Well it looks like cross faction chat is now out of The Old Republic. I guess it was too much to hope for it being kept in especially after some interesting experiences I have had in WOW with people in PVP making characters specifically on your faction to start arguments over PVP.
Bit of a shame though as I know a lot of my friends want to try out both Imperial and Republic and it would have been nice to chat with them while we were playing different factions. I guess I was hoping the testers would have been a bit more mature and not start slating each other cross faction... Should have known better.
Never know though we could get something like real ID going forward maybe.
Zetter
Wednesday 17 August 2011
Wednesday 10 August 2011
Pre order is in!!
So as promised in my last post when it comes out I am likely to be quitting WOW for The Old Republic.
I opted for the middle ground on pre order by going for the digital deluxe edition. I couldn't really justify splashing out £150 for the collectors edition though I know a few people who have (well more to the point I think the Mrs would have killed me :)). I only hope BT get their finger out and get high speed broadband rolled out soon so I can get it downloaded in less than three days.
So far my plan is to roll a trooper though specialisation I have yet to decide Commando is appealing with its big guns but I must admit I don't want to get tied to healing this game so I may give vanguard a spin.
Lets hope a 2011 release date is still on target.
Zetter
I opted for the middle ground on pre order by going for the digital deluxe edition. I couldn't really justify splashing out £150 for the collectors edition though I know a few people who have (well more to the point I think the Mrs would have killed me :)). I only hope BT get their finger out and get high speed broadband rolled out soon so I can get it downloaded in less than three days.
So far my plan is to roll a trooper though specialisation I have yet to decide Commando is appealing with its big guns but I must admit I don't want to get tied to healing this game so I may give vanguard a spin.
Lets hope a 2011 release date is still on target.
Zetter
Monday 23 May 2011
Not with a bang but with a whisper
I guess there are not many people following the blog anymore except maybe some old guildies of mine but it seems a good a place to close as any. Anyone who still drops by has probably noticed I have not posted in quite a while.
To coin a phrase from Granny Weatherwax off the Discworld "I aint dead"
Basically I have had a lot going on at home and raiding in the Kingdom of Rust has effectively ceased. In an odd sort of way I expected it to all end in a big drama or everyone moving to a new game en mass. But like I guess a lot of guilds in Warcraft at the moment we didn't "rage against the dying of the light" but instead slipped slowly towards the end with key members of the raid team moving on to stuff like Rift or taking the summer off early. No one quit in a huff or disappeared without a word though which was nice.
I think at once several people who to be honest I have known through WOW and IRL for 4-5 years decided that the game had run its course for them and it was time to stop.
The great thing about 10 man raiding is you form nice tight knit raid teams and really get to know the people you are playing with. The downside is the loss of a few key players can turn a well geared progressing guild into a non event in very short order. In the space of a month or so we lost or are losing both our tanks, a healer(raid leader) and several heavy dps. This left us with the option of recruiting five plus people including both our tanks or calling it a day after several years.
Personally as the reluctant Guild Master I didn't have the heart or time to start it all over again and from the guildies remaining no one really felt we could recover as most of the people who left were friends in one way or another outside the game. So as of the end of this month Kingdom of Rust and probably my time raiding in WOW will come to an end.
I must admit in the time I have been raiding I have had a blast. From the first falter steps in Kara (Shade I still hate you!) all the way through to standing over the Lich Kings corpse it has been a great time with a lot of really nice people who I would not have known in any other way.
I have lots of fun memories of the heady days of killing Gruul (sometimes with the aid of shaky scanned diagrams when I was raid leading) through to the end of the story arc at the Frozen Throne.
Is it over for me in WOW as well? Well I dont know but I have found myself logging on less except for raids recently and I know I will be signing up for the Old Republic when it is launched as I am a Star Wars nut. So I wont be taking the blog down as there is a distinct possibility it will be revamped as my adventure in the Old Republic.
To anyone who reads this still thanks for taking the time to follow my musings over the past few years and to the Bloggers who I have followed over the years keep on writing as I have spent many happy hours following your adventure in Azeroth.
Finally to the guys and girls from Kingdom of Rust and before them Ascendo Tuum thanks for all the fun times both inside the game and outside it. If you ever get tempted by blasters and lightsabers you know where a few of us will be.
Zetter
To coin a phrase from Granny Weatherwax off the Discworld "I aint dead"
Basically I have had a lot going on at home and raiding in the Kingdom of Rust has effectively ceased. In an odd sort of way I expected it to all end in a big drama or everyone moving to a new game en mass. But like I guess a lot of guilds in Warcraft at the moment we didn't "rage against the dying of the light" but instead slipped slowly towards the end with key members of the raid team moving on to stuff like Rift or taking the summer off early. No one quit in a huff or disappeared without a word though which was nice.
I think at once several people who to be honest I have known through WOW and IRL for 4-5 years decided that the game had run its course for them and it was time to stop.
The great thing about 10 man raiding is you form nice tight knit raid teams and really get to know the people you are playing with. The downside is the loss of a few key players can turn a well geared progressing guild into a non event in very short order. In the space of a month or so we lost or are losing both our tanks, a healer(raid leader) and several heavy dps. This left us with the option of recruiting five plus people including both our tanks or calling it a day after several years.
Personally as the reluctant Guild Master I didn't have the heart or time to start it all over again and from the guildies remaining no one really felt we could recover as most of the people who left were friends in one way or another outside the game. So as of the end of this month Kingdom of Rust and probably my time raiding in WOW will come to an end.
I must admit in the time I have been raiding I have had a blast. From the first falter steps in Kara (Shade I still hate you!) all the way through to standing over the Lich Kings corpse it has been a great time with a lot of really nice people who I would not have known in any other way.
I have lots of fun memories of the heady days of killing Gruul (sometimes with the aid of shaky scanned diagrams when I was raid leading) through to the end of the story arc at the Frozen Throne.
Is it over for me in WOW as well? Well I dont know but I have found myself logging on less except for raids recently and I know I will be signing up for the Old Republic when it is launched as I am a Star Wars nut. So I wont be taking the blog down as there is a distinct possibility it will be revamped as my adventure in the Old Republic.
To anyone who reads this still thanks for taking the time to follow my musings over the past few years and to the Bloggers who I have followed over the years keep on writing as I have spent many happy hours following your adventure in Azeroth.
Finally to the guys and girls from Kingdom of Rust and before them Ascendo Tuum thanks for all the fun times both inside the game and outside it. If you ever get tempted by blasters and lightsabers you know where a few of us will be.
Zetter
Sunday 6 March 2011
Getting Older
Larisa over at http://www.pinkpigtailinn.com put up a moving post this week about leaving her guild and the happy ending of getting back with them. Also she linked an interesting post by Calli at http://pewpewlazerz.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/a-confession/ over getting older and not having reflexes like "rattlesnakes on crack" anymore which is a great line which tied in with some of the issues she had been having playing DPS in a progression guild.
I find myself in a similar position as I hit the big 40 this year and am now finding that my reflexes are not what they used to be, hard modes in games such as Call of Duty or Halo are a lot harder as I don't get that first shot off before some computer generated baddie filled me full of pixilated lead.
However in WOW I think I am luckier in a way as I play a healer. If you have read the blog in the run up to Cataclysm I was originally on the roster as a dps type (boomkin) but after various changes switched back to healing. Now I run a Boomkin offspec and have done some of the easier raids such as BH and consistently find myself mid to bottom on the dps meters. I think its because I just don't pick up the rotation quickly and don't react to procs as quickly either.
But healing now healing I rock at. I have been consistently been one of the top healers in the guild all the way through BC and Wrath. I can carry idiots through 5 man PUGs abet with a bit of sweat but most times unless they insist on pulling the whole room most people tend to walk out of an engagement alive (of course I lose the odd dps but hey don't stand in the fire for ages stoopid).
I have pondered why I am much better at healing than dps a bit recently and feel its because healing is slower paced but much more tactical. Generally during boss fights you are always planning ahead, especially as a druid as it takes time to run up HOT's and we don't have much in the way of tank saving specials like lay on hands. I find during fights I am planning using cooldowns for damage spikes, anticipating curses/ magic debuffs, planning Innvervates so I can get the best use out of them and watching timers for tank switches.
Hyper reflexes don't seem to help much with healing especially during Cataclysm as if tanks dip too low saving them is an uphill struggle with huge health pools. Also if you not pre planning for damage spikes or AOE raid damage generally its too late when you are not getting things in place before they happen.
So does anyone else find this they their reflexes are not what they were? Do you find the tactical pace of healing doesn't need hyper reflexes but the ability to plan ahead a few moves and keep your head when things go a bit wobbly?
Zetter
I find myself in a similar position as I hit the big 40 this year and am now finding that my reflexes are not what they used to be, hard modes in games such as Call of Duty or Halo are a lot harder as I don't get that first shot off before some computer generated baddie filled me full of pixilated lead.
However in WOW I think I am luckier in a way as I play a healer. If you have read the blog in the run up to Cataclysm I was originally on the roster as a dps type (boomkin) but after various changes switched back to healing. Now I run a Boomkin offspec and have done some of the easier raids such as BH and consistently find myself mid to bottom on the dps meters. I think its because I just don't pick up the rotation quickly and don't react to procs as quickly either.
But healing now healing I rock at. I have been consistently been one of the top healers in the guild all the way through BC and Wrath. I can carry idiots through 5 man PUGs abet with a bit of sweat but most times unless they insist on pulling the whole room most people tend to walk out of an engagement alive (of course I lose the odd dps but hey don't stand in the fire for ages stoopid).
I have pondered why I am much better at healing than dps a bit recently and feel its because healing is slower paced but much more tactical. Generally during boss fights you are always planning ahead, especially as a druid as it takes time to run up HOT's and we don't have much in the way of tank saving specials like lay on hands. I find during fights I am planning using cooldowns for damage spikes, anticipating curses/ magic debuffs, planning Innvervates so I can get the best use out of them and watching timers for tank switches.
Hyper reflexes don't seem to help much with healing especially during Cataclysm as if tanks dip too low saving them is an uphill struggle with huge health pools. Also if you not pre planning for damage spikes or AOE raid damage generally its too late when you are not getting things in place before they happen.
So does anyone else find this they their reflexes are not what they were? Do you find the tactical pace of healing doesn't need hyper reflexes but the ability to plan ahead a few moves and keep your head when things go a bit wobbly?
Zetter
Saturday 26 February 2011
Efflorescence
Usually I don't post much about specific talent builds in the game. I am a middle of the road player and leave the heavyweight discussions on whats hot in the talent builds to people like Keeva over at http://treebarkjacket.com/2011/02/26/ptr-efflorescence-smart-heal/ or Beruthiel at http://fallingleavesandwings.wordpress.com/ who do some great stuff on builds/ theory crafting.
However at the moment on thing that has left me in a quandary is dear old Efflorescence. I currently have it in this build http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0hbhZMZMfzIbcruoko. As you can see I have fully talented into Efflorescence and do use it quite a lot during raiding but I am beginning to question if it is worth it or not.
Our raid composition for healers is generally me, a pally and a holy priest with sometimes (if the pally is tanking) two holy priests (on this point Tessy from http://www.reflectionsfromthepond.com/ should on no account going forward let her son anywhere near her router near raid nights!) so I generally find myself tank healing on a lot of fights to a greater or lesser extent. With the fact we always have a holy priest in the raid as a raid healer I am questioning if it is worth keeping Efflorescence in the build anymore.
I think Efflorescence should be a lot cooler than it is and at the moment it doesn't feel like its competing with Circle of Healing or Healing Rain. I kind of want to hang on it as I feel almost I should as a nod to my raid healing past but I am wondering if a build like http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0hbhZMZrfzIbcrzodo would be more beneficially to the type of healing I am doing?
Has anyone else out there tried out dropping Efflorescence from their build and how has it worked out? I think I may try it for the next raid and see how it pans out though I think I will miss out on seeing green puddles all the time.
Zetter
However at the moment on thing that has left me in a quandary is dear old Efflorescence. I currently have it in this build http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0hbhZMZMfzIbcruoko. As you can see I have fully talented into Efflorescence and do use it quite a lot during raiding but I am beginning to question if it is worth it or not.
Our raid composition for healers is generally me, a pally and a holy priest with sometimes (if the pally is tanking) two holy priests (on this point Tessy from http://www.reflectionsfromthepond.com/ should on no account going forward let her son anywhere near her router near raid nights!) so I generally find myself tank healing on a lot of fights to a greater or lesser extent. With the fact we always have a holy priest in the raid as a raid healer I am questioning if it is worth keeping Efflorescence in the build anymore.
I think Efflorescence should be a lot cooler than it is and at the moment it doesn't feel like its competing with Circle of Healing or Healing Rain. I kind of want to hang on it as I feel almost I should as a nod to my raid healing past but I am wondering if a build like http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0hbhZMZrfzIbcrzodo would be more beneficially to the type of healing I am doing?
Has anyone else out there tried out dropping Efflorescence from their build and how has it worked out? I think I may try it for the next raid and see how it pans out though I think I will miss out on seeing green puddles all the time.
Zetter
Saturday 12 February 2011
Wipes, Wipes and more Wipes
Well all this week the Kindom of Rust have basically had the crap kicked out of them by The Ascendant Council.
What has made it doubly frustrating is we have had about 10 <4% wipes with the damage from the end burn phase killing us before we manage to finish of the Elemental Monstrosity.
The first night was quite enjoyable as we really made progress people learned the fight and got their moves down. So having to call it at the end without a kill had the refreshing smell of raiding back in BC when we hit the wall for a couple of nights on Curator in Karazan. However the second night did involve me swearing profusely at the PC due to the number of near misses on a kill.
I think we will get them on Monday as all the raiders have now had a good bash at it and when it happens it will be very very satisfying I can tell you.
Zetter
What has made it doubly frustrating is we have had about 10 <4% wipes with the damage from the end burn phase killing us before we manage to finish of the Elemental Monstrosity.
The first night was quite enjoyable as we really made progress people learned the fight and got their moves down. So having to call it at the end without a kill had the refreshing smell of raiding back in BC when we hit the wall for a couple of nights on Curator in Karazan. However the second night did involve me swearing profusely at the PC due to the number of near misses on a kill.
I think we will get them on Monday as all the raiders have now had a good bash at it and when it happens it will be very very satisfying I can tell you.
Zetter
Sunday 30 January 2011
Odd role changes in healing raids
If you have been following the blog for a while you have probably noticed that I will probably end up being a healer forever. Despite dalliances with tanking and the tempting mistress that is DPS I always tend to gravitate for my hardcore play back to healing.
Now for part of BC and all of Wrath raiding I was a raid healer.
If there raid wide damage to heal or constant AOE pulses going off I was your Tree, with a flourish of my leaves rejuvenation, wild growth or back in BC lifebloom would be rolling on all you lucky people to stop you slipping into the land of no DPS dealing death.
Basically for most of BC and all of Wrath the only tank healing I did was in 5 Mans or when content was really on farm and we ran with 2 healers instead of three. Tank healing was the domain of Pallys, Disco priests and in our case our resto Shammy.
Now I find myself in Cataclysm and druid healing has altered. Rejuvenation got a kicking (thankfully boosted recently with the hotfix), Wild growth is ok but if a shed load of damage hits the raid its like using a bucket of water to put out a factory fire and tranquility/ Tree of Life are on reasonable cool downs to prevent them being of use except in real pinch moments.
Meanwhile Holy Priests still have major tools for raid healing, Pallys have a lot more tools and Shammys get nice things like healing rain (who's area of effect is going up!!!).
So for the moment enter Zetter the tank healer! Rolling his Mighty 3 stack of lifebloom backed by rejuvenation, Nourish and with the hmmm mastery Symbiosis of he can keep that tank up and swinging. Also he can help out on raid healing with rejuvenation and tree of life pops.
Big movement fight no problem! his hots just keep on healing till he can get off a healing touch!
Meanwhile oddly enough our pally healer is raid healing ahhh bless who's a good little plate wearer then :).
I think its will all change again as Wild Growth is getting a buff on cool down and healing power so I can see myself swinging back towards raid healing again especially as Pally beacon still rocks but I have enjoyed the change of pace and my time in the sun.
Oh and yay I finally got blown up by Deathwing!
Zetter
Now for part of BC and all of Wrath raiding I was a raid healer.
If there raid wide damage to heal or constant AOE pulses going off I was your Tree, with a flourish of my leaves rejuvenation, wild growth or back in BC lifebloom would be rolling on all you lucky people to stop you slipping into the land of no DPS dealing death.
Basically for most of BC and all of Wrath the only tank healing I did was in 5 Mans or when content was really on farm and we ran with 2 healers instead of three. Tank healing was the domain of Pallys, Disco priests and in our case our resto Shammy.
Now I find myself in Cataclysm and druid healing has altered. Rejuvenation got a kicking (thankfully boosted recently with the hotfix), Wild growth is ok but if a shed load of damage hits the raid its like using a bucket of water to put out a factory fire and tranquility/ Tree of Life are on reasonable cool downs to prevent them being of use except in real pinch moments.
Meanwhile Holy Priests still have major tools for raid healing, Pallys have a lot more tools and Shammys get nice things like healing rain (who's area of effect is going up!!!).
So for the moment enter Zetter the tank healer! Rolling his Mighty 3 stack of lifebloom backed by rejuvenation, Nourish and with the hmmm mastery Symbiosis of he can keep that tank up and swinging. Also he can help out on raid healing with rejuvenation and tree of life pops.
Big movement fight no problem! his hots just keep on healing till he can get off a healing touch!
Meanwhile oddly enough our pally healer is raid healing ahhh bless who's a good little plate wearer then :).
I think its will all change again as Wild Growth is getting a buff on cool down and healing power so I can see myself swinging back towards raid healing again especially as Pally beacon still rocks but I have enjoyed the change of pace and my time in the sun.
Oh and yay I finally got blown up by Deathwing!
Zetter
Monday 17 January 2011
Archaeology and Azeroth the grand tour!
Gordon over at http://blog.weflyspitfires.com/2011/01/14/why-my-wife-wants-to-kick-the-sht-out-of-the-guy-who-designed-archaeology/ did a nice little piece over his obsession with troll archaeology and big swords.
I can sympathize with him as I am similarly obsessed with night elves and the only damn thing I need off them http://www.wowhead.com/item=64645 I think I am on my 100th solve since my last rare off them and its becoming a bit of a lost cause now for me as I think with raiding kicking off I can probably do better soon.
However one of the great things I found about my travels during my Archeology leveling is to find out about how big a change the shattering wrought to Azeroth. When the patch hit to be honest I was on a bit of a down time from WOW so didn't do a lot of sight seeing after the shattering. Boy did I miss a lot!
I mean even going to Tanaris I was merrily puttering along and then suddenly though "hang on a sec I don't remember Gadgetzan being this close to the sea" well of course it is now dummy after the blooming great tidal wave.
Also you find yourself wondering what the Horde are up to in Azshara after all they appear to be building the equivalent of a Railway Gun which worryingly is pointed straight at Stormwind!
Then you move on to Darkshore and find that basically the night elves have received not to put to fine a point of it a "bit of a kicking".
So thank you Blizzard for making a profession that shows off these massive changes to the world while driving me mildly insane by giving me odd items such as http://www.wowhead.com/spell=91761 which is generally only great for freaking out new players in Goldshire.
Zetter
I can sympathize with him as I am similarly obsessed with night elves and the only damn thing I need off them http://www.wowhead.com/item=64645 I think I am on my 100th solve since my last rare off them and its becoming a bit of a lost cause now for me as I think with raiding kicking off I can probably do better soon.
However one of the great things I found about my travels during my Archeology leveling is to find out about how big a change the shattering wrought to Azeroth. When the patch hit to be honest I was on a bit of a down time from WOW so didn't do a lot of sight seeing after the shattering. Boy did I miss a lot!
I mean even going to Tanaris I was merrily puttering along and then suddenly though "hang on a sec I don't remember Gadgetzan being this close to the sea" well of course it is now dummy after the blooming great tidal wave.
Also you find yourself wondering what the Horde are up to in Azshara after all they appear to be building the equivalent of a Railway Gun which worryingly is pointed straight at Stormwind!
Then you move on to Darkshore and find that basically the night elves have received not to put to fine a point of it a "bit of a kicking".
So thank you Blizzard for making a profession that shows off these massive changes to the world while driving me mildly insane by giving me odd items such as http://www.wowhead.com/spell=91761 which is generally only great for freaking out new players in Goldshire.
Zetter
Tuesday 11 January 2011
First Raid Of Catacylsm
Last night Kingdom of Rust finally entered our first proper raid in Cataclysm. After a lay off over Christmas and giving people time to gear up we sallied forth into Blackwing Descent to see what the new content was like.
After a bit of a chat we decided to take on Magmaw as our first try. Everyone had read up on the tactics so we did the recommended one camp of ranged moving between two points when the lava parasites spawn with one of our melee and a hunter smacking the boss up side the head to force him onto the spike.
Three hours later on the last try of the night we finally got the git down! This was after one 2% wipe when we hit the enrage timer which was a real pain.
The healing team consisted on myself (yep I'm back healing I appear to be mediocre at dps), our Holy priest Kai and our Holy Pally Faster. Basically it was I and Kai on the raid and Faster looking after the tanks.
From a resto druid point of view on 10 mans this was a real test of manna use and popping cool downs such as TOL/ Tranquillity. We lost quite a few tries due to DPS being low on heath after a lava AOE spray and then being one shotted by a lava bolt so you cant afford to have DPS on low heath for too long after lava spray or they could be the unlucky one on the receiving end of a lava bolt which will kill them as it hits for about 50K damage.
I can see this fight becoming a lot easier for resto druids when the new patch hits and Rejuvenation becomes a viable raid healing tool again with the manna cost being halved. I found that overuse of Rejuvenation during the fight at the present cost basically just ran me dry of manna which was a shame as it will be a good tool to use on the run between lava parasite spawns.
Nourish isn’t great on this fight due to the cast time and its requirement to have a HOT on the target to make it a good heal, Healing Touch also suffers from cast time issues and I was mainly using Effervescence as the raid was tightly grouped coupled with Wild Growth/ Lifebloom where possible to top people off.
Of course dependent on healing group composition I could have healed the tanks but we felt that Faster would probably do better on this due to bacon and generally Pally tank healing power.
A good fun raid boss overall but it was a real step up in terms of manna use from heroics.
Zetter
After a bit of a chat we decided to take on Magmaw as our first try. Everyone had read up on the tactics so we did the recommended one camp of ranged moving between two points when the lava parasites spawn with one of our melee and a hunter smacking the boss up side the head to force him onto the spike.
Three hours later on the last try of the night we finally got the git down! This was after one 2% wipe when we hit the enrage timer which was a real pain.
The healing team consisted on myself (yep I'm back healing I appear to be mediocre at dps), our Holy priest Kai and our Holy Pally Faster. Basically it was I and Kai on the raid and Faster looking after the tanks.
From a resto druid point of view on 10 mans this was a real test of manna use and popping cool downs such as TOL/ Tranquillity. We lost quite a few tries due to DPS being low on heath after a lava AOE spray and then being one shotted by a lava bolt so you cant afford to have DPS on low heath for too long after lava spray or they could be the unlucky one on the receiving end of a lava bolt which will kill them as it hits for about 50K damage.
I can see this fight becoming a lot easier for resto druids when the new patch hits and Rejuvenation becomes a viable raid healing tool again with the manna cost being halved. I found that overuse of Rejuvenation during the fight at the present cost basically just ran me dry of manna which was a shame as it will be a good tool to use on the run between lava parasite spawns.
Nourish isn’t great on this fight due to the cast time and its requirement to have a HOT on the target to make it a good heal, Healing Touch also suffers from cast time issues and I was mainly using Effervescence as the raid was tightly grouped coupled with Wild Growth/ Lifebloom where possible to top people off.
Of course dependent on healing group composition I could have healed the tanks but we felt that Faster would probably do better on this due to bacon and generally Pally tank healing power.
A good fun raid boss overall but it was a real step up in terms of manna use from heroics.
Zetter
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