Posts Tagged ‘raid

29
Jan
10

The Dangers of Recount

I know, I KNOW, I said I was going to do posts Mondays and Thursdays.  And today is Friday.  Sue me- I had stuff to do yesterday tha involved pulling a 12 hour shift at work.  Whatever.  Time for a post!

Ok, who here is familiar with Recount?  -waits for the raised hands-  Good.  That should be most of you.  For those of you not in ‘the know’, Recount is an Add- On that shows DPS/ Damage Done/ HPS/ Healing done/ etc.  It is an excellent tool for raid/ class/ healing leaders. 

AMG LOOK AT MAH DEEPS THEYRE SO LEET

The image above is the pic that everyone normally sees.  However, there are dangers associated with this view- both the DPS and HPS versions.  The first thing to rememeber when staring your Recount window in the face is that Recount is rarely- if ever- completely accurate.  There are going to be things affecting your numbers that you can’t account for or have any control over- buffs and debuffs, who’s alive, who’s dead, what cooldows you’ve blow, etc.  Recount is NEVER EVER going to be a 100% accurate representation of your Heals per Second.  All this format can really be used as is as a guideline- it lets you compare yourself to the other healers of your class, and should give you a very masic idea of what you need to work on.  Take myself, for example- I’m usually one of 3 trees in the raid.  I’ve been either 2nd or 3rd overall- but that is because my two Tree comrades are in at least 2pc T10, while I’m still rocking 4 pc T9.  I also have some gems that can stand to be replaced.  Do I let myself get discouraged because I’m not #1?  No way.  Negali and Ellestrela are amazing Trees, and awesome friends.  BUT looking at the Healing Done window of Recount shows me that its not skill, but gear, that’s holding me back- because I’m doing as much HPS as they are, but not as much overall Healing.  There is absolutely no reason for you to take Recount at face value- definitly don’t let it discourage you.  Recount is a tool to help you improve.   Figure out what you need to change, and change it. 

So you can tell that guy in your guild who constantly links the meters that, in actuality, his DPS sucks, his e-peen strokage is lame, and he just needs to move on with his life.

Now, when dealing with Recount, you want to look at this window:

What is this I don't even-

Now, would ya look at that… a comprehensive breakdown of where all of your damage and healing is coming from, and how that damage/ healing is being dealt.  This is what you want to look at- this will tell you if someone is not doing what they’re supposed to be doing.  Just click on your name, and this will pop up.  This is the window of Recount you should really be giving a good once- over.  It is the one that tells you what spells you’re using, how often you’re using them, and what they’re doing in comparison to all of the other spells you’re using in an easy to read pair of pie chart format.  The first pie chart shows the spells/abilities you’re using and how much healing/ damage they’re doing in comparison to each other.  The second shows what those spells/ abilities are doing- ticking (if applicable), plain hits, and crits.

Druids, for raid healing, your most used spells should be: Wild Growth, Rejuv, and Nourish (the last 2 can be switched around, it depends on you.)  Swiftmend can also be up there.  I, as a Druid Healer, should NEVER SEE Regrowth, Lifebloom, or Healing Touch in the top 3 spells AT ALL.  I rarely use those spells, unless I happen to have picked up a Tank to heal (*waves at Thazz, Banderas, and Aurelius*  LOVE YOU GUYS!)  Even then, those 3 spells have a hard time getting into the top 3- there is no reason, as a Tree!Druid, that you should ever not cast Wild Growth and Lifebloom- its just criminal if you don’t. 

Discopriests!  You should NEVER look at the Healing Done section of Recount.  Go here!  Kivuli, the Troll Priest of Bubble Flinging Awesome, wrote a wonderful Discopriest Guide to Recount that you guys should use.

That’s it for now!  Happy Friday, Happy Weekend, and stay angry, Healers!

~Pyo

09
Dec
09

Inside Icecrown Citadel

Well, the 10 man version, at least.

Last night, my guild (The Grim Covenant, The Venture Co US/RP-PvP) ventured forth to do battle with the minions of the Lich King inside his frozen citadel.  Now, mind you, we didn’t get very far- we started kinda late, and we did not have the comp to get farther than we did- but we did some fairly impressive damage, all things considered.

Let me just say I so called this.

First off: MINIPET.  Get an authenticator if you don’t have one- I mean, if you didn’t have one before, for security reasons (which you should have), ask for one for Christmas!  Because you get a pet if you have one!

Awwww... he wants to play! (and maybe scorch your face off, I'm not really sure...)

ANYWAYS.

We did start out in the Heroic 5 mans, going from instance to instance.  We got stalled in the Halls of Reflection (undoubtedly the instance everyone will HATE- stupid waves of ghosts and exploding hallucinations- but our unholy tank and a retadin were scheduled to do 10 man ICC, since we were holding off on 25 man until tonight.  Group breaks up, I start heading to the Tournament grounds.  Cue me getting an invite to heal- the 10 man ICC group.  -grin-  ‘Hey, Aanthe, we need you to heal for us, kthx.’

No problem, guys.

Now, first, I just want to say, this isn’t going to be a boss strat post- its going to be random lorebased squeeing (WITH SPOILERS!  Consider this your SPOILER ALERT!) and screenies of the bosses we saw- 3 of whom we beat, one of whom we oneshotted, and the last we didn’t have the comp (or the time) for.

You get inside, and the Ashen Verdict (a combination of the Knights of the Ebon Blade and the Argent Crusade- they’re like the Violet Eye/ the Ashtongue Deathsworn/ The SCale of the Sands- you gain rep with them by doing the raid, and you get a ring that upgrades with each rep increase) has set up a perimeter just inside the door.  Highlord Tiring fordring is in there (with some shinily impressive armor) with Highlord Darion Mograine (with his ugly new weapon- well, I don’t like it.)  There is some talking going on- Arthas threatens us, we threaten him- the usual.  Then suddenly, Arthas remarks offhandedly about how taxing it is to break a certain person… the atrocities he’s committed upon his soul.

Alliance types, you might want to sit down.

The Battle of Icecrown Citadel has begun- the prize is the life of Highlord Bolvar Fordragon, whom Arthas has at the top of the Citadel.  And, for all you RPers out there… screaming is ok. 

I’m done torturing you now.  Onto the screenies!

The Ambassador of the Green Dragonflight is all 'LOL.'

Yeah, my Emerald Whelpling (that took me 12 HOURS TO FARM this past weekend) wanted to nom on Marrowgar.  Call it a cameo appearance or whatnot.

I finally get to see a femme!lich, and she's just as ugly as the rest of 'em.

Lady Deathwhisper, female lich with a really annoying voice actor.  Its true, just wait and see.  And for this next shot, I just want to say, I totally called this, but I really do hate it when I’m right.  I didn’t play on the PTR, nor did I really do and looking on any websites for bosses, so… yeah…

Now, what you’re not seeing here is ANYTHING from the Skybreaker fight- because, seriously, I don’t want to ruin that for you.  Its fun.  Just watch out- you can jump off of the ship.  And die.  Splat.

O_o Dammit, I hate it when I'm right, sometimes...

/cry The Hordie in me died a little when I saw this.  Poor Saurfang…

That’s all for now!  Tonight, we venture into ICC on 25 normal.  Happy raiding, and stay angry, healers!

~Pyo




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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