Grimmtooth’s Troops

Over the past 48 or so hours, there has been much trash-talking about the Ensidia world-first kill of Arthas (and subsequent fallout).  People are weighing in on both sides.

One prevailing viewpoint of the pro-Ensidia crowd is that Blizzard failed to test the software “properly” and thus, somehow and ergo, Ensidia is blameless in this situation.

What utter, profound crap.

Let me essplain.  No – it is too much. Let me summarize.

There is a rule of thumb in the software testing world, which boils down to this:  “to attack the software properly, you have to think like a criminal” – such as , for example, when dealing with things like credit card processing – the storage of account numbers and so forth, especially. The designer will tell you how it’s supposed to work under normal conditions. You get to figure out what he didn’t think of, the cracks in the shell that you can exploit.

So; this rule of thumb helps one find good testers, but it begs the question as to how to “catch a thief”! Until you’ve sat in the seat of an interviewer, you really don’t know how difficult it is to find a mediocre tester, much less a world-class game buster.  To “catch a thief” to work on your team, you kinda have to think like one, too.

So that’s one issue.

Another issue is what I like to summarize as “the view is really good from the cheap seats”. Really, until you’ve actually been put in the place of finding bugs as your bread and butter, you really have no idea what you’re talking about when you criticize the work done by the testers in this situation. You really, really, don’t. You have no idea what kind of guidelines they were given. You have no idea what level of knowledge they were given about how the encounter was supposed to progress, nor how complete the testing environment was. You have no idea, at all, how this was tested, or even if it was testable.

So sure, go ahead and talk trash all you want, but those of us that work in the industry know exactly how hollow and foolish your critiques are.

Walk a mile in my shoes, and we have common ground to talk.  You can make real critiques at that point, not a bunch of generalities that mean absolutely nothing.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Regarding Ensidia; Grimm said this elsewhere, but I will reiterate now.  You don’t play this game for five years, earn a seat in one of the premier raiding guilds in the world, and somehow not know that this was an exploit. Saronite bombs are to be thrown at the enemy, not collapsed portions of a platform, and the enemy was not standing on collapsed parts of the platform. No, this was deliberate. And anyone that’s been playing that long would know it.

To whine that they’re victims of faulty QA is disingenuous at best. That QA team didn’t make them toss bombs off where they would (theoretically) do no good.  That QA team didn’t force them to take the achievement. That QA team didn’t keep them from reporting the issue.The QA team didn’t make them crow at their achievement.

-=-=-=-=-=-

An analogy, and then I will shut up on this topic.

You are walking through a mall. Ahead of you, a woman’s purse has a broken strap, and the wallet has fallen out. When it hits the ground, a bunch of $50 bills spill out on the ground. She continues on, unaware of the incident.

If you take the money and toss her wallet, who’s in the wrong?  Sure, she should have fixed the purse, secured the wallet. But does that in any way excuse theft? I don’t think so.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Ensidia, I’m sorry that you didn’t get a nice set of steak knives, but maybe next time you will use your heads and not risk your reputation on something so obvious. Or if you do (and I suspect you will), I hope you can at least own up to your stupidity next time.

Oh, and gratz to Paragon, that did it without exploits.

Can you feel it? It is calling in the air.

I’m not naming names. I’m not even promising to be true to the gender involved. I’m not trying to start a fight. I am making an observation. Kapitch?

What happened to me this morning is that I was reading what is considered by all to be a well-informed, rounded blog specific to one specific class.  I have been reading that blog for some time. But, today, for whatever reason, I while I was reading it, I realized, of a sudden, that I had no idea – none at all – if the author was actually enjoying the activities described therein, or if it was just another notch, just another boss, just another data point.

And that got me thinking.

What’s your first-best love?

Do you play the class you love the most, or do you play a class or spec that is needed, for whatever reason, more than your favorite?

If you blog about this silly game, do you blog about what you do, or what you want to do?

I’m reminded of the blogger that most influenced me at first, the guy that taught me that it was good to be enthusiastic and happy and, well, maybe even gush a little about how much fun he was happening.  BRK may be gone, but he is not forgotten, and the post that most reminds me of the outright fun he brought to the game would be the time he had Hobbes tanking the adds in the Moroes encounter.

He was analytical. He was helpful. But, most of all, he was having a hella good time.

He not only helped me enjoy the game … he got me to start playing the game again. I had quit. Deleted all my toons. I was just reading because WoW was, still, interesting in some way¹.  But this guy’s enthusiasm and joy in what he was doing drove home an important lesson to me – It’s a game! Have some fun, FFS!

When I tanked one of the Four Horsemen in Naxx, I had that in mind. This is how we huntard, babee! Bringing you Pewpew and RAWR in one handsome package! If I had Megan’s soul², I’d even do a song about it! Alas, the best you get from me is fish puns, and links to people with actual talent.

Contemplate, for a moment, this post’s titular question.

Frustration and sadness arise when you are kept from what you love. You may have a sense of duty, or loyalty, or something else, that drives you to do that which you do not enjoy as much.  Sometimes, we all have to be “grownups” and do what needs to be done, indeed! But if you don’t recognize that which makes you tick, and embrace it, and nurture it … what kind of experience do you believe you will get from this game?

I firmly believe that if you aren’t having fun, it’s not a game. It’s a job, and probably one with no pay.

Now that this love has overcome me …
Now that this fire is burning bright …
All of these words seem just beyond my reasoning.
Be still my soul …

---

1. I actually found him via wow.com, so let it never be said that they don’t have their moments. [↩]
2. No, not the ones in her shard bag! [↩]

I’m running through Un’goro trying to finish off the “To all the critters I’ve loved before” achievement, looking desperately for a parrot, and bombing out.  Suddenly, my sweetie, who was watching over my shoulder, yelled “THERE’S ONE!”

Parrot, Pterrordorax … both have wings, right?

“And,” I added, “they both begin with the same letter!”

This was not taken in the spirit offered.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Incidentally, the comments on WoWHead indicate that if you kill snakes, parrots will spawn in their place. So much for my “egg” theory.  But, I dutifully killed off every snake I saw, and when I returned to my starting point, a parrot was flapping around in the same location … so there might be something to it.

Given the disasterous results of last year’s family gathering in Southshore, we decided to have this years’ in the safety of our own home. I’m just thankful that we got dear Fai back, even if there were a few unexpected changes.

It’s been an eventful year for us all, with a few surprises here and there, but through it all we’ve kept each other in our hearts and minds whenever possible. If you have family, remember that not everyone does – but if we’re very lucky, we’ll find one anyway. My family, as diverse as it is, is still my family, and I’m glad for every one of them.

To celebrate, we gather together and feast and enjoy each others’ company. We all decided to get gussied up for the Feast of Winter’s Veil, although Kutath lost his fancy duds when The Exodar crashed, and he hadn’t gotten around to getting replacements (and believe me, it’s not easy finding fancy duds to fit a fully grown male Draenai!).  He took it in good humor, though. Well, here’s looking forward to next year’s gathering.

Here’s a little something from us to you to commemorate the occasion. Thanks for coming by, and we hope to see you again! Best wishes for the new year from Grimmtooth, Jasra, Floramel, Illume, Faiella, Slithmere, Kutath, Orlee, Amusmoses, and Yarley!

With the Name Change feature, it’s possible to lose track of people in your Friends List in-game. Who’s that “Squiggish” person, and why is he or she in my flist, anyway?

Here’s a little trick to help keep track: use the “note” feature to record the original name you friended them under.  There will still be plenty of room for other stuff, as needed. It’s no guarantee you’ll remember the person, but at least you’ll have a better chance.

Well, after many many tries and wipes, today we went in and three-shot Maly as the weekly raid boss, and many of us popped [Champion of the Frozen Wastes] in the process. We’re such noobs, half of us didn’t know where the loot was. Bring in the flying gimmick, and we’re not exactly at our best.

We followed this up with a not very successful attempt on Marrowgar-10; I think our Boomkin ditched us out of disgust.  Or maybe I’m reading too much into the sudden without warning drop.  /shrug – know what, I don’t care. He can go do that, and as soon as a replacement is available for me, he can go do that without bothering me about it.

Marrowgar is a confusing fight; even with him scaled back to 10-man strength, the whirlwind is devestating.  We need a lot more practice.  Disc healing isn’t exactly useful at that point, either.

The one good thing I saw was that my T9 2-piece bonus really makes the Frisbee stand tall.

The scary thing for me with regard to T9 and T10 is that Blizz is pushing Crit down so hard for the healing sets. Crit is a Big Deal™ for Disc healers. We get some from primary stats, which do get stacked, but the loss of Crit is going to hurt. The mace that dropped off of Maly was biased in the same way. This brings up some really interesting gear decisions.

If you’re working on that Loremaster achievement, WoWHead has added a new wrinkle to the WoWHead Profiler that absolutely rocks – namely, you can see any quests you have yet to complete, in any zone.

However, Admiral Akbarr says it’s a trap! And it is, to an extent, because it forces you to get a WoWHead account to install and run the WoWHead client, so they get all that nommy in-game data, and that makes WoWHead even MORE accurate! The bastards!

So, you make the call.  I’ve been running the client for quite some time now. It’s unobtrusive, and it’s nice to contribute to a database which I use so extensively.

Our GM spent weeks brute-forcing the achievement, and got it mere days ago.  I’m staying low for a while.

Been very quiet around here, lately, and for that I apologize. It all started with that bad ToC10 and got worse with the semi-fail Ulduar that followed. There is a certain bit of healer burnout in the air, and until I face that down here, I don’t think I can write about anything else.

So, burnout.

Actually, it’s escalated from healer burnout to raiding burnout. I’m of a mind not to raid.

There. I said it.

I’m not talking about healing. I’m talking about raids, in general.

I’ve asked the GM to find a replacement. We have several DPS peeps dual specced to heal, and we can fill in DPS more easily than healz, any day. Do the math.

This is not an effort to get Grimm or Flora into raids. Quite the contrary. I desire to be done with the entire framework of raiding. More precisely, being an officer in the guild during raids … taxes me. It taxes the GM, too, but she made her own life choices. This is mine.

We might even PvP to prove the point.

Note: I will not abandon my friends. Until a recplacement is available, for now, I will fulfill my implicit obligations. For now.

OK, that’s it for that. As big an element it is, I still don’t want to dwell on it.

Moving on.

-=-=-=-=-

Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about what’s happening in-game. For, beyond my traitorous desires to just play the game and have fun, I do have loyalty to what we do as a guild.

1. Ulduar progression is coming along. We were dead-ended for a while because we couldn’t go more than a certain amount of time, and that got us as far as Auri. This week we got that far on the first night, and the second night we got a substitute tank to come in (our Warr tank had GF aggro) and she walked us not only through Hodir but Thorim as well. More on these in a moment.
2. The ICC five-mans have been thoroughly roflstomped by our core raiders in standard mode, and we got the first instance done in Heroic by accident with no sweat.
3. Ony can still stomp us hard if we don’t do it right. For whatever reason, the last attempt failed in Phase 2 every time. Part of it appears to be that some people were not following instructions and focus firing on the same target as everyone else. There were points where I just said “fine, you’re going down, I’ll heal the ones that are where they are supposed to be.” And naturally, I ran into deep breaths myself, too. Overall, bad deal.
4. ICC 10 was attempted on the 2nd night – with Marrowgar at 25-man strength. As you can guess, we wiped as many people did. If I must raid, I’m interested in seeing how we fare now that they’ve adjusted him.

-=-=-=-=-

Back to Hodir / Thorim. Both of these fights require a ferocious amount of group healing. The MT is hardly taking any damage, usually, so the hardest part is keeping everyone else up and alive, and our Shammi is hard pressed to do so. We actually had our boomkin druid swap to tree as well.

I finally found a good use for my talents though. I focused on two tanks and two healers as my priorities, and they focused on everyone else. Seemed to work. Maybe in the future I’ll just swap to shadow for those fights, and let the tree and shammi keep us alive.

-=-=-=-=-

Two new members of the clan on other servers.

First, Grimmtooth the Third – who was rolled on Kael’Thas for the Raid for the Cure charity drive – has renamed to Dvorkin¹. If you are on K’T and care for such things, there ya go. Also, LFG. My sweetie is there as well so I am looking for a very casual guild here.  In the time since RftC I have advanced to level 33 without trying too hard, and given sufficient impetus, could be 80 in a very short time. I’ve done it before.

Second, Yardiff Bey – or more properly, Yardifbey – on Bronzebeard is my Belf flower-picking Warlock toon, recently hitting level 11. I rolled him to hang with my sweetie who is in DotH on that server. Also LFG as my sweetie’s guild will not admit non-female members. So I’m on mah own.

-=-=-=-=-

Okie. For good or for ill, silence is broken. We all apologize for this, regardless of who “we” is at the time.

Ooooooh. And it’s published. I’m committed.

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1. ”Dworkin” was taken, but if you follow my pet naming convention, this makes perfect sense. If not, I recommend to you the collected works of Roger Zelazny as an example of some of the finest fantasy and SF you are likely to encounter for quite some time. [↩]

The Warlock walked into the Gnome’s office unannounced. He looked up and leered. “Ah, Flora! I’m so glad to see you! Something’s come up, and I’m sure you’re just the right person for the job!”

“Don’t waste pleasantries on me, Milo. I got word all the way in Dalaran that you were looking for me. So I’m here. Talk. I have things to do.”

Kicking back in his chair a bit, he grinned up at her. “Oh, you’ll love this. You know that bit of work you did for the Argent Crusade at Crusader’s Pinnacle?  Well, Fordring himself has been asking for you personally. I guess you made an impression, girl.”

The Warlock frowned; her felguard growled. Milo could get so … fresh … sometimes.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

If there was one thing that Paladins hated, it was Warlocks. Keepers of demons and trafficking in fel magicks, it was only natural that they did. But there was one thing they hated even more, and that was the Scourge. Good fortune for both, then, that Warlocks would do what Paladins would not in battle against a common enemy.

But, Fordring … the Grand Poobah of the whole crowd of “holy” warriors? Asking after a Warlock? There must be foulness afoot, indeed, if he was going to shake hands with the likes of them.

“Ah, there you are.”, he smiled at her – although the smile seemed a bit … off. He explained that a Hero of the Crusade had gone missing, and he needed help to find him. Why the Warlock? That was never discussed, but as she had some reputation of getting things done, maybe that was all there was to that. “He was spotted heading to the far northeast, towards the Silent Vigil. Bring him back to me that I might honor him for his valor.”

At least he didn’t call her “girl.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Finding the Hero was not easy, but find him she did. He lay, broken, falling to the Scourge Plague that would turn him into something terrible, a new toy for Arthas, a powerful new enemy for the Lich King. Just over the rise, was the new Tournemant grounds, with many who might help. And yet he refused for fear of infecting others. “Leave me… and see to it that no one else comes looking. You would do me a great disservice if you were to expose anyone to the plague that I carry.”  GAH! Paladins! She fumed as she mounted up and prepared for the long flight back to Fordring. Not only was the mission failing, but the odds of getting paid were withering away.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Emerald Nightmare … was nightmarish. Even the Felguard was uncomfortable. There were those that theorized that The Emerald Nightmare came from Fel magick, but every fiber of her being screamed in a most unnatural way. If this is Fel magic, I’ll eat a Soul Shard, she thought, as she fumbled around in search of her prize. Finally, something out of the corner of her eye … Ah, acorns! Squirrels might be better at finding them, but who’s gonna bring them back? That’s right, send a Warlock!

Suddenly, the gloom deepened. Looking around, she realized that the tree to the left hadn’t been there before … and it appeared to be very angry!  What was it that Remulos said?

Seriously! Remulos! Talking to a Warlock!

Oh, yes. Pinch myself.

Pouf

The Keeper grinned back at her. “I told you to be careful. I am glad you are back, Floramel. Not everyone is so fortunate. Here, let me see what you have, there.”

She suspects she’s been pranked – just a little bit – by a demigod.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“You must understand, that cleansing the body in favor of life anew is something well within my grasp … removing the plague of undeath without affecting the body, however, is beyond the scope of the powers that I control.

“If this Bridenbrad is the beacon of light that you profess him to be, perhaps he will endure such a cleansing and thrive, but I cannot state with confidence that this is the salvation that you seek. Take it and go with all of my blessings.”

“That sound painful, Life-binder. Is there no other way?” She surprised herself at the audacity of questioning Alextraza’s word.

The Dragon Queen smiled ruefully. “Oh, it is painful, and dangerous, too. But like with the flowers, the Scourge must be burned out in order to allow Life itself to flourish. He will either survive it, or he will pass. We can do no more. There is no other way.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Fordring looked haunted, angry, and a number of other emotions that could not be clearly described. Desperate. There, that was close to it. As close as a Highlord might look to Desperate, at any rate.

“This won’t do!”, he spat. “I will not give up on him!”

“Floramel, go now to Shattrath…”

After a moment, she demurred. “Highlord … I am a Scryer. Is this wise?”

He smiled a little smile. “The Naaru are beyond petty faction squabbles, Floramel. I’m sure he’ll hear you.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Fear not, young one, for this crusader shall not taste death.”

As Bridenbrad’s spirit went aloft, he smiled down at her – with gratitude? Possibly. It was hard to tell, her vision was swimming.

“Young one, why do you weep?”

“I’m not crying!”, she spat. “I just have something in both of my eyes.”

The sound of bells – was the Naaru … laughing? “Forgive me, young Floramel. We Naaru are, of course, unfamiliar with human emotions, and often make mistakes.

“’sokay,” she mumbled.

Hmm … wonder if Fordring might want this tabard back?  “Hey, Naaru, is it OK if I take this back to the Highlord?”

Looking around, she realized she was alone.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Standing this high up in Dalaran, you can almost see where he laid down to die alone. Almost. Rarely had she been touched by the actions of others, and this week she had been touched by the actions of many, so many, giving what they could to honor this “beacon of the Light.”

The Warlock contemplated the week’s events, and held on to the warmth she had when speaking with A’dal. Was it wrong for a Warlock to want to feel that way again?  The Naaru were … very hard to pin down.

Illume walked out from her study to find her “sister” lost in thought.

“Hello, Flora. It’s good to see you again. How are things going?”

Smiling faintly … “Not bad, sis. Not bad, at all.”  She turned from the balcony. “Buy you a drink? I could use some company right now.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Meta: this story is set – loosely – in the questline starting with A Tale of Valor.

I call it that since I wouldn’t be surprised if it was done again next year, assuming all goes well.

If you didn’t read about it on BBB’s Blog, today we had a joint Horde and Alliance run in support of a guildie of his in the Sidhe Devils that was diagnosed with breast cancer. Well, in support of all who have it or are at risk, really, but that guildie was the person that inspired them.

In preparation I rolled a doppelganger up on the appropriate server and proceeded to level up. I had to have me a white bear, see, so that meant I needed to be level 12 by then. And once I got there, I thought I should make level 20 for my mount, too. The latter didn’t happen.  Just short of 18. Bother.

My sweetie was there, too, on her female Dwarf Hunter – isn’t that sweet? She DID manage to out-level me, and I have to tell you it’s weird being the one being offered help through tougher quests.  Total role reversal from our main server.

So this is what I took into the run. Don’t laugh. Or at least be polite and avert your face while doing so.

The knickers are charming, aren’t they?

So we gather, and I see all sorts of names pop on. Hydra, Fuubaar and Fulguralis, Squidly and Miss Medicina come immediately to mind. I had a little bit of a fanboy moment.  I apologize for not mentioning any that I did see, it was chaotic and so is my mind afterward.

Finally, BBBBBB called it, and we were off!

Out of the starting area, over the rise, and down into the valley we went!

And tearing through Teldrassil we go…

I wonder what they thought of us as we passed through Darnassus.

We waited on the dock for the boat to come; that’s a lot of pink shirts!

Hydra must have been running behind, as she met us on the dock in Auberdine. After a brief /cheer we were back on the road, pouring through Auberdine like a stream.

With several Sidhe Devils flanking us all the way, we streamed through Darkshore. At one point we caught up with some confused fellow that was running the Sleeper escort. I don’t think he had a problem getting that one done, nothing stood upright for ten yards each way. But it had to be unnerving.

At the double time, you can really see the difference between Auberdine and Ashenvale.

A brief rest in Astranaar (I didn’t get any good pics since everyone kinda spread out), and then off we went for The Barrens.

Remember, you have to SNEAK around the guards, no matter how many of you there are, or the number of you wearing bright pink shirts. SNEAK.

And we were OFF THE CHAIN in the Barrens!

“Everyone – VEER LEFT! DO NOT ANGER THE GUARDS!” I’m guessing there was a treaty in effect for this event, so we had to watch our P’s and Q’s.

We hooked up with our counterparts outside of The Barrens. A mighty sight it was. I looked for Jong, and didn’t see him. /me sad, since I knew he had planned to attend.

Finally, our mighty army of pink shirts was unleased, and we headed for Rachet!

As we waited on the dock, I noticed Hydra getting excited. Why? JONG! I gave the customary fanboy /cheer.  Here’s a picture of us together.

Finally, the boat arrived and we piled on. This is the best shot I could get out of four, but none of them do justice to the tide of bodies.  The amazing thing was – no real lag, to speak of.

Once we arrived in Booty Bay, everyone piled off to the inn. If you look closely you can see people leveling up all over the place.

At long last, we arrived at the in, ran through it, and commenced to party atop the bank while someone ground faction against Booty Bay.

This was a wonderful event and a great opportunity to rub elbows with some people I seriously admire.  Just standing on the dock with Jong was pretty uber. But of course the big thing was to show in some small way a measure of support for someone going through a hard bit of life right now. I hope things turn out well for Julie, and I hope that someday we find a cure for this and other forms of cancer.

My thanks to BigBearButt and his guild the Sidhe Devils for getting this all together. It was awesome.

Wretched.

That’s how I feel after our last few sessions in EoE.

For two or three nights running, we attacked that dragon. From the first pull, we did great in phases 1 and 2.  Typically we’re going in to phase 3 with five minutes left on the timer.

We rarely see that five minutes go in full.

Invariably I die within the first 30 seconds, but I doubt it has much effect since I can’t seem to heal worth a damn during that phase anyway.

It is very frustrating and made me want to crawl into a hole and pull the hole in after me.

It’s so difficult, to do everything in your power to ensure that you are geared appropriately, have the right consumables, have studied rotations and methodologies, and can go a full fight and still have plenty of mana left in most, then to find that it all boils down to a gimmick fight in which none of the hard won lessons apply.

“Bring the player, not the class”, they might parrot.  I contend that that is a cop-out.

You would never go into a raid with no healing classes, would you? Of course not.

If class isn’t important, then why do we have them? If levels and gear are not important, why are they in the game?  Why don’t we focus more on looking fabulous than getting that hideous mock turtleneck helm for its lovely stats?

Because class matters. Because gear matters. Because level and experience .. matter.  That malarkey about “bring duh player not duh class” was nothing but a catchphrase and it’s taken on a twisted life of its own.

This phase is unrewarding and discouraging. Right now that’s how I feel. I regret rolling on that damned key at this very moment because it put a quest in my quest log that I am at this moment considering … not doing.

We do Ulduar tonight, and I dearly hope we bring our ‘A’ game because I could really use the boost associated with doing, well, well for a change.

Perhaps in honor of GeoCities’ demise, Miss Medicina is doing a web ring thing. At first I decided against doing it because all the interesting blogs in the world had already done it, and there wasn’t much that I could offer over that. But then this post of Jong’s inspired me. Yes. I will share with you my healing things, because being a Disc priest is just that awesome. I’m not tagging anyone. There’s nobody but Matticus left to tag now, and nobody wants that on their conscience.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

Jasra, Priest, Dis ::crack:: cipline with a side of Shadow¹.

What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

I’ve been healing five mans, Heroics, and 10-man raiding for months now, usually as MT healer in raids and group healing 5-mans.

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?

Tough call. I would say Power Word: Shield, because I like bubbles.² Bubbles make me think of carbonated drinks, which reminds me that it’s time to freshen my RumandCoke.

But let’s be honest here. Penance is about the coolest thing out there. Not only do I get to heal with it, but in a pinch it’s an offensive weapon!  Not only that, but when you slap your MT with this baby, he knows it. His or her whole body jerks as the healing energy gets in there and kicks butt.

“The path of the righteous is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of epic bosses. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through Naxx on badge runs. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost loots. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious Smites those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Healer when I lay my Penance upon you.“

Well, something like that.

The thing with Penance is that it fits in with healing as if Jules Winnfield had chosen to play a priest after he gave up life as a professional assasin. The same verve, passion, and exacting attention to detail as he, invariably, would have brought to the table.  I’m not saying you need a hand-stitched wallet with BAD MOTHER FUCKER embossed on it, but I’m not saying it would exactly hurt, either.

Except I’m fine with bacon. Bacon is delicious!

Anyway. Penance. It’s cool.

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

Greater Heal; when I rely on that, Jas is OOMPriest in no time. My spec has and glyphing has perverted Flash Heal into my “slow” heal of choice. For the really big heals, see “penance” above.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?

Priests are really the jack of all trades when it comes to healing. We can be point healers, raid healers, or even emo shadow-loving trickle healers and mana battery bitches. All other classes have at most one healing spec.  All of our specs can heal, for some value of ‘heal’.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

I like tree Druids and resto Shammis in raids because they compliment my point healing. The only down side of the shammi is that chain heal is unpredictable at times and we end up overwriting each other a lot without meaning to.

What is your worst habit as a healer?

(1) Situational awareness. I’ve been known to die without realizing it.  (2) Renew. I drop that sucker on everything. Tanks, DPS, pets, shrubberies and other decor… No wonder I go OOM so much.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

(1) People that attempt emotional blackmail and indirect methods to get you to come heal thier group.  Listen, just ask directly, OK? And if I say I’m busy, don’t try to bargain.

(2) Playing alongside Captain Obvious types. In other words, I don’t like healing stupid people. However, if they shut the hells up, I might toss a frisbee their way.  QUIET stupid people are moderately tolerable.

(3) People that stand in stuff. JUST DON’T.  If you make a habit of it, I will let you die.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?

Classwise, yes. Specwise, as long as I stick to my strengths.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

I don’t do healing meters.  I know if I did my job, if my charge(s) is/are still standing. If we downed that boss.  And I know when I didn’t do my job.   Recount is good to evaluate how you used your heals, but the HPS meter is useless, in my opinion.   But if I see a certain spell’s healz to mana ration is low, I get interested.  I don’t ignore analysis tools, but I only work with appropriate ones.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

That we’re everyone’s bitch. I run with a good bunch of people, so largely I am given proper respect as a person. It doesn’t hurt that a lot of them have healer alts, so they appreciate my work, and I theirs. That helps a lot. But there are so many people that will abuse a healer’s very nature.

While I’m on the subject, my favorite NON-healing role is the Tank. More than anyone else, the tank earns the healer’s respect and loyalty. A good tank knows the healer’s got his back, and a good healer knows that tank will take a NUCLEAR WEAPON IN THE FACE for you as long as you keep those heals coming.

In a way, it’s kinda a co-dependent relationship, but it’s the axis around which all over roles revolve. Discuss among yourselves.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

(a) Situational awareness. Almost everyone knows to load up Grid and bind things, right? But learning what to do when circumstances change … that’s the rub.  Don’t stand in stuff. Stay alive. Learn to heal and be mobile (something I still need work on).

(2) Know when NOT to heal and conserve mana. Again, guilty. Sometimes it’s unnatural to not be doing anything. I recommend playing with your wand in those cases.

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of over healing, low healing output, etc)?

They would likely see that the resto shammi was outhealing me and /kick me. Buh bye.

Seriously, Disc priests are not chart toppers. Single-target heals with little splash compared to multi-target heals with big splash. It’s like comparing Blizzard versus Frost Bolt.

Haste or Crit and why?

Crit, then haste, because Crit has greater immediate effects. Haste has a downside, too: faster on the mana drain.  So something that gives me moar healz for the same mana makes me happy.

What healing class do you feel you understand least?

Holy Palli. I really have no idea how that works. I need to work on that.

What add-ons do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

Grid. Clique. Decursive. Quartz. X-Perl. Rating Buster.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

I tend to overbias on a stat until I reach a point I am happy with, then work on others. For example, for the last two months I have focused on SP over regeneration; recently I have decided I went too far on that so I am now biasing more towards regeneration until I can heal Iron Council without sweating bullets. Once I am happy with those two, I’ll probably work Crit.

Of course, if I can get all four in an upgrade, I’m ecstatic.

There you have it. Enjoy, if possible!

---

1. Shut up, Flora! [↩]
2. See wut I did thar? [↩]

Fai reported something she saw in Zangarmarsh, and I’m at a loss of words.

A melee Warlock.

Some Orc, Demon spec, level 68 (in a 62 questing area) with his trusty felguard. He’d pull with his wand, his felguard would attack, and then he’d start stabbing with his blade.

I just can’t wrap my head around that. It’s like watching a Mage tank with her face. There are no words.

Stompy!

Yeah, man?

Our DPS is lower than usual – like, a lot!

Why is that, boss?

I don’t know! Yesterday we were doing 2200+, now we’re doing 1700. And I changed nothing!

Well why don’t you look at the logs?

I was afraid you’d say that.

OK, let’s see here … :: shuffle shuffle shuffle ::

Uh … Stompy?

Yeah, man.

You saw that other hunter in the group?

Yeah, man. Survival spec, Naxx epics. He pwnzored you.

Yeah, yeah. But did you see his pet?

Yeah, man. Wolf. The latest and greatest, the new hawtness, the sizzle fo shizzle.

Did you notice …  his DPS?

No … lemme look.

… wow.

Yeah. A Survival Hunter’s non-exotic pet out-dps’d you.  Any idea why?

I … oh, look.

You have “Bite” turned off, boss man.

What?! I didn’t turn it off!

You KNOW that this keeps happening. Why don’t you check first when you go into an instance?

Well, I was kind of hoping for a little help from my big galoot of a partner, if not at least from some engineer in Anaheim.

You work with engineers. What are the odds?

/facepalm

Oy. You’re right.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Seriously? Blizz? Fix this!

I was a bit surprised to the the senior staff log in tonight considering that raiding has been suspended for the week. I was quickly asked to come to the daily (HoS); I was quite happy to. Grimmy needs a new hat.  So off we went.

I found that the goal was also to get a couple of achievements; we failed at the final one because we failed to understand the difference between the two kinds of slimes.  But I got a few.

After that it was decided to storm Gundrak and go for more achievements.  Unfortunately, we were only able to get the one.

Finally, we went for CoS. We planned a timed run, but the tank had never run it before and started the Malgannis fight instead.  I franticaly changed out to the bear which got rofloneshotted.

Once everyone died, we still had time; however, our druid died on the wipe and didn’t take the rez in time to get credit for the kill or a chance to roll on the drake. She was quite cross, and actually left the group in a snit once we downed Mal. Him and Jas should get together and drink. A lot.

I didn’t get the drake, but I got credit of a sort.

I wasn’t aware of it but I had been stacking up Timear quests all along, and this put me over the top.

Overall, my DPS was around 2250. Not bad for an undergeared BM huntard.