I blogged on my memories of the day.
I was talking to Boon this morning and I remarked how for us, Pearl Harbor is something that we don't actively think about, or remember the date of, at least not as anything but 'When did it happen again?' - and this morning I even got it wrong. I thought it was December 14th. It's December 7th.
It made me wonder ... when will that time come for us? Will it ever come for those of us who were old enough to be affected by it? Will this always be a day that makes us tear up, even in some small way?
Those who were alive during the days of Pearl Harbor, those who were affected by it... they'll never forget that date. To them, every December 7th is a day to remember. A day to wear a flag pin or a red-white-blue shirt, or if they're blogging, to blog about it.
Is September 11th that day for us? The first few years, in preparation for the day, I'd get together with some of my classmates and we'd make a basket full of red-white-blue ribbon pins and leave the baskets around campus.
Then when that stopped, I would wear a red-white-blue shirt - a white shirt with a red-white-blue heart in sequins on it. Or one of my 9-11 T-shirts.
Now, I'm not. I could technically say I'm wearing red-white-blue because my pants are cream colored, my work top is red, and my shirt is blue. But I feel very unpatriotic. Some of this is due to the fact that I'm bad at planning. So even though I knew this day was coming, I didn't think to plan on what I'd wear, or try to find or make a pin, or anything.
So I'm a very bad 9-11 remembrance person. :(
Where is the cutoff on who the generations that lived through it are and the generations after it?
Do students who were in high school, or middle school... consider the day the way those of us who were adults do? Or to them, is it just another day where something bad happened to some old folks?
How many years must go by before the headline of today isn't something about 9-11?
Will it ever do that?
With the advent of the internet, videos, audiolinks, images - can be found everywhere. It's kept alive - and perhaps it should always be kept alive - because today I can click on a link that will show me exactly what was on TV at the time of the attacks. Because I can click on a link and listen to President Bush talk about the attacks the evening OF the attacks.
It doesn't die down. Perhaps it's good... it isn't something we should forget. But perhaps it's also bad. If we don't let it finally rest, can we ever heal?
I was talking to Boon this morning and I remarked how for us, Pearl Harbor is something that we don't actively think about, or remember the date of, at least not as anything but 'When did it happen again?' - and this morning I even got it wrong. I thought it was December 14th. It's December 7th.
It made me wonder ... when will that time come for us? Will it ever come for those of us who were old enough to be affected by it? Will this always be a day that makes us tear up, even in some small way?
Those who were alive during the days of Pearl Harbor, those who were affected by it... they'll never forget that date. To them, every December 7th is a day to remember. A day to wear a flag pin or a red-white-blue shirt, or if they're blogging, to blog about it.
Is September 11th that day for us? The first few years, in preparation for the day, I'd get together with some of my classmates and we'd make a basket full of red-white-blue ribbon pins and leave the baskets around campus.
Then when that stopped, I would wear a red-white-blue shirt - a white shirt with a red-white-blue heart in sequins on it. Or one of my 9-11 T-shirts.
Now, I'm not. I could technically say I'm wearing red-white-blue because my pants are cream colored, my work top is red, and my shirt is blue. But I feel very unpatriotic. Some of this is due to the fact that I'm bad at planning. So even though I knew this day was coming, I didn't think to plan on what I'd wear, or try to find or make a pin, or anything.
So I'm a very bad 9-11 remembrance person. :(
Where is the cutoff on who the generations that lived through it are and the generations after it?
Do students who were in high school, or middle school... consider the day the way those of us who were adults do? Or to them, is it just another day where something bad happened to some old folks?
How many years must go by before the headline of today isn't something about 9-11?
Will it ever do that?
With the advent of the internet, videos, audiolinks, images - can be found everywhere. It's kept alive - and perhaps it should always be kept alive - because today I can click on a link that will show me exactly what was on TV at the time of the attacks. Because I can click on a link and listen to President Bush talk about the attacks the evening OF the attacks.
It doesn't die down. Perhaps it's good... it isn't something we should forget. But perhaps it's also bad. If we don't let it finally rest, can we ever heal?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Where HAVE you been?!
I can hear you all clamoring for the answer to that question.
The answer is quite simple. I got burned out. Still am burned out. We were pushing Ulduar hard. It seemed like all there was before me was endless grinding and grinding and grinding to try to get badges so I can upgrade to the gear we'd need in Ulduar.
And then the patch hit that took away my pretty pretty Martyr. *mewl* I miss my Martyr. So suddenly I had to deal with DPS that was so much lower than it was - where before I was competing with the top DPS in my guild, suddenly I was struggling to stay ahead of the tank.
Ok ok ok. SLIGHT exaggeration there. Very slight. Like... this >< much exaggeration.
So I took a break and dove headfirst back into the thing that got me started down the road to meeting Boon, and some of the best and worst friends of my life. Text Based RPG. Yes. It's still out there.
The 'Golden Days' may be over... but the games are still out there. Some of them better than others. Some with people who are better RPers than others.
And with this odd little habit of people doing the internal monologue thing in their poses.
See, I 'grew up' in the field of - you pose what you are doing, what your facial expression is, your stance, your everything. You don't TELL someone what you're doing.
For (brief) example:
Kikidas looks over at Boon, her lips turned down at the corners. The skin between her eyes draws in and her fingers slowly clench into fists.
Now.. you read that and you see EXACTLY what I am doing. It is up to you to draw conclusions as to what I am thinking - the way you would if you were seeing that in real life.
Kikidas could be pissed at Boon for what he said. Or what he's going to do. Or upset for some other reason that Boon is bringing up, but not at Boon himself.
But you can only guess based on what you can see of the interaction between the two.
The bad example:
Kikidas looks over at Boon, frowning as he talks about her sordid love affair with Bargrave oh so many years ago. Her fingers curl into fists as she contemplates the horrible ending where Bargrave spurned her for Disrida, that succubus tramp. Her heart is still broken.
There is just way too much information in that pose that, if we were being true to the soul of text-based gaming, you just shouldn't know. Unless Kikidas or Boon say: "Hey, do you remember when Bargrave spurned you for Disrida and broke your heart? Isn't Disrida such a tramp?" how could you possibly infer that information from Kikidas frowning and clenching her fists?
Granted... there is a time and place for internal monologuing in poses. I use it RARELY myself for comedic relief.
For instance:
As Bodaz speaks of using mice to experiment synthesizing a new hormone that would allow Dekir's people to live offworld, Kvasira looks down at her fingers, flexing them against her clothing as she listens. Where's PETA when you need them?
There's no such thing as PETA in the Star Wars universe, so it isn't IC information being given. But it makes people laugh in out of character chat. :)
So that's where I've been -- that and on Champions. Erm, I don't know the full name. It's the new incarnation of City of Heroes.
I have, thus far, gotten a ton of compliments about the way my characters look. Granted, some from Boon, so that doesn't count, but some from other people, too.
And of course, my account is being shared by Vialora, who has a thing for vivid purple and green -- which kind of hurts the eyes. I think his power is to be so blindingly clashing that people can't see him out of self-preservation.
So, because I think my characters look cool...
Gaia, Sibuna, Nightdream and Blue Lace -- okay, that last one isn't cool as much as just... what can I say, I was having fun. :)
You may need to refresh the page if it shows N/A for character picture.
So... that's where I've been. I'm back on WoW part time, leveling my disc priest, and probably going to be playing more of my resto shaman than my retardadin. And maybe my warlock.
The answer is quite simple. I got burned out. Still am burned out. We were pushing Ulduar hard. It seemed like all there was before me was endless grinding and grinding and grinding to try to get badges so I can upgrade to the gear we'd need in Ulduar.
And then the patch hit that took away my pretty pretty Martyr. *mewl* I miss my Martyr. So suddenly I had to deal with DPS that was so much lower than it was - where before I was competing with the top DPS in my guild, suddenly I was struggling to stay ahead of the tank.
Ok ok ok. SLIGHT exaggeration there. Very slight. Like... this >< much exaggeration.
So I took a break and dove headfirst back into the thing that got me started down the road to meeting Boon, and some of the best and worst friends of my life. Text Based RPG. Yes. It's still out there.
The 'Golden Days' may be over... but the games are still out there. Some of them better than others. Some with people who are better RPers than others.
And with this odd little habit of people doing the internal monologue thing in their poses.
See, I 'grew up' in the field of - you pose what you are doing, what your facial expression is, your stance, your everything. You don't TELL someone what you're doing.
For (brief) example:
Kikidas looks over at Boon, her lips turned down at the corners. The skin between her eyes draws in and her fingers slowly clench into fists.
Now.. you read that and you see EXACTLY what I am doing. It is up to you to draw conclusions as to what I am thinking - the way you would if you were seeing that in real life.
Kikidas could be pissed at Boon for what he said. Or what he's going to do. Or upset for some other reason that Boon is bringing up, but not at Boon himself.
But you can only guess based on what you can see of the interaction between the two.
The bad example:
Kikidas looks over at Boon, frowning as he talks about her sordid love affair with Bargrave oh so many years ago. Her fingers curl into fists as she contemplates the horrible ending where Bargrave spurned her for Disrida, that succubus tramp. Her heart is still broken.
There is just way too much information in that pose that, if we were being true to the soul of text-based gaming, you just shouldn't know. Unless Kikidas or Boon say: "Hey, do you remember when Bargrave spurned you for Disrida and broke your heart? Isn't Disrida such a tramp?" how could you possibly infer that information from Kikidas frowning and clenching her fists?
Granted... there is a time and place for internal monologuing in poses. I use it RARELY myself for comedic relief.
For instance:
As Bodaz speaks of using mice to experiment synthesizing a new hormone that would allow Dekir's people to live offworld, Kvasira looks down at her fingers, flexing them against her clothing as she listens. Where's PETA when you need them?
There's no such thing as PETA in the Star Wars universe, so it isn't IC information being given. But it makes people laugh in out of character chat. :)
So that's where I've been -- that and on Champions. Erm, I don't know the full name. It's the new incarnation of City of Heroes.
I have, thus far, gotten a ton of compliments about the way my characters look. Granted, some from Boon, so that doesn't count, but some from other people, too.
And of course, my account is being shared by Vialora, who has a thing for vivid purple and green -- which kind of hurts the eyes. I think his power is to be so blindingly clashing that people can't see him out of self-preservation.
So, because I think my characters look cool...
Gaia, Sibuna, Nightdream and Blue Lace -- okay, that last one isn't cool as much as just... what can I say, I was having fun. :)
You may need to refresh the page if it shows N/A for character picture.
So... that's where I've been. I'm back on WoW part time, leveling my disc priest, and probably going to be playing more of my resto shaman than my retardadin. And maybe my warlock.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
A Keiji in Naxxramas
I know that previously I had taken Keiji into Naxx with a PuG. But this time it was different... this time, it was a guild run.
Two days. All bosses. Only trouble was KT (and Heigan, but then again, when isn't there trouble with Heigan? We still one shot the Dance Master.), where we had some issues with positioning and tank death. But we persevered and down he went.
I finally got a shoulder upgrade (woot for tier!) and some nifty boots.
Unholy tanking... still a problem with the Bone Shield, the cooldown being a smidge too long for comfort. Perhaps they should offer a glyph that reduces the cooldown on it?
But otherwise, I believe I did well. It helps that we had some awesome healers and awesome DPS. But I am happy. I finally got Keiji through Naxxramas (10).
Next step... ULDUAR! (I jest, I jest!)
Two days. All bosses. Only trouble was KT (and Heigan, but then again, when isn't there trouble with Heigan? We still one shot the Dance Master.), where we had some issues with positioning and tank death. But we persevered and down he went.
I finally got a shoulder upgrade (woot for tier!) and some nifty boots.
Unholy tanking... still a problem with the Bone Shield, the cooldown being a smidge too long for comfort. Perhaps they should offer a glyph that reduces the cooldown on it?
But otherwise, I believe I did well. It helps that we had some awesome healers and awesome DPS. But I am happy. I finally got Keiji through Naxxramas (10).
Next step... ULDUAR! (I jest, I jest!)
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Mimiron is a PITA
I was on vacation to New York for a little while there, which doesn't completely explain the lack of blogging, but it does explain some of the lack of blogging! It's hard to blog about a game you can't actually play, especially given that much of my blog inspiration comes from in-game issues.
Our 10-man Ulduar progression team is stuck on Mimiron. We finally made it past phase 3, which has been the sticking point for us for a while now, and then had half the raid wipe in phase 4 because they didn't see the red runes of death beneath them. After that, we couldn't get past phase 3 again.
I don't get the whole clumping up thing, to me that seems like you're just asking to have your entire raid wiped out in one second. I get the whole 'need to be together to prevent the boss from bugging out during laser barrage', but can't we clump up when that starts?
The 'nice' thing is that our allied guild that we do 25 man runs with is also stuck on Mimiron.
Is it wrong to be glad that our allies are also stumbling? Or just normal? :) I'm not CHEERING that they're not progressing, but at the same time, I'm also glad that they aren't beating us out!
And in other news, MRSA is in da house! Albeit, this is not a cheer thing, as much as a 'you've got to be kidding me' thing. Black clouds, people, black clouds!
Our 10-man Ulduar progression team is stuck on Mimiron. We finally made it past phase 3, which has been the sticking point for us for a while now, and then had half the raid wipe in phase 4 because they didn't see the red runes of death beneath them. After that, we couldn't get past phase 3 again.
I don't get the whole clumping up thing, to me that seems like you're just asking to have your entire raid wiped out in one second. I get the whole 'need to be together to prevent the boss from bugging out during laser barrage', but can't we clump up when that starts?
The 'nice' thing is that our allied guild that we do 25 man runs with is also stuck on Mimiron.
Is it wrong to be glad that our allies are also stumbling? Or just normal? :) I'm not CHEERING that they're not progressing, but at the same time, I'm also glad that they aren't beating us out!
And in other news, MRSA is in da house! Albeit, this is not a cheer thing, as much as a 'you've got to be kidding me' thing. Black clouds, people, black clouds!
Friday, July 24, 2009
PvP: Failures in Teamwork
There are lots of different strategies for the various battlegrounds that we have in World of Warcraft, from the old favorites of Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley, to the newer ones of Eye of the Storm, Strand of the Ancients and Wintergrasp, to the new one on the horizon.
One of the common factors in whether or not your side wins, besides when one runs afoul of a premade, is when a team works together as a cohesive unit, even if you don't win, you do far far better than when everyone is soloing.
This is something that the Horde in the Rampage Battlegroup seem to be able to do, regardless of it is a PuG or not.
Be it because they actually DISCUSS things before hand (blasphemy, I know), or be it that they realize that four rogues working together will own just about anything that comes their way (oh God, that WSG game SUCKED.), or that a disc priest, paladin combination is nearly impossible to beat and therefor they can do whatever the hell they want... be it what it may, the Horde have mad leet communication skills and the Alliance do not. Which always seems backwards to me, given the names involved.
Those few times when you do have a leader attempting to actually lead, it's like trying to herd kittens through a field of butterflies. They either ignore you, or ignore you, or bat at your heels while purring. Or viciously attack in badly written English.
Or if/when the attack plan doesn't go as intended, they start to bitch and moan and complain, rather than help modify the plan to fix what was wrong, or deal with the unexpected. Because this helps everything.
Simple things... "Need healers on FC", "FC coming up West", "EFC going down East", "Don't go Tunnel", "Go Ramp", "Inc. BS", "Inc. TP", "I'm tank, going in on Drek"... can be the difference between success and failure... and often are. Yet people do not do this. They rush in, or solo defend, or solo run the flag, or solo try to get the flag back, and then whey they die, or fail, they blame everyone else for sucking.
Monday, July 6, 2009
PvP: The Beginning
Back in the old days of yore and bygones and in a galaxy far, far away... I swore I'd never PvP.
However, I am a) a woman and 2) a warlock. I can do whatever the hell I want.
So I've started to PvP. As you may (or may not) have read, I started with Kvasira (technically my current "main") the RetLoL way back at level 70.
I can't say I got BORED with PvPing with Kvasira, but I'm a goal-oriented person for the most part. It can be something as simple as: 'beating X boss' for the umpteenth time, but I need an end-goal.
For Kvasira, it was hitting 10k HK's. I did that. And then I said, 'Next one is 25k? Screw that.'. I worked my tush off, got her outfitted with over 800 resilience, she's a walking juggernaut of death! (Okay, not quite, but I do well considering I still don't use keybindings.) But I do NOT have the patience to grind away to 25k HK's.
I realized that my place as a retribution paladin is assist. I run with the fc, I get back the flag from the efc. Sometimes I run the flag. I guard bases or help assault them. I burn towers and laugh. I serve as a bad backup healer but possibly the only thing standing between tank death on Galv and winning. I soak up damage by NPC's so someone else can cap the graveyard.
In short, I make myself as annoying to the Horde as Humanly (or Draenicly) possible.
But I digress! (As I'm allowed to do. My blog, remember?)
So I switched my focus to Karika the Resto Shaman. I sat there all the time with Kvasira and said to myself, 'OMFG, Trees, Resto Shaman, Disc Priest, Holy Paladin... I HATE YOU'. So I decided to go at it from the other side. I'd try to BE the person that those other people hated (even more than my 'screw up their plan' paladin self).
It stunk at first, no resil gear besides the crafted rings and necklace. I'd land in a battleground and announce to my raid: "I'm a resto shaman in PvE gear. Please don't leave me alone and I'll heal you."
It garnered a few laughs, but it worked. For the most part, I was able to live long enough to accomplish something. Heal the flag carrier, whatever.
Of course, once the Horde realized that they had 1) a resto shaman that had b) bad pvp gear, it was open season on Karika.
The Horde are VERY good at focus firing people. I hate it when it happens to me.
However, I'm now at somewhere around 400 resilience with Karika, I can live longer. I do live longer. I can sometimes hear them grinding their teeth as they work at killing me. I'm still working on ways to do stuff besides heal myself over and over again when someone is hitting me. It's still just a waiting game otherwise: I heal myself until help arrives, if help doesn't arrive, it may take three minutes or whatever, but eventually I'll die.
Now... what's the point of this? Just K babbling again, right?
WRONG.
I'm in these battlegrounds, battlegrounds that have been out for YEARS, and watching people do the silliest things.
It seems people have either 9) forgotten the basic strategies for the various BG's or z) are new to the game and thus do not KNOW the strategies that the rest of us take for granted.
There are MANY guides out there, (some of them good! Like The Art of War(craft)). (And if I had any ability with the internet at all, I'd link his articles. As it is, this is the best I can do. The Warlock's Den also has a nice page devoted to beginning PvP.)
And of course, my favorite place is WoWWiki for all my unofficial needs.
However, you guys all know me. I'm never content just linking and letting that be enough. I've got to rant, rave and give my take on the whole PvP/Battleground scenario.
Besides 'The Alliance has the coordination and tactics of a group of kittens in a field of butterflies' that is...
And isn't that a pretty visual. :)
However, I am a) a woman and 2) a warlock. I can do whatever the hell I want.
So I've started to PvP. As you may (or may not) have read, I started with Kvasira (technically my current "main") the RetLoL way back at level 70.
I can't say I got BORED with PvPing with Kvasira, but I'm a goal-oriented person for the most part. It can be something as simple as: 'beating X boss' for the umpteenth time, but I need an end-goal.
For Kvasira, it was hitting 10k HK's. I did that. And then I said, 'Next one is 25k? Screw that.'. I worked my tush off, got her outfitted with over 800 resilience, she's a walking juggernaut of death! (Okay, not quite, but I do well considering I still don't use keybindings.) But I do NOT have the patience to grind away to 25k HK's.
I realized that my place as a retribution paladin is assist. I run with the fc, I get back the flag from the efc. Sometimes I run the flag. I guard bases or help assault them. I burn towers and laugh. I serve as a bad backup healer but possibly the only thing standing between tank death on Galv and winning. I soak up damage by NPC's so someone else can cap the graveyard.
In short, I make myself as annoying to the Horde as Humanly (or Draenicly) possible.
But I digress! (As I'm allowed to do. My blog, remember?)
So I switched my focus to Karika the Resto Shaman. I sat there all the time with Kvasira and said to myself, 'OMFG, Trees, Resto Shaman, Disc Priest, Holy Paladin... I HATE YOU'. So I decided to go at it from the other side. I'd try to BE the person that those other people hated (even more than my 'screw up their plan' paladin self).
It stunk at first, no resil gear besides the crafted rings and necklace. I'd land in a battleground and announce to my raid: "I'm a resto shaman in PvE gear. Please don't leave me alone and I'll heal you."
It garnered a few laughs, but it worked. For the most part, I was able to live long enough to accomplish something. Heal the flag carrier, whatever.
Of course, once the Horde realized that they had 1) a resto shaman that had b) bad pvp gear, it was open season on Karika.
The Horde are VERY good at focus firing people. I hate it when it happens to me.
However, I'm now at somewhere around 400 resilience with Karika, I can live longer. I do live longer. I can sometimes hear them grinding their teeth as they work at killing me. I'm still working on ways to do stuff besides heal myself over and over again when someone is hitting me. It's still just a waiting game otherwise: I heal myself until help arrives, if help doesn't arrive, it may take three minutes or whatever, but eventually I'll die.
Now... what's the point of this? Just K babbling again, right?
WRONG.
I'm in these battlegrounds, battlegrounds that have been out for YEARS, and watching people do the silliest things.
It seems people have either 9) forgotten the basic strategies for the various BG's or z) are new to the game and thus do not KNOW the strategies that the rest of us take for granted.
There are MANY guides out there, (some of them good! Like The Art of War(craft)). (And if I had any ability with the internet at all, I'd link his articles. As it is, this is the best I can do. The Warlock's Den also has a nice page devoted to beginning PvP.)
And of course, my favorite place is WoWWiki for all my unofficial needs.
However, you guys all know me. I'm never content just linking and letting that be enough. I've got to rant, rave and give my take on the whole PvP/Battleground scenario.
Besides 'The Alliance has the coordination and tactics of a group of kittens in a field of butterflies' that is...
And isn't that a pretty visual. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
