[Humor] Nerf You

[IRL Interruptus] What's happening out there Warcrafters?

I realize that it's been a while since I've actually done anything with this blog and thought I would drop a line.

I'm still playing Warcraft and raiding, but am taking a few days off to recover from surgery. This week I had my gallbladder out.

I'm still happily ensconced in Conclave, enjoying the level of progression and the people. Working on achievements, and finishing up my last alt before Cataclysm comes out.

I'm trying not to follow the Cataclysm leaks too closely, as stuff changes so quickly between the Friends and Family Alpha and the actual release that it's really not worth to follow. Though I'm definitely curious about the enchanting patterns that have been leaked over at mmo-champion.

Otherwise I'm going to try and PATIENTLY wait for Cataclysm's release or the beta, and go from there.

[Guilds and Raiding] When is enough, enough?

When it comes to raiding and guilds I've always had some pretty strong opinions. I'm pretty set in my ways when it comes to what I want from a guild and a raiding environment. I recently had to make a move from one guild to another guild. I've always been of the belief that you should give each and every guild member a chance regardless of their skill level, and whether or not they jive with the group on a personal level.

The guild I was in previously lost their focus.

It's a sad thing watching a guild start with a clear and concise mission statement only to be waylaid by cliques. Every guild is going to have them, and it's up to the guild leader and his officers to determine whether or not to allow that specific group to continue raiding together, whether the group be successful or not.

Unfortunately in my case the needs of the many outweighed the few, and as a result of me standing up for someone that was not there/able to defend themselves I was pushed to the outside, and pushed to the position of a secondary or second string raider.

A couple of weeks after realizing what had occurred, I needed to make a decision that as much as it hurt me on a personal level, benefited me more on a progression level.

I made the move to apply to an end-game 25-man raiding guild. I'm fairly well known on the server as a solid raider, consistent in attendance (it's very rare that I miss a guild raid without advance notice), I come fully stocked, with my gear as best outfitted within my means, which is considerable since I do raid alot. I was pretty much guaranteed an in with this guild, and after two mind numbing days of trials and raiding with a guild and a group of people I've never run with, I was offered a spot within this guild.

I proceeded to leave the guild I was in, leaving lines of communication open, and even leaving alts within the guild to visit friends, and spend time with people that I do care about. Unfortunately there are a few people, notably the two that applied with me and were rejected that are a little butt hurt over the entire situation, but as I see it, it's not my issue to deal with. I've spent the last 4 years on Draenor-US making a name for myself as knowledgable about my class, and as a solid raider.

I've been in Conclave about two weeks now, and sofar I'm enjoying myself immensely, I'm currently the only discipline priest within the guild, I'm currently catching myself up to speed with the rest of the guild, and within a few days of beginning to raid with them, I had caught up successfully in progression, currently sitting at Blood Queen Lanthiel in ICC 25, and picking up spots with the odd 10 man.

As it see it, two teir cycles was too long to wait for a guild to catch up with my level of progression, and though I had fun and met many wonderful and amazing people, it was time to progress further and reach for the Lich King's helm.

See you guys in the Crimson Lair, and may the Lich King's helm be upon your head as you wear the title of "Kingslayer"!

[Technology]Raiding with the Razer Naga

As most raiders will identify with me we burn through two very important pieces of hardware, keyboards and mice.

Recently I've burned through three different mice. Two wired and one wireless (the wireless one is several years old but had not seen any hard use until recently). It finally got to the point where I had no choice but to get a new mouse.

I have several issues with mice, they need to have 9+ buttons as I do mousebind many of my spells using mouseover macros as opposed to healing mods.

While surfing the internet looking for multi-button gaming mice I stumbled across the Razer Naga, a 17 button gaming mouse.

I was a little unsure about it, and actually took the time to look at Logitech's G9 and several other mice, including looking at another of the MX series as well.

I settled on the Naga for a few reasons, one being the 12 buttons that are under my thumb, I figured I could easily bind most of my spells to it for use with all of my toons.

I started using the buttons on my priest first, finding this style of playing comfortable and easy, trying to use the mouse on my paladin has proved interesting as I'm still learning her spell placement.

The weight and size of the mouse is perfect, it's still a little small for my hands, but I've not run into the same issue of my hands falling asleep like it did with the MX 1000, or pinching issues as my little finger rests on the mousemat. The response time is wonderful, and even though at first the glowing was a bit annoying I found that it made playing in the dark kinda fun.

[Raiding] If you could make your own rules for raiding, what would they be?

1. No Guarantees on Raid Spots

• I'm a firm believer that a raid spot is earned, I believe that performance should also be a major deciding factor in determining your presence in a raid.
• The guild I'm in is a fairly sizable guild meaning that we see a large number of people that may not be able to raid on a consistent basis, but when they do they're ready and prepared to step into the raid.

Therefore, raid invites should be determined by the following:

1. Attendance
2. Raid Preparedness
3. Overall Performance
4. Attitude

Attendance:

Attendance is a major thing in a raid, it affects the overall synergy, the organization of the raid, as well as raider morale. A raid that is constantly replacing members throughout the set aside raid time is guaranteed to complete less bosses than a raid where everyone stays from start to end regardless of wipes. Alshttp://www.illwillpress.com/vault.htmlo, the more time the raiders play together the better they work together as a team. For example: Take Zugzugfred, Thbrave and myself. We've been playing this game together for just over a year, over the time we've played together we've each adjusted our personal styles to adapt to and compliment each other. You will also notice it with other raiding teams that we have, as well as in the further progressed raiding guilds. (Paradox, Forgotten Souls. No Guarantees on Raid Spots

Raid Preparedness

This is a huge sticking point with me, and most of what I bring up here is common sense, and should not be an issue that we as officers have to raise to our raiders, this also will help us to weed out the players that are not willing to put in the necessary work to make the raid go ahead the way it should.

I've also turned guilds completely around with the recommendations that I'm about to put out. Being prepared for raid does not mean logging on and showing up. It means that you are gemmed properly and with the latest gems, that your gear is enchanted with the recommended enchants for your class and spec, and that you are bringing flasks and food.

Now food is a sticky point since many guilds tend to prefer to provide fish feasts for their raiders. Now unless it's recommended that you use a fish feast by the leading authorities on your class, then you really should only be using fish feasts for trash pulls. There are foods out there that are much more beneficial to your class than a fish feast, and should be used on boss fights. The only two classes that I've seen that can use Fish Feast as a recommended boss food is Ret Paladins and Feral Cat Druids.

Flasks are a pretty big deal, and I've had arguments that people are too uber for flasks, and that they can't get any better. In this game there is always room for improvement. Just because you're performing heads above the competition does not mean that you can stop improving your game, keep going, keep reaching for those stars and see how far you can actually push your toon. I alternate through two different flasks throughout a raid, dependent on raid needs, and have actually reverted back to Vanilla flasks as they provide a better benefit when stacked with a Paladin's Blessing of Kings. When I would do flask check, I checked to ensure that there was a flask, and flasks were mandatory for all guild raids, which meant that even easy "farm" content was a place where you still put on your A-game and went gung ho.

Enchants are pretty self-explanatory too. Most guilds have the option of purchasing the materials for enchants on your gear from the guild bank or from an officer for a reasonable price. This being especially handy when the prices of enchanting mats were exorbitantly high.

Overall Performance

This kinda goes hand and hand with the point I outlined above. Bring your A-Game to every raid. Regardless of whatever content we're doing whether it be Naxxramas for fun, or Icecrown for progression you should be putting your best foot forward no matter what.

This also means that you may be asked to play a role by an officer or the raid leader that you may not necessarily be happy with. I use for example healing. Several of our DPS Hybrid classes have the ability to heal (Priests, Paladins, Shamans, Druids etc). When we ask you to heal for a fight or a raid it's not because we dislike you, or because your DPS sucks, it's because we need a necessary role filled that may not otherwise be filled. We don't expect you to have the high priced epic gems in your offset gear, but we do expect that it be gemmed and enchanted, and that if you're asked to perform a specific duty that you do it with little argument, badmouthing or complaint. If you're incapable of doing this, then we're incapable of taking you in a raid.

Attitude

Attitude is a huge thing, if you're not bringing your best attitude in you're bound to fail, not only in your overall performance but in the raid's overall performance.

If you come into a new boss with the attitude that the raid is going to wipe, it's going to happen, because subconsciously that's what you want to see happen.

This also goes hand in hand with performance, because if a raid leader asks you to perform a role that you normally do not perform (ie. healing when you're a hy-brid DPS class) then you would be expected to do so to the best of your ability.

2. Work in = Benefits Received

I hate seeing a player that has been talked to about a flaw in their gearing not correct the issue within a decent amount of time. Also if you're just gearing up to be prepared to enter raiding it should not take you very long to gear up from having quest blues/greens to being in full epics within 2-3 weeks.

Gems are easy, most guilds will have them in the bank for purchase for a fee. (My guild offers them at 1/2 the AH value), or you can purchase them for 10,000 Honor in Stormwind or Orgrimmar (??) from the PvP Jewelcrafting Vendor, and in Dalaran all epic quality gems (except Dragons Eyes) are purchasable from the badge vendor for 10-20 badges which can be coverted at the respective badge vendor or by the money changer in the sewers.

Enchanting is a little more difficult but not terribly so. With Blizzard implementing the disenchant option in 5 man dungeons, it's easy to rack up adequate enchanting mats just by running a simple handful of dungeons. Then you can visit your local guild enchanter (my guild has one), or spam Trade Chat offering a reasonable tip, and get your shit enchanted. Before the change to the dungeon loot system, I was usually purchasing enchanting scrolls off the auction house for a decent fee, due to this change the prices on pre-enchanted scrolls has inflated to prohibitive levels rending this to not be a valid option unless for chants that I may not necessarily have (ie. Bladeward/Blood-Draining).

So easily you can have the necessary gear, gems and enchants by putting work out, and reaping the outgoing benefits in DPS, Healing or tanking increases.

3. Respect: Whether it be for your friendly neighbourhood officers or your guild mates it's what makes the world go round.

I ran into an issue a week ago with a member just generally being a jerk about the use of some major theory crafting software, software that has helped many of my guildmates increase their performance overall. The mage in question was able to increase his overall sustained DPS from about 2k to 5k+.

I've been using the same software for several different characters, and have seen drastic increases from a ret paladin that could barely push 4k dps to being able to push an easy 9k dps given optimal circumstances. I've been able to increase my performance in raids drastically using the same software and rebalancing my gemming.

Anyways, now that my tangent is done I'll get back to the matter at hand. Mutual respect for your fellow guildies and your officers is huge, it will take you many places, and will get you reviews should a guild potentially use references to get you into the next guild. This will also ensure you receive heals, buffs and help should you require it.

4. Have fun!

Having fun is the biggest part of the game, if you're not having fun turn off the game and go outside, do something you enjoy.

There are people that have stopped having fun in the game yet have neglected to stop playing the game. Sometimes when the game stops being fun, you need to walk away and come back to it later on.

I've taken breaks both from the game and from the server itself. I went and played java based games for a while completely leaving MMOs alone. I've also taken time away from the server, that's how I got my druid.

Also sometimes if you're not having fun, the guild that you're in may not be the place for you. It's a case of different strokes for different folks. Some people like hardcore guilds, where you log on to raid and log off. Others like social guilds where you can log on at any time of day and have people to go and do quests, or dungeons or just sit around and chat. Others like myself like the best of both worlds, where you have serious raiding time, and where you have people to BS with and goof off with.

If you can follow these simple rules, you're most likely not going to have any issue wherever you go.

[LOL] I am Priest

*Found on the Bluetracker over at MMO Champion*

I am the whisper tingling your spine when evil comes your way. I am the anchor to the tank keeping him in place while the violent tides sway from side to side. I am the man in the dark alley who gropes you back to a perfect state when you are down in a puddle overcome by rain.

I am priest.

*Taken from Firhammer of Draenor*

I feed off the QQ of warriors, I laugh at you in PvP. 

I am Pallehtank.

[Raiding] Discipline Priests and Pre-264 level content burnout

I recently encountered the dreaded burnout, I watched it sneak up on me and hit me with a clue-by-four.

Sometimes things just stop being fun, I love my discipline priest, there really isn't any other type of healing class I'd rather play, but there are some days where I dread logging on for a raid just because I know I'm going to get ragged on by the recount whores because my throughput isn't the same as holy priests.

I love the uniqueness of being discipline, of being an in-guild master of my craft.

I suppose I should return to my original point for this article; Burnout.

I think there are several major factors going into discipline priest burn-out.

1. THOSE DAMN METERS

Damage meters, whether it's Skada, Recount or others, they're not entirely accurate, currently there really is not perfectly accurate way to meter a Discipline Priest's absorbs, leaving large gaps in metering through sources like Skada and Recount.

Currently the most accurate metering is done through a combat log parse using (my favorite at the moment) World of Logs.

Unfortunately because not everyone uses the same tool, this leaves even the best discipline priest open to attack by meter whores.

Now, I understand that not all discipline priests are as sensitive as I am, but after a while that type of abuse and stress gets to a person, and when you strive for the highest level of performance, the same complaints week after week start making you feel as if you've made no improvement at all.

2. Healer Group Makeup is Important too...

I know that blizzard has always said that they wanted us to bring the player, not the toon. The thing is that you don't want three discipline priests in a 10 man dungeon, or to have the raid be too lopsided on healing classes (ie. Paladin, Disc Priest, Resto Sham), it's definitely fodder for the wipe cannon.

3. Displacing your own personal worries into what you're doing

This is pretty self-explanatory, if you're somewhat like I am and your mood directly influences your performance, sometimes it's not a good idea to heal when under pressure. I love being busy in game, but I also need to learn to deal with my own issues and insecurities.

[Guilds and Raiding] What Makes an Exceptional Player?

"Demonstrating mastery of the game"  - Ghostcrawler

CLASS KNOWLEDGE

The player is knowledgeable in more than one spec of his class, to the point that would rival a class leader, using his own words and reasoning.

The player has clearly visibly put in the maximum amount of effort into his gear and is able to elaborate on his gear choices, using his own words.

The player is able to elaborate on his spec, in his own words, and is constantly wondering if an improvement can be made, and is also constantly testing his ideas.

The player understands that rotations, spec, and gear choices are constantly changing to react to a situation. He can also elaborate again in his own words, why he did a certain thing at a certain time.

Playing Skill

This is a hard one to discuss:

The player has a higher degree of environmental awareness than the average player. One way this can be manifested is by seeing the player say "I saw this and this happened, and I reacted so and so."

The player employs the tools his class has been equipped with to react to situations.

The player is willing and capable of compromising his own performance for the better of the guild or raid, and still performing adequately and then some.

The Player makes full use of opportunities that arise through understanding a given encounter, and is able to elaborate on his actions using his own words.

The player demonstrates a visibly better performance with each gear upgrade he receives.

The player demonstrates an already high degree of performance regardless of his gear level.

The player learns quick with incomplete information and employs his new knowledge whenever he can, then strives for improvement afterwards.

The player is never fully satisifed with hsi performance and constantly strives for improvement. This can be spec, rotation, gear choices, addons, UI changes or complete UI overhauls etc.

The player is often found communicating with other knowledgeable players of the same class, or doing research on the internet about his class, and drawing his own conclusions from the mess.

The player is reasonably skilled in PvP.

PLAYER VALUE

The player proves himself (over time) to be a reliable and valuable asset to the guild. This is demonstrated in how often he signs up for raids or other events, he sticks to his promises (I'll be online then and then), his willingness to share his tradeskills with guild and non-members, and so on.

The player demonstrates over time that he is one of the  few players in WoW that knows how to get the job done, and gets it done.

The player builds up a solid history as a reliable, valuable member to the guild. This is manifested in whatever your guild is doing - Casual, Social, Raiding, no matter the activity.

The player proves himself useful by sharing his powers with guild members and non-members. Think of tradeskills, knowledge of any kind, items, consumables, and most importantly, trust.

The player is willing to help guild members and non-members. Both upon request and by offering.

The player shows initiative.

The player takes on an active role in participation in guild events, and does not sit back and wait for a statement from the superiors.

PLAYER PERSONALITY

The player is capable of getting his opinions across without (or minimizing) the chance of insulting guild members.

The player is willing to accept and admit personal mistakes, criticism, sarcasm, jokes and puns, and laugh about it.

The player does not cause any unnecessary trouble, drama or other often undesired behavior in a social environment.

The player understands his position towards other people in the guild, , that we are all equal on a personal level.

The player is willing to accept and admit when he's stepped out of line and appologises accordingly, whether it be through whispers or a public channel.

The player respects other people's opinions.

The player shows respect to other people, regardless of anything.

TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT

The player has a computer that can cope with whatever raid the guild is doing, and can cope with the necessary addons.

The player has a reliable, fast internet connection.

The player replaces important equipment very quickly should they break down. Think of headsets, a mouse, a keyboard, and so on.

The player ensures his computer is capable of running Ventrilo and other such programs as well as running World of Warcraft at the same time.

The player ensures that technical settings such as screen resolution, video effects, sound effects and others are configured in such a way that it does not, or as little as possible, hinder his gameplay.

The player ensures his computer is free of viruses, malicious software, hardware errors and other factors that can negatively influence the performance of his computer.

[OMG] New Loot from Occulus!

To encourage players not to shy away from the many invigorating adventures to be had in The Occulus, we will apply a change to enhance the rewards players are provided when selected for this dungeon via the Random Heroic option in the Dungeon Finder. Once Ley-Guardian Eregos is defeated, one loot bag per character will be provided in his chest in addition to the current rewards. Each loot bag will offer players rare gems, two additional Emblems of Triumph, and a chance of being rewarded the Reins of the Blue Drake. These fine treasures could be yours should you honor your fellow party members by besting the challenges contained within The Occulus! Keep in mind, however, that these extra loot bags will only be awarded to each party member if Occulus is selected by the Dungeon Finder when players choose the Random Heroic option. 

In light of this change, the Reins of the Azure Drake will have a chance of dropping in both 10- and 25-player versions of The Eye of Eternity.

*source: Bluetracker*

[Guilds] Transitioning from casual to hardcore

There comes a time in many guilds where the dynamic of your members change, where the focus changes. I've seen guilds go from being social to wanting to raid in a more structured environment, I've also seen guilds totally lose interest in raiding altogether, preferring to spend time goofing off, PvPing or just running dungeons. 

What types of stress does this put your members under? How as someone in a leadership role do you handle those that aren't adaptable to the changes? How as a guild member do you handle the changes whether they are going your way or not?

Over my years of playing Warcraft I've been in all manner of guilds. Everything from super casual to progression minded guilds with extreme levels of organization, I've seen people handle the transitions in guilds differently. 

Transitions are hard for anybody since there is so much upheaval, in going from casual to a more organized atmosphere you get attitude changes, angry players (they don't want the change to happen), and many other things, and really at that point all you can do is have your senior members provide a united and calm front.