Archive for the 'World of Warcraft' Category

01
Dec
10

Hunters: Don’t Be Like This

By Pyo 5 Comments
Categories: World of Warcraft
Tags: , , ,

Really, that is the best title for this post.

Greetings and Salutations, all!  I hope Thanksgiving found everybody at home with family, stuffing yourselves dumb, like I did.  As you contemplate the mountains of leftovers in your fridge and squeeble over the soon- to- be release of Cataclysm, let’s talk about something near and dear to my heart.

Hunters.

Yes.  I AM A HUNTER AT HEART.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE druids.  LOVE.  But my DPS class of choice is- and always will be- a Hunter.  I will, in fact, be rolling a Worgen Hunter next week- Sethserra.  And one of the things that always pisses me off about Hunters is this- the sheer amount of Huntards out there.  Hunters are, indeed, one of the easiest classes to play.  But it takes something special to be a GOOD Hunter.  I was a good Hunter.  I raided TBC as a BM Hunter.  I know, I know, all I had to to was keybind Steady Shot to my mousewheel and weave it between Auto Shots to get top DPS, but that’s not what made me a good Hunter.  And, frankly, the overabundance of Huntards I see is disheartening.  Huntards are a plague on WoW society- they make us grind our teeth when they don’t take Growl off (unless the Tank can’t tank), or when they complain that us healers should be healing their pets (you have Mend Pet, don’t you?  USE IT.) or when they frontload enough DPS to pull aggro off of a pro!tank… and then whine when they die.  Something needs to be said to stem the flow of Huntards.  So, here it is!  This is for you, pro!Hunters who are sick of having your good reps destroyed by these noobs, and you, new WoWers who want to play a Hunter.

The Classic Hunter

Hunters:  Don’t Be Like This

1.  Don’t complain about your Resource. For fucking serious.  Focus is AWESOME in a bucket.  It beats the shit out of having Mana.  I am sick to death of listening to Huntards complain that ‘Focus doesn’t work.’  It DOES work, you just have to learn how to use it.  Know what abilities generate Focus, which ones use it, and which ones have no cost.

2.  Put your damn pet on Passive in instances.  Really, this is something you should be doing anyways.  Your pet should be under your control.  The best way to do that is to command it to attack when you do, that way it always attacks your target (which should be the tank’s target) instead of running around attacking everything else.  And under no circumstances should your pet ever be on Aggressive.  The only possible exception to this should be when you’re trying to find that sneaky ass rogue who keeps ganking you or during a duel.

3.  Always be aware of your pet’s location.  This will prevent a lot of heartache- and wipes- in instances.  Pet management is key to being a good hunter- know where they are and what they’re doing at all times, so they don’t pull a group of mobs you’re not ready for.

4.  Turn Growl off.  There is no reason you should have Growl on during an instance.  The exception?  If you’re saving the healer’s life by having your pet pull aggro off of them.  That’s the ONLY time you should have Growl on in an instance.

5.  Don’t forget about Traps! You’re Traps are great CC, especially since they now can be delivered via a shot.  Just don’t forget about ‘em once they’re set.  Remember their duration, and remember to refresh them if necessary.  Also… don’t break your own CC.  That should go without saying, but… I’m saying it.  With how important CC is going to be in Cataclysm, you can’t afford to fuck up like that.

6.  Learn/ remember how to kite properly.  I know, I know!  Its been a long time since the days when we had to kite General Drakkisath  in UBRS, but you will NEED to dust off (or gain completely) those kiting skillz.  According to rumor, there is going to be a boss in Cata that will have a mob that will need to be kited the entire fight, so get ready.

I know, I know… I usually do this in groups of 10, but I think I’ve covered just about everything.  Come back later on for an Introduce an Alt post before Cata’s release.  Until then, stay angry, healers!

~Pyo

 

02
Nov
10

Talent Trees and Spellz and Skillz… Oh My!

By Pyo 2 Comments
Categories: angry healers, Cataclysm, druid, Healing and World of Warcraft
Tags: ,

And Happy Tuesday, healers!

Now... to move Tuesday next to Friday...

First off, I’d like to put a call out there to all WoW related blogs!  I’ve cleaned house recently, if you couldn’t tell, and removed all of the inactive blogs from the blogroll.  If you own a WoW blog- healer related or not- tell me!  You can either leave a comment here, or send me an email at sightlessone@gmail.com.  NEED MOAR BLOGZ!

Also, if you’d like an opportunity to guest post here, let me know!  The post doesn’t have to be about druids.  Or healing.  But snark is a MUST.

That email address again is sightlessone@gmail.com.  DOO EET!

Ok, now that I’m done with that… onto the post.  I know every druid that has a blog has done a ‘Healing post- 4.0′ post.  This isn’t going to be exactly that.  This is going to be more along the lines of me either squeeing, contemplating, or yelling WTF.  Because there is some serious WTFery going on.  Now, without further ado…

Talent Tree Focus:  Restoration Druid!

For the record, I always list references.  For this post, I parused MMO-Champion for the actual spell list; Treebark Jacket and Dreambound Druid , both of which are blogs I’ve favored for some time; and some stuff from Revive and Rejuvenate, Restokin, Falling Leaves and Wings, Rustled Leaves, and Cannot Be Tamed, which are all recent additions and addictions. So thank you all for being smart so I can sit here and be snarky and entertaining.  (Yes, I know, I’m smart… but I like to give credit where credit is due.)

ONTO THE POAST!

Fist off, lets look at the new stoof we’re getting.

  • Gift of Nature (Passive) – Healing increased by 25%.- Ok.  Me likie.  This is, undoubtedly, the bonus healing we’re getting to offset the fact that Tree of Life form is on a CD now.
  • Meditation (Passive) – Allows 50% of your mana regeneration from Spirit to continue while in combat.- Now we’re talking.  I’ll actually need to see how this plays out this weekend, when I get some time to play, but mana regen = win, IMO.
  • Symbiosis (Mastery) – Increases the potency of your healing spells by 10% on targets already affected by one of your heal over time spells. Each point of Mastery increases heal potency by an additional 1.25%.-  HELLO BABY WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!  This plays right into my healing style- layering HoTs- and appears to be the niche Resto!Druids are going to be filling.  I suddenly feel justified about all of the choices I made as a raiding Treekin.

Ok, how about we look at some Skills?  Lets see what’s been revamped, what’s great, and what sucks.

  • Nourish now costs 10% of base mana, down from 18% of base mana. Cast time increased from 1.5 sec to 3 sec. Now heals for 2153 to 2502, up from 1883 to 2187.-  And here we go… W.T.F. Blizz?  3 second cast?  Where in the hell is that going to be useful?  You do remember all of the complaints we had about Healing Touch and its ridonkulous cast time, right?  You didn’t even increase the heal all that much.  Decreasing the mana cost by 8% doesn’t change the fact that you BORKED this spell.  I understand, this is supposed to be used with Nature’s Bounty and Empowered Touch, but seriously, unless you plan on throwing us nothing but a bunch of fights where you have to stand still throughout the entire encounter (boring!), I can’t see this- or Healing Touch- being used.  Thank you for breaking one of my favorite spells.
  • Lifebloom now costs 7% of base mana, down from 28%. Now heals the target for 2045 over 10 sec, up from 371 over 7 sec. Lifebloom can be active only on one target at a time. ( Tree of Life : Can be cast on unlimited targets. )- OK.  This is more like it, Blizz!  The ridiculous mana cost it had before wasn’t worth its low heal factor.  Not only did you reduce the mana cost to a quarter of its former value, you jumped the healing by 82% and increased its duration.  This is the shit I like to see from you, Blizz!
  • Tranquility now costs 32% of base mana, down from 70% of base mana. Reworked – Now heals 5 nearby lowest health party or raid targets within 40 yards with Tranquility every 2 sec for 8 sec. Tranquility heals for 3478.7 plus an additional 307.65 every 2 sec over 8 sec. Stacks up to 3 times. The Druid must channel to maintain the spell.- And, finally, this spell has a place in Druid Healing again!  I’ve been waiting a long time for this spell to make a comeback, and I’m glad it has.  Spell prioritization of lower health allies is nice, even if it does make healing just a bit easier.
  • Rebirth now resurrects with 20% health and mana. No longer costs mana. Range increased from 30 yards to 40 yards. Cooldown increased from 10 min to 30 min.- See, now I know druids who are going to be mad that you increased the CD back up to 30 minutes.  But I’m not one of them.  Removing the mana cost and upping the rezzed one’s health and mana totals, especially if you’re going to allow us to keep the Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth, was a good idea.  Yummy.
  • Regrowth now heals 3030 to 3383 and another 970 over 6 sec, up from 2234 to 2494 and another 2345 over 21 sec. Now costs 35% of base mana, up from 29% of base mana. Cast time reduced to 1.5 sec, down from 2 sec. ( Tree of Life : Instant cast. )- Not really much I can say here but BOOYAH INSTANT CAST IN TREE OF LIFE FORM.  I will abuse this spell as a Tree.  Watch me.
  • Rejuvenation now heals for 1171 every 3 sec for 12 sec. Up from 1690 over 15 sec. Cost increased to 20% of base mana, up from 18% of base mana.- Ah, my staple spell, my beloved Favorite HoT, you just keep getting better. I’ll take the 2% base mana cost increase for the 2,994 extra healing you now give.  -love-
  • Healing Touch now heal for 6461 to 7630, up from 3750 to 4428. Cost increased to 38% of base mana, up from 17% of base mana. Cast time increased to 3 sec, up from 1.5 sec.- STILL NOT USING IT, BLIZZ.  I can’t see me using it, especially now that it costs 38% base mana.  Fuck.  That.
  • Mark of the Wild now increases the friendly target’s Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intellect by 5%, and all magical resistances by [ ( Level 1-70 : (Level/2) / Level 71-80 : (Level/2 + 0.714 * (Level - 70)) / Level 81 or above : (Level + 2.5 * (Level - 70) + 3.5 * (Level - 80)) ) - 3.5 ], for 1 hr. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected.- Um.  Still the worst buff in the game.

Ok, OK.  Moving on- Talents and Talent Changes!  We’ll look at the changed Talents first, then the new ones.  Here, have a Talent Tree.

  • Wild Growth is now a Tier 5 talent, down from Tier 11. Cost increased from 23% of base mana to 27% of base mana. Cooldown increased from 6 sec to 10 sec. Now prioritizes healing most injured party members. Now heals for 2568.14 over 7 sec, up from 1442. ( Tree of Life : Affects an additional 2 targets. )- No complaints except for the increaded CD, which I assume is supposed to be offset by Tranquility being useful for the first time since vanilla WoW.  AoE heals look like they’re covered.
  • Gift of the Earthmother is now a Tier 6 and 3 Ranks talent, down from Tier 10 and 5 Ranks. Revamped – Increases the healing done when your Lifebloom expires by 5/10/15%, and causes your Rejuvenation spell to also instantly heal for 5/10/15% of the total periodic effect.- I like, I like!  Still need to determine if Lifebloom is going to be better if its allowed to fall off or not, but the bump to Rejuv is always nice.
  • Tree of Life is now a Tier 7 talent, down from Tier 9. Revamped – Shapeshift into the tree of life, increasing healing done by 15% and increasing your armor by 120%. In addition, some of your spells are temporarly enhanced while shapeshifted. Lasts 30 sec. Enhanced spells: Lifebloom, Wild Growth, Regrowth, Entangling Roots, Wrath- Still trying to figure out this whole ‘casting Wrath in ToL form’ thing out.  Is there a reason?  From my understanding, ToL is out new ‘OSHIT’ button.  If I pop it, why the hell would I be casting Wrath?
  • Natural Perfection is now a Tier 5 and 2 Ranks talent, down from Tier 7 and 3 Ranks. Renamed to Nature’s Ward and reworked – Whenever you take an attack while at or below 50% health, you have a 50/100% chance to automatically cast Rejuvenation on yourself with no mana cost.- I don’t care who you are, THIS IS NICE.  Much better than its predecessor version, as I could not only relish in constantly healing myself in BGs, this may actually have some PvE use- if I have an off day.  Either way, its an ass saver (like Resto!druids need any more help in that department AMIRITE?!)
  • Empowered Touch is now a Tier 4 talent, down from Tier 6. Reworked – Increases the healing done by your Healing Touch and Nourish spells by 5/10%, and your Nourish spell has a 50/100% chance to refresh the duration of your Lifebloom on targets.- This might have had some promise if you hadn’t TOTALLY SCREWED WITH NOURISH, BLIZZ.  Yeah… I look forward to being bitter about that until its fixed.
  • Nature’s Bounty is now a Tier 4 and 3 ranks spell, down from Tier 6 and 5 Ranks. No longer increases critical effect chance of Nourish. Now increases critical effect of Regrowth by 20/40/60% (Up from 5/10/15/20/25%). Also, you have a 33/66/100% chance when you critically heal with Healing Touch and Nourish to reduce the remaining cooldown of your Swiftmend spell by 0.5 sec.- I reiterate: not until they reduce the cast time of Nourish and Healing Touch.  I only want a second, Blizz!  Just take of 1 freaking second!
  • Improved Rejuvenation is now a Tier 2 talent, down from Tier 4. Now also affects Swiftmend.- Yay for affecting Swiftmend!
  • Naturalist is now a Tier 1 and 2 ranks talent, down from Tier 2 and 5 Ranks. Reduces the cast time of your Healing Touch and Nourish spells by 0.25/0.5 sec.- NOT ENOUGH BLIZZ.  Change it to .5 sec/ 1 sec and I’ll shut up about it.
  • Natural Shapeshifter is now a Tier 1 and 2 Ranks talent, down from Tier 2 and 3 Ranks. Reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifting by 10/20%. (Down from 10/20/30%)- Boo.  I liked the 30% reduction, but I’ll take 20%!

And for the New Talents…

  • Swift Rejuvenation – Reduces the global cooldown of your Rejuvenation by 0.25/0.5 sec.- Anything that reduces the GCD of mah Favorite HoT is good in my book.
  • Efflorescence – When you heal with your Swiftmend spell you also sprout a bed of healing flora underneath the target, healing all nearby friendly targets within 8 yards for 20/40/60% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec.- Again, I’m assuming this is another offset for WG being on a 10 second CD.  The graphics for it a pretty, even if it is liable to confuse the non- educated.
  • Malfurion’s Gift – Whenever you heal with your Lifebloom spell, you have a 2/4% chance to cause Omen of Clarity.- A Gift, indeed.  Thanks, Furion.  We’re glad you’re back, too, even if we can’t figure out how you and Tyrande manage to get anything done.

Get a room. No, seriously.

  • Fury of Stormrage – Reduces the mana cost of your Wrath spell by 50/100%, and when you deal damage with your Wrath spell you have a 6/12% chance to cause your next Starfire to be instant cast within 8 sec.- WHAT IS THIS I DONT EVEN.  Again with the casting of damage spells as Resto.  I don;t understand what you’re going for here, Blizz.  You implemented Dual Specs for a reason.  And then you made it a prereq for Malfurion’s Gift?  Seriously?
  • Blessing of the Grove – Increases the healing done by your Rejuvenation by 2/4% and the direct damage of your Moonfire by 3/6%.- Mmmmm Rejuv healing but… Moonfire?  At least its high enough in the Resto Tree for the Boomers to get it.

And, for the record, here’s what’s been removed:

Well, I hope this post has been entertaining and given people something to think about while they’re out there Treeing it up.  Once me solid playtime, I’ll be able to sit down and give a good Tree Healing Guide for those who may be looking for it.

That’s it, then!  Come back on Friday, when I’ll be discussing a topic very near and dear to my heart:  ‘If the DPS Dies, Its Their Own Damn Fault:  When This Is and Isn’t the Case.’  Until then though, cheers, and stay angry, healers!

GARROSH IS STILL A MORON!

ANGRY!

~Pyo

24
Aug
10

Special Post: Cataclysm Beta!

By Pyo 1 Comment
Categories: druid, Healing and World of Warcraft

I GOT INVITED TO THE BETA!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

So… posts inc.!

04
Feb
10

Not So Bonus Post- Ensidia

By Pyo 2 Comments
Categories: World of Warcraft
Tags: , , , , ,

Ok, who here doesn’t know about the 72 hour ban Blizzard slapped on Ensidia this morning?

-looks around- 

Ok, now of those of you who have heard of it, who’s sick of hearing the arguments of  ‘Oh, they couldn’t have known it was going to bug out’?  Or what about the ’OMG THEY SO DID IT BANHAMMER THEIR ASSES’? 

-looks around again-

Angry Healers and all of you lovely others who may or may not give a damn about what goes on in this here blog, if you are sick and tired of hearing about Ensidia wherever you go today, RAISE YOUR HANDS!

-raises hand-

-looks for other raised hands-

Bottom line, folks- Blizzard is God on the servers.  Blizzard sees all and knows all (and if they don’t then they can find out pretty easily.)  If they saw exploitation, then they saw a damn exploitation.  Yeah, it was Ensidia.  WHO FUCKING CARES?  Would they care if it was your guild?  Hell no. 

Ensidia got banned.  Its not permanent.  They lost their world first kill of Arthas, their acheesements, and their loots.  End of story.  Can we drop it now?  Please?

13
Jan
10

Healer Vs. PuG: A Survival Guide

By Pyo 3 Comments
Categories: angry healers, Healing and World of Warcraft
Tags: , ,

Catchy title, eh? 

I thought this would be a good topic to cover, now that everyone is happily (or maybe, not so happily) fiddling around in the new, shiny, cross- realm LookingForGroup System.  I was gonna do some ICC25 bosses and strats, but frankly… it can wait.  (Go to Tankspot.com- they have the best strat vids, anyways.)

PuGs.  PuG, in case you didn’t know, stands for ‘Pick Up Group,’ which means that you are grouping with people you’ve never seen or heard of before with the intention of killing bosses in instances or, less often, raids.  Now, PuGs have a sinister, underlying negative tone to them- and with good reason.  How many times have you joined a PuG where The Tank couldn’t hold threat, resulting in your poor, squishie healer butt being pwned thoroughly by a group of mobs?  How about Those Huntards who don’t turn their pet’s Growl off, then bitch at you because ‘my pet died?’  Or the Mage Noobs that don’t check their DPS, pull threat from a decent tank, take a couple of whacks, then Ice Block to drop the aggro- which YOU, the squishy healer, promptly pick up?  Let’s not forget that hyperactive Warrior- Who- Is- Not- A- Tank that insists on pulling the mobs before the rest of the group is ready, or that Shadow Priest with the happy Psychic Scream finger.  And, of course- the shortening- flavored icing on this cake of fail- the ‘leetspeakin’ 12 year olds who are happily LOLing and calling you a  noob in /party, when they’re meleeing instead of spellcasting.

If your chat looks like this, you should probably run.

Gee, I haven’t seen all of these things, have I?  But there is hope!  You can survive a bad PuG!  All it takes is a little time and a lot of patience.

Pyoska’s Guide To Surviving PuGs as a Healer

The first thing you need to remember is this- it will, eventually be over, and all you have to do is what you do best.  This applies to you at every level, from lowbie instances to Heroic raids.

Things you should do to ensure you survive a PuG with most of your hair still on your head:

1.  Bring your ownrefreshments.  Seriously.  Go and spend the silver on a couple of stacks of level- appropriate water and food and put it somewhere on your action bars, for easy access.  If there is a mage in your party, and he/ she is willing to make you some food and water, then take the conjured stuff and use it first- save the stuff you spent your hard earned money on for later.  NEVER expect or demand that the mage make you refreshments- they will do it if they want to, and it will save you an argument.

2. Make sure your bags are empty.  It sucks having to destroy free money (grey loot items) because you ran out of room.   I don’t care if they’re crap- if its an item that can be sold, PICK IT UP.  You’ll thank me later.  And, while we’re on the subject of bags…

3.  Keep your bags organized.  Grey items always seem to clog up those random bag slots in an attempt to camoflage that shiny new piece of gear you just picked up, regardless of color, and you always lose that quest item or potion in the mounds of stuff you’ve gathered/ ferretted away in your travels.  Don’t be afraid to toss all of that Silk Cloth in your bank to use later for mass bandage crafting.  Toss that quest item in there, as well- its just eating up space that could be used for sellables.  And don’t let the big, bad price of extra bank slots scare you.  They are worth it!

4.  Make sure you have (if you want them) all quests available for the instance you are about to run.  And don’t be aftraid to share.  Everyone wants more experience, and sometimes, a clearly definable goal is the best way to get a PuG moving in the right direction.

5.  Make sure your gear is completely repaired.  Nothing is worse than having someone die and watching them go, ‘Oh, shit, my gear’s red, I need to repair lol can you guys summon me back?’  Don’t be that person.  Most people in PuGs HATE that person (but not as much as we hate the Huntard Who Forgot To Bring Enough Ammunition.  We REALLY HATE that guy.)

6.  Make sure your bars and hotkeys are set up for HEALING, not DPS.  This is especially true in those lower level instances, when you probably aren’t Resto or Holy- unless you’re into self- inflicted torture.  In which case, rock on.  Either way, when you are healing, your primary hotkeys (the ones your fingers hover over for mashing purposes) should be replaced with whatever heals you posses.  Better yet?  Get an addon to help- like Grid and Clique or Healbot- and only have it up if you are healing.

7. Expect a certain amount of stupidity from a PuG.  After all, we do need to consider Wizard’s First Rule when it comes to dealing with others, no matter what the situation.  Expect the worst, and you will be pleasently surprised if you get into a good group with good people, instead of disappointed with being stuck with the dredges of WoW society.

8. Do Your Job.  Yep.  That means heal to the best of your ability, doing whatever it takes to ensure it can’t be blamed on you.  I know, I know, that does mean you have to heal that moronic DPSer who just pulled threat.  I’m not saying keep him alive- but you should at least try.  The first time, anyways.  What kind of Angry Healer would I be if I told you to try more than once.  Clearly, if it happens more than once, its him, not you.  You can probably deal without his DPS, anyways. 

9.  Be Patient with the Newbs.  I said ‘newbs,’ not ‘noobs.’  There will be people in your PuGs who haven’t played WoW until very recently.  We will call them ‘newbs’, short for ‘new player who needs help learning how to be a good player’, NOT ‘noobs’, which is short for ‘fucking idiot who can’t play.’  Give the Newbs your assistance, especially if you’ve played their class at their level- trust me, your help now will mold them into better players you’ll actually want to play with later.  And who doesn’t want that?

10. Try to keep an open mind.  You’ll be dealing with lots of people from lots of places (even other countries!)  Those people have different ways of thinking and communicating that you might not be used to.  So if someone says something you find a little off, don’t go flying off the handle and TYPING IN CAPSLOCK to show how mad you are.  That doesn’t help anyone- capslock is NOT cruise control for cool.  Instead, calmly adress the person and ask them what they meant.  If they reply in kind, then its all good.  If they answer with, ‘LOL UR STUPID’, slap their ass on /ignore and continue on.  If they say something that’s obviously offensive, tell them to knock it off and don’t hesitate to report them.  After all, if they’re doing it in your PuG, they’re doing it in Trade, and General, and LookingForGroup, making asses of themselves and, undoubtedly, pissing all sorts of people off.  And while a 72 hour ban is unlikely to change their attitude, at least no one will have to deal with them during that time.

All this aside, know when you’ve had enough and don’t be afraid to tell a group of morons that they can jog on.  Have fun- isn’t that what playing a game is all about!

Well, thats it from me for now.  I hope this helps someone out.  Cheers, and stay angry, healers!

Obligatory Tree!Druid Shot.

~Pyo

07
Jan
10

Welcome Back! Here, Have a Prima Donna Tank and Healer Post!

By Pyo 20 Comments
Categories: angry healers and World of Warcraft
Tags: , , ,

I hope everyone’s holidays brought them everything they wanted, and then some.  Mine brought me friends from up north,  a faction swap of my priest back to the Horde to play with them, and a hangover (no, nothing as epic as The Hangover.)

But now, its time to get angry, healers.  And its time to show some appreciation.

Whilst parusing teh intarwebz this morning, I came across a post in a snark community (no, I’m not snarky, not at all… ) I frequently post in about ‘DPS being a dime a dozen’ and that ‘Healers and Tanks deserve loot drops more than DPS.’  What made this worst, perhaps, is that this was guest posted over at World of Matticus. 

Hooboy. 

Rage, incoming as  I step back from my favored role as a raid healer… and put on my ‘I was a successful DPSer’ robe and hat.  (Hunter, Boomkin, Shadow Priest, and Rogue GO GO GO!)

First off, guest poster, DPS are not a dime a dozen.  Them being a dime a dozen implies that they all do the same amount of DPS, no matter what their class, have no utility whatsoever, and are pretty much required to stand there and auto attack while the tanks and the healers do all the work. 

-ahem- No.  In the words of the XT-002 Deconstructor: ‘ no no No No NO NO NO NO NO.’  Seriously, dude, wth?  What do you mean the DPS are just ‘meat in the room’?  Who’s killing the boss?  Not the healer.  Not the tank (for the most part, though I do applaud Blizzard for giving you guys some DPS capabilities now.)  The Deeps. 

Who’s interrupting the brutal Frostbolts on Lady Deathwhisper?  Probably your kicking Rogues. 

Who’s interrupting the problematic Sentry Blast that could wipe your raid in Ulduar?  That’s probably a combination of your rogues, shaman, and warriors.

Who’s helping your Tank frontload asstons of threat?  That Hunter back there, with her Misdirection. 

 Who’s taking down the gangs of trash mobs that pull together?  That Shadow Priest using Mind Sear, that Mage using Blizzard, that Warlock using Rain of Fire, that Boomkin using Hurricane. 

No- NOT the Tank.  Or the Healer.  The DPS.  Their whole job is to slam the boss and mobs with enough damage to kill them.  There are fights in game that REQUIRE the DPS to have a minimum personal DPS of 7.5k.  Can a Tank do that?  No.  How about a healer?  Nope, not them, either.  Do you not remember fights like Reliquary of Souls in Black Temple, where abilities HAD to be interrupted?  Where if you didn’t have a Rogue kick rotation, you wiped?

Now, please keep in mind- this isn’t to say that there aren’t idiots amongst the DPS.  There are, and there are such a large number of people that play DPS that it seems that most of the idiots are concentrated there.  But I’ve run with some pretty fail tanks and healers, so I can say with confidence that its not just them.  And its not just being DPS that makes those special cases idiots.  Some people just aren’t very good.  But idiots are not limited to DPS.  Oh no.  You would be surprised at how often I get complimented on my healing in PuGs because some people just can’t get it.  And how often do I find myself beating my head off of my desk because the tank can’t hold threat?  I assure you, its fairly often, and the majority of the reason why I just don’t PuG anymore.

And its not just this- groups are a machine.  Everything needs to be there in order for it to work.  No heals?  Tank dies.  No Tank?  Everyone dies.  No DPS?  The healer runs out of mana before the tank gets a chance to get the mob down.  Raids are even more so, because everyone is expected to perform at a level much higher than expected in a 5 man instance, where- literally- failing to put out the proper amount of DPS or do any of the other utility abilities DPS classes possess can, and will, wipe the raid.

LEAVE THE DPS ALONE.  Sure, DPS are everywhere… but good DPS are just as hard to come across as good Tanks and Healers.  And I don’t say ‘good’ and mean ‘have really good TPS/DPS/HPS and thats it.’  I mean ‘have really good HPS/TPS/DPS, don’t stand in the fire, can dance with the best of them, and can smile after its all said an done.’

So, Mr. DPS- Are- Meat- In- The- Room… tell us again exactly why it is that you feel that Healers and Tanks do all of the work?  Sure, we’re underappreciated at times… but I think your post show how even the DPS can be taken for granted.  I stand by the outstanding DPSers in my guild, who attend my raids, and make my job easier.  Cheers to you folks who continue to prove posts like the one over at WoM wrong.

What a better way to start the year at Angry Healers than with an Angry Post!  =D

Stay angry, Healers!  Up next: Icecrown Citadel strategy posts!

13
Aug
09

Things the DPS Aren’t Allowed To Do Anymore

By ILikeBubbles 7 Comments
Categories: angry healers and World of Warcraft
Tags: , , ,

Things the DPS Aren’t Allowed To Do Anymore

  • Misdirect onto the priest/mage/other non-tank like person
  • …or ToT onto a non-tank like person
  • Throw trash items into the bank spelling out my name to irritate officer
  • …even if I am an officer
  • Stand in fire to see if the healers will really let me die (they will)
  • Hug mobs that whirlwind
  • Alt tab upon death and wait for a rez…then miss the first three, tab in, and ask for another
  • Announce my death despite the very obvious word DEAD across my box on every healer’s screen
  • Announce that I have X debuff that the healers have painstakingly set up their UIs to show
  • Panic and scream for heals
  • Otherwise blather nonsense on Vent I have been asked not to blather, thus drowning out actual important information that we didn’t already know
  • Post meters in /raid
  • Post meters in /say (it’s not magically less annoying)
  • Instantly blame the healers for every death

This list brought to you by stupid wipes in Ulduar.

28
Jul
09

Power Auras How To

By ILikeBubbles 1 Comment
Categories: World of Warcraft
Tags: ,

So you’ve got your addon and now you log on and type in /powah.  This is what you see:

Obviously we’re going to click on the “new” button here to get started.  I’d already done my healers and wanted to start off from scratch, so we’ll be doing some Angry Tank Power Auras…but you’ll get the idea.

To be completley honest: I don’t know what all this shit does yet.  This is just a basic tutorial.  The Texture bar there lets you pick between pretty pictures.  Opacity, size, and position bars should be pretty self explanitory. 

Turn your attention to the “Activation by:” dropdown menu there.  In this case, buffs is selected. 

Buff happens to be what I’m looking for, so I’ll leave it as is.  Now, type in the name of the buff you want it to look for.  In this case, it’s Sword and Board, and you can see that I’ve changed the picture to be a shield.  For something like that-a simple buff or proc I want an alert for-that’s really all I have to do! 

But let’s say you want it to show you when you have Serendipity x3.  See that Stacks box, right of the activation by menu?  You’d type 3 in there to get it to show up only when you had three stacks of Serendipity.  Neat!

Some important boxes to pay attention to there are “only if in combat”, “only if in raid”, etc, but those you should be able to figure out easily enough.

Now let’s say you’ve added everything you wanted-in my case, I’ve got 4 icons showing for various things.  You’ll see that although I’m “done” right this second, nothing but ?s are showing.  If I closed the power auras window right that second and started testing, nothing would work.  O noes!

That confused the hell out of me when I first started setting it up, but just give it a few.  Eventually, it’ll look like this:

Ta-da, it sorted itself out and now it’s showing the proper icons.  The only one with a ? is my aggro indicator, because aggro doesn’t have an icon.   Once it’s showing the icons, it should be working correctly.  If something seems borked, make sure you’ve typed the name correctly.

ETA: You can click the sound tab and add sounds to it for extra oomph!  I uh…I dunno what those other tabs really do, yet.  I’ll have to try for a Power Auras 102 post some day.

14
Jul
09

Addon Spotlight: Power Auras

By ILikeBubbles 1 Comment
Categories: Healing, priest and World of Warcraft
Tags:


Let’s face it, during any given raid, there’s too many boxes over in my little buffs section to look for silly little things like surge of light procs and serendipity stacks.  Power Auras gives me a nice little HEY THERE LOOKIE slap, however, which makes it a great mod for the easily  distracted!

Above you will see my sexy little priestess taking one for the team and going holy.  You’ll note two icons around her-the purple circle, and the white.  The white circle tells me that I have three stacks of serendipity up, and the purple is screaming “SURGE OF LIGHT PROC HOOOO!”. 

There are many, many icons you can chose from, and not all of them are the halo-esque type I favor.  If you peek over at Holy Dueg’s blog, you can see a few of the other icons Power Auras has to offer.   You can shift them around, change the colors, sizes, and the opacity…on top of all the other options, this is a really flexible mod.

Here’s my paladin sporting something a little more subtle, keeping me from Uber Tank Fail. 

Coming later: how the hell to use it!

25
Jun
09

The Art of Raid Explanations

By ILikeBubbles 3 Comments
Categories: World of Warcraft
Tags: , , ,

Everyone knows that normal raid explanations are boring.  They drone on and on, and very quickly everyone is just tuning out the RL and tabbing out to read 4chan/Post Secret/whatever. 

One of three things happen then:
-Everyone asks questions that were jsut answered 2 seconds ago.
-Everyone just smiles and nods, runs in, and stands in the fire.
-A good attempt is put in because everyone read the strats and watched videos beforehand anyway.

Mooooost of the time, it’s the first two. 

But I, Lyrandre, have mastered the art of the HILARIOUS AND YET INFORMATIVE strat telling!  Let me share with you my secrets, and then you too can deliver strats in a way that people will actually enjoy!

Tip One: Distill into Common or Silly Terms
First off, forgot the official terms for most shit.  If you tell your DPS to kill the Gifts of Eonar, they are going to ignore the green trees that spawn because really, who the hell expects a Gift of Eonar to look like the tree?  They’re probably looking for gift wrapped packages to spawn.  Tell them to get out of the Fire/Glowy Shit On Floor/Falling Snowflakes/Circles of Doom.  Tell them to kill the Really Tall Guy first and stay away from him because he Whirlwinds. They will know what you mean when they see it!  Do you really think that DPS pays attention to the name of the mob that just killed them because they didn’t realize THAT mob was the one that whirlwinded?  No, of course not, that’s why they die so much.  Just give them a quick, memorable description.

Tip Two: Divide into Categories
While it’s nice for everyone to be aware of each other’s roles, it’s…not going to happen.  Since there can be a lot of information to remember to start, split your explanation up.   Tell your healers that all they need to do is stay out of the Bad, cleanse the Really Bad,  and watch green bars, then move on to the DPS.  Etc, etc.  A standard line of mine usually delivered every run is, “Tanks, don’t die.”  That comforting phrase tells them it’s a tank and spank and they can go back to browsing porn after achieving a nice threat lead.

Tip Three: Throw in Jokes
Is there one person who you blame for everything even when they’re not in the raid?  One person who dies all the time?  Use running jokes to your advantage.   I also offer t o beat people with pillows or forget to heal them if they do X Thing Thing They Shouldn’t Do.   Don’t forget macros!  I have silly macros I like to spam for things like Thaddius, in case people forgot their left and right.

If you have people in your raid that are skeptical, let someone give the normal explanation and then interject your comments between (in raid, so that you don’t drown them out on vent).  You’ll still get your point across!  I provide for you an example of me doing just that on Hodir:

Follow these guidelines and my stellar example and you, too, can get your raid to pay some fucking attention!  It will lighten the mood for the wipes to come.

Love and shiny heals,
-ILikeBubbles

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The Angry Healers is a World of Warcraft blog dedicated to the underappreciated and often overlooked role of The Healer (c) from the perspective of a (mostly) angry Tree!Druid. Here will be discussed talents, gear, spells, specs, and other healing related topics, as well as snarks, rants and general grumpiness about my chosen role in WoWlife, and patchnotes, changes, nerfs/ buffs, and expansion myths and legends (and maybe even facts!)

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