Achievements

Well I ahve been busy healing, improving gear and obtaining achievements. I would like to share the list of achievements, then in my next blog to talk a little bit about my new idol that I bought with my 25 Triumph badges on a sure decision that has completely waylaid my healing, so here are the list of achievements in no order.

It's Been A While

Well it has been a little while since I last posted, mostly due to real life issues and my frustration at using a resource like WWS and not having it work after the most recent patch. :( But also because, well to be frank, I haven't really been that willing to play.

I think it is because the guild I am in is struggling right now. See there are enough of us that play that 10 man instances can be cleared in a night leaving people on the sidelines waiting for a spot, but not enough of us that we are not Pugging several spots, 9 on Tuesday. Now I am not saying every Pugger is a bad player, NOR that everyone in my guild is an A++ player either, but it just seems that we have issues when we have to pug. Now, I personally have Pug LOTS of 5 man heroic dungeons, sometimes they click and sometimes they don't; however, because I normally heal, we rarely have issues with staying alive these days (average item level of 225 has a lot to do with that). So I am not saying that negatively. Anyway, the guild struggling is wearing on people and of course demoralizing the members. It is like the game looses it's appeal and fun until something grabs you and draws you back. I was reading about another Tree discovering an honest to goodness new player and that changed her outlook.

I guess that is what I am looking for as well. I am looking for that WoW moment that enchanted me, like the ability to transform from a Night Elf Druid to a Bear for the first time. Or, the feeling of wonder running around the starting area of Teldrassil, hearing the music and being WoWed at the enviroment. Of course, maybe I will wake up and realise that Healing really is my life and I only DPS because I am running solo.

3.2 Patch and New Content

Well I did not waste any time getting into a 5 Man group for the new content. I was pleasantly suprised at the difficulty level for a "normal" mode 5 man instance. It is short enough to make you want to run the instance every day. The gear that dropped was excellent for a begining feral druid build or rogue, but for me not so much. After the 5 Man run, we turned it onto Heroic Trial of the Champion and gave it another

whirl. Again, pleasantly suprised at the healing difficulty. Make sure you have either a co-ordinated team or a good AOE tank, missing either and you will die some; however, We easily defeated most of the bosses once every one got the hang of fighting on horses, then group up, then spread out. I was in a team with two (2) hunters that kept taking agro from the tank and stood too far apart to effectivly use Wild Growth.

I got a trinket that chance restores 500 mana, and first in my mind is, "I wonder if this will work on Vezax and Yogg." So something new to try.

AS FOR BADGES, I am happy and saddened by the dropping of just Conquest badges for Heroics, 10 mans, and 25 Mans. Everyone has no excuse to have poor gear now. Run some heroics that become overly easy at this point. As for me, I know that Gear Score alone doesnt account for ability.

I think I have found a way to measure effective healing vs. efficent healing so here is the first graph of Total Healing / (Hits + Dots). I have left off the Heal / Mana over TotalCoE.

Hoting and You

Well its back to the swing of things and the joyous return of myself to raiding. I was happy to be getting back on Fenrous healing. Apparently they were also happy to see me return, they saved me a healing spot on the Ulduar 10 runs. So we downed some bosses on Hard Mode, followed by wiping all of the Keepers out of the Raid lockout this period. So, as I was enjoying two nights in a row of steller performance rocking healing, I got to see a whole bunch of content that previously was unexplorered. A whole lot of it was stand here, move there, heal while running, yadda yadda yadda, then last night we hit GENERAL VEZAX.

So, now I am trying to figure out a healing strategy that will work for my play style that doesnt involve me going insane from the lack of mana regen.

So, my brainstorms include going OLD SCHOOL on the raid and saving mana by reducing the healing spells down to just Nourish and Rejuvenation, and breaking out the bandages for the ranged DPS, just like we use to down in Zul Grub as scrubs. So I am reviewing videos and thinking that having 80+ bandages that I still carry around with me is going to be an interesting report since I NEVER use them on my Druid. Sure on my Mage, my Rogue, hell even occasionally my Priest. I have been unfortunate enough not to be able to pick up a second Tier 8 piece for the two (2) peice bonus; however, I do have enough hit to be hit capped on my Moonkin Spec gear now. WOOT, and I also crossed over 4400 achievement points putting my Horde Mage below Fenrous in achievements now.

So come on Sunday so we can down Vezax and Yogg, time for me to go watch some YouTube videos of people killing these bosses.

Real Life

Well unfortunately, real life has a way of opening up a rain cloud of nails onto you sometimes. I havent gotten to play much as my dad was recently (7/20/09) taken to the hospital after suffering a stroke on Sunday night. I am not sure at the moment how this is going to affect me; but I am hoping that it gives me a chance to blog some to distract me from the harshness of reality.

It seems wierd to me as it is always me laying in the hospital bed and my dad coming to take care of me. Well it would appear not this time. While I pray he is going to be okay, doubt claws at the back of my mind. How I wish there was a rejevenation spell or a rebirth that could be so easily cast to fix the problem. Ah well, well I enjoy the non-existant cast timer. maybe some fruits will be seen.

Watching

Well, I have been raiding and watching my progress very closely. I have found that I am very statisfied with my healing and progression. Sometimes not to happy with the groups I end up in but never the less, pretty satisfied.

I have been updating my healing spreadsheet and crossed over the average Item level of 223. With all this gear, its time to go play some more. I am one shard away from my Black War Mammoth and about 16 Emblems away from my Ice Mammoth.

As I approach my Achievements points on my mage, I can't help but feel loss for the time spent playing away from Fenrous.