tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36215072312062323802024-03-12T18:05:09.583-05:00Pocket HealsKeeping you alive since 2005.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-53030035607754133442011-03-04T18:35:00.001-06:002012-06-17T22:58:07.274-05:00Last Reminder -- I've Moved!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-82569602083816305072011-02-26T17:10:00.000-06:002012-06-17T22:58:12.917-05:00Pocket Heals Moved! (reminder)Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-54235474562978267682011-02-20T15:09:00.001-06:002012-06-17T22:58:16.799-05:00I Have MOVED!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-49001902131707195652011-02-18T19:29:00.000-06:002011-02-18T19:29:42.218-06:00Healing SynergyLast night was an excellent night for raiding in my guild. If Blizzard wants to know how the normal, fulltime job WoW player progresses through raids, they can look at me. My GL even started the raid 30 minutes early so I could head to sleep sooner (plus, his wife is not fond of finishing so late either).<br />
<br />
Wednesday night scenario: Sub-par DPS, People without enchants. 2 druids + 1 shaman healer.<br />
Thursday night scenario: Amazing DPS, everyone enchanted. 1 druid, 1 shaman, 1 paladin healer.<br />
<br />
Wednesday night was a mess. Tonight went well.<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=59220">[Security Measure Alpha]</a> dropped, and despite my urging for our druid to take it, he forced me to roll and of course when that happens...I usually win, and did. So, I have some shiny new bling bling.<br />
<br />
What made tonight different was everyone brought their A-game. Wednesday night, there were unenchanted people, and people who, despite how much I like them, were just not pulling their weight. This frustrated some people, but, I hoped that they were taking notes on the encounters. <br />
<br />
When healing with two druids and me, I felt that we all ran out of mana faster. When we had the paladin + the druid + me, I felt like we had a balance of HoTs, direct healing power, and hybrid power.<br />
<br />
Last night, when we went back in, we three-shot Omnitron and two-shot Magmaw. We went to work on Maloriak and made some decent dents in him. <br />
<br />
The one question I am wondering, though, is...<br />
<br />
Will shoulders and helms be available for justice points when the tiers swap?<br />
<br />
I really want to be able to have pretty alts.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-54008976557125413862011-02-16T19:36:00.001-06:002011-02-16T19:37:34.677-06:00I Think I've Stabilized...The last time I posted, I had just accepted a new job offer with a pretty nice company in town. That company is owned by a much bigger international company, therefore my job is quite fun and exciting. I've met dozens of new people and my coworker (yes, 1) is absolutely tons of fun and friendly. We have a softball game Tuesday night so I need to go buy a new mitt. Throughout the week, though, I wanted to play WoW but came home so tired...it just wasn't happening. Plus, our GM was out of town on a business trip this week. I feel like the slacker officer but I've had to get used to this new "wake up at 6" and "go to bed at 11" schedule. It's a lot different from working 2 PM to midnight.<br />
<br />
I'm so glad those days are DONE!<br />
<br />
As of right now, I have someone I am dating, the same person I've been dating for a year or so that also lives a decent distance away. I have plans to visit in April or May. He's coming to visit in May for a few weeks. Until then, there's not much to do in my free time except workout, cook, try new recipes, play WoW, and work during the week. I live with two other guys (my friend + his little brother) but there's only so much time I want to spend watching NASCAR.<br />
<br />
As a result, I think I now feel like I can play Wednesday and Thursday nights and get enough sleep without feeling like a truck hit me the next morning.<br />
<br />
So, orders of business.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>That Grid article really needs an update. I'll either redo it from scratch again or switch to VuhDoo.</li>
<li>My druid is 85. Priest is 82. She'll be 85 eventually. Paladin is slowly creeping up there. Official off server alts are mage, hunter, rogue, and horde priest.</li>
<li>Write something interesting that hasn't been written about that is helpful to the current Cataclysm healing community, instead of just me babbling about my life (there's only so much of that you want to read, I know. I'm a fairly good looking female who works in an office where all the young men are married and the old guys are too.)</li>
</ul>As far as that...stay tuned. I'm going home this weekend so I may find time to update on my laptop or something.<br />
<br />
Either way, I'm still alive...I just only play Wed. and Thurs. nights now + weekends. I'm just too time crunched for anything else. Food to buy, errands to run!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-85717779514117585162011-01-29T11:24:00.001-06:002011-01-29T11:47:09.657-06:00RL has been Exciting...And also kicking my butt.<br />
<br />
I landed a new, full time, salaried job last week and started this past Tuesday. The day I was given the offer I called my old boss and told her I'd be leaving. She adknowledged it and I figured all was good. She said she wanted me to work the full two weeks and since it was on the weekends I figured fine, I'll do that.<br />
<br />
Then she schedules me for a 2 PM to midnight shift. Umm, what? My new job is 8-5, I told you that. I get that fixed.<br />
<br />
Then I go into work last night and in her infinite wisdom she scheduled me for 5-midnight on a Monday. What.<br />
<br />
EDIT: Apparently she hired another Stephanie. My new boss is also a Steph. SO MANY STEPHIES. I need a better nickname than what they gave me, though. <br />
<br />
I left her a note and will be calling her this morning because Sunday is my LAST DAY and the completion of my two weeks and I am under no obligation to stay longer. I was quite pissed last night but I was able to rant it out on the phone on the way to my car.<br />
<br />
OH, and this weekend, tonight, I am working a 2-midnight shift, and then a 9 AM to 6 PM shift on Sunday.<br />
<br />
So long story short, I LOVE my new job.<br />
<br />
My nickname at work is 'Wow', since my boss and co-worker asked me about my hobbies. Well, once they found that out, I had a new nickname, lol. They are both awesome and my boss says she has no complaints at all for the first week. Score! My co-worker is wonderful and has been training/explaining everything very well. I will be making the department SoP binder as my training commences.<br />
<br />
For now though, I need to go grocery shopping because my roommates are two hungry boys and tend to eat everything in sight if you don't lock it down!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-88422380028288826452011-01-20T12:51:00.000-06:002011-01-20T12:51:16.664-06:00A Lovely Sketch of the Pocket Healer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdH4Xj2E8qbbifA-7OdhGYNV7GDVzcRCVqTS58r7yW1MXLmK_gS2V17G8msdlrOXY_tG665vMXTHzT1ZP_q8Dw_22uCJN2vdm10yXVt7Kq8bCdx_4uqgFz6bLX5ssgTT2sOKtqSu6-hqM/s1600/llani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdH4Xj2E8qbbifA-7OdhGYNV7GDVzcRCVqTS58r7yW1MXLmK_gS2V17G8msdlrOXY_tG665vMXTHzT1ZP_q8Dw_22uCJN2vdm10yXVt7Kq8bCdx_4uqgFz6bLX5ssgTT2sOKtqSu6-hqM/s320/llani.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>Isn't she cute! I love my little draenei and I oh so wish I could draw hair as adorable as that. For the summer I have a mind to just chop my hair off short! Thank you so much <a href="http://manalicious.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/some-mini-sketches-to-finish-the-week/">Vidyala</a>!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-25033697361232689082011-01-08T03:41:00.000-06:002011-01-08T03:41:49.815-06:00[Darkmoon Card: Tsunami] Acquired at the Last MinuteAfter deciding to undertake the task of procuring a card, I soon realized that farming herbs on Mushee, squishing herbs on Llani, and then having a guildie make cards was going to be a time consuming process. I made about 7 cards before I decided to just splurge and purchase the cards with the 20K I had saved up.<br />
<br />
The Ace, 8 and 5 came fairly easy -- I just bought them off the auction house for between 2500 and 3000. One was 3500. Yes, I paid a pretty penny to get this trinket finished before the faire expired. I farmed materials for four more cards, but did not make any waves. I went to sleep, woke up, and bought the 2, 4, and 6. The 5 was given to my by a wonderful friend, Alexicon, which only left the 3.<br />
<br />
Now, the 3 must be the elusive card of the waves set, because I checked both horde and alliance AH to no avail. I farmed herbs for 2 more cards--nada. Not a single wave card the entire process. I'm getting frustrated. All I'm trying to do at this point is gear up my healer with some nice items so that I can be the best I can be in my 10-man raid. <br />
<br />
Then, I see someone advertise that they are looking for a 2, 4, 6, and 8. I realize that this means they have a 3. I ask at first, and inquire if there is a chance I could offer them 5K for their three since it's the last card I need for my healing trinket. I'm promptly declined. I go sit in the corner and mumble to a few friends about my predicament, depressed that a polite offer didn't get the job done. I may not like the answer, but I don't push decisions. If that didn't work, there was nothing else I could do but watch my work go to waste for four weeks until the faire returned. I vent to a few friends with a few choice words but nothing can explain my frustration and disappointment at getting so close but failing.<br />
<br />
Turns out I have two friends who know the person with the 3. One of them, who must have wittier ways than I, manages to convince the 3-owner to part ways with it for me (still amazed by this). A trade window pops up, and said friend has my precious 3. He wouldn't take the money I wanted to give for it, so I am now sneaking to an alt to get a treasured item of mine (my Haunted Momento) to toss at him when he isn't looking. Hee hee. I don't know how much he paid for it (if he did at all), and he'll never tell me. Either way, I'm very grateful to him for being a sweetheart, knowing almost 99% of the people on the server, and somehow being able to convince people to part with items. He is much wiser than moi.<br />
<br />
In my excitement, I rush to Menethil, miss the boat, and while waiting for the next one, he whispers "What would you do if I said the faire was gone?" And I almost start crying. I check the calendar, and I begin to second guess the 11:59 PM time. Was it Friday at 11:59? No way. When I tell him I will probably cry and laugh and then cry some more, he says, "(it's not gone)" and I shake my head. Yes, I'm a very trusting person!<br />
<br />
I make it to the fair, get my trinket, and proudly show it off. Now we both have healing trinkets! We spend a few minutes tossing leather balls around and I now feel like a huge load has been taken off my back.<br />
<br />
As a thank you to the guy who parted with the three, and the put a " WTB 3 of Waves, =/ " in trade chat a few seconds later, I sent him a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=67133">[Dizze's Whirling Robe</a>] I had that was originally for my priesty. Yeah, it's prolly overkill, but hopefully he'll understand. My friend is getting a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40110">[Haunted Memento</a>] shortly. I believe in fair trades..and if someone parts with something dear to them, I part with something dear to me.<br />
<br />
Overall, I feel frustrated. I wish I could have at least chosen what deck I wanted my cards to be from when I made my cards, instead of having the process create mostly useless Stones and Winds. I did get a few Embers that are going to another friend/guildie who needs them. My next goal for Llani is to finish her Archaeology and try to get <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=64645">[Tyrande's Favorite Doll</a>] while I save up Valor points for her [<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58184">Core of Ripeness</a>]. If I get the Core before I get the doll, well, then I'll move over to the Tol'vir ring, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=64904">[Ring of the Boy Emperor]</a>.<br />
<br />
But, on the other hand, I feel like one big accomplishment is out of the way, much like when I got my <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=55070">[Elementium Stormshield] </a>made. So much work for one character...I don't think I will be putting a lot of major work into my priest anytime soon. My druid is even further down the list...and just <i>leveling</i> my paladin is a success.<br />
<br />
Once we get a few bosses in Blackwing Descent under our belt, I think I'll start taking Nelena to heroics.<br />
<br />
/tucks her <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62050">[Darkmoon Card: Tsunami]</a> in her pocket and falls fast asleep!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-76357427235811491062011-01-07T02:33:00.000-06:002011-01-07T02:33:27.895-06:00How to Heal: Heroic Blackrock CavernsGetting this instance down will reward you with a great healing mace off the first boss, so let's get crackin'!<br />
<br />
My stats at the time of this dungeon, without totems, but with Earthliving Weapon:<br />
<br />
<b>Health: </b> 104051<br />
<b>Mana: </b> 84905<br />
<b>Spirit:</b> 2425<br />
<b>Intellect:</b> 4006<br />
<b>Haste:</b> 1091 (+8.52%)<br />
<b>Crit:</b> 1172 (+ 6.54%)<br />
<b>Mastery:</b> 386 (+ 10.15 %)<br />
<br />
<b>Average ilvl:</b> 347<br />
Mostly 346 gear with a sprinkling of 359 (2 epics)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIu0iKIDRtW737kly3zonYUyVF_ivqQnb8PWuY-9i00Yo8KH6Sf6m43jeWZXkvzfwdE6DZBJNz0pWV0LNaKxlpPfHhYFtdlwiyCauWUBK_XZe9M6LFq3UI0_J4JP_7-Wuo8l7eL6DuXQ/s1600/brc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIu0iKIDRtW737kly3zonYUyVF_ivqQnb8PWuY-9i00Yo8KH6Sf6m43jeWZXkvzfwdE6DZBJNz0pWV0LNaKxlpPfHhYFtdlwiyCauWUBK_XZe9M6LFq3UI0_J4JP_7-Wuo8l7eL6DuXQ/s640/brc1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTfeHkkABuXDPOa9V0P0Kl3Xl6GWT9Y2x_-rZozyffIu6lNb_QxXPwY79etUdHYqf6dkVpdHsF6JvwHLctZDW-qxR3Wh9hzsiKpBRNjQMkQySl51f2Aks2o89nlzc-Yj4dnfwurbgDOQ/s1600/brc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTfeHkkABuXDPOa9V0P0Kl3Xl6GWT9Y2x_-rZozyffIu6lNb_QxXPwY79etUdHYqf6dkVpdHsF6JvwHLctZDW-qxR3Wh9hzsiKpBRNjQMkQySl51f2Aks2o89nlzc-Yj4dnfwurbgDOQ/s640/brc2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/zone=4926">Blackrock Caverns</a> is actually not as scary as it seems. All the boss fights are about managing mechanics, not so much DPS. Most of the trash pulls can be CC'd, either with sheep, hex, fear (please <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42458">glyph it</a>, warlocks!), or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=76780">Bind Elemental</a>, or<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=710"> Banish</a>. The last two are very important after you kill <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=39698">Karsh Steelbender</a>.<br />
<br />
Boss 1: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=39665">Rom'ogg Bonecrusher</a><br />
<b>Healing Loot:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56312">Torturer's Mercy </a>- Om nom nom Spirit, need I say more?<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56313">Manacles of Pain</a> - Mail, Healing Bracers <br />
<br />
First off, make sure you clear ALL THE ADDS to the left and to the right across the room. You will need plenty of space to run away from Skullcracker. Rom'ogg is just a big bully who likes to chain you down and not play fair. There are four things to worry about in this fight: quake, chains, adds, and skullcrusher. The quick and dirty, copy+paste version is:<br />
<br />
1) DPS and Heals, try to move out of quake as much as you can, so you won't take the 13K damage spike.<br />
2) DPS the chains!<br />
3) It is easiest to AOE down the adds and not worry about killing them with the skullcracker.<br />
4) Don't get hit by the skullcracker, or you WILL die.<br />
<br />
Now, to elaborate on strategy! Quake is a boss ability that will put rumbling ground beneath you. You will most likely take TWO ticks of this no matter what, but if you move out fast enough, you can avoid the 13K damage spike and not have to heal your party up as much. ADDS will spawn from these quake positions--the tank needs to pick these up, and any hunter/rogue needs to misdirect/tricks these to the tank. The easiest thing is to kill these, but if you have a hunter, you can have them drop a trap right when the chains go out. If your DPS is low, don't worry about it, just kill the adds.<br />
<br />
After you kill the chains, RUN AWAY RUN AWAY RUN AWAY or you will die to the Skullcracker and your party will hate you for being lame. Once that is done, rinse and repeat. Move out of quake, don't take the damage spike, control the adds, AOE the adds, DPS the chains, run away from Skullcracker. If anyone in your party is laggy, you may need to replace them for this fight. <br />
<br />
<i>Best time for Heroism/Time Warp: </i>Anytime<br />
<br />
Boss 2: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=39679">Corla, Herald of Twilight</a><br />
<b>Healing Loot:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56297">Armbands of Change</a> -- DPS, but if you have nothing better...<br />
That's all. Pitiful healing drops.<br />
<br />
Corla is fairly straightforward. You have three adds, three beams, and Corla. You want your healer and ranged in the beams as much as possible. If you have 1 ranged, 1 healer, then have the healer take the left, the ranged take the right, and the melee in the middle. Tank Corla next to the middle. Quick and dirty:<br />
<br />
1) Have someone stand in each beam. Let it stack on you to 80, then step out. When your debuff falls off, IMMEDIATELY get back in the beam.<br />
2) Tank Corla near the middle beam so the melee member of your party can DPS her.<br />
3) INTERRUPT Dark Command. This will fear a member of your party, and that is not good. Shammies, drop Tremor Totem. Priests Fear Ward when you can.<br />
<br />
Corla periodically casts Dark Command, which is her fear. It has a 2 second cast and is interruptable. Each beam can be soloed, so be sure to stack up to 80, hop out, then hop back in after your debuff wears off. Don't let zealots evolve, or your tank will get trucked in the face and you will be whimpering in the corner, while firing off heals, forgetting to watch your debuff, and before you know it, your zealot will have evolved too and it's game over! So, watch your stacks.<br />
<br />
<i>Best Time for Heroism/Time Warp: </i> Anytime.<br />
<br />
<br />
Boss 3: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=39698">Karsh Steelbender</a><br />
<b>Healing Loot:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56300">Quicksilver Amulet</a> -- Yummy spirit necklace!<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56303">Heat Wave Leggings </a>-- Mail, Shaman Spirit<br />
<br />
Karsh is also a straightforward fight. First, you pull his two adds separately, and burn the big flame elemental. There is the inner area, and then the grate, and then the outer area. Be sure to kill the troggs to the right and straight forward from the stairway so you have room to maneuver. When you engage Karsh, you want him to be on the opposite side of the fire curtain as you. Quick and dirty:<br />
<br />
1) Tank engages Karsh when he is on the far side of the curtain. This ensures Karsh builds 1-2 stacks immediately and the DPS can begin working on him.<br />
2) Do not add more stacks until the debuff has about 3 seconds left, but do not let it fall off either, or you will get adds before you want to.<br />
3) At 5-6 stacks, let the debuff fall off. DO NOT be standing on the grate, or you will die.<br />
4) Ranged/melee needs to make sure the adds die away from the boss/tank or the magma pools they spawn will reset his stacks.<br />
5) After the adds are dead, drag Karsh through the curtain again.<br />
<br />
There are several ways to do Karsh, but this is the least healing intensive version that we did tonight. The tank slowly stacks the debuffs up to 5 or 6 without letting them fall off. Then, when you reach six, you DO let them fall off, and the DPS picks up the adds and kills them, on the OUTSIDE of the grate. Do not be ON the grate or you will die/take massive damage. Do not kill them near Krash as they will spawn a pool of magma that restart his stacks. The key to this fight is maintaining control and a lot of the pressure is on your MT so go easy on him. <br />
<br />
<i>Best Time for Heroism/Time Warp:</i> Right after you finish killing the first or second set of adds. Pop it as soon as the boss has been freshly debuffed by the fire. <br />
<br />
Boss 4 (optional): Beauty<br />
<b>Healing Loot:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56307">Kibble</a> -- Spirit ring!<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56305">Beauty's Silken Ribbon</a> -- DPS but if you have nothing better, go for it.<br />
<br />
Beauty is optional, but if you are with guildies/have good CC, convince them to do her! <br />
<br />
1) You need to CC as many adds as you can. To help your DPS, you can also CC two of them, and kill the third ASAP. Avoid Runty at all costs. If you kill him, Beauty bezerks and you all die.<br />
2) Use Tremor Totem or fight her in the hallway. Be sure to kill all trash around her entrance.<br />
3) She will periodically do a knockback--there is not much you can do about this. Have your tank fight her in the hallway and put his back to the wall.<br />
4) She periodically spawns 4 points of lava around a person -- don't worry, again, nothing you can do.<br />
5) Don't stand in puddles of golden magma spit.<br />
<br />
Beauty is all about CC. Use hex, sheep, trap, hibernate, and warlock fear. Keep them CC'd! You can always burn one add in the beginning and have the other two focus on CC. That is what we did. We had 2 warlocks for CC (a guild group) so we didn't even need my hex. I didn't realize I could hex beasts until about five minutes ago. Way to go Nat...<br />
<br />
Oh, and don't aggro Runty.<br />
<br />
<i>Best Time for Heroism/Time Warp: </i>Anytime. <br />
<br />
Boss 5: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=39705">Ascendant Lord Obsidius</a><br />
<b>Healing Loot (he's loaded...):</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56322">Crepuscular Shield </a>-- Yummy healing shield.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56324">Kyrstel Mantle</a> -- Cloth, healing<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56321">Willowy Crown </a>-- Leather, DPS, but doubles as healing<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56320">Witching Hourglass</a> -- DPS trinket, but if your trinkets stink...<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56323">Clutches of Dying Light</a> -- Plate, healing gloves!<br />
<br />
Obsidius is a pushover.<br />
<br />
1) Assign 1 dps to kite the adds around. This dps should smack all the adds ASAP, and take off running, making sure the adds stay on him/her. To help your kiter, drop earthbind totem, freezing traps, etc, but do NOT hit the mobs. <br />
2) The adds chase whomever hit them last. Do not let them aggro the tank or the tank will get a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=76189">healing debuff</a> - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=76189">Crepuscular Veil</a>, and your healer will be very angry.<br />
3) Obsidius changes places with an add at 66% and 33%. Be ready to pick him up and have your kiter grab the new add.<br />
4) Dispell the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=93613">Twilight Corruption</a> off your party, esp. your kiter.<br />
<br />
Other than that, there is not much to say! We have used both a DK and a hunter on this fight, and both went well. I used Earthbind totem, which slowed the mobs, and my kiter just ran around in a circle, happy as a clam, while the DPS burned down the boss (he doesn't have that much HP at all). He hits like a pansy and the adds don't hit hard either. Be sure to dispell both the<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=93613"> Twilight Corruption </a>and the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=76186">Thunderclap</a> off your add kiter.<br />
<br />
<i>Best Time for Heroism/Time Warp: </i> Anytime, once your tank and kiter are situated.<br />
<br />
Overall, BRC is a great instance to learn some very important mechanics, mainly, don't get hit by boss abilities that one shot you, don't stand in pools of hurt, and learn how to watch your debuffs AND heal and DPS at the same time. Good luck and have fun!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-32529398277600434112011-01-06T19:28:00.000-06:002011-01-06T19:28:03.123-06:00My Time Sink Peeves With CataclysmI have several peeves right now with the design of Cataclysm. Most of them are glaringly obvious timesinks that were put in just to purposefully slow down the player. Most people, I would guess, only allot about 3 hours to WoW playing a night, and that's being generous. <br />
<br />
<b>Issue #1: Fishing.</b> Sharptooth and Murglesnout. Really? One cooks into a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=88018">mage-food equivalent food</a>. Okay, fine, 1 fairly useless fish is acceptable. But a trash fish that I catch 50% of the time when trying to catch my healing and caster fish? Seriously? AND you don't give the casters and healers a pool, but the tanks and melee do? AND, WHERE is my strength fish? Did you guys just forget to put one in? Sorry melee, you have to go farm crocolisk tails. I'm really sorry.<br />
<br />
<i>Remedy: Turn Murglesnouth into the strength fish, stat. </i><br />
<br />
<b>Issue #2: Heroics.</b> I enjoy the difficulty, I really do. But even with perfect CC, perfect pulls, and perfect bosses, I still have to sit in a dungeon for at least 45 minutes (Vortex Pinnacle) or an hour and a half (Grim Batol). Most of the time, the dungeon isn't perfect. 45 minutes to an hour is about all the time I want to spend in a dungeon, especially when I'm not getting at least a CHANCE at a piece of epic gear at the end.<br />
<br />
Remember BC heroics? Yeah, that's the kind of effort/reward balance I wish Cataclysm had. In Cata, it was overshot. I don't mind working hard, but at least make the last boss give a CHANCE at a special loot table. The effort/reward balance...I just don't see it right now. I would like to get something that looks nice...at least <i>once a week or every 1.5 weeks</i>. <b>That's at least 16 or 24 weeks to make my character look nice again, or about 2/3 the length of a content patch. </b>Right now, it feels like the developers want us to flounder along until the VERY end of the tier..when we may complete our set, but now it's just useless again because the next tier comes out a week later. You have little to no time to enjoy being "done" for a while.<br />
<br />
<i>Remedy: Either add an epic drop to the end of each heroic boss, or a small chest with a flask inside for our class. There doesn't need to be an item for every slot, but at least give us SOMEthing to look forward to. Even a small chest with a flask inside off the end boss in each heroic would be greatly appreciated.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Issue #3: Node Spawn Rates.</b> Northrend had 9 potential zones for herbs, ores, and skinning. Cataclysm has<i> 5. </i>I don't know about your server, but mine is a medium population and we have terrible competition for nodes and farming areas during prime time. There is always at least 15-20 people per zone during the dead of day. Prices are astronomical, mainly because of the limited supply. In order to get anything done, you have to, yet again, devote weeks to farming if you cannot farm in large stretches. I don't understand why the developers think that people sit and play every day for more than three hours a day. Weekends, maybe. I feel like I have to choose between farming flasks for myself and my raid team or making myself gold. No matter what I do, it's either overfarmed or full of trash fish.<br />
<br />
<i>Remedy: Just up the spawn rate so the prices will go down. You know we need flasks for raiding content, so please stop being dicks and just up the spawn rates.</i> <br />
<br />
<i> </i>These three issues really, really annoy me and feel like a glaringly obvious "we want to force you to slow down, you need to go through content at OUR pace that WE dictate for you." My fishing for food for my raid is no longer efficient thanks to the worthless fish that drops 50% of the time. Farming herbs and holding a job? Haha. Farming during the evening barely nets you any herbs or ore on a normal population server. Gold doesn't buy much of anything anymore.<br />
<br />
The majority of my guild works and has about enough time for one heroic a night, with a little bit of farming (perhaps 1 hour). All in all, say, 2.5 or 3 hours tops. In the end, it feels like Blizzard is attempting to drag their content out because they don't have enough manpower to produce it at the previous rates.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-49434792921974326932011-01-02T19:33:00.000-06:002011-01-02T19:33:57.814-06:00How do I Justify my Hobby?I <i>like</i> playing WoW for the following reasons:<br />
<br />
It's cheap. You know how much dinner and a movie costs for 2 people? About $40. And that's for...4 hours of entertainment, tops.<br />
<br />
It's fun. There are things to DO in game. Quests, farming, flying around...<br />
<br />
Socializing! Friends from all around the country. Families who play WoW.<br />
<br />
So why do people who sit and watch television for three hours every night before bed feel the need to rain on my parade? What is so perfect and wonderful about your hobbies that mine is not as good as yours? Is it because all of mine is digital? Intangible? <br />
<br />
I have intellectual hobbies and I have relaxing hobbies. Writing, gardening, cooking, and reading are my intellectual hobbies, and WoW is my relaxing hobby. Bubble baths. Hot showers. Jogging, walking, hiking, visiting state parks (when I have money) and working out.<br />
<br />
When I get home from work every day, all I want to do is shower and do what the F#$@ *I* want to do.<br />
<br />
I'm single. I have many friends. I visit these friends.<br />
<br />
I'll probably be UNFORTUNATELY having to move to Houston to get a better job and stay with my *UGH* aunt. <br />
<br />
This aunt is superficial, too concerned with what other people thing about her, too worried about what people might say, too materialistic, a pessimist, a worry wart, a social butterfly, a drama queen, someone who blows things out of proportion, and will probably hold her tv watching, movie watching, money blowing (on dinners/alcohol) as a "better" hobby than mine. <br />
<br />
I like to work out in the morning. She likes to work out in the evening. I get my shit done early. If she forces me to go waste my time in the evening, time that *I* earned by working some shit office job, I will be thoroughly pissed.<br />
<br />
On top of that, the internet in Houston is cable and B-L-O-Ws. <br />
<br />
I like my WoW hobby. When I get home from work, I get to do what *I* want to do, because I earned it all day. Sure, I'll clean, but for the most part I'm a SMART person who washes dishes immediately after dinner. Wednesday and Thursday evenings, I will be in my room, doing what I earned the time to do. <br />
<br />
And if anyone gives me any shit for it, I will immediately move back to to my old town. Or home. <br />
<br />
On top of that, she basically insinuated that if I don't get back into University this summer (I will) to finish my last class (1 class left for my degree, and it's not required) that I'm going to be a loser working in an office, and that I'll have to be a "secretary" as if that's a terrible job. It's a great job, to be honest. To all the secretaries out there, keep on keepin' on. <br />
<br />
I'm pretty infuriated with my aunt right now, and I know if I move to Houston, I'll be stuck with some superficial obsessed crazy fifty year old who wants to micromanage every aspect of MY life. I'm 25. All I want is a place to sleep for 6 months where I can go to work, come home, and do MY shit until my university says yes. Then I'll be in my old town.<br />
<br />
I just have to make it until May. I hope I last that long.<br />
<br />
And if they say no, well, fuck 'em, I'll just move to Michigan.<br />
<br />
So, what do I say to my aunt IF I have to go to the shittastic, nasty, smoggy, people-crowded, ARMPIT of TEXAS called Houston?Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-40981477558725194792010-12-26T02:03:00.000-06:002010-12-31T05:00:10.662-06:00How to Heal: Heroic Vortex PinnacleAt the time of writing this guide, my stats are (without totems, self buffed) <br />
<br />
<b>Health: </b>99361<br />
<b>Mana: </b>72275<br />
<b>Spirit:</b> 2191<br />
<b>Intellect:</b> 3275<br />
<b>Haste:</b> 860 (+6.72%)<br />
<b>Crit:</b> 693 (10.71)<br />
<b>Mastery:</b> 595 11.32 %<br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Average ilvl:</b> 340<br />
Mostly 333 gear with a sprinkling of 346.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIP-rLLGAsjA6aYPRDkQ2uoCQVKKpZMMwpFfj0QpvjZTSHxBdR1WK-3MxY71kQja0olK_g5MXDzcZCvrxrb34iuaal1AIaD-IQyB2LYxHV9JWI4Aix6jIQA3KYfovV91kdnnzsa7BW_8/s1600/WoWScrnShot_120710_204956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIP-rLLGAsjA6aYPRDkQ2uoCQVKKpZMMwpFfj0QpvjZTSHxBdR1WK-3MxY71kQja0olK_g5MXDzcZCvrxrb34iuaal1AIaD-IQyB2LYxHV9JWI4Aix6jIQA3KYfovV91kdnnzsa7BW_8/s640/WoWScrnShot_120710_204956.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who wouldn't mind wiping in a place as beautiful and stunning as this?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Vortex Pinnacle is an easy heroic in the sense that no mechanics in this dungeon will kill you or your party members instantly. Isn't that nice! This dungeon can be thought of as a training ground or learning area for your party to master mechanics that will be thrown at you in future dungeons. On top of that, it's absolutely GORGEOUS and you won't mind making this your favorite heroic.<br />
<br />
The first time I did this dungeon was Friday afternoon with some guildies. We managed to two-hour our way through the place and I won't mention how many times I swore on vent at the second boss. Let's just say there are probably some sailors blushing. The second time we went through, it ended up being our heroic random (oh, we were so happy!) and we breezed through it and only wiped twice on the second boss. We had some polite DPS who stuck with us and were rewarded with an easy clear through the rest of the dungeon.<br />
<br />
The first trash pull needs to be CC'd as much as possible. Having a shaman here helps a lot. Having a hunter helps also.<br />
<br />
Some elementals will explode and knock you off the edge! You won't die -- you will be teleported back to the front of the entrance, BUT, you need to avoid this as your party may die while you're gone. Luckily we had a pretty tough boomkin who was able to take a few hits on trash until Convel got back to us.<br />
Thank you, Papertiger!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwvaaPdjelOCaB7V3Rm2oJ1KvdQGMSwa5Mm17PAu7N61XfSk44jMV7TT4Nm2-anc0VnUncRdVWYc8Gtj3iuvgw7rln3YNpIqilLCBZZLxfZp1IZMwN4PXamQpTw45Q_uT0soi6AXhdj0/s1600/believeyoucanfly.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwvaaPdjelOCaB7V3Rm2oJ1KvdQGMSwa5Mm17PAu7N61XfSk44jMV7TT4Nm2-anc0VnUncRdVWYc8Gtj3iuvgw7rln3YNpIqilLCBZZLxfZp1IZMwN4PXamQpTw45Q_uT0soi6AXhdj0/s320/believeyoucanfly.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the second punt off the edge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>For the little arcane wormies, have everyone run to the middle, drop your AOE heal ASAP, and tell your dps to unleash hell as fast as possible. Even with a surprise pull of the arcane stars/worms, nobody went past half health. I am not sure why so many people are troubled by this pull. I did not think the incoming damage was enough to send me into panic mode at all. With a single AOE floor heal, I has some control of the damage and could proceed to heal my party up. The faster the worms die, the less damage you deal with.<br />
<br />
Cloud Princes cannot be CC'd. There is one pull where you will encounter two of them. You will need to HoT up your tank and heal him/her pretty hard until at least one prince is down, then you can relax a bit. Use all the tools in your arsenal to avoid any big smack surprises (they can hit for 48-50K on your tank).<br />
<br />
On kitty 5 mob pulls, you will need to use all the CC you can. Adepts can heal, so they need to be CC'd the longest or killed first. Be sure to interrupt their healing! <br />
<br />
There are some kitty pulls where they will be inside of a lightning pyramid. LoS pull these down the ramp and have your party CC as soon as the mobs exit the triangle.<br />
<br />
The Tempest Lurkers will feign death and not bother you as soon as you look at them.<br />
<br />
When running across the bridge with the Howling Gale orbs, be sure to damage them with ranged attacks so you can get by without them tossing you off the edge.<br />
<br />
Young storm drakes need to be LoS pulled so they will not be in their green healing rune. You and your party are able to stand in this rune and be healed so show your healer some love and go stand in it!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=43878">Boss 1: Grand Vizier Ertan</a><br />
<b>Healing Loot:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56357">Biting Wind </a>-- DPS but Healing if you have nothing better.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56359">Fallen Snow Shoulderguards </a>-- DPS but Healing if you have nothing better.<br />
<br />
This boss is a wind elemental who has an addiction to cyclones. When you engage her, a set of cyclones will spawn on the outside of the ring. Be VERY careful when you run in to meet her because if you touch a cyclone, you will get slowed terribly bad (I would say around 80%). Stay on the inside until you see the raid warning that she is retracting her cyclone shield. At this moment, you can do one of two things (right now).<br />
<br />
1) Stay inside. This is the easiest option. You want to zoom your camera out ALL the way so that you are able to see the circle in the middle. You want to stand in the VERY middle of this circle. This ensures that when the cyclones move in, they will not touch you (barely). You will not get the haste debuff. Your ranged DPS should stand on top of you. DROP AN AOE HEAL when the cyclones come in, and then proceed to heal through the lightning damage. Sounds easy, right? It is. It's so easy, the developers might find some way to nerf it.<br />
<br />
2) Run out. Use your skills and don't get hit by a tornado while you are running out. You will be able to then heal your party up and prepare to run back in without getting hit by a tornado. It appears that the damage from staying in and running out is the same. The only difference is that if you are hit by a tornado, your healing spells are slowed SO much that you will barely be able to heal. DON'T get hit by tornadoes! If you are lucky, you will be able to recover if your group has brought healing pots, bandages, etc. One smack from a tornado kills you indirectly by killing your healing.<br />
<br />
This fight teaches you how to avoid tornadoes. They are only moving in one direction so it is an easy learning session.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=43873">Boss 2: Altairus</a><br />
<b>Healing Loot:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56362">Amulet of Tender Breath</a> -- Neck<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56361">Mantle of Bestilled Winds</a> -- Leather<br />
<br />
This boss is a storm dragon who also has an addiction to cyclones. Imagine that. He is similar to normal mode, except that as soon as you engage the boss, mini whirlwinds will spawn all over the area. Your first priority? AVOID THE TORNADOES!<br />
<br />
Altairus will then change the direction of the wind. You will get a raid warning for this. The easiest way to deal with this mechanic is to first avoid the tornadoes.<br />
<br />
Identify which way the wind is blowing. Move yourself very carefully so that you can 1) FACE the dragon. You want your face to be looking at the dragon, with the wind blowing at your back. You may get caught in a terrible position -- don't panic. Avoid the tornadoes, throw your instant HoTs, use your racials, and move yourself into the correct position. In the 5-6 seconds it takes to do this, nobody should die, unless they get hit by more than 1 tornado.<br />
<br />
You can think about this similar to if the dragon were VERY STINKY. You wouldn't want the wind blowing the smell from the dragon into your face, would you? Nope. You also wouldn't want the wind blowing the smell from the dragon onto the back of your head where it can still hit your face. You want to always have your face looking at the dragon with the wind on your back. Imagine yourself rotating around the dragon, keeping him in front of you (even if your face is buried in his wings). The wind will always be hitting your back, and your face will always be "facing" the dragon.<br />
<br />
It only takes a few tries to get used to this mechanic, as you will quickly begin to process "Okay, I'm standing here, I need to move to THERE to be able to face the dragon with the wind at my back."<br />
<br />
The third thing that you should be conscious of but not spend too much time worrying about is the breath. Altairus will do a RANDOM breath on a party member that you cannot really avoid due to the tornadoes and the wind. However, if you keep a decent distance from other party members, you will only have 1-2 people hit at a time instead of 2-3. This will greatly help with healing.<br />
<br />
Also, with the haste buff, you can spam your cheap, small heal over and over to heal up your party members without spending your mana. For shaman, this is Healing Wave. Keep in mind I said cheap heal, not fast heal. Do. not. spam. Healing Surge. Only use HS if you have a party member about to die and you need a heal NOW, as soon as you get the haste buff. Use it 1-2 times, then go back to your Greater Healing Waves to get people out of the danger zone. Then, go to Healing Wave to top people back up.<br />
<br />
The only damage in this fight is from:<br />
1) Tornadoes (avoidable)<br />
2) Breath (may be avoidable but master the tornadoes/wind first)<br />
<br />
DPS, it is your responsibility on this fight to not get hit by tornadoes. This will eat your healer's mana. You will get bounced in the air, possibly land in another tornado, and die. Your life will suck. Don't get hit.<br />
<br />
Tanks, you just need to move according to the guide above since the breath is random.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=43875">Boss 3: Asaad < Caliph of Zephyrs ></a><br />
<b>Healing Loot:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56372">Captured Lightning</a> -- Relic <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=55849">Leggings of Iridescent Clouds</a> -- Cloth<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56374">Lunar Halo</a> -- Plate <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=56373">Ring of Frozen Rain</a> -- Ring<br />
<br />
This boss is your reward for beating the dragon, because it possibly has taken you a few tries to get him down. If you have, congratulations! You are prepared for the rest of the 5 man heroics. On this fight, as a healer, you only have to worry about 2 things:<br />
<br />
1) Dispell the root debuff off the rest of the party. The party can also avoid this debuff by /focus on the boss, and jump when he starts to cast static cling. The server should still register you as "off the ground" when he finishes. There's an acheivement for this. If someone fails to jump, dispell them. Nobody should be taking very much damage.<br />
<br />
2) When he draws the lightning triangle on the ground, GET IN IT! If you don't, you will die.<br />
<br />
There is no way to avoid the chain lightning right after exiting your safe triangle. Don't worry about it, just heal it. Nobody should be taking damage from anything else. Dispell static cling, and you're golden.<br />
<br />
Collect your loots, and CONGRATULATIONS, you have beaten Vortex Pinnacle and learned a few of the mechanics used in the other heroic dungeons.<br />
<br />
However, this place is so pretty, I am sure you will be back for more great loot.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XBGo6HKdgt8PMQxSV2alcHUIG2fCSh6T7LEGdeRmhM1XW6p4_Pj6C8PoC91Pq4Q4pw-dANe8eNggKjPHg15vj4jzIBIJ9bITui2wtIC1ZxWcjZA8TLrkxIFCdI-GzaSS3pM60NBv6Ro/s1600/WoWScrnShot_121710_004730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XBGo6HKdgt8PMQxSV2alcHUIG2fCSh6T7LEGdeRmhM1XW6p4_Pj6C8PoC91Pq4Q4pw-dANe8eNggKjPHg15vj4jzIBIJ9bITui2wtIC1ZxWcjZA8TLrkxIFCdI-GzaSS3pM60NBv6Ro/s640/WoWScrnShot_121710_004730.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ultra graphical settings never looked so good.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtemai5lQKOLZgAKHoJpu46MWIMKKkztoTWkR_u56n5DRE_40fATQPxftHpN1L1kiVhYzCtRzdGWzu4Xqle9hXD-T9U7-NT-aRRK5UEZ_QuiGMidOjBYW6-CHO-elPLQ8efjgsNJ9jLw/s1600/WoWScrnShot_121710_154953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtemai5lQKOLZgAKHoJpu46MWIMKKkztoTWkR_u56n5DRE_40fATQPxftHpN1L1kiVhYzCtRzdGWzu4Xqle9hXD-T9U7-NT-aRRK5UEZ_QuiGMidOjBYW6-CHO-elPLQ8efjgsNJ9jLw/s640/WoWScrnShot_121710_154953.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who wants to live here with me?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-84735612955403762512010-12-21T23:53:00.000-06:002010-12-31T04:59:20.124-06:007 Things to do for Yourself and Your Guild Before The First RaidExactly what the title says! Let's discuss a few things that you can do to help yourself and your guild out before that first raid. You may be 85, sick of regular or heroic dungeons, and wondering "what could I do to take a break, but still help out my guild?" Several things. If you want to keep doing dungeons, then 1 and 2 should help you out. But, this guide will be a general guide for all roles and the fishing and cooking professions.<br />
<br />
HEALING related items will have two asterisks ** next to their name. <br />
<br />
<b>1) Get your shoulder enchants. </b><br />
Your first reputation should be Therazane. The easiest way to do this is do all the Deepholme quests, complete the EPIC finale, and then start your dailies with Therazane. When you finish Deepholme you should be at least Honored. <i> Do yourself a favor and don't skip Deepholme </i>-- not only is the zone very well designed and beautiful but the epic finish to the zone has made it on par or better than Wrathgate (since you actually get to participate in the finale.)<br />
<br />
The Therazane rep vendor is<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=45408"> D'lom</a> @ Therazane's Throne in Deepholme. <br />
<br />
The four shoulder enchants for HONORED reputation are:<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62342">Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone</a> ** (Intellect)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62344">Lesser Inscription of Jagged Stone</a> (Strength)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62347">Lesser Inscription of Shattered Crystal</a> (Agility)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62321">Lesser Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz</a> (Tank)<br />
<br />
The four shoulder enchants for EXALTED reputation are:<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62343">Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone</a> ** (Intellect)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62345">Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone</a> (Strength)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62346">Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal</a> (Agility)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62333">Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz</a> (Tank)<br />
<br />
Side Perk -- 346 REVERED rings @ level 85:<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62352">Diamant's Ring of Temperance</a> ** (Intellect)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62351">Felsen's Ring of Resolve</a> (Strength / Dodge)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62350">Gorsik's Band of Shattering</a> (Strength / Crit)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62348">Terrath's Signet of Balance</a> (Agility)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2) Get your helm enchants.</b><br />
<b> </b>You should be getting nice rewards from questing/instances. After you finish with Therazane reputation, move to your respective faction that gives a helm enchant that you need. These are available at REVERED. See the next paragraph for locations for the vendors.<br />
<br />
Arcanum of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62367">Hyjal </a>(Intellect) **<br />
Arcanum of the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62366">Earthen Ring</a> (Stamina/Dodge)<br />
Arcanum of the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62369">Ramkahen</a> (Agility/Haste) <br />
Arcanum of the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62422">Wildhammer </a>/ <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62368">Dragonmaw</a> (Strength/Mastery)<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>The 5 reputation vendors and a link to their rewards are below:</i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #351c75;">Therazane </span> </b>- <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=45408">D'lom</a> @ Therazane's Throne in Deepholme. <br />
<b><span style="color: #274e13;">Guardians of Hyjal</span></b> - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=50314">Provisioner Whitecloud</a> - Nordrassil Inn in Hyjal<br />
<b><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #073763;">Wildhammer Clan (A)</span> / Dragonmaw Clan (H) </span></b>- <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62422">Craw MacGraw</a> @ Thundermar or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62368">Grot Deathblow</a> @ Bloodgulch in the Twilight Highlands<br />
<b><span style="color: #783f04;">Earthen Ring</span> </b>- <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=50324"> Provisioner Arok</a> @ Silver Tide Hollow in Shimmering Deeps, Vashj'ir<br />
<b><span style="color: #7f6000;">Ramkahen</span> </b>-<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=48617"> Blacksmith Abasi</a> @ Ramkahen in Uldum<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>3) Find the appropriate buff food for your class and farm it. Either identify your guild chef or level your cooking to 525. </b><br />
Recipes for the Alliance are sold by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=49701">Bario Matalli</a> in Stormwind. <br />
Recipes for the Horde are sold by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=49737">Shazdar</a> in Orgrimmar.<br />
<br />
The NPCs standing next to these two vendors also give daily quests (they are VERY easy) to not only gain Chef's Tokens but also level your cooking. Picking 6 pumpkins out of a pumpkin patch with no mobs in sight is probably the easiest thing you'll do throughout the expansion. Do these daily quests! At the very least, you can buy crates of meat and mail them to your guildies. The quests only require level 1 cooking.<br />
<br />
<u>+60 Buff Food (The OK Stuff) (450-500 skill)</u><br />
<br />
450 SKILL<br />
+60 Spirit - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65406">Whitecrest Gumbo</a><br />
+60 Haste -<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65411"> Broiled Mountain Trout</a> <br />
+60 Critical Strike - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65412">Lightly Fried Lurker</a><br />
+60 Hit - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65413">Seasoned Crab</a><br />
+60 Mastery - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65414">Salted Eye</a><br />
+60 Expertise -<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65407"> Lavascale Filet </a><br />
+60 Dodge - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65416">Lurker Lunch</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65412"></a><br />
475 SKILL<br />
+60 Intellect - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65417">Pickled Guppy</a><br />
+60 Agility - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65419">Tender Baked Turtle</a> <br />
+60 Strength - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65418">Hearty Seafood Soup </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<u>+90 Buff Food (The Best Stuff) (500-525 skill)</u><br />
<br />
500+ SKILL<br />
+90 Agility -<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65425"> Skewered Eel</a><br />
+90 Spirit - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65422">Delicious Sagefish Tail </a><br />
+90 Intellect - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65421">Severed Sagefish Head</a><br />
+90 Dodge - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65420">Mushroom Sauce Mudfish</a><br />
+90 Mastery - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65409">Lavascale Minestrone</a><br />
+90 Hit - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65428">Grilled Dragon</a><br />
+90 Expertise - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65430">Crocolisk Au Gratin </a><br />
+90 Parry - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65424">Blackbelly Sushi</a><br />
+90 Strength - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65429">Beer-Basted Crocolisk</a><br />
+90 Haste - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65427">Basilisk Liverdog</a><br />
+90 Crit - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65426">Baked Rockfish</a><br />
<br />
OTHER<br />
<br />
Conjured Mana Cake Equivalents:<br />
If you are fishing for Deepsea Sagefish, you will end up with a lot of <br />
Food - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65423">Fish Fry</a><br />
Water - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65414">Starfire Espresso</a> , <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=65433">South Island Iced Tea</a><br />
<br />
4) <b>Help your guild out by farming the materials for the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62799">Broiled Dragon Feast</a>. </b><br />
If your guild does not yet have the achievement for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=5467">Set the Oven to "Cataclysmic"</a> then you may help out by farming any meat listed above. Imagine the faces of your guildies when you tell them there are Broiled Dragon Feasts in the bank for heroics or the first raid!<br />
<br />
<i>One Feast Takes:</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62782">Dragon Flank</a> x 6 (kill Cataclysm dragons, loot meat)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62785">Delicate Wing</a> x 4 (kill Cataclysm birds, loot meat)<br />
<br />
***Sneaky Workaround (as of 12/21/10): Buy <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58278">Tropical Sunfruit</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58274">Fresh Water</a> from <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=49688">Innkeeper Francis</a> in Highbank or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=49519">Lizzy "Lemons"</a> in Dragonmaw Port. Brew 5000 iced teas. If you feel rich, brew another 5,000 to get the second achievement. There's no telling when this will get hotfixed like the Starfire Espresso so do it quickly.<br />
<br />
5) <b>Fish in fishing pools to help catch 10,000 fish for your guild to get the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62800">Seafood Magnifique Feast.</a></b><br />
<b> </b>By fishing 10,000 fish from pools to get <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=5036">That's a Lot of Bait</a>, you open up access to the +90 stat fish feast. It's going to take a lot of fishing so everyone will appreciate you for fishing! Also, these fish will be worth $$ on the AH, along with the fish used in the cooking recipes mentioned above for buff food. Pick your favorite fish and farm away. However, your guild will benefit greatly if you drop a stack or two in the bank.<br />
<br />
<i>Seafood Feast Takes:</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=53064">Highland Guppy</a> x 4 (found in pools, so you can get materials while working on the achievement)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=53070">Fathom Eel</a> x 4 (found in pools, so you can get materials while working on the achievement)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=53068">Lavascale Catfish</a> x 4 (fished in lava)<br />
<br />
<b>6) Farm herbs for any of the following elixirs, potions, and flasks for you or your guild.</b><br />
<b> </b> All of the herbs listed below are priceless. With the holidays, there is plenty of time to get some farming in and stock up for January when people return to school and jobs. If you can spare the time, consider farming herbs for your guild and having a guild alchemist brew up some pots for the raiders. This will help you out when everyone goes back to a normal schedule.<br />
<br />
<i>Herbs used in Cataclysm brewing (links are to node locations):</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/object=202752">Whiptail</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/object=202751">Twilight Jasmine</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/object=202747">Cinderbloom</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/object=202748">Stormvine</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=52985">Azshara's Veil</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=52986">Heartblossom</a><br />
<br />
<br />
ELIXIRS<br />
<i>Guardian</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58143">Prismatic Elixir </a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58093">Elixir of Deep Earth</a><br />
<br />
<i>Battle</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58084">Ghost Elixir</a> ** (Spirit) <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58094">Elixir of Impossible Accuracy</a> (Hit)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58144">Elixir of Mighty Speed</a> (Haste) <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58092">Elixir of the Cobra</a> (Critical Strike)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58148">Elixir of the Master</a> (Mastery) <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58089">Elixir of the Naga</a> (Expertise) <br />
<br />
POTIONS<br />
<i>Stat Increases</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58091">Volcanic Potion</a> (Increased Spellpower) **<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58090">Earthen Potion</a> (Increased Armor)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58146">Golemblood Potion</a> (Increased Strength)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58145">Potion of the Tol'vir</a> (Increased Agility)<br />
<br />
<i>Fun</i> <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58489">Potion of Illusion</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58488">Potion of Treasure Finding</a><br />
These potions are EXCELLENT! You are able to loot <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=67539">Tiny Treasure Chests</a> occasionally which contain gold, cloth, and volatiles in any combination.<br />
<br />
<i>Mana / Health</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=57191">Mythical Healing Potion</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=57192">Mythical Mana Potion</a> **<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_162729027">Mighty Rejuvenation Potion</a> ** <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=57099">Mysterious Potion</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=57194">Potion of Concentration</a> **<br />
<br />
<i>Utility</i><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58487">Potion of Deepholm<i> </i></a><br />
<br />
FLASKS<br />
Flasks no longer require a special herb such as Frost Lotus to use, BUT, they require double the herbs of the BC and Wrath flasks. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=67438">Flask of Flowing Water</a> (Spirit) **<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58086">Flask of the Draconic Mind</a> (Intellect) **<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58087">Flask of the Winds</a> (Agility) <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58088">Flask of Titanic Strength</a> (Strength)<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58085">Flask of Steelskin</a> (Stamina) <br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=58149">Flask of Enhancement</a> (Alchemists only)<br />
<br />
<b>7) Read boss strategies!</b> <br />
http://www.tankspot.com has some great guides on the first few bosses. Watch movies, read strategies, and see if any friends in other guilds will let you listen to their raids. Learn the fights and be prepared for the curve (it's going to be tough). The best thing you can do for your guild and friends is bring your A-game! There are plenty of videos on Youtube for the heroic dungeons if you are having a bit of trouble.<br />
<br />
http://www.tankspot.com/forumdisplay.php?206-Project-Marmot-TankSpot-Raid-Movie-Guides<br />
<br />
The above link will take you straight to the raid videos on tankspot.com<br />
<br />
There you have it! Some suggestions of things to do; a general pre-raid farming list; a quick "what do I farm and where because my raid is in two days" list. Whatever you want to call it, I hope it helps you all!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b> </b>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-37570125252586250692010-12-01T11:57:00.012-06:002011-01-13T18:51:16.715-06:00Guide to the PvE Restoration Shaman in CataclysmLast Update: 1/13/2011 -- Changed a few Talents Around. The major changes in the upcoming patch are for Mana Tide Totem (now a set percentage of the shaman's mana) and Tremor Totem (now a 6 second duration with a 1 minute timer.<br />
<br />
The goal of this guide is to break down the basics of the restoration shaman for casual raiders to understand. My goal is to explain as clearly as possible what each spell does and why we use it, what talents we take (and what they do), what totems to drop (and when), which glyphs I recommend, and which gems will be viable options throughout Cataclysm. This guide made be altered as times goes on, but it should only change to reflect when we move from gemming spirit into extra intellect (power) and haste (speed).<br />
<br />
Here is my resto shaman's profile : <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/darkspear/llani/advanced">Llani</a> <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><b>Table of Contents:</b></div><ul><li style="text-align: left;">Stats </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Healing Spells </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Talents </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Totems </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Glyphs </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Gems </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Healing Process in 5 Mans / Heroics </li>
</ul><span style="font-size: large;"><b>STATS</b></span><br />
<br />
The primary stats for a restoration shaman include intellect, spirit, haste, and crit. The two most important of these are intellect and spirit. <br />
<br />
Intellect (INT) is what boosts our mana pool, gives us spellpower, and boosts our crit rating. It will be found on every piece of gear we equip. This is our bread and butter.<br />
<br />
Spirit (SPI) is what boosts the regeneration rate of our mana pool. This allows us to heal longer, especially with early tier levels. When you are first starting to convert from blue gear to epic gear, you may need to socket +40 Spirit to your gear even through the first tier. When we get to tier 12, I will revisit this and see how our regeneration is. <br />
<br />
Mastery (M) - is a new stat with Cataclysm. At level 80, each talent tree for each class gets a 'Mastery' buff, and ours is <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77226">Deep Healing</a>. I do not know how Mastery will balance out in our stats, but I would believe that it will be similar to haste and crit -- you want to make sure you have a good amount, but don't overdo it. I would think we would want to max this 'stat' out to 2.5%, but we will see.<br />
<br />
Haste (H) increases our casting speed and allows us to fire off more heals in a shorter period of time. <br />
<br />
Crit (C) increases the chance that we land a critical strike (or in our case, a critical heal) which allows the spell to heal for extra healing.<br />
<br />
We do not use Strength or Agility as Restoration Shaman.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>HEALING SPELLS</b></span></div><br />
The shaman learns one specialized spell (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=974">Earth Shield</a>) and two passive effects (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16213">Purification</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=95862">Meditation</a>) when specializing into the Restoration tree. At level 80, the Mastery for this tree is <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77226">Deep Healing</a>. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">DIRECT HEALING SPELLS</div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgcjGbeMFiC8sZOtJIqATUcPvzcDyC3oqcWWjIsWR3BRBPkyQrQ3mdyjMBftj7N1lQrbv8qSNFFvnhELxyZOckXgCokcIkyBwR2yi3rwE-nzIqvrA3tXu3BSw7jqvlQIgNgGBzcAKa7Hs/s1600/riptide.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgcjGbeMFiC8sZOtJIqATUcPvzcDyC3oqcWWjIsWR3BRBPkyQrQ3mdyjMBftj7N1lQrbv8qSNFFvnhELxyZOckXgCokcIkyBwR2yi3rwE-nzIqvrA3tXu3BSw7jqvlQIgNgGBzcAKa7Hs/s1600/riptide.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=61295">Riptide</a> - Heals a friendly target for 2363 and another 3725 over 15 sec. Your next Chain Heal cast on that primary target within 15 sec will consume the healing over time effect and increase the amount of the Chain Heal by 25%.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><i>This spell should be used decently often, but don't cast it if nobody is taking damage. Do not use this as a pre-HoT, or you will run out of mana! Riptide is an instant cast heal that leaves a ticking heal over time (HoT) on the target. If you cast Chain Heal on this target, it will consume the riptide and boost the power of the Chain Heal. Also, due to our <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51564">Tidal Waves</a> talent, we gain a haste boost for our next 2 spells whenever we use Riptide (or Chain Heal). This talent also boosts the critical strike chance of Healing Surge.</i></blockquote></blockquote><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwHP-iig_7u2vkubMcA5CvhtUoe__nf5uJti4HR2CclnL4drjIuc5yPujy_vUMWZjznADGIlgOSVizBdyBZktg5SVpn_iskUWYugSqVruNsJL6kPHL-r5fGBX5xi8cDoj6otNBpG9ZGA/s1600/chainheal.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwHP-iig_7u2vkubMcA5CvhtUoe__nf5uJti4HR2CclnL4drjIuc5yPujy_vUMWZjznADGIlgOSVizBdyBZktg5SVpn_iskUWYugSqVruNsJL6kPHL-r5fGBX5xi8cDoj6otNBpG9ZGA/s1600/chainheal.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1064">Chain Heal</a> - Heals the friendly target for 2967 to 3389, then jumps to heal the most injured nearby targets. If cast on a party or raid member, the heal will only jump to other members. Each jump reduces the effectiveness of the heal by 30%. Heals 4 total targets.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><i>This spell is our multi-target heal. It jumps from the target to up to 4 other targets (without the Glyph of Chain Heal) or up to 5 (with the glyph). It you are healing a melee group, this is the heal to use, along with Healing Rain. But, only use Healing Rain IF you know you will hit at least 3-4 group members. Preferably 4 (assuming you are standing in it. you had BETTER stand in your own AOE heal)</i></blockquote></blockquote><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOktc5NuPxrqAQiLl7qlj8VnamWhbqNRRc6K2R9neUVLnvhpo4F27F6ASZCVlpC3Xxtdkxq8QnoZQZotWqmSSTA1jeS-SNCsW31hA1y9qPjbfVt54PCb-lFETDcJj16WWG1r9cZv7NsZY/s1600/healingsurge.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOktc5NuPxrqAQiLl7qlj8VnamWhbqNRRc6K2R9neUVLnvhpo4F27F6ASZCVlpC3Xxtdkxq8QnoZQZotWqmSSTA1jeS-SNCsW31hA1y9qPjbfVt54PCb-lFETDcJj16WWG1r9cZv7NsZY/s1600/healingsurge.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8004">Healing Surge</a> - Heals a friendly target for 5605 to 6403.<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><i>Our fast heal. This is the equivalent to Flash of Light or Flash Heal. It will drain your mana quickly, though, so be careful. After you cast Riptide, this spell will have a boosted critical strike chance.</i></blockquote></blockquote><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrpeatC52ZBK_IbTqiw94dOIrM4ovC61xpLGAOXTzepOOyiKk_ruTCfHlVwurApkanrjy56jghO9TwrLJ3N9t6mASISOVQKp5izhFlsv8wNwOgAgA8qCowxHOTCOFbh-_PGVeahX2lm0/s1600/healingwave.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrpeatC52ZBK_IbTqiw94dOIrM4ovC61xpLGAOXTzepOOyiKk_ruTCfHlVwurApkanrjy56jghO9TwrLJ3N9t6mASISOVQKp5izhFlsv8wNwOgAgA8qCowxHOTCOFbh-_PGVeahX2lm0/s1600/healingwave.png" /></i></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=331">Healing Wave</a> - Heals a friendly target for 2803 to 3201.<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><i>Our normal, mid-range heal. You will likely find yourself casting Healing Wave because it is a low cost heal. It does not heal as much as Healing Surge or Greater Healing Wave, but, when you cast Riptide or Chain Heal, it will be very fast.</i></blockquote></blockquote><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvgf1T7PW3dX5EVV_fWSxkJZvxVxaz57XE4tjB_AWcjDivs8Ey3NyG9LbTAm09DAQLtnEu3VCqg33ONwUJm4BtQCrYESkER4LrTNVF8zCkLxhw8sUt7Z1XhUQdNxlGFvdTecn-ffkk84E/s1600/ghw.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvgf1T7PW3dX5EVV_fWSxkJZvxVxaz57XE4tjB_AWcjDivs8Ey3NyG9LbTAm09DAQLtnEu3VCqg33ONwUJm4BtQCrYESkER4LrTNVF8zCkLxhw8sUt7Z1XhUQdNxlGFvdTecn-ffkk84E/s1600/ghw.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77472">Greater Healing Wave</a> - Heals a friendly target for 7473 to 8537.<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><i>If you have the time to cast a longer heal and know when your target is going to take damage, then GHW is what you need. Be careful using this spell, though, because it has a 30% base mana cost. You need to cast Unleash Elements as much as possible before casting GHW, to offset the cost. This means that without any gear on, the base mana for a shaman at level 80 is 4396. At level 85, it is 23430. If you are like me and prefer someone else to do the number crunching and theorycrafting, then just nod your head and keep reading.</i></blockquote></blockquote><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9On4V8fbmxiTwuiFoeKCVHOd2UYkEPB59elPKQtmFs-sMfNnJAJj5knbWcG8tFUB6GVpjR2rxFm9jlsqv9zy0BKQtT4qw0FmwkTccKOAhCszYIc8b3ag27ZvUak3Crm4tHbW3VTuydM/s1600/cleanse.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9On4V8fbmxiTwuiFoeKCVHOd2UYkEPB59elPKQtmFs-sMfNnJAJj5knbWcG8tFUB6GVpjR2rxFm9jlsqv9zy0BKQtT4qw0FmwkTccKOAhCszYIc8b3ag27ZvUak3Crm4tHbW3VTuydM/s1600/cleanse.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51886">Cleanse Spirit</a> - Removes one Curse effect from a friendly target.<br />
<i>This is our curse-removing and magic-removing (talented) spell. Bind this to an easily accessible key and/or use Clique + Grid or Healbot to use it. </i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">ADDITIONAL SPELLS</div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm4VfQurWzXfmVcZY39_nrQRf5Noqk-zQ3wUr2EPd3EGhRxQbJt24gr7NsEpL_cfySEfhyphenhyphenkuPDj0b7YC7yXupzMMqwIJdzJxPYu8iLU8PORKhNuYmhyphenhyphenvb5113SAyd_t3DnjCAC5yUTz0s/s1600/unleash.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm4VfQurWzXfmVcZY39_nrQRf5Noqk-zQ3wUr2EPd3EGhRxQbJt24gr7NsEpL_cfySEfhyphenhyphenkuPDj0b7YC7yXupzMMqwIJdzJxPYu8iLU8PORKhNuYmhyphenhyphenvb5113SAyd_t3DnjCAC5yUTz0s/s1600/unleash.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=73680">Unleash Elements</a> - Focuses the elemental force imbued in the Shaman's weaponry, with the concentrated effects depending on the enchantment unleashed.<br />
<i>Level 81. This spell has a 15 second cooldown and triggers <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=73685">Unleash Life</a>.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnWAfrx8Jl3e5ihW9bYsCMlZrmsfYTSdFoNv7aR7gMMq03VUICiC-VQvahjZrGJ5-cN8gXGwripjC2jArX_32xMTmYHfEvXXugaObxjcQAy3fsMCC6RJV2ccL4FplCb9lQwCd4aZ8qu0/s1600/unleashlife.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnWAfrx8Jl3e5ihW9bYsCMlZrmsfYTSdFoNv7aR7gMMq03VUICiC-VQvahjZrGJ5-cN8gXGwripjC2jArX_32xMTmYHfEvXXugaObxjcQAy3fsMCC6RJV2ccL4FplCb9lQwCd4aZ8qu0/s1600/unleashlife.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=73685">Unleash Life</a> - Unleashes the Earthliving enchantment upon the Shaman's weapon, healing a friendly target for 1916 to 2074 and increasing the effect of the Shaman's next direct heal by 20%.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqksBaY51FYKSkcN5-iA0B2HFHehwxx6GghYylW2PxlplrBv4IWj5NGwu89V66CYi4Y9JHwkxJe92FWujLYU_ups7iTlLacBXulAwq43_UaPWPC2F8N9NQblv6raLZBUXq-3RbHFzHiU/s1600/healingrain.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqksBaY51FYKSkcN5-iA0B2HFHehwxx6GghYylW2PxlplrBv4IWj5NGwu89V66CYi4Y9JHwkxJe92FWujLYU_ups7iTlLacBXulAwq43_UaPWPC2F8N9NQblv6raLZBUXq-3RbHFzHiU/s1600/healingrain.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=73920">Healing Rain</a> - Calls forth healing rains to blanket the area targeted by the Shaman, restoring 690 to 820 health to allies in the area every 2 sec for 10 sec. Healing effectiveness diminishes for each player beyond 6 within the area. <br />
<i>Level 83. This spell is our AOE Heal, much like the Druid's Tranquility.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyygusiadc1t2i_p_zgscbQVdChDWyC2whFGrqpcjn-ZSO34m47BFT-YypMNU92XKZcDkpRtIp3X7lAVQmC5cnKGBVNGgQX0gqZbcF73Qwgs8cPVS1Hl4Al-SiUicZM5WxnhgX4EuJ8Y/s1600/spiritwalker.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyygusiadc1t2i_p_zgscbQVdChDWyC2whFGrqpcjn-ZSO34m47BFT-YypMNU92XKZcDkpRtIp3X7lAVQmC5cnKGBVNGgQX0gqZbcF73Qwgs8cPVS1Hl4Al-SiUicZM5WxnhgX4EuJ8Y/s1600/spiritwalker.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=79206">Spiritwalker's Grace</a> - Calls upon spiritual guidance, permitting movement while casting non-instant Shaman spells. This spell may be cast while casting other spells. Lasts 10 sec.<br />
<i>Level 85. This allows us to cast spells while moving. </i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">ELEMENTAL SHIELDS</div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilpjbMXUd20DA_rM2Dn7euKamJecjssJoZ636jHPvm6CndXjd_MNeOQR-iSuDY9tloAiGW7MEUghyqgz6odL4ycjDciLytJUgCBJMK6pwqvm8Nx6U7dSqmUae7Ff6WdGkB6L3Nj5R-otI/s1600/earthshield.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilpjbMXUd20DA_rM2Dn7euKamJecjssJoZ636jHPvm6CndXjd_MNeOQR-iSuDY9tloAiGW7MEUghyqgz6odL4ycjDciLytJUgCBJMK6pwqvm8Nx6U7dSqmUae7Ff6WdGkB6L3Nj5R-otI/s1600/earthshield.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=974">Earth Shield (ES)</a> - This shield is to be put on your main tank or the target you think you will be healing the most. The reason for this is that nature's Blessing, one of our talents, will increase the effectiveness of your direct heals on Earth Shielded targets by 15% (when you have 3/3 talent points, which you should).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrcFDqEb2pzYO9Hl6vrza4Pf7Id67yzbb5vdUepAWvt53dZfTQaD467MV1tDDOW_vfWMsjG0npK4JDLazHzEvg69kIgrIOavGAD47lU_tBPYtJHuEyb-8W50aYPAEOARh02wNYIBVnvY/s1600/watershield.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrcFDqEb2pzYO9Hl6vrza4Pf7Id67yzbb5vdUepAWvt53dZfTQaD467MV1tDDOW_vfWMsjG0npK4JDLazHzEvg69kIgrIOavGAD47lU_tBPYtJHuEyb-8W50aYPAEOARh02wNYIBVnvY/s1600/watershield.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=52127">Water Shield (WS)</a> - This should be cast on YOU. Not only does it return a set amount of mana every 5 seconds, it also pops one of the globes every few seconds, restoring mana to you. Only one globe can pop every few seconds. This is good when you are occasionally taking damage in fights (aoe effects, auras, melee, ranged, or spell attacks). <br />
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If you are not taking damage, then the globes can be triggered a different way. Our talent <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16196">Improved Water Shield</a> will pop one of our globes 100% of the time if we crit with Healing Wave or Riptide, 60% of the time if we crit with Healing Surge, and 30% of the time if we crit with Chain Heal. Haste plays a big role in this at higher levels of gear, where you will have enough regen to sustain yourself without having to gem extra spirit. You will be able to gem intellect (spellpower) and haste (speed) and by critting often, you will be able to sustain sufficient regeneration levels. In summary, when gearing for heroics, try to grab as much spirit and intellect as possible. After we begin raiding, and have been practicing our healing rotations enough to be comfortable with our mana regeneration, then we can continue building up our haste and intellect.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">WEAPON BUFF</div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnWAfrx8Jl3e5ihW9bYsCMlZrmsfYTSdFoNv7aR7gMMq03VUICiC-VQvahjZrGJ5-cN8gXGwripjC2jArX_32xMTmYHfEvXXugaObxjcQAy3fsMCC6RJV2ccL4FplCb9lQwCd4aZ8qu0/s1600/unleashlife.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnWAfrx8Jl3e5ihW9bYsCMlZrmsfYTSdFoNv7aR7gMMq03VUICiC-VQvahjZrGJ5-cN8gXGwripjC2jArX_32xMTmYHfEvXXugaObxjcQAy3fsMCC6RJV2ccL4FplCb9lQwCd4aZ8qu0/s1600/unleashlife.png" /></a><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51730">Earthliving Weapon</a> - This is one of our five weapon buffs, and boosts our healing by quite a bit. It also includes a proc that adds extra healing (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51945">Earthliving</a>). The talent <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=29079">Elemental Weapons</a> in the Enhancement tree is recommended as it boosts this weapon buff. At the end of the Restoration tree, the talent <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51555">Blessing of the Eternals</a> will help our Earthliving proc guaranteed (80% +20% from weapon buff) if the target is below 35% health (when they'd really need that extra HoT).<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>TALENTS</b></span></div><br />
Here is a picture of my recommended talent tree for starting Cataclysm:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD6jOw4u12ZbRUIVU7OnXB78ntoh2s737EU8mMwIIplUp77p6yo4q-3L9ICTrx_rkRoaf8HpxzbAyCsNmZohaFJb6Lpu_bUAgSg8HJpx6CYfH8vdVouxMmfrpBd0LfBcM-Voy3OeW3f3Q/s1600/talents401.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD6jOw4u12ZbRUIVU7OnXB78ntoh2s737EU8mMwIIplUp77p6yo4q-3L9ICTrx_rkRoaf8HpxzbAyCsNmZohaFJb6Lpu_bUAgSg8HJpx6CYfH8vdVouxMmfrpBd0LfBcM-Voy3OeW3f3Q/s1600/talents401.png" /></a></div></div><br />
All the talents in the Restoration tree that I took are listed below. I did not take 3 talents and they are listed at the end. The talents in the Enhancement and Elemental tree that I took are included at the end of the Restoration talents, because you have to get to the end of your primary tree before you can move over to a secondary tree. There is a line break in between each tier of spells (or rows, if you are looking at your talent trees). Talents in BOLD are very important talents that affect which spells you cast.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">RESTORATION TREE</div><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=84848">Spark of Life</a> - 3/3 - Increases your healing done by 6% and your healing received by 15%.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16215">Tidal Focus</a> - 3/3 - Reduces the mana cost of your healing spells by 6%.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16196">Improved Water Shield</a> - 2/2 - You have a 100% chance to instantly gain mana as if you consumed a Water Shield Orb when you gain a critical effect from your Healing Wave, Greater Healing Wave, or Riptide spells, a 60% chance when you gain a critical effect from your Healing Surge spell, and a 30% chance when you gain a critical effect from your Chain Heal spell.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77796">Focused Insight</a> - 3/3 - <b>After casting any Shock spell, your next heal's mana cost is reduced by 75% of the cost of the Shock spell, and its healing effectiveness is increased by 30%.</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16173">Totemic Focus</a> - Reduces the mana cost of your totems by 15% and increases their duration by 20%. This could be swapped out with Tidal Focus, but, you cast far more spells than you drop your totems (in raids). At the beginning of Cataclysm, this talent could be very useful when chaining 5 man dungeons with your guildmates. <b>For the beginning of Cataclysm, you can take this talent for help in 5 mans and entry raids.</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16235">Ancestral Healing</a> - 2/2 - Reduces your target's physical damage taken by 10% for 15 sec after receiving a critical effect from one of your healing spells.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16188">Nature's Swiftness</a> - 1/1 - When activated, your next Nature spell with a base casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=30869">Nature's Blessing</a> - 3/3 - Increases the effectiveness of your direct heals on Earth Shielded targets by 15%.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16205">Soothing Rains</a> - 2/2 - Increases the amount healed by your Healing Stream Totem by 50%, and your Healing Rain spell by 30%.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77130">Improved Cleanse Spirit</a> - 1/1 - Empowers your Cleanse Spirit spell to also remove a magic effect from a friendly target.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=86962">Cleansing Waters</a> - 2/2 - Reduces the cost of Cleanse Spirit by 40%, and when your Cleanse Spirit successfully removes a harmful effect, you also heal the target for 2634 to 2970.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51558">Ancestral Awakening</a> - 3/3 - When you critically heal with a single-target direct heal, you summon an Ancestral spirit to aid you, instantly healing the lowest percentage health friendly party or raid target within 40 yards for 30% of the amount healed.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16190">Mana Tide Totem</a> - 1/1 - Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 10% of the caster's health at the feet of the caster for 12 sec. Party members within 40 yards of the totem have their Spirit increased by 350%.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=82988"><br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51564">Tidal Waves</a> - 3/3 - When you cast Chain Heal or Riptide, you gain the Tidal Waves effect, which reduces the cast time of your Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave spells by 30% and increases the critical effect chance of your Healing Surge spell by 30%.<b> 2 charges.</b><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51555">Blessing of the Eternals</a> - 2/2 - Grants an additional 80% chance to trigger your Earthliving heal over time effect when you heal an ally who is below 35% of total health.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=61295">Riptide </a>- 1/1 - Heals a friendly target for 2363 and another 3725 over 15 sec. Your next Chain Heal cast on that primary target within 15 sec will consume the healing over time effect and increase the amount of the Chain Heal by 25%.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">ENHANCEMENT TREE</div><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51881">Improved Shields</a> - 3/3 - Increases the damage done by your Lightning Shield orbs by 15%, increases the amount of mana gained from your Water Shield orbs by 15%, and increases the amount of healing done by your Earth Shield orbs by 15%.<br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=29079">Elemental Weapons</a> - 2/2 - Increases the passive bonuses granted by your Flametongue Weapon and Earthliving Weapon abilities by 40%, the damage of your extra attacks from Windfury Weapon by 40%, and the effectiveness of the ongoing benefits of your Unleash Elements ability by 50%.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">ELEMENTAL TREE</div><br />
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=17487">Acuity</a> - 2/3 - Increases your critical strike chance with all spells and attacks by 3%. <b></b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">POSSIBLY SKIP THESE TALENTS</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77829">Ancestral Resolve</a> - Reduces damage taken while casting spells by 5%. PvP talent.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=82988">Telluric Currents</a> - Your attunement to natural energies causes your Lightning Bolt spell to restore mana equal to 40% of damage dealt.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=30881">Nature's Guardian</a> - Whenever a damaging attack brings you below 30% health, your maximum health is increased by 5% for 10 sec and your threat level towards the attacker is reduced. 30 second cooldown. You should not be taking damage--your tank should.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>TOTEMS</b></span><br />
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Shaman have three separate 'totem bars' that we can load up and use to drop 4 totems at once. Now, we can't have ALL our totems loaded up in these bars so you need to keep certain ones such as <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8143">Tremor Totem</a> near your totem bars but not in them. It's a situational totem.<br />
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Normally, in a 10 man raid, these are the totems I recommend:<br />
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<blockquote><br />
<b>Water</b> - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=5394">Healing Stream Totem </a>- This totem is a pulsing HoT every two seconds and scales with your spellpower.<br />
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<b>Air</b> - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=3738">Wrath of Air Totem</a> - The totem provides 5% spell haste to all party and raid members within 40 yards.<br />
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<b>Earth</b> -<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8075"> Strength of Earth Totem</a> - The totem increases the Strength and Agility of all party and raid members within 40 yards by 549. <br />
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<b>Fire</b> - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8227">Flametongue Totem</a> - The totem increases the spell power of all party and raid members within 40 yards by 6%.</blockquote><br />
You will use these 4 totems the most. If you have a paladin in your party, he/she will provide you with your mana regeneration that you would normally get from <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=5675">Mana Spring Totem</a>. If you do not have a paladin present, then you should drop Mana Spring Totem.<br />
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The only time you should be replacing Healing Stream is when you want to drop your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=16190">Mana Tide Totem</a> -- this is like an innervate on a stick.<br />
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If you have two shaman in your group, chances are they are either elemental or enhancement. An Enhancement shaman will drop <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8512">Windfury Totem</a> in place of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=3738">Wrath of Air</a>, and will cover the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8075">Strength of Earth </a>for you. That leaves you free to drop <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8512">Stoneskin Totem</a>, which allows your paladin to use a different aura such as <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=19746">(Concentration)</a>.<br />
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An elemental shaman will cover <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77746">Totemic Wrath</a> by dropping their Searing Totem. You do NOT need to drop your Flametongue Totem when an elemental shaman is present. You can also drop a Searing Totem.<br />
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If you have a warrior in your group, then <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=6673">Battle Shout </a>can cover your Strength of Earth Totem. Drop Stoneskin instead and have your paladin use a different aura.<br />
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You can use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8227#comments">4.0.1 Buff Map</a> at the end of the comments to see what buffs other classes share. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">GLYPHS</span></b><br />
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I will only be listing the relevant glyphs for a Restoration shaman. Elemental and Enhancement glyphs will not be discussed. The glyphs with a * beside them are the ones I recommend.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">PRIME GLYPHS</div><br />
<b>*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45775">Glyph of Earth Shield</a> </b>- Increases the amount healed by your Earth Shield by 20%.<br />
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<b>*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45772">Glyph of Riptide</a> -</b> Increases the duration of Riptide by 40%.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41527">*Glyph of Earthliving Weapon</a> </b>- Increase the effectiveness of your Earthliving weapon's periodic healing by 20%.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41541">Glyph of Water Shield</a> - Increases the passive mana regeneration of your Water Shield spell by 50%.<br />
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After experiencing both water shield and earthliving weapon glyphs, I must say that my mana regeneration has stabilized after my guild members learned most of the heroic 5 man fights. I no longer feel the need for Glyph of Water Shield, and instead recommend the Earthliving Weapon Glyph for a boost in your OOMPH power. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">MAJOR GLYPHS</div><br />
*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41517">Glyph of Chain Heal</a> - Increases healing done by your Chain Heal spell to targets beyond the first by 15%, but decreases the amount received by the initial target by 10%.<br />
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*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41533">Glyph of Healing Stream Totem</a> - Your Healing Stream Totem also increases the Fire, Frost, and Nature resistance of party and raid members within 30 yards by 150. (SITUATIONAL)<br />
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<b>*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41534">Glyph of Healing Wave</a> -</b> Your Healing Wave also heals you for 20% of the healing effect when you heal someone else.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41535">Glyph of Totemic Recall </a>- Causes your Totemic Recall ability to return an additional 50% of the mana cost of any recalled totems.<br />
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I selected these glyphs because normally you will be casting Chain Heal for the multi-target heal, not the initial heal. Riptide also boosts your Chain Heal to make up for this. The HST glyph is important for two reasons. First, if you do not have enough players in your 10 man raid to cover a resistance buff you may need, then this totem comes in handy along with providing the healing boost (you don't have to sacrifice your healing totem for elemental resistance). Second, if you have a paladin in your raid, you will not be using your mana totem. You will be using your healing totem. If you have no paladin, use your mana spring totem. The Healing Wave Glyph is a MUST have because we use healing wave quite a bit now.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">MINOR GLYPHS</div><br />
*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43385">Glyph of Renewed Life</a> - Your reincarnation spell no longer requires a reagent.<br />
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*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43344">Glyph of Water Breathing</a> - Your Water Breathing spell no longer requires a reagent.<br />
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*<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43388">Glyph of Water Walking</a> - Your Water Walking spell no longer requires a reagent.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=43386">Glyph of the Arctic Wolf</a> - Alters the appearance of your Ghost Wolf transformation, causing it to resemble an arctic wolf.<br />
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As far as minor glyphs go, it all depends on if you want to carry a stack of ankhs and have a plain wolf form or look like a pretty white wolf and have to give up a bag space. I won't judge.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>GEMS</b></span></div><br />
Beginning of Cataclysm / 5 man heroics -- I am going with +20 INT / +20 SPI for a majority of my sockets until I feel safe healing in heroics. Who knows how long that will take! The following gems are a selection of what you can choose from. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">OPTIONS</div><br />
Blue/Red sockets: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=52236">Purified Demonseye</a> <b>+20 INT / +20 SPI </b><br />
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Red/Yellow sockets: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=52208">Reckless Ember Topaz</a> +20 INT / +20 H or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=52205">Artful Ember Topaz</a> +20 INT / +20 M<br />
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Other Red/Yellow socket option (but not really recommended at this point): <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=52239">Potent Ember Topaz</a> +20 INT / +20 Crit<br />
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You want to treat mastery much like hit, as in, get enough but don't get excessive for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=77226">Deep Healing</a>. We should get enough crit from gear to not have to gem it, as usual. Most of our gear will <i>automatically </i>include intellect and stamina and then either haste, crit or mastery. <b>You will want to get your haste to at least 916, which will allow all three of our HoTs (Earthliving Weapon, Riptide, and Healing Rain) to gain one extra tick.</b> For more elaboration on this topic, see <a href="http://lifeingroup5.com/?p=1760">Vixsin's post @ Life in Group 5</a>.<br />
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Think of mastery as free spellpower. It doesn't really show itself until your targets are lower, but then again, there will be plenty of times in heroics when your targets ARE low, at least for now. Collect and save as much gear as possible! There is nothing wrong with being a packrat. <br />
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Some gear will be intellect, stamina, and then haste and crit. For now, do haste > crit. I have a feeling that Mastery will be just as yummy as haste, especially when people will be getting hit hard. Remember, our mastery is based on our target's health, so it works better when people are actually taking some damage.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>HEALING PROCESS IN 5 MANS and HEROICS</b></span><br />
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<ul><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Before the pull</b></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b>1) <i>Eat your buff food and drink elixirs/flasks.</i> You can choose spirit, intellect, or if you are unusually rich, drop a dragon feast for your group. I recommend making friends with an alchemist and drinking a flask, just in case your party wipes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">2) <i> Examine your group make up. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Do you have a paladin? Ask him to use might and ret aura, and drop your stoneskin totem and healing totem. Do you have an elemental shaman? Both of you need to drop searing totem. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Do you have a warrior? Ask him to battle shout (he should be) and swap out your strength of earth totem for a stoneskin totem. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If you have both a warrior and a paladin, then use earthbind totem and healing stream totem!</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">2) <i>Put Earth Shield on the tank. </i> Target him and type /focus. You can also bind this into a macro so that you only have to target the tank and push your macro. This will always keep your tank's portrait on your screen so that you do not have to retarget him, regardless if you use mouseover macros or not.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">3) <i>Put Water Shield on yourself. </i>Download an addon, either classtimers or power auras, and set yourself up an aura that tells you when your water shield has fallen off. You can also do this for Earth Shield on your focused target.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">4) <i>Are you in an instance where you can bind elementals? </i>If so, then go ahead and ask the tank to wait for you to cast your bind before he makes the pull. This should be treated like any other trap, sheep, or shackle. </span><br />
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<ul><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Pulling Trash and Bosses</b></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: small;">1) <i>Drop your totems so that everyone in your group will benefit.</i> If this means running in with the tank, then so be it. Just watch out and don't get cleaved. Dropping your totems in the doorway of the boss will not help if your party will be fighting very far away.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">2) If your tank is taking a little bit of damage,<i> put Riptide on him</i>/<i>her</i>. This should sustain him for a few seconds. If the pull was botched and he has more mobs than is pleasant, then hit your Unleash Elements and hit him with a Greater Healing Wave. If that doesn't get him out of the danger zone, then slap a Healing Surge on him. After that, you should be able to either Healing Wave him back up until your Unleash Elements is off cooldown.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If the pull went great, then just use a Riptide to get your haste boost, and wait until he takes enough damage to merit using Unleash Elements + Greater Healing Wave. As far as I know, you can also spam Healing Wave until the cows come home because the mana cost is not enough to drain us of mana. However, it is not very powerful, which is why you should mostly use it to top people off. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">You can also use Flame Shock (or any other shock) on the boss, if you have it talented, to reduce the mana cost of your next healing spell. On some bosses, I have plenty of time to use the Telluric Currents talent, but on others, I must be watching to interrupt/be preoccupied. I believe learning heroics will take time. Do NOT get frustrated if you end up wiping once or twice. Look at what happened and decide what you can do to avoid repeating the wipe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">3) <i>Use Nature's Swiftness if anyone is in danger of dying, but, give priority to the tank if two people are near death.</i> Nature's Swiftness is very precious now. Use it carefully!</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">4) <i>Drop a Healing Rain if you know the pull has a lot of AoE damage. </i>Specifically, I can think of the mobs in Throne of the Tides that levitate your party; the magic caster pulls in Grim Batol, and any other pulls where you might be hexed/sheeped/incapacitated and cannot heal your party for a few seconds. You can also use chain heal if your group is able to safely group together without chaining any diseases/magic debuffs.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">5) <i>ON BOSSES, </i>be sure to drop your Mana Tide Totem when you are around 65% mana. This will help it possibly be off cooldown before the fight is over if you need another boost. Use your mana potion when you reach 65% again. Take advantage of any priest Hymn of Hopes or Druid Innervates. ASK NICELY. Do not expect or demand it -- yes, it is nice when the other members of your group watch your mana, but still, be polite. They may need a gentle reminder to pop their mana return for you when you are low. In raids, you should work out a CD rotation with your other healers/dpsers.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">6) Don't forget to use your Heroism/Bloodlust! Mages also get Time Warp now. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE EMPTY! If you reach zero mana and then frantically try to recover, you may wipe. Be proactive; watch your mana pool. It is very important!</span></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-11786129224082271572010-11-26T01:22:00.002-06:002010-12-31T05:00:17.434-06:00Llani the Kingslayer<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOj3mNx2EPIwwuwYLV1mElbN-mS1Tgc1kUEhrWJRbIjDCuwjc5ZiY72LU7ky2MSTdBcyAnFZPVeyAq_1Vsg0baWo8ZJRacEXHUlHs9eIO7xu904MsGSKAx09XvJF_h7YbsE4H2pH4rtM/s1600/WoWScrnShot_112510_235354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOj3mNx2EPIwwuwYLV1mElbN-mS1Tgc1kUEhrWJRbIjDCuwjc5ZiY72LU7ky2MSTdBcyAnFZPVeyAq_1Vsg0baWo8ZJRacEXHUlHs9eIO7xu904MsGSKAx09XvJF_h7YbsE4H2pH4rtM/s640/WoWScrnShot_112510_235354.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I managed to convince a friend of mine to find 8 more people to finish up his 10 man ICC run. We tried getting <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=4601">Been Waiting a Long Time for This</a> a few times but kept messing up during phase 2 and 3. After about 8 attempts we went ahead and just flat out killed him. When we reached 10%, it was right when a bunch of vile spirits were about to land. After we died en mass, I was open-mouthed thinking we had wiped due to exploding spirits. Upon recognizing that we had WON, I shrieked and cheered and giggled like, well, a girl. He didn't drop my mace, but, he did drop a nice <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=51803/telthas-dagger-of-the-blood-king">[Tel'thas, Dagger of the Blood King]</a> for me. OH yeah.</div><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GUwL1v6buZF8eOeiK06cHVSiJ6I6JtPHI_MAo9HUvlJKnGZKS5vIiPZVB7zdrZpxBOmG_qBmaz4BeFp-ZXyFLk5xhEbXQFG15C5-xjG9i-g4_w92YQOx9ZDjrv2DY3G9FP9mZuNBTZU/s1600/WoWScrnShot_060610_234145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GUwL1v6buZF8eOeiK06cHVSiJ6I6JtPHI_MAo9HUvlJKnGZKS5vIiPZVB7zdrZpxBOmG_qBmaz4BeFp-ZXyFLk5xhEbXQFG15C5-xjG9i-g4_w92YQOx9ZDjrv2DY3G9FP9mZuNBTZU/s400/WoWScrnShot_060610_234145.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fishing with one of my best friends, Timo.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">I am sad that I missed last week's kill with <Vythis> <vytis>but studying comes first. One of the healers that was present in last week's run was a healer I am very proud of; he went from knowing next to nothing about druid healing to rocking the socks off good ole' Arthas. On our server, GDKP (gold DKP) runs are very common, and earlier in the year I took him to a few to get him some starting gear. From that he progressed into researching his class, learning his stats and gems, to rocking the healing meters with me. I am happy he was there to help the guild get it's first batch of Kingslayers. In the end, he stepped into a main healing role and was there to rock the healing on his own, like a pro! </vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKSdBdn_j1j6eah5t29d7yywCdbZLoHDup_N2iP3iRRr5nSe2vZQdTmxk7z2HznOKnuLnnhOVglg-UcqWcffCguYDGKIs3o5KTDy2K-8JjmemKIwcjH6uQJ3nB2zLwd8SRGRhMxetaLU/s1600/WoWScrnShot_061210_195520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKSdBdn_j1j6eah5t29d7yywCdbZLoHDup_N2iP3iRRr5nSe2vZQdTmxk7z2HznOKnuLnnhOVglg-UcqWcffCguYDGKIs3o5KTDy2K-8JjmemKIwcjH6uQJ3nB2zLwd8SRGRhMxetaLU/s400/WoWScrnShot_061210_195520.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging out with my peeps.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis>I am proud (and relieved) to have another quality healer to play with on a weekly basis (along with our other druid healer). One of our priest healers recently returned from a long absence, so I think our healing for Cataclysm is set. <b>We will probably roll druid/priest/shaman, as long as our priest sticks around. </b> Eventually I will have three healing toons I can swap in, but I know shaman the best. My shaman is also DPS (I think it should be required for healers). I spent a majority of attempts on the LK tonight as elemental. I even hit 10K DPS a few times! Most of the time I hovered around 8 or 9, which I think is pretty good for not having played elemental in a LONG time.</vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis>With roughly a week and a half to go until Cataclysm is live, I am still thinking about which class I want to play. When I consider my druid and priest, it comes down to one fact: I think I would miss my shaman way too much to shelve her as my main. I started out as a shaman in this game, and when I finally was able to play her again, I was ecstatic. </vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2MZQOfeOELvti4ZumbrRhoXWmOa_0mIWCO-kFtP1iCo-YlG7ccQyemI-jvbbOOq_qyZ1Kj9-MxiyCy29l9_x_ujzDh7l1XcZmvKdNZ0hh4ZsXUgc5C-zy-DZlkeEuA9oom8ZqYITRTI/s1600/WoW___Blue_Sky_by_evion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2MZQOfeOELvti4ZumbrRhoXWmOa_0mIWCO-kFtP1iCo-YlG7ccQyemI-jvbbOOq_qyZ1Kj9-MxiyCy29l9_x_ujzDh7l1XcZmvKdNZ0hh4ZsXUgc5C-zy-DZlkeEuA9oom8ZqYITRTI/s400/WoW___Blue_Sky_by_evion.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://evion.deviantart.com/</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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Shaman is the class I can relate to the most. Shaman is outdoorsy, elemental, in tune with the earth, cool, classy, yet still fun. Shaman is lighthearted, not as tree-huggy as the druid, yet not as religious and prim as the priest. She's not as backwoods as the nature lover but not as worldly as the holy healer. She's a spiritual leader that communes with the earth, wind, water, and flames--the elements that make up the world. She has half her faith in the Earthmother and the other half in Elune; she believes the light exists in spiritual fragments that are ever present in every being on Azeroth. She believes you have to understand the foundation to understand the world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis><br />
</vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis>Funny, that's how I feel. </vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis><br />
</vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis>I don't relate entirely with the green swirly druid. I don't relate entirely with the golden sparkling priest. </vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis></vytis><br />
<vytis> </vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis>I definitely relate to the shaman.</vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis></vytis><br />
<vytis> </vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis>Looks like I found my answer.</vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDj6IdfzNBT1lzpdlwP8CTVz-Hjte1eaXoI8M13jE2lyndEkB_DtOkzaQM4JzBvv9l1dxVK-F6NzXlo3xV8pqKF8iOGUC8_lSDrS35JBbq4PZ_yjm3-15NdWp7XbRpRQy6u6j_1ufU8w/s1600/WoWScrnShot_112610_011423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDj6IdfzNBT1lzpdlwP8CTVz-Hjte1eaXoI8M13jE2lyndEkB_DtOkzaQM4JzBvv9l1dxVK-F6NzXlo3xV8pqKF8iOGUC8_lSDrS35JBbq4PZ_yjm3-15NdWp7XbRpRQy6u6j_1ufU8w/s640/WoWScrnShot_112610_011423.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We got this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><vytis></vytis><br />
<vytis> </vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis><span id="goog_1921696537"></span><span id="goog_1921696538"></span></vytis></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><vytis><br />
</vytis></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-24125377803531692022010-11-23T16:01:00.001-06:002010-11-24T22:35:12.900-06:00Returning to the "Casual Player" MentalityFirst, a story. Yesterday, I got off work around 4 PM and drove to the house where I stay with a friend, packed up my belongings and jumped back in the truck to drive home to the farm. As I was heading out of town, a truck passed me. Normally I wouldn't have given the person a second glance BUT, this truck had a horde sticker on the back. One of those red, upside-down-horseshoe-esque stickers. I was so surprised at this person's real life identification with a video game that I waved and laughed. I really need a pretty blue alliance sticker for my truck. Nobody would believe I play anyway.<br />
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Since I have a job now (money is amazing, let me tell you that) I don't play WoW even close to as much as I used to. They say money can't buy happiness but, it definitely can make things easier, more comfortable, and fun while you pursue it! I usually only get to play Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, and that's only if I don't come home and fall straight asleep. I try to go to bed early Monday and Wednesday since I spend Tue/Thurs at school all day. That narrows down the playtime to maybe 2-3 hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights when I come home. Again, that is, if I don't just go straight to the shower and then bed. I love sleep.<br />
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This new limited playtime has actually caused some different reactions to the game for me that I haven't seen in a while:<br />
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<b>1) I don't know everything I'm doing anymore, and I get to learn new things every week.</b><br />
Remember when you didn't know what would await you when you sat down to play? I do! I logged in last night and a friend summoned me to battle the baddie dragon ONYXIA! Oh my gosh! Go kill a huge dragon? SURE! I joined the group and oh man, that was probably my favorite Onyxia kill of all time. It was unplanned, fun, and I sure as heck beat the crap out of that dragon. I wasn't there for loot. I was there simply to have a good time. Granted that was after two beers but hey, I was happy for the spontaneity of the whole experience. Patch notes? No time to read them. I rely on word of mouth now, and my guildies update me every week. I see something different and ask about it -- someone tells me what happened.<br />
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<b>2) I appreciate the little things.</b><br />
I miss fishing again. I am the only fisherwoman on my server and provide our Dragonfin Angelfish every week unless I forget (and then the server goes without). I love putting on Christmas music, zoning out, and fishing under the stars in Dragonblight. Sure it's only one aspect of the game, but, I love it so much! Some people despise fishing, but I like to relax when I play.<br />
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<b>3) I like playing my alts.</b><br />
Riding through Stranglethorn Vale on my trusty Charger when danger lurks around every corner? Yes please! I feel like I'm lost in the middle of the wilderness, and have to rely on my own skills and defenses to stay alive. A young, unseasoned warrior battling her way to the highest ranks of her peers. Once again, leveling is about the journey instead of just a means to an end. The experiences gained along the way are what matter the most, not just reaching the top. On top of that, the materials (herbs, ore, cloth) gained from exploring are also very valuable now.<br />
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<b>Where do I go from here?</b> I have not picked a main yet, but since Best Buy is still taking Collector's Edition orders, I think I may just go ahead and order one. I am in no rush to play omgatmidnightrightwhenthegameisreleasedeeeeeeeee! I would rather wait, get my copy in the mail, enjoy the leveling process, and take my time. I have class on Dec. 7th anyway. I have work the upcoming weekend. I don't feel like ruining my experience just to get to the level cap faster. What's an extra week or two? My laptop will probably still be broken. My desktop is still a boss though, and performs perfectly with everything on Ultra.<br />
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I still have to choose between Druid, Priest, or Shaman. I like my druid and shaman the most, but still love my priest. And since everyone and their sister is going Druid, I may stick with Shaman or Priest. Who knows. In the end I may just go Druid anyway. I have still not equipped my Jaina's Locket, but having the item in my bags is really the only thing I wanted anyway. I bought it for the flavor text, not the use. <b> Should I play the class I adore and accept that there will be a million other night elf druids, or should I play a class I like and be in demand 99% of the limited time I get to play? </b><br />
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Should I just go blood elf priest and quit the alliance? Hehe. Just kidding. I'm still working on my baby blood elf though. She's 15 now.<br />
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I guess I still have a lot to think about. Hopefully some of you can relate to the three changes I noticed after taking any sort of break or having your playtime sliced down to only a few hours a week.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-7684943526964771092010-11-18T15:17:00.002-06:002010-11-24T22:35:49.718-06:00"We've Not Enough People...We're Going to ToC" "Wait...What? I Didn't Sign up for That..."I mixed a few topics around in my head this week, but none really struck me as "this is what I want to write about." I still intend to do a post detailing my new healing UI setup (although it's pretty straightforward), but for now, I decided to elaborate a little bit on what Zelmaru said over at our favorite home of ruling amphibians, <a href="http://murlocparliament.com/2010/11/18/this-isnt-in-my-contract-when-the-raid-changes-plans-what-are-your-options/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurlocParliament+%28Murloc+Parliament%29">Murloc Parliament</a>:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: x-large;">"</span>When you sign up for a raid, do you sign up for the <i><b>activity itself</b></i>, and if the activity changes, your sign up is void? Or do you sign up for a time slot, and the guild has you for that <b>time slot</b>, regardless of what you end up doing during that time?</blockquote><blockquote>If you sign up for an activity, <i><b>how much of a change in plans</b></i> is so much of a change that you are no longer expected to attend under the original sign up?</blockquote><blockquote>Does it matter whether<i><b> some people still need something </b></i>from the new activity? Does it matter <i><b>what </b></i>they need (i.e. a mount versus an achievement?)</blockquote><blockquote>If changes of plans were common, <i><b>would you think twice before signing up</b></i> for activities?<span style="font-size: x-large;">"</span></blockquote><br />
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A change of plans happens quite often in <Vytis>. Being a smaller guild, if we are missing a few key people due to family/school/RL, we are not always able to raid. By divying up our casual raiders on Tuesday and serious raiders on Wednesday, we were able to alleviate the first problem of having <i>too many</i> people on one night. This has worked great for quite a while and still does, except the midterm/holiday/expansion blast trio has just landed. <br />
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Now, we don't have enough poeple for Tuesdays or Wednesdays (and I'm at fault for missing some Wednesdays). The usual plan of attack is knock out the weekly, and then see what we can do. Tuesday night is flexible. Wednesday night was dedicated to ICC Lich King attempts. Unfortunately it seems that we have too much time in between the attempt nights due to the RL boss.<br />
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<blockquote><i>"When you sign up for a raid, do you sign up for the <b>activity itself</b>, and if the activity changes, your sign up is void? Or do you sign up for a time slot, and the guild has you for that <b>time slot</b>, regardless of what you end up doing during that time?"</i></blockquote>So, I believe that when you sign up for the raid, you should know a few things about what's going on:<br />
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1) Is this a casual or serious raider night? <br />
2) What is the planned instance? <br />
3) Is there a backup instance?<br />
4) Am I required to show up to this raid?<br />
5) Do I want to show up to this raid?<br />
6) Does this raid have a possibility of filling up?<br />
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After you answer these questions, then you can decide whether to be confirmed or tentative. Depending on your RL activities, you may be a person who has to seriously weigh whether or not showing up every single night to not only your progression raids but also the casual nights is a healthy balance. It may be that you want to help the other raid nights but due to school or work, cannot spare more than 1 evening a week. I've moved into this category. If I'm around on a Tuesday night, I'm more than likely doing things for me that other people get to do all weekend. Tue-Thurs is my weekend, but two of those days are taken up by class (until December). If you are extremely fond of your guildmates, then signing up for a general 'raid night' may not bother you, but, if you have limited time to play, then...<br />
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<blockquote><i>"If you sign up for an activity, <b>how much of a change in plans</b> is so much of a change that you are no longer expected to attend under the original sign up?"</i></blockquote>...a change of plans that takes you to a lower tier may not be something you want to do for the evening. If you have a goal to see the Lich King dead, then that is what you sign up for. If you've got something to do, but this one evening is the only night your team can get together, then yes, it is worth it <i>to you</i> personally to sign up and expect to raid TLK. If the plans change, then it no longer becomes something that requires "this specific time slot" to be completed. For example, if you sign up for TLK, and the RL decides the make up won't cut it, and says head to Ulduar, then yes, it is fine to politely ask to be replaced. Many instances can be accomplished on off nights since they are no longer that difficult (compared to the current tier). <br />
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If the changes are more drastic, such as going to old world content, then by all means bow out if you don't feel like doing that. Those are fun things that again, can be done at other times.<br />
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<blockquote><i>"Does it matter whether<b> some people still need something </b>from the new activity? Does it matter <b>what </b>they need (i.e. a mount versus an achievement?)"</i></blockquote>It depends. If a player or two is polite in their request that we run ____ with them, then I am very happy to help as long as I don't have something planned IRL. If it requires a certain group makeup that we don't have, then it's not going to happen. Most of the time, several people need the mount or the achievement no matter where we go, so as long as nobody demands that we take them anywhere, I am happy to accompany them as long as I'm not setting myself up to be exhausted in my classes or at work the next day. Also, I think special things like mounts should be available to all who attend, not neccisarily one individual.<br />
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One scenario we had was when we were first delving into ICC--getting people to work on Rotface and Festergut was like pulling teeth. People would moan and groan and say "let's do ToC" even though only 1-2 people needed gear from there. 7/10 people in the raid were already ICC geared, or no longer needed things from ToC 10. Having to constantly return to previous content to gear up people who only attended once or twice a month became very irritating, despite our wishes to help other guildies. As a result, we settled on the Tuesday casual raider, Wednesday serious raider split and allow raiders with extra time to help the Tuesday group. Your raid's plans and goals should be clearly laid out on your guild website, forums, or in guild information (in game).<br />
<blockquote><i>"If changes of plans were common, <b>would you think twice before signing up</b> for activities?"</i></blockquote>I already do. I think through my list above and decide if I can help out that night's group without stressing myself too much. I actually enjoy raiding anything with my teams, so the "EEEEW ULDUAR" doesn't really happen to me. I love Ulduar; I think the architecture is gorgeous and the gear is beautiful and well designed. I still want to grab some Druid shoulders. In the end, I usually mark myself as tentative and send in a message to a guildie via text to confirm if I will be there or not. At this point in the game, however, a good number of us are just too tired, busy, or worn out from Wrath to be serious raiders. We are trying, though!<br />
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Thank you Zelmaru for a thoughtful topic!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-15605916753245539482010-11-18T14:22:00.001-06:002010-12-31T05:00:35.859-06:00Wednesday Link LoveSince my next post is still in the works (it's on my UI, which I *think* I have finished to a point where I am content with it) I decided to give a little link love today on some helpful, and interesting topics.<br />
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<blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Curious about where to go when December 7th hits? <a href="http://fallingleavesandwings.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/where-should-i-go-again-a-look-at-level-80-85-cataclysm-zones/">Beruthiel</a> has a detailed little post explaining where the new zones are, what level ranges the new dungeons have, and even included a snazzy map!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">How about Rated Battlegrounds? I'm pretty terrible at pvp, but <a href="http://wowphiles.com/2010/11/the-rated-battlegrounds-faq/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wowphiles+%28WoWphiles%3A+Community+World+of+Warcraft+Blog%29">Jason</a> is not!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Brush up on your paper interview skills so your guild applications shine! (Learn more at <a href="http://r4healingtouch.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/tips-for-applying-to-a-guild-as-we-move-towards-cataclysm/">Rank4HealingTouch</a>.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Food for Thought: What happens when your raid changes plans? <a href="http://murlocparliament.com/2010/11/18/this-isnt-in-my-contract-when-the-raid-changes-plans-what-are-your-options/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurlocParliament+%28Murloc+Parliament%29">Zelmaru</a> asks some very thoughtful questions on that issue we have all dealt with yet don't always talk about.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://psynister.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/hand-me-downs-a-poor-mans-heirlooms/">Psynister</a> tears "hand me down" or Heirloom gear apart into all the different categories (what you should dress your toon in, what you should enchant it with, and even how to color coordinate it! He definitely covers it all.</div></blockquote>Read and enjoy!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-33327348051186340302010-10-31T20:21:00.000-05:002010-10-31T20:21:54.781-05:005 Tips For Beating the Pre-Expansion BluesI know I'm not the only one. We've spent too much time playing, too much time trying to get all the achievements on every toon we feel is important to us. With a holiday rolling to a close tonight (Hallow's End) many of us are tired of seeing pumpkins, candy, and daily quests as much as we are in real life. One can't help but groan when thinking about logging on to do...anything.<br />
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I finally managed to get the courage to sit down and peek back at the game after about a week. With getting a new job, a physics exam coming up, and having my exciting Halloween plans crushed (my friend's vehicle broke down), I didn't feel like doing the same repetitive things over and over (Headless Horseman). I figured with one horse on one toon, that was enough. All three of my toons have their squashlings and helms. My little pally is level 43 now, so she's been making progress.<br />
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So, to ward off the slightly depressing slump from "Warcraft Overload" I ignored Blizzcon, bowed out of my weekly raids, gave 1K gold to a friend and put 5K in my guild bank. I still have plenty. I let two up and coming healers in our guild take the spotlight over in the raider raid. I went to bed at 8 PM with knowledge that the raid was doing well and that they weren't desperately dependent on me. I'm a great healer, but being one of the best in your small guild comes with a cost: you are always in demand. It can get tiring knowing that if you need a Wednesday night off, you might be gimping the run for the night. <br />
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I did consider this week that maybe raiding isn't my thing anymore, maybe I am just in the mood to be a casual player who doesn't raid. Raiding does take a good three hours once a week, which is three hours I could be sleeping or doing something else. But, over the weekend I found I had a LOT of time where I would sit down and say "What can I do? I did all my cleaning, but I don't really want to play WoW..." But, here I am, Sunday evening, finally having been tickled by the WoW feather. Playing feels fun. Poking the candy buckets feels fun. Chatting with my guildies and cross country friends feels FUN.<br />
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<b>Tip # 1 to Beat the Pre-Expansion Blues: Log Off.</b><br />
Take a few days, a week, or even more to just not play. Pretend WoW doesn't exist. What would you occupy your time with? Would you watch TV? Read? Go jogging? Would you go to the shooting range, go shopping, go out with friends, go out to dinner, or maybe even cook a big dinner? WoW is a tricky hobby. It can seem like you only spend "a little bit of time" on it, but to get things accomplished, sometimes you spend five hours a night on the weekends. Would you spend five hours in the garage doing woodworking or painting?<br />
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I, personally, went jogging, organized my baskets of stuff, and did a little job hunting for after my current (new and shiny) job ends. I spent an hour or two sitting around with iced tea brainstorming all the fun fantastic ways I am going to blow my spare money. I settled on a new Blackberry Bold 9650 at the end of November and 4 new cutesy polo shirts from American Eagle IF I get the job at Home Depot. Oh, and two new pairs of jeans. I'm also buying a new pair of Nike Running shoes and a pair of tan sandals from Abercrombie and Fitch. Those are about the essentials that I will need going into my new job after mid-December. This one should be my last non-professional job before I graduate with my B.A. in Geology/Minor in English.<br />
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I also made three pitchers of iced tea and drank every one (with the help of my parents). I wrote two more letters to my brother and intend to write a third one tonight (he's in boot camp). <br />
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<b>Tip # 2 to Beat the Pre-Expansion Blues: Clean Out Your Bank Toon.</b><br />
If you're a packrat like me, then cleaning out your bank will give you a break from the usual routine of logging on, raiding, farming, etc. Sit down and decide what items are important to you and what you <i>really</i> <i>don't need.</i> I'm betting there's a lot of stuff you could get rid of to generate some goldflow and to give yourself a clean slate to work with.<br />
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I've recently finished cleaning out my bank. I only kept some essentials (eternal air, water, fire, etc) and some elementals. I also kept a few things like a Sulfuron Ingot, some ore, leather, herbs, and cloth. The money I made was pretty nice (about 1-2K gold).<br />
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<b>Tip # 3 to Beat the Pre-Expansion Blues: Redo Your UI.</b><br />
<b> </b>However, this one sometimes is only a temporary fix. It should be used in conjunction with Tip # 1. Visually rearranging your UI is similar to rearranging your living room or bedroom--it reinvigorates your view and stimulates your brain into thinking it is somewhere new. You can also switch up your mounts, add some non-combat companion pets to the sidebar, and maybe make some macros for your special abilities. I am about to slam dunk, no holds barred, wipe mine bare ass naked clean.<br />
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<b> Tip # 4 to Beat the Pre-Expansion Blues: Roll a New Character For Fun.</b><br />
This character is supposed to distract you from your tricked out, epic geared, amazing 80s. Roll on a new server where you have no contacts, no friends, no bags, no money, and it's just you against the world. Your goal is to defocus, immerse yourself in your character, and try to imagine what they would think, embarking out on their own into the world. You could also tie this in with a story-based blog, where you recount your characters beginnings, past history, and their journey into the world of Azeroth. I'm doing this. Nope, I'm not telling you where I'm going. That's the beauty of it.<br />
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<b>Tip # 5 to Beat the Pre-Expansion Blues: Disable Real ID. </b><br />
<b> </b>I did. I did it because I didn't want even my family or closest friends bugging me when I wanted absolute peace and quiet. I moved over to MSN Messenger where everything seems to be working out nicely. I missed being anonymous. I have kept some of my closest friends I've made through WoW but for the most part, I am happily back to being known as my character. Real ID is nice, but it doesn't allow for an 'invisible' mode. Sometimes I don't want anyone to know I'm on a different server farting around on an alt that was once unknown to everyone but me. I think this notion of "being available, ALL the time" on Real ID, no matter where we are in the game (or in Starcraft) has led to a lot of people becoming burned out from the social aspect of WoW. Unfortunately, that's a big part of the game and without it, the game becomes a bit boring (unless that is your cup of tea). But, an overload of social activity is no good either.<br />
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Therefore, to pull yourself out of the Pre-Expansion Blues Slump, go ahead and try a combination of any of the tips I suggested above. My recommendation would be to first do # 1, then when you come back from your short vacation from WoW, try to focus on what you missed the most and do any of tips # 2-5.<br />
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I hope these will help you all remember what you love about the game!<br />
<b> </b>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-87200657989177933512010-10-28T13:25:00.000-05:002010-12-31T05:00:44.541-06:00Spotlight: Zinn's Thoughts on Priest Tier 11 (Amongst Other Things)Go<a href="http://jinxedthought.blogspot.com/2010/10/tier-11-aquarium-edition.html"> here</a>, and read Zinn's (Jinxed Thoughts) post on all the previous tier sets, the next tier 11, and his thoughts on the other Tier 11 sets. I cracked up several times...mostly when he wrote...(parts where I rofled in my chair are bigger):<br />
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<blockquote>"Tier 6, Vestments of Absolution/Absolution Regalia, was a step back from the pronounced design of tier 5. Instead we got a tier that made us look like Blackbrother Monks from the middle ages. Nothing wrong with that, one doesn't always want to run around looking like the <span style="font-size: large;">Christmas Tree of Heaven (tier 5).</span>" </blockquote><blockquote><em>But...I like looking like a <span style="color: #990000;">Christmas</span> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Tree!</span></em></blockquote><blockquote>"Tier 10 continues the dark design from tier 9 and looks more magey or lockey than priesty really. Also I find the<span style="font-size: large;"> inverted pot</span> we're supposed to wear on our heads looks completely ridiculous and I'd probably refuse to use it even if it was half-decent. Or hide it for sure."</blockquote><blockquote><em>I agree. I do not like the hat, which reminds me of a <span style="color: #674ea7;">Jester's hat</span>, just not as ridiculous.</em></blockquote><blockquote>"It is clear we're designed around the fact that alot of endgame Cataclysm takes place under water. Did they have to make us <span style="font-size: large;">look like aquariums</span> though? The head looks like some bad copy of some underwater suit and the shoulders..<span></span>. well where should I begin. Who ever thought running around with<span style="font-size: large;"> bird-baths on your shoulders</span> would be a good idea should be sentenced to play the game eternally dazed."</blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><div><blockquote><em>Bwuahahaha. Yep, they do look like bird-baths! I do think priests get some great particle effects on our gear, and the way the chestpiece is high cut in the front really looks nice and creative. I would like to see different skins that are designed that way.</em></blockquote><br />
<em>Overall, to reply to Zinn, I think the tier looks unusual yet pleasant. I like it because of the high cut chest in front, and the shoulders do actually look nice with the particle effects. It is a tiny bit over the top as I don't really understand why we couldn't have had some...watery wings or something, but, hey, at least we aren't paladins <span style="font-size: large;">(go go Pink Rocky Ranger!) </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sorry Zinn, I have to disagree; I think the paladin set looks horridly bland and like something from Candyland.</span></em><br />
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Also, I got a new job (Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday) which I start on Nov. 5th. I will not be updating these days nor doing much since I work 6 PM to midnight (ugh) but hey, money is money! It's only until May also, then I will be in my last class and then graduated in August.</div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-55236055428271169442010-10-19T12:40:00.000-05:002010-10-19T12:40:42.139-05:00Warcraft Overload: Too Much of Patch 4.0.1, Raiding, Farming, Alting, and Beta Information...<b>I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.</b> Are you? I went to bed at 10 PM last night and before that had spent the evening cooking with my mother. I definitely welcomed the break from herb farming. With three different characters PLUS Hallow' End to do...well, my head is starting to hurt just thinking about it, and I'm an hour and a half--70 miles away from my computer. I think I brought Ibuprofen with me.<br />
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<b>First, the patch had so many different changes</b>, so many new spells, that trying to tackle them on three toons (plus my slowly leveling paladin alt--she's now 42) has been a big challenge. My UI is STILL busted, although at the moment I believe it IS working, it's just that Blizzard and their stupid disconnect bugs won't STOP. Every time I switch characters--about my third swap my loading bar just gets stuck and boy is it [bleep]ing annoying. Wow. I have cursed like a sailor about ten times so far and flipped my computer the bird double that many times. Most of the time it's directed at Blizzard. Why is it not possible to release a product that at least doesn't D/C you every damn HOUR? Occasionally when I zone into a BG, instance, or switch zones, it will do the "load the bar to full" and then crash. I don't even get d/c'd, it's just a flat out 'let me toss myself off a cliff so you have to reopen me'. I figured a week would be long enough to fix the broken crap, but, no, Blizzcon and their self indulgent weekend-of-overpriced-walking-around-a-convention-floor-to-stand-in-hour-long-lines-just-to-say-I-did is more important. Well how about this. HIRE some more techhie developers to come back and clean up the bugs that seem small but are in reality crashing the entire game repeatedly. Quit sucking up money like a damn SUV gas hog and invest some of it back in your game and company through your employees. If you don't fix things, eventually the game will start to go the way of the dodo. Yes, it really will if you let it go on long enough.<br />
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<b>Now that I've finished ranting about that </b>(I'm afraid to raid, for what if I get d/c'd in the middle of a boss?) let's go back to the spells. I've tried to focus on just my shaman and druid at the moment, because Llani the resto shaman is a healer for our Wednesday night raid team. We missed it last week because our fearless leader forgot to download the patch ahead of time and his wife is also one of our team's DPSers. Tonight (Tuesday the 19th) will probably be a casual run of something. I intend to take Mushee the resto druid so I can get more used to healing on her. I am really leaning toward my druid for Cataclysm still, but, it all depends on who wants to play what. Druids don't have an instant heal like Shaman have with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=61295" style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Riptide</b></a>. Priests have a similar heal in Circle of Healing, but it is instant only and not a HoT. Riptide gives just enough of a buffer on a target that I can follow it up with a fairly quick heal, then maybe move to a longer one or a Chain Heal. For druids...I feel like I'm still putting Rejuv on almost everyone who is going to take damage fairly shortly (or is), using Efflorescence (the big green puddle) and picking a tank to Lifebloom. I am using Regrowth as my new Nourish and so far it has been working out alright. Nourish is MUCH cheaper, but slower to cast. If you have a better grasp at predicting damage on your team, then Nourish is a great way to go. But, you may have a few not-so-fast people in your raid that you may need to heal up very quickly.<br />
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<b>Farming for herbs </b>so far has been pretty good in the mornings on my days off, and pretty pitiful in the evenings when there is nobody around. I ended up selling my herb stacks for 25g each and that is totally fine with me. I can make money much faster this way and I always have a good 4-5 hour block of time per day to farm. On Tue/Thurs I wake up at 5 AM, stay in town all day and am home by 7 PM. I stay up late Tuesdays and Thursdays because (for now) I have no job (I applied at a farm supply store on Friday...cross your fingers!) and working outside on the farm only takes a few hours per day. Maybe I will even start selling my gold to companies, who knows. Maybe I will just become a full time vegetable farmer (wheeeee squash and pumpkins!)<br />
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<b>Myrani the draenei protection paladin</b> has reached level 42. I blew through 32-36 in one sitting, then went to 40, then 42. 1-2 levels an evening seems to be OK. That's about an hour and a half or so. I have paused for now while a friend of mine catches up and then I think I will be able to barrel through instances with a reliable pocket healer (it's weird being in the OTHER role...but I think it is a good learning experience for me). Protection pally has been LOADS of fun and I can't imagine being any other class as a tank. I plan to have her OS be holy, and her MS be protection. She will be strictly for running heroics with the guild, and tanking things for the guild. I think she will stick more to the casual raiding team because I am first and foremost a healer, tanking is "fun" but it doesn't appeal to me as a fulltime gig. Overall, BOOM Avenger's Shield, BOOM Holy Wrath, BOOM Hammer of the Righteous! Did I miss any mobs? Didn't think so!<br />
<br />
<b>As far as the Beta goes, </b>I'm tired of reading about it. At this point the only things I am interested in are the raids and the professions (so I know the fate of Dreamcloth). I fully intend to take my sweet-ass time leveling to 85 on either Llani or Mushee first, then Nelena, then Myrani, then my BE priest on my other server (with a friend) and at the same time on the other Mushee, my Draenei Mage. That will probably occupy me for the first year of the expansion. By then our guild should be rank 25, if not sooner, and the first thing I intend to do when we get the patch is fish up 10,000 fish. With my fishing expertise, I can easily do about 500 a day at the least, 1000 a day at the most. That will give us a nice boost when it comes to raiding. I don't mind being a little behind the gear curve as I do my research and know where to craft/get the best blues and epics for a starting raid set. Plus, getting that fishing recipe will REALLY help us out. Who knows, Mushee might even get a turtle out of it if I do all the fishing in pools in Northrend. So far the raids sound quite exciting and involved, and that pleases me. I like exciting (but not in a bang my head on the desk kind of way) raids that offer a challenge in the way of execution. RNG based encounters do nothing but make me into a very mad and angry and frustrated pocket healer that snaps at people over vent :( So please, Blizzard, no RNG based encounters. Execution-based all the way.<br />
<br />
That's where I stand at the moment...tonight I think I will just go straight to bed after doing my 3 Hallow's End randoms and daily "smash the pumpkin" quest. I need a toothpick on Llani and Mushee and a pumpkin hat on Llani. Myrani got the first set of toothpicks. Pfft. Tomorrow I will try to get a little more organized.Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-68747058375906637762010-10-18T13:59:00.031-05:002010-10-21T14:11:53.464-05:00BA Shared Topic: Voice Chat<i>This week, <a href="http://thearcanery.com/?p=1801">Azryu</a> over at The Arcanery asks, "What if voice chat worked in cross realm dungeons?"</i><br />
<br />
Hmm. My reply is going to be a bit short, since the question is small! However, it brings up a good thought. I am glad it doesn't work. <br />
<ol><li>The thought of interacting with four other COMPLETE strangers, possibly having to mute in game sounds because of them (if muting sounds even affects that aspect) is just too much of a pain to do every single random 5 man dungeon. </li>
<li>Plus, my guess is there would be some annoying players, younger players (who are either immature in what they say or immature and don't need to hear things older players may say) <i> </i>or speech-challenged players, two groups of which could be taken advantage of. That sweet little girl does NOT need a headset to communicate with random strangers on the internet. She really doesn't. </li>
<li>Accountability. People may be rude as all hell over voice chat and not have a care in the world because they aren't on your server. At least if a random pug on your server gets in vent, for a raid, you might have an inkling of who at least a quarter of the people are. If the RL is rude, people will drop.</li>
<li>I'm already chatting with my guild on vent. Why do I need to stop for a random 5 man? </li>
</ol>The only advantage to having voice chat in 5 man cross-realm dungeons is that new strategies in Cataclysm can be more easily explained. There would be no typing or slow explanation of what to do. People could explain reasons why they are going afk "My puppy just peed on the floor" or "BRB jeep in living room" without having to waste time typing it out or inciting use of the vote-kick button for not typing anything. Plus, perhaps, it MIGHT bring the group together a bit, but, you might end up with one of the people in number 2 and either have someone making fun of them or them making fun of someone else. Maybe you.<br />
<br />
So all in all, no voice chat in cross realm dungeons, mainly for reason number 3.<br />
<br />
Other Thoughts:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://violetscribe.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/the-voice-of-the-dungeon/">Aliera @ The Violet Scribe</a><br />
<a href="http://blacksen.com/archives/588">Blacksen @ Blacksen's End</a><br />
<a href="http://thearcanery.com/?p=1801">Azryu @ The Arcanery</a>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-33621632661555580762010-10-16T14:34:00.179-05:002010-10-18T12:38:55.260-05:00BA Shared Topic Idea: SecretsFirst, I forgot to make good on my word to <span style="color: #e06666;">Beth</span> @ <a href="http://sororitygirlplayswow.wordpress.com/">Sorority Girl Plays WoW</a> in which I would post the Razorback logo at the beginning of all my blog posts either last week or this week. /embarassed. I am doing this because her <span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">University of Arkansas</span></b> </span>most definitely whooped my <b><span style="color: #660000;">Aggies</span></b>' butts a few weeks ago. (<b><span style="color: #660000;">Texas A&M</span>)</b> But, for now, here is a ferocious little Razorback (<b><span style="color: #cc0000;">UoA</span></b>), and if you click the link below it, you will go to her WoW blog where she talks about her experience as a fresh WoW player starting out at level 1. She recently dinged 70 Friday night. (<span style="color: #e06666;">Congrats Beth!</span>) Her stories are fresh and interesting, amusing, hilarious, sweet, and nostalgic depending on which post you read! My suggestion is to start from the beginning and follow her playing experience as she leveled up to where she is now. At one point we were all level 1 and didn't have a single clue what to expect outside of our starting zone. If you ever wish you could go back to those days, then read through her blog. You'll enjoy every post! Her sweetie Nick occasionally writes a few posts, but for the most part he acts as her guide and advisor throughout Azeroth. And since I need a non-Texas college team to root for...aside from my <b><span style="color: #674ea7;">Tigers</span></b> down in the bayou (<span style="color: #bf9000;">Geaux</span> <span style="color: #351c75;">Tigers</span>!), I think I will add the butt-kickin' hogs to my collection of teams!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTul3RWEddc0AtX0X2a26E9uOPEiRqKx4DXURbC7lSnrLCx8yZAyM6UmawxXSvlZbGNLoSltwxiUFuMy-umJc6FJybkbYjM6E3u9kNk9yBZDhULPJ4bhE2VpYXVyP61M89NhcPIuwL-s/s320/razorback.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't he adorable? Visit Beth @ <a href="http://sororitygirlplayswow.wordpress.com/">Sorority Girl Plays WoW</a>! </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTul3RWEddc0AtX0X2a26E9uOPEiRqKx4DXURbC7lSnrLCx8yZAyM6UmawxXSvlZbGNLoSltwxiUFuMy-umJc6FJybkbYjM6E3u9kNk9yBZDhULPJ4bhE2VpYXVyP61M89NhcPIuwL-s/s1600/razorback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
On to the Shared Topic for this week! Let's just say I've had a really tough time trying to think of something to write about that most people have never seen! <br />
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Syl @ <a href="http://raging-monkeys.blogspot.com/2010/09/world-of-warcraft-secrets-dalarans.html">Raging Monkeys</a> aks: <i>"What wow secrets have you discovered on your long journey through the World of Warcraft? What unexpected, surprising or delightfully 'pointless' things have you chanced upon that add something special to the game for you?"</i><br />
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Since this post got pretty long, I made it into two parts. LOTS of pictures after the break. <i><br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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For my "secrets" in World of Warcraft, I went with a few vendor items from NPCs that most people might not ever think twice about visiting. These fruit vendors, wine connoisseurs, and pastry chefs all have delicious items to purchase that you can share with your friends at any level, or just keep to yourself. First up, my friends, is the lovely tree in Dalaran named Applebough.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio75fY6ULOJjD_bJ8o-bOBBBtkaCGt884BcRafeXer9FFt38dIjyXwbaq_koQpnLF8xNNdFlM30iDv6ANXHAYhwEpcaouPbdlFZNjTgIU7atC2ZUBYOzgeummcblWDo2roq3jOB_bouMc/s640/apple.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a very handsome tree!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio75fY6ULOJjD_bJ8o-bOBBBtkaCGt884BcRafeXer9FFt38dIjyXwbaq_koQpnLF8xNNdFlM30iDv6ANXHAYhwEpcaouPbdlFZNjTgIU7atC2ZUBYOzgeummcblWDo2roq3jOB_bouMc/s1600/apple.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GV3nmz3T21wvEHsm2O5TnzpIRvllLYZeuFnTy_cp8hlic5f3LGgsVOvVja4qlYrQ0LkWZNJdoprQ9b0Nt91d0srGCpWI_Kz4MPML6p0ml3sm_IC3Hjx7yUucZhUduZ2TvwtLfNIWuCM/s1600/FRESH.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Applebough sells this item called "Fresh Apple Juice." Yeah. From an apple tree. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GV3nmz3T21wvEHsm2O5TnzpIRvllLYZeuFnTy_cp8hlic5f3LGgsVOvVja4qlYrQ0LkWZNJdoprQ9b0Nt91d0srGCpWI_Kz4MPML6p0ml3sm_IC3Hjx7yUucZhUduZ2TvwtLfNIWuCM/s1600/FRESH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PLaVe7oRy8IK7ucSjV9ggUJrvDc03hyphenhyphenz5YNEt7pG0-RX7wfg9W5kiZXVyLOuhtdeEufqfqqsj3wDrVvWmv_f2zBfm6kBLNUzQYBF7iOS63q2XryjBiULFqBjrtYSeMPeNGNZOf2sTD0/s1600/bowl.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yummy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PLaVe7oRy8IK7ucSjV9ggUJrvDc03hyphenhyphenz5YNEt7pG0-RX7wfg9W5kiZXVyLOuhtdeEufqfqqsj3wDrVvWmv_f2zBfm6kBLNUzQYBF7iOS63q2XryjBiULFqBjrtYSeMPeNGNZOf2sTD0/s1600/bowl.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVDgg0WnFcTo-D5qtdXVrafu_GN_9U_F49_dhcGsAWewZiMrozmAS3hTMC8ux5Gy6yCTtaDWi-hkap0cPnKMKVOkHMBuVCFr898sRbdWUvumM04tewx6o_M3dP-hNqgOJvsUn7uvTycbQ/s320/bowl2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And a bowl to share.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVDgg0WnFcTo-D5qtdXVrafu_GN_9U_F49_dhcGsAWewZiMrozmAS3hTMC8ux5Gy6yCTtaDWi-hkap0cPnKMKVOkHMBuVCFr898sRbdWUvumM04tewx6o_M3dP-hNqgOJvsUn7uvTycbQ/s1600/bowl2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Second, we have the lovely wine connoisseur Christi Stockton who resides in the "One More Glass" wine and cheese shop near the northern part of Dalaran. She sells wine bottles and barrels that you can set out for your friends to partake in.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI604HM0cwvoL1YCACpc_gw7xQXCA9WwMZuHoP6gUegBhq5W_ZrGJJlZGQK9Hy_ve0V1zrAywZ3nHs8MC59bZy4FFLG-A3r-CjPulOtPUIMnou_mzH12mFyzexWSSXtTHa2Y-V6etvRUU/s640/christi.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fellow wine-o.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI604HM0cwvoL1YCACpc_gw7xQXCA9WwMZuHoP6gUegBhq5W_ZrGJJlZGQK9Hy_ve0V1zrAywZ3nHs8MC59bZy4FFLG-A3r-CjPulOtPUIMnou_mzH12mFyzexWSSXtTHa2Y-V6etvRUU/s1600/christi.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjblVTzfYSpgslT1YqJ2L-5fVW4cObzlHcudJnPzKHtxgwB-smz4xtBHdKng_JMW2PjgSPSdu8JjBhdcQcB5VZVOwkrxDoqFfEGAovlzXUgiwArnUVbLCUVVcJUqaaywUbLvWbfZbeIVvc/s1600/cask.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bring this to your next raid and be the life of the party!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjblVTzfYSpgslT1YqJ2L-5fVW4cObzlHcudJnPzKHtxgwB-smz4xtBHdKng_JMW2PjgSPSdu8JjBhdcQcB5VZVOwkrxDoqFfEGAovlzXUgiwArnUVbLCUVVcJUqaaywUbLvWbfZbeIVvc/s1600/cask.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtA4p724Dv8vB0vJkt9z7eenIb9xmhZTVoPuotADZCLWZhRlTs1Gy4Z_lz7VUu20lYY_jyv9T9Dyqaj-EQmtDFcVuiR1RmJZ9uLHUj-gPx6jrCEb75FuZzMHJEua0Y1R3tf3glL2bKSU/s400/bottlecask.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="286" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bottle in the foreground, cask in the background.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtA4p724Dv8vB0vJkt9z7eenIb9xmhZTVoPuotADZCLWZhRlTs1Gy4Z_lz7VUu20lYY_jyv9T9Dyqaj-EQmtDFcVuiR1RmJZ9uLHUj-gPx6jrCEb75FuZzMHJEua0Y1R3tf3glL2bKSU/s1600/bottlecask.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKjgwWnWIZS3-wqrVl7yB_hicd2xu0EpTonWGAKIPqGYBJ1MPj2_8hD2D0VvDfRYhXaAiV2Q0aVcH44B5LAgDuxgjQCGaLaF68QNzCUSRZNxwTMEwUI0LQQqGIbUeO0etNNgxY-BsLHU/s640/trias.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good looks AND sells cheese? Sign me up.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKjgwWnWIZS3-wqrVl7yB_hicd2xu0EpTonWGAKIPqGYBJ1MPj2_8hD2D0VvDfRYhXaAiV2Q0aVcH44B5LAgDuxgjQCGaLaF68QNzCUSRZNxwTMEwUI0LQQqGIbUeO0etNNgxY-BsLHU/s1600/trias.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Also in the "One More Glass" shop is a member of the Trias family, Lucian, who specializes in my favorite food of all time. CHEESE! He sells two different cheesewheels and a loaf of baked bread. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbptiN-ClAhgLb8mfm-FOm6D3dX49CYIrnrpzGu37Z_NVzrdMUhM4wlajgRr4Rt94Zyv_V1yPzYysaM3o7TbbqfFSm4RxuZTvuJX22zXl5iYC1lV0woUwGlRBUWogK14O4fFA4j53Uy4/s400/WoWScrnShot_101610_173413.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Om nom nom nom. Regular cheese wheel is on the left, bread in the middle, Aged cheese wheel on the right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbptiN-ClAhgLb8mfm-FOm6D3dX49CYIrnrpzGu37Z_NVzrdMUhM4wlajgRr4Rt94Zyv_V1yPzYysaM3o7TbbqfFSm4RxuZTvuJX22zXl5iYC1lV0woUwGlRBUWogK14O4fFA4j53Uy4/s1600/WoWScrnShot_101610_173413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Finally, we have the lovely Amiee who sells my second favorite foods of all time: cakes, brownies, cupcakes, and pies. There need not be a pie vs. cake debate, when you can buy and eat BOTH! Mmm!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzva3I1L97Oku_ZdmeHwMjpXdIJBpd8QBeE-ViFTaX24XcWt4RYnX5f7mSiaJLabiZrK9ZXCEeCRxb26-xUoFKWWyq4ZGFbV_jQ57yNomCpLLRm4chxLP-zNlXa0pC_fw0JPHCygtMMY/s1600/aimee.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzva3I1L97Oku_ZdmeHwMjpXdIJBpd8QBeE-ViFTaX24XcWt4RYnX5f7mSiaJLabiZrK9ZXCEeCRxb26-xUoFKWWyq4ZGFbV_jQ57yNomCpLLRm4chxLP-zNlXa0pC_fw0JPHCygtMMY/s640/aimee.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi303NcTfZbdhIRiErKOcbhgDtOSh6zvmY7iVBkMNcG3RUhddsrhzSNh5jkU61o0RYejDUhlR_J8GTKNBpnhgjeXdBFSACLrJHOKm145mn1MhTdsvlitzoPwn_uNmbncQDG9HSFkBr8xlk/s1600/yummy.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh yes. All of them please. 2 or 3 of each. Mmm cupcakes...milk....pie....doughnuts...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi303NcTfZbdhIRiErKOcbhgDtOSh6zvmY7iVBkMNcG3RUhddsrhzSNh5jkU61o0RYejDUhlR_J8GTKNBpnhgjeXdBFSACLrJHOKm145mn1MhTdsvlitzoPwn_uNmbncQDG9HSFkBr8xlk/s1600/yummy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhminS7MbKgc2KK5E4rO2Uw203dhRg9s4Syqsmm2sTI_K7qRWkrZjJIDmutZpqSWObj-VyQnAIbXYDmXKuhnlES7SHgWzGi7ITJIv0Q6XkdUG4EgRQsz7LU8OF1S-8J6Ci_7Rdd2vTT36c/s400/yummmmmmy.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebration cake on the left, pie in the middle, lovely cake on the right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhminS7MbKgc2KK5E4rO2Uw203dhRg9s4Syqsmm2sTI_K7qRWkrZjJIDmutZpqSWObj-VyQnAIbXYDmXKuhnlES7SHgWzGi7ITJIv0Q6XkdUG4EgRQsz7LU8OF1S-8J6Ci_7Rdd2vTT36c/s1600/yummmmmmy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha81pPklrrbbzh5dijn96_Akp7GsZHufbD0ke0HU4RawIiZKWQkuyiN7N_hehcSoKb8OMF6q8I8bmPb_QUA1ZTRvSUMVDBpRaf1BgfktCt7m64Ix6DMvbUdy7VtkZqfPew-E47Nfwvl6s/s400/yesplease1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes please.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha81pPklrrbbzh5dijn96_Akp7GsZHufbD0ke0HU4RawIiZKWQkuyiN7N_hehcSoKb8OMF6q8I8bmPb_QUA1ZTRvSUMVDBpRaf1BgfktCt7m64Ix6DMvbUdy7VtkZqfPew-E47Nfwvl6s/s1600/yesplease1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPmQH4DEbgxjfjQFRe4Jcwm3Z5GtcBGog6wtGyw0fhlTdUC-qkE7_i5g-Tt50JR92A2zdThEfViEpwZLtU-wJvqq1DAAqt2t1piz8y6oNrDzHFccUHv8AVJ9lFdjHdvJb_gAsP1qsl9k/s400/yesplease2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">YES please. CUPCAKES! Notice the face on the gingerbread man with BOTH his arms is a SMILE...and the face on the man on the floor....is an unhappy face. He is also missing an arm, so that may have something to do with it...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPmQH4DEbgxjfjQFRe4Jcwm3Z5GtcBGog6wtGyw0fhlTdUC-qkE7_i5g-Tt50JR92A2zdThEfViEpwZLtU-wJvqq1DAAqt2t1piz8y6oNrDzHFccUHv8AVJ9lFdjHdvJb_gAsP1qsl9k/s1600/yesplease2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Alright my friends. I am now hungry and it's 6 PM -- time for some dinner, butternut squash with brown sugar and butter, and some more Kushaw pumpkin soup. I might finish off my bacon wrapped stuffed Cubanelle peppers from earlier today too. 'Till next weeks topic!Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-5203275612496436742010-10-15T17:10:00.002-05:002010-10-15T21:29:43.035-05:00Creating Custom Graphics For Power Auras<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Part I: Creating Custom Graphics For Power Auras</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqN1D325WnFBjRudfTLs3Qm4ZiIlRioTjY3M-_Bf4uKXInEBrsvUjN5kdxFm2Jb9Cdl4MANBdaH2msjjsFEuxnEMJDldG5khH8myqBRQo_DuxFbIxBRtYiLz1woDRtCbf3JHNPpNZDnQ/s400/paint.net.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Paint.NET Interface.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><i>Part II: Creating Spell Alerts in Power Auras will be coming this weekend. </i><br />
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Ever wanted to make pretty, easily-recognizable spell alerts for your Power Auras, instead of those far-out runes and glowing symbols? Chances are you might even forget once in a while what the rune to the right of your target of target means on your 3rd alt. Here's an easy strategy to create some pretty graphics and place them into your Power Aura folder.<br />
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Before we start, you'll want a graphical editing program. I don't have Photoshop so I use <a href="http://www.getpaint.net/">Paint.NET</a>. It's extremely good and is great for doing things like cropping pictures and making Power Aura buttons!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqN1D325WnFBjRudfTLs3Qm4ZiIlRioTjY3M-_Bf4uKXInEBrsvUjN5kdxFm2Jb9Cdl4MANBdaH2msjjsFEuxnEMJDldG5khH8myqBRQo_DuxFbIxBRtYiLz1woDRtCbf3JHNPpNZDnQ/s1600/paint.net.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqN1D325WnFBjRudfTLs3Qm4ZiIlRioTjY3M-_Bf4uKXInEBrsvUjN5kdxFm2Jb9Cdl4MANBdaH2msjjsFEuxnEMJDldG5khH8myqBRQo_DuxFbIxBRtYiLz1woDRtCbf3JHNPpNZDnQ/s1600/paint.net.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmyjz-g-oyzgHqSayQ_NweeZg8lrD929JibNH3Z64DNbQNeXUhMGQrVtPxWOOzMH7ZZG3F5TdHDsy7Amocnp1XdjldcDMouGJn5P5oNi-V8LcID59wz32QNmyxztZ2gTPAOdByoe_6m4/s1600/Border.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmyjz-g-oyzgHqSayQ_NweeZg8lrD929JibNH3Z64DNbQNeXUhMGQrVtPxWOOzMH7ZZG3F5TdHDsy7Amocnp1XdjldcDMouGJn5P5oNi-V8LcID59wz32QNmyxztZ2gTPAOdByoe_6m4/s1600/Border.gif" /></a>I was turned on to this program by <a href="http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11255-CaithUI.html">Caith</a> who is the author of the Caith UI. She also has done all the graphical work for her UI and the previous version to her current one utilized the basic gray Blizzard texture. She incorporated this color almost everywhere, and used it to create this lovely little image to the left that she shared with the everyone in a tutorial somewhere (that I have been trying to Google and cannot find). But, don't use that one because it's a GIF and low quality. I posted it only for demonstration. Go to <a href="http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11255-CaithUI.html">Caith's UI</a> and download her UI. The button is found under <b style="color: #3d85c6;">"CaithUI\Interface\AddOns\ButtonFacade_Caith\Textures\border.TGA" </b><b>This is the blank button that she suggests you use to make your own little spell icons as you can see in her UI screenshot here:</b><a href="http://s.wowinterface.com/preview/pvw40887.jpg"><b> </b>http://s.wowinterface.com/preview/pvw40887.jpg</a> She has her own version of a spell alert tutorial that I cannot find at the moment (so you can see two different methods) so I went ahead and wrote this one from scratch with fresh pictures.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJI4HOQIFzNiP1KvyPpoO0VhO2cxxu6NUYY1nmtoe9z9xUH-49sigs3A2mouYJlbcdcQNhNVUYAdQYDI1XW17D55HcfXNAkvAxr379AHwy_G-jr5H-FUqPnh1c_RqXAWObm9B-hI3suc/s400/pvw40887.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click <a href="http://s.wowinterface.com/preview/pvw40887.jpg">here</a> to see the fullsize screenshot.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJI4HOQIFzNiP1KvyPpoO0VhO2cxxu6NUYY1nmtoe9z9xUH-49sigs3A2mouYJlbcdcQNhNVUYAdQYDI1XW17D55HcfXNAkvAxr379AHwy_G-jr5H-FUqPnh1c_RqXAWObm9B-hI3suc/s1600/pvw40887.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
Okay, now that we have a photo editing program and the basic border button from Caith, let's start making some spell alerts! Being the fast fingered shaman I am, I am sometimes too busy healing to know that my Water Shield has fallen off. Let's fix that.<br />
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First, let's make the button we want to use.<br />
1) Open Paint.NET (PN)/Photoshop (PS). Open the border.TGA file. <b style="color: #3d85c6;">For this tutorial, I will be using Paint.NET.</b> I do not have a copy of PS to work through the steps but the tools are essentially the same.<br />
2) Open http://www.wowhead.com and search for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=52127">Water Shield</a>.<br />
3) Press the Print Screen button on your keyboard. It should say "Pt Sc" or "Prnt Scrn" or something of the like. If you are on a Mac (using Mac OS X), you can use one of the following options from <a href="http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/screencapturemac/ht/macscreenshot.htm">this short tutorial</a>.<br />
<ol><li>To capture the entire desktop, press <b>Command-Shift-3</b>. The screen shot will be automatically saved as a PNG file on your desktop.</li>
<li>To copy the entire desktop, press <b>Command-Control-Shift-3</b>. The screen shot will be placed on your clipboard for you to paste into another program.</li>
<li>To capture a portion of the desktop, press <b>Command-Shift-4</b>. A cross-hair cursor will appear and you can click and drag to select the area you wish to capture. When you release the mouse button, the screen shot will be automatically saved as a PNG file on your desktop. (The file is saved as PDF in Mac OS 10.3 and earlier.)</li>
</ol>4) Go to PN or PS and open a new, blank canvas. Paste your copied screen into this canvas or open your image using the program.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZR4x3dCCpWg_WKaL-NG6AglD-5uPw1so-v7J0iQoWz19h-F0yWcaD7brSo3Cb86LoAl2eLmOlNwLhJtgvttzF1dJkAP5rYLpshST7xDlln1IbQZ-RNocjb5o9mBcht7_LGa4n9eAWqMI/s1600/ec.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5-y2BuKcHKhCzCZMsWTVvirgrOE-VqnrSIBRrU4zkABlcQfdHK0foEM78LRlr3DUGtFvdA0KUq3sTlIH7Fmz0yyn_Eb2EA_v5OHpCzqeVW4mmjiYGQedGwl49D8Cs6mlSqe_EwBXKxo/s1600/rectanglekey.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZR4x3dCCpWg_WKaL-NG6AglD-5uPw1so-v7J0iQoWz19h-F0yWcaD7brSo3Cb86LoAl2eLmOlNwLhJtgvttzF1dJkAP5rYLpshST7xDlln1IbQZ-RNocjb5o9mBcht7_LGa4n9eAWqMI/s400/ec.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chances are you'll get this picture. Click on "Expand Canvas".</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5-y2BuKcHKhCzCZMsWTVvirgrOE-VqnrSIBRrU4zkABlcQfdHK0foEM78LRlr3DUGtFvdA0KUq3sTlIH7Fmz0yyn_Eb2EA_v5OHpCzqeVW4mmjiYGQedGwl49D8Cs6mlSqe_EwBXKxo/s1600/rectanglekey.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The selection tool in Paint.NET</td></tr>
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5 ) We are only interested in the pretty blue Water Shield spell icon in the top left area of the screenshot. Move your mouse over to the 'Tools' column and click on the first icon in the left column. This icon/tool will let you select an area to crop. You can begin by narrowing down the area around the spell. That will make it easier on your eyes, somehow, I promise.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSW4BaDJ7AofFnozSil0ziLedxQs2IqSHpMmO6tPxESd7Fe4z7AwUxlha0K4jDhP3L3ZvgdX2lu2H2mbJiE4Gn0ellOKZ1bxAQpbsVytkhEudzPPiPMjOgjB-S1fRdBMw-HMuzbUH_jg/s400/narrowing.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The selection tool <b>in action</b> in Paint.NET.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSW4BaDJ7AofFnozSil0ziLedxQs2IqSHpMmO6tPxESd7Fe4z7AwUxlha0K4jDhP3L3ZvgdX2lu2H2mbJiE4Gn0ellOKZ1bxAQpbsVytkhEudzPPiPMjOgjB-S1fRdBMw-HMuzbUH_jg/s1600/narrowing.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBSY7Iu52IZ2l4cDwQVoLUcwhhEB8JCG3Gy5ALIx_dWPZI2S6kwgSEdmlxONwv92o0kiMj_jltNTyfWEgryu8-HieKEfabubyw9o5liGN917w0qMTKsEfSEF1FjuEucd81d7-_gbAQQM/s1600/selectspell.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBSY7Iu52IZ2l4cDwQVoLUcwhhEB8JCG3Gy5ALIx_dWPZI2S6kwgSEdmlxONwv92o0kiMj_jltNTyfWEgryu8-HieKEfabubyw9o5liGN917w0qMTKsEfSEF1FjuEucd81d7-_gbAQQM/s1600/selectspell.png" /></a> 6) Now that we can focus on our spell icon, let's take our selection tool again and select the spell icon, as I have done in the picture to the left. It's okay if you select a LOT; in fact, try to get the whole spell. We'll be pasting it BEHIND the border so any extra won't show. If you crop it too small, though, it will show a blank space and will look funny. After you have it selected, go to Edit >> Copy. This will save what you have selected with your Rectangle Tool and nothing else.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjeZ7k7Y9u-DZTfScldcExZj9AIkfoFx1tAM5vyF8jjiBAPnm1Y7mHQXu7gX7BjgjsOyeVWNMlnvUHoMkgXdk_XnRhQvl-kprgvpKL5EiT8-EviEtpEmIIcYjWcljsfn_uQ7owntc9tk/s320/copy.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="306" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edit >> Copy</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjeZ7k7Y9u-DZTfScldcExZj9AIkfoFx1tAM5vyF8jjiBAPnm1Y7mHQXu7gX7BjgjsOyeVWNMlnvUHoMkgXdk_XnRhQvl-kprgvpKL5EiT8-EviEtpEmIIcYjWcljsfn_uQ7owntc9tk/s1600/copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-kz8DVJ05dIxmag0qU8qy07A0OhIipH32_hV9cNNeE-tUJPLCIbAJv0d8I1LyVUnysRmrE9DUGzsRU4LLdVtc2hjln63TEkMJTuMfmAZO8QE2cwVb_4g9F7wPCqEgl5Mp8xbXy2heXE/s320/addlayer.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="302" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Layers >> Add New Layer</td></tr>
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7) If you don't already have your border.TGA icon open, then you should open it. Go to Layers >> Add New Layer in the program as shown above and then move the new Layer (named Layer 1 or Layer 2) up or down so that it is UNDER the Background layer as shown in the picture below. You can see that I have the layer I want to move selected, along with clicking on the blue arrow that is available to be clicked on (yes, that sounds awkward but I can't think of another way to say it.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgInvdlhxE5kKxfqHAMJ3PQ_bv7x3WbZjp-SMzDnu9m1PU4tb02icE3ZrhZkgCGkoO9pbo2Cr6Cxl7rW9evdlL_7KvFgpKwgOuHm-Ho8UHsc4-UksQkQt45tzpUkxGhuWtK0EgMMGAds5M/s1600/movelayer.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Llani says click the blue arrow.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgInvdlhxE5kKxfqHAMJ3PQ_bv7x3WbZjp-SMzDnu9m1PU4tb02icE3ZrhZkgCGkoO9pbo2Cr6Cxl7rW9evdlL_7KvFgpKwgOuHm-Ho8UHsc4-UksQkQt45tzpUkxGhuWtK0EgMMGAds5M/s1600/movelayer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoslF0IvjugbX_qfnlmXqEPsnvz3sy9AfHBRsriCWsG9zux46tbMPmLA7S41ARJhLxh4PP4b4FyHNP834Pu4bQMtT7OC6Cv8GvDmBoaynSydM-nr4AE3_IlqQhzYq6l03RwFVrNHgJSqI/s1600/pasted.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost there...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoslF0IvjugbX_qfnlmXqEPsnvz3sy9AfHBRsriCWsG9zux46tbMPmLA7S41ARJhLxh4PP4b4FyHNP834Pu4bQMtT7OC6Cv8GvDmBoaynSydM-nr4AE3_IlqQhzYq6l03RwFVrNHgJSqI/s1600/pasted.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZgjdMFSblTS-EuBBOI5zEcW5JxTxU32Z9FzWzhjT-1RF4YthmAg1QS7AOtGG3Pq9qW-MkrD6dWTw0098q0ujLqOwMVuPhpfem0A9KSr5MXap1vfvMVt_WGvfERhTdOdVmI6WmSAwifw/s1600/movelayer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> 8) Finally, push Control + V and/or go to Edit >> Paste, and you will see the second to last step of your beautiful new icon. Push the Escape (ESC) key and the selection box will vanish.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBWK1BPo3l24GjZzBp6wKGG6krZsNV_-BkT_FtAizAqIPvAHFBZtqpsbB4ESx61RDkWgLfCBkzXTHOBXkcFUamaM69cwVaV-DeomCl2O0y0pXr5D_FjjMeVoE7gROsGJUVnNdpYbTIrA/s1600/finish.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBWK1BPo3l24GjZzBp6wKGG6krZsNV_-BkT_FtAizAqIPvAHFBZtqpsbB4ESx61RDkWgLfCBkzXTHOBXkcFUamaM69cwVaV-DeomCl2O0y0pXr5D_FjjMeVoE7gROsGJUVnNdpYbTIrA/s1600/finish.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>9) Save your icon in two places. For the first place, make a folder on your desktop and label it PowerAuraMaster. These will be your master copies of your spell icons in case you accidentally overwrite your Power Auras like I did and erase all your beautiful icons. For the second place, you will need to save the icon in <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"> <span style="color: #3d85c6;">\Interface\AddOns\PowerAuras\Custom\watershield.TGA</span></span> </span> It is VERY IMPORTANT that you keep the .TGA file name as this is what Power Auras looks for.<br />
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Now, for part II. We need to set up Power Auras to recognize when my Water Shield has fallen off and I need to recast it. This can work for any buff that you would like to track.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>Part II: Creating Spell Alerts in Power Auras will be coming this weekend. This post will be edited to lead to it. If you know how to set up auras, though, you can use this post to create the graphics.</i></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3621507231206232380.post-53691671309679245132010-10-14T22:02:00.001-05:002010-10-14T22:08:56.697-05:00Stuff my Guild Says Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm Llani, Mushee, Nelena.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And yes, "expertise" does sound like "extra tease"! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Possibly my favorite.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxO_TfpzpocJYNzdfwhr-6HEmB5cm9ZE7MQTzGuHENA63GTX-MP1OdpedmKkCmeZcuVwY1o0OrhQWaWDEYAZDPw-LRcCj_MUBI0yEkzFXW5GcdwU4dDfEgHcceHSuwY17f4B_2yMQbO0/s1600/chat3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7y0WPLNQHvzLELjXlR-ZoiCdfIFjqjFm9b_1KOATjMiML3dnqFvOyF_FnGyKqPAPaM4T68fiKjok5FT45HxMg_4QhHnMEbBUwtH2UyNh2Ji_pWbkTbEyWWY9xFxUK7WYgmcCGmbFk7o/s1600/chat3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwedojRZeHtDjLh3rzB7EJma_rlQQwgkeA74DuktwdqSvjSr0LxsO2GD9OK_Pkgr0Cg8hwZA3kxkuSZvGrTUEEJuDEOaLgn8HtdqiKO1J6pe-enS9suTrcq8IoMlvCjDAkhqbATDxODo4/s1600/cha4.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three dudes IRL playing three female draenei. Hmm.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwedojRZeHtDjLh3rzB7EJma_rlQQwgkeA74DuktwdqSvjSr0LxsO2GD9OK_Pkgr0Cg8hwZA3kxkuSZvGrTUEEJuDEOaLgn8HtdqiKO1J6pe-enS9suTrcq8IoMlvCjDAkhqbATDxODo4/s1600/cha4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQW9pOTPEtWrBfoff4x0CP1oCR5l1M4nJZU3PaURD30i6wz7UCxVSCvyQxW980Q__Z9dnmMplLstx1OzRyBcAAsMMbQt_wARrquMz9-ef5JLmYKcDwISpdpTEaxqbhBtyL30e24F_6ms/s1600/chat1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poor Finn got drunk and gquit on accident. And Xal wants in on my hunky firemen. :(</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQW9pOTPEtWrBfoff4x0CP1oCR5l1M4nJZU3PaURD30i6wz7UCxVSCvyQxW980Q__Z9dnmMplLstx1OzRyBcAAsMMbQt_wARrquMz9-ef5JLmYKcDwISpdpTEaxqbhBtyL30e24F_6ms/s1600/chat1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSiHvt4uZtJzanPhLh2KGQqiQ0FvJ9wDEozC_Fpb2vikZKmGCd_ng11GU35RIaJOjnoiYHooMqOtCNoG9zH8jo3NZOtn9XTF5U1QBX73E9O9Z3CXIOGOI824U_NovUAqI9xAkAR9hhhoM/s1600/chat2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spartian's a hottie.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSiHvt4uZtJzanPhLh2KGQqiQ0FvJ9wDEozC_Fpb2vikZKmGCd_ng11GU35RIaJOjnoiYHooMqOtCNoG9zH8jo3NZOtn9XTF5U1QBX73E9O9Z3CXIOGOI824U_NovUAqI9xAkAR9hhhoM/s1600/chat2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I <3 <Vytis>!</div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521545756631742795noreply@blogger.com1