Posts Tagged ‘Cataclysm

10
Dec
10

Pause For The Cause: A Quick Break From the Madness that is Cataclysm

By Pyo Leave a Comment
Categories: Cataclysm
Tags: , , ,

I don’t really need to say it, but I will- CATACLYSM WINS.

I race changed Aanthe to Worgen- and changed her name to Ellspeth.  So, that will explain the few changes I’ve made to this page a bit.  I’ll toss up a screenie of her soon.  She’s also hit 85 and is working on instances to get some leet healing gear.

Yeah, I think that sums up my week pretty well.

So, I gotta say, my favorite things about Cataclysm?  Uldum and the Harrison Jones movie- like questline; WORGEN; and the Visions of the Battle Maiden quest line Vashj’ir.

What about you?

-runs back off to jump back into WoW-

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

 

06
Aug
10

Sneek Peek: Druid Changes in Cataclysm!

By Pyo Leave a Comment
Categories: angry healers and druid
Tags: ,

Hello, Angry Healers!

You didn’t really think I’d abandoned you for good, did you?  Oh ye of little faith.

Me? Gone for good? Nah, I'm just being sneaky.

No, I am still here, and still alive, and I am still playing WoW, even if it is sporadically.  Sadly, I am still not in the Cataclysm beta (though I’m SUPPOSED to be in the Beta Club) so… we’ll see about that.

Until then, I’m just gonna have to go off of MMO Champion.  -shrug-  So bear with me as I bumble my way through some of the new, exciting or otherwise, changes Blizzard has in store for us Tree!Droos!

First off, we’ll start with the obvious: Tree of Life form.  Its the raid- comforting form- everybody loves a good Tree!  Tree of Life form is getting some HUGE changes made to it.

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

So.  YEAH.  5 minute cooldown.  Lasts 45 seconds.  Ladies and gentlemen, Trees of All Colors, they have decided that Resto needed to be the spec where you could see all of the pretty Druid armors.

RollingHots.com hit the nail on the head here.

Here’s what Blizzard had to say:

Tree of Life is changing from a passive talent to a cooldown-based talent, similar to Metamorphosis. Mechanically, it feels unfair for a druid to have to give up so much offense and utility in order to be just as good at healing as the other classes who are not asked to make that trade. We are exploring the exact benefit the druid gets from Tree of Life. It could strictly be better healing, or it could be that each heal behaves slightly different. You also will not be able to be banished in Tree of Life form (this will probably be true of Metamorphosis as well). Additionally, we would like to update the Tree of Life model so that it feels more exciting when you do decide to go into that form. Our feeling is that druids rarely actually get to show off their armor, so it would be nice to have at least one spec that looked like a night elf or tauren (and soon troll or worgen) for most of the time.

Ok, so… when I first heard about this I, quite literally, found the first thing in arms reach and threw it across the room in frustration.  Sure, tree!form has needed some updating, since Moo!Trees and Elf!Trees looked exactly the same.  But why- OH THE HUMANITY- did Blizzard decide that it was our favored form that needed to be put on the CD?

Ok, so I can see why not Feral.  I mean, frankly, who didn’t think this was funny?

Blizzard's modelling of certain things is just the bestest evar.

I suppose, on the upside, tree!form is supposed to be getting one helluva makeover.

Bigger is Better, after all.

And our healing is going to be boosted in ‘Look At My Armor Isn’t It Shiny?’ form, to be in line with what it used to be in Tree!form.  Which makes shifting into ToL form more of an ‘OH SHIT’ button than Nature’s Swiftness and Healing Touch used to be.  So… I reserve judgement on the new CD on ToL form until I’ve actually gotten a chance to mess around with it.  (You hear that, Blizz?  LET ME INTO THE BETA!)

Ok, how’s about we take a peek at the new Talent Tree?

Now, first off, in Cata, you’ll only be getting Talent points every other level- not that it should matter for most of you kids out there, since you’re almost all already 80.  But, its good to know.  Now, from what it looks like, they’ve pruned the ‘Why are you making me take this, Blizz?’ talents out of the tree, a la ‘Naturalist’, and added some stuff- things I’m kinda not so sure about.  It looks like, at least for druids (not sure about you other healy types) they’re trying to keep us from focusing on just healing by giving us talents that will entice us to- *gasp*- DO DAMAGE.

-facepalm-

Let’s look at some, eh?

Blessing of the Grove (2 ranks): Increases the healing done by your Rejuvenation by 4%, the direct damage of your Moonfire by 6% and the damage done by your Claw and Shred by 4%.

O_o?  Ok, Blizz, just what are you going for here?  This is a first tier Talent, and- clearly- not intended for use solely in the Tree! tree.  Or is it?

Furor (3 ranks):  Givess you 20% chance to gain 10 rage when you shapeshift into Bear or Dire Bear form, and you keep up to 20 energy when you shapeshift into Cat form. In addition your Intellect is increased by 2% while in Moonkin form.

I ask myself ‘Why?’ every time I see this in the Resto Tree.  I mean, seriosuly, it does NOTHING for Resto Druids, WHY IS IT STILL THERE, BLIZZARD?  For cryin’ out loud, remove it from our tree if your not going to make it at least somewhat useful for us.

Fury of Stormrage (2 ranks): You have a 10% chance when you cast Nourish or Healing Touch to cause your next Wrath spell to be instant cast and cast no mana. Fury of Stormrage lasts for 8 sec.

See, this is the first Talent I came across that gave me the idea that Blizzard did, in fact, intend for Resto!Druids to do some damage during encounters- and I do not think for a second this is supposed to be a PvP only thing.  I mean, we have enough to worry about normally with encounters with crazy, raid- wide damage- which I understand is also supposed to be changing?  Once again, I’m going to reserve judgement for when I actually get to see these Talents in speaction, but… I have my doubts about the whole situation.

However, this has piqued my healy interest in a good way.

Efflorescence (3 ranks): When you critically heal with your Regrowth spell you also spread a bead of healing flora underneath the target, healing all nearby friendly targets within 15 yards who stand on them for 30% of the amount healed by your Regrowth for 7 seconds.

I am intrigued!  Its not a new spell- we aren’t getting anymore, for some reason, Blizzard things we have enough.  HA!- but a new mechanic that looks like it could be a lot of fun to play with.  This, on top of HoTs benefiting innately from Haste and Crit, and Haste not speeding up the duration of the HoT, but ADDING ticks into the normal duration of the spell, is just awesome.

And, working hand in hand with the new Talent trees, Blizzard is introducing Mastery, which is associated with the Talent tree you choose at level 10.  The Resto Masteries include Healing and Meditiation, which are shared with Priests, Shammies, and Pallies, and HoT Scale Healing, which is Druid only.

HoTs will do increased healing on more wounded targets. The mechanic is similar to that of the Restoration shaman, but with HoTs instead of direct heals. In Cataclysm, we anticipate druids using a greater variety of their spells so there is a distinction between healing and HoT healing.

HA!  How’s that for a post after a loooong hiatus!  Well, folks, that’s all I have for now.  I plan on posting more regularly here again, as well as maintaining my posts over at Milady Geek.  Hope you folks are prepared for my insanity!

Have a great weekend, and stay angry, healers!

I'm back!

~Pyo,  who is BACK FROM HER INSANE SCHEDULE!!!!!!  -woot!-

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Ellspeth, the Angry Tree

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!)

Header art by Triggerman @ dA.

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