Pet Peeves

If this is your first time here and if you haven’t already gathered from the title of this blog, I am a resto druid. I like it most of the time once I have my rotation down and if I don’t miss anything, I think I’m pretty good. Usually my healing stays in the arena setting, but I do raid healing once in a while, as well.  

I don’t think I’m too big of a complainer (except about rogues), but we all have our pet peeves. Whether you are a DPS class or a tank, we all have these little things that bother us. So I made a list of some of the things that really bother me the most about being a healer:

1. When people call out for heals after the fight is over.
2. Having to use my battle rez on an aggro puller who will die again.
3. Giving a DPS class my innervate. (It has a 6 minute cool down, and I use it as part of my rotation in a mana conserving fight)
4. Healing the hunter’s pet, because they don’t use mend pet.
5.  Pulling agro off the tank, during an AOE pull.
6. Having to move during a fight (in Tree of life form; movement speed reduced by 20%)
7. Not being put in the main tanks group, when I am healing him. (The of life healing buff)
8. Having to Abolish poison/Dispel curse, while trying to heal.
9. Big rooms where some people in the raid are out of range.
10. Being compared to a healer who doesn’t use HoTs. 
11. When the tank forgets to wear his tanking gear. 
12. L.O.S pulls, the tank starts to take damage before he comes around the corner, and so my healing rotation starts late. 
13. 20-minute rez cool down.
14. People who use the ‘calls out for a heal’ emote.
15. People who call out for heals frantically on vent, even though I can see their health bar.
16. People who don’t use bandages/didn’t level their first aid.
17. Warlocks who lifetap in the middle of a fight.
18. When the cc breaks right next to me.

These are the things that bother me the most about being a healer. Whether you are a healer or not, what are your pet peeves?

/hug
Siarah

Big Mistake

I didn’t think it would turn out this way. Me, afraid to turn the corner, not able to go outside alone. I thought it would all go away; everything would be okay, but unfortunately that’s not how it turned out.

It all started in the smokey Dwarven District in Stormwind. I was minding my own business, trying to find a way to make some gold and make it fast. It’s not a nice place – the Dwarven District. It isn’t in the greatest part of town, but I thought I could handle it. Those Dwarfs are scary and I felt like I was being followed. All of a sudden, I was approached by one of these short, long bearded, drunken men. Krystofar.

He was a bad man. I think he wanted to deceive me to get what he wanted which was more gold in his pocket. He knew the area and he knew what I was there for. He slowly walked his short stump-like body over to me, stumbling along the way. His words were slurred together as he downed the rest of his ale.

The smell of his breath was dire, filling the air around me. He offered me the gold. I reluctantly, accepted. I knew it wasn’t right. The deal was that he would lend me the 4100 gold that I needed for my epic flyer and I just had to pay it back as I could. This was acceptable, it sounded fair at the time and I thought it was a decent agreement. But that’s where I was wrong.

I took that 4100 gold and ran, ran as far as a could as fast as I could. I didn’t want to look back and I didn’t want to think about the mistake I might have made.

Dear readers, do you think I made a big mistake?

To be continued…

Wrath of Siarah

Caution: The following blog post contains scenes of ranting, raving, and incoherent babbling and may be annoying to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
 
I hate to admit it, but I am a complainer. I know, I know, it isn’t a good thing, nor is it something that I should be telling people, but I feel the need to vent.
 
Wrath of the Lich King. Meh! I am not looking forward to it. Everyone is so excited and ready for the expansion, I feel like the only one complaining about it. The thing is, I hate to level and I detest that all my gear going to waste. I feel like I am starting from the very beginning and I don’t think I can do it.
 
Did I mention I hate to level? Anyone who knows me is aware that it took me an abnormally long time for me to hit 70. This is because yes, I am lazy. I hate levelling so much that I’m not sure I can do it ever again. I’ll feel like all the accomplishments that I have made throughout this game will be gone, like they didn’t count for anything. Getting to 70 is nothing, when there are 80 levels to hit. If I sound bitter, there’s a reason. I’m bitter!
 
Everyone’s telling me that levelling is part of the game and that I will have to do it to advance. But, I think I am just upset because I didn’t have the time to advance in burning crusade the way I wanted to. I wanted to go to BT and Sunwell.

But, by the time I get to it, it won’t be an accomplishment anymore. It will be like UBRS and LBRS is to me now, nothing. I wanted to get to all the things that are important in this game and by having another expansion; I won’t be able to do it.
 
I know that it isn’t fair for me to be like this. Due to my laziness, I am not able to advance in the game at the same rate that a lot of other people are. But honestly, I am pretty frustrated with it and I am debating on whether I am going to level to 80 when the expansion does come out.
 
Anyway, I just feel like I am missing out on a lot and I won’t be able to get there if another expansion comes out. Am I alone? Anyone feel the same way?
 
/hug
Siarah

Hunter FTW

Okay, so I have a new 2v2 partner; very exciting! So, for the first time, we tried to do some matches last night. We started with a rating of 1630 from a previous team I had. I knew that we would be fairly successful because I had done 5’s with Tam before.

We started off pretty well, winning a couple and losing a couple. The thing was, all the fights that we were in lasted a really long time, so it felt even worse to lose after being in a fight for fifteen minutes. Anyway, I thought I would share this really great match we had.

It started off… okay. There was Tam (my hunter partner) and I against a warrior and a mage. The plan was to kill the mage while I cc-ed and kited the warrior. It was going pretty well, we were coordinating our traps with the kiting and everything was going smoothly.  And then, all of a sudden I was stunned, OOM and I died (I hate warriors). There was Tam, at about half health, the warrior at about the same and the mage, almost dead.

“OMG I’M DEAD” I was panicking. I tried to keep this to myself though, so I wouldn’t freak Tam out.

SHOT Tam killed the mage

There they were, Tam and the warrior, both about half health. To tell you the truth, at this point I was too nervous to look at the screen. I mean, I knew Tam was leet enough to take this warrior; I knew she could do it, but I was still nervous. 

Tam was great. She would slow trap, run away, shoot, wing clip, everything she did was right. And yes, in the end, it was close but she did get him. And I swear I could hear the ‘Alleluia’ music all around me. 

I love arena.

/hug
Siarah

WoW Jerks

I think of myself as a pretty nice person. I mean, I do like to tell people the truth, but if it is going to hurt someone’s feelings or rub someone the wrong way I usually avoid it. I don’t like conflict, nor do I like people who create it. Unfortunately, in this game you often are around these types of people and I really don’t like it.

First of all, I think if something needs to be said, there is always a nice way to say it. No matter how awkward or unpleasant the thing you need to say to someone, there is always a nice way to say it. No need for ‘Ur a Nub’, ‘Get some gear’, or ‘L2P’. The nicer you are to others the nicer they will be back to you. Or so it should be.

My second thing it is, why do people feel the need to complain. If you are in a situation like that maybe you shouldn’t be there. Playing a game is about having fun about doing the things that you like to do and if you are complaining about something you probably don’t want to be doing it.

Finally, my last thing is; people have feelings. This for me is more than just in WoW, why must people always say something whether it bothers you or not. I have feelings and so does everyone else, so why say something that will hurt someone.

I was in a skirmish yesterday, just a regular 2v2 match, just for practice. I had just gotten into this particular battle when I quickly inspected the rogue that was standing next to me (like I always do). I realized that his gear was pretty nice; he had the season 3 vengeful weapons, so I knew he had some experience. I buffed us both up as the battle doors slowly opened. Unfortunately our opponents consisted of two resto druids.

I knew that this was going to be a long fight. I knew that we were either going to lose, or one of us was going to leave because I knew I didn’t want to spend the next half hour in the one match. The rogue I was with shadow-stepped forward as the one of the druids had just gone bear. Knowing that this rogue was on one druid, I started cc-ing the other, alternating root and cyclone (maybe I could drain his mana while he used his shape shifts). All of a sudden in huge orange caps I read:

“WHY DON’T YOU CYCLONE?!?!?”

Well, maybe he hadn’t noticed that he was only dealing with one of the druids, maybe he just wasn’t paying attention to the Cc-ing I was doing. I’m not really sure, but I moved on anyways.

“WHAT KIND OF A DRUID DOESN’T USE CYCLONE, STOP TRYING TO DPS AND CYCLONE”

Again, I had being cyclone-ing, over and over, doing anything I could to interrupt his heals. But honestly with two resto druids I knew that is wasn’t going to end well, if it ended at all. So, I again ignored the comment hoping he would notice.

After about 20 minutes we had actually managed to kill one of the druids. I was really impressed, I thought that this fight was never going to end but, we managed to oom one of them and while the other WAS in my cyclone, the rogue killed him.

Once, again after the first druid was dead the rogue was still complaining. Complaining about my CC and my lack of skill. I was still ignoring him. We spent the next 10 minutes trying to kill the other druid, I tried DPS-ing, I tried rooting to oom him, I tried everything, and the only thing I got in return was the ‘yelling’ coming from the rogue.

The whole fight ended with him telling me that I would never be successful in arena as well many complaints about my breaking his blinds… (I didn’t even realize I could do that) In the end, I was furious, and I let him know.

The point is, it was a skirmish and it didn’t count for anything. Why did the rogue (/glare) feel the need to get so upset, over nothing? 

/hug
Siarah

Rain on my parade

Have you ever thought of something really exciting in-game? Something that just makes you so happy you could just squeal. How often does that ‘moment’ get killed? It could be by a guildie or someone in trade chat. Either way, someone always feels the need to squash your hopes and dreams.

I am the kind of person that gets excited pretty easily; you could say I like to look at life with the glass half full. Everything and anything can make me really enthused, but it seems to be human nature that people like to ruin it.

I thought of a story about Krystofar.

Krystofar decided that when Wrath of the Litch King came out he was going to have a class to be an Inscriber, the new profession Blizzard will introduce with the expansion. Personally, I was really thrilled for him as he was going to level another toon (something he said he would never do).

So Krys started a rogue. Everyday Krys put some time into levelling this rogue so when the expansion came out, he would have a levelled toon ready to inscribe with. Krys was so keen about the idea that he decided to tell his fellow guild mate, Nya.

You see, I didn’t know this about Nya… I didn’t realize that he was the ‘moment’ killing kind of guy. I thought he would be encouraging and happy for Krys. But, the only thing that Nya said was:

“Why don’t you just use your Death Knight?”

Normally, this would be logical thinking, something that Krystofar would have thought of himself. But, he didn’t. All the time and effort Krys put into this Inscribing rogue was gone, because Nya felt the need to steal the thunder, kill the moment, slaughter his temporary happiness. Anyway you say it his ‘moment’ is gone.

/hug
Siarah

 

1850

We have our first guest post, by Aculeus upon Ordeum’s one and only Rorik. /cheer

1850.  It’s all I can think about.  It is my Holy Grail, my Unicorn, my Eleanor.  It’s my version of the movie “The Number 23”, but instead with me, it would be “The Number 1850”.  When I reach 1850, the clouds will part and angels will deliver to me my reward, one of the sexiest and deadly PvP maces in the game, the Vengeful Gladiator’s Bonegrinder.  But first, some background.

Hello all, my name is Rorik and I’m a ret paladin in Aculeus Upon Ordeum.  Siarah is the l33t heals on my 3v3 and 5v5 teams.  First, I thought I was lucky enough in finding such a relaxed and fun guild in AUO, but then I found that several of their members are PvP junkies just as much as I am.  This is where Siarah came into the picture.  As a ret paladin, there are limited options for me in arena compositions.  One of those comps is Ret/ MS Warrior/Resto Druid.  Once I found that Siarah loved PvP and I convinced her to join my 3v3 team, I thought we’d be golden.  She had skill and great gear.  I though 1850 would be within reach.  Sadly, it wasn’t.  We’ve never broken past 1550.  I know it’s possible.  I’ve read about the success of our team comp plenty of times on arenajunkies.com and retpaladin.com. 

So, what now?  Well, first, 1800 is about to become the new 1850.  So, after June 24^th, I’ll be obsessing over the number 1800.  That’s going to be the new personal rating requirement for the season 3 weapon.  I’ve been trying to recruit a new 2v2 partner in hopes that if I find someone really good, we’ll do well, but I haven’t had any success finding someone.  What I’m really concerned with is that the reason we aren’t climbing the Arena ladders is that I’m just not good enough.  What’s a PvP-aholic to do if he’s not good enough to qualify for decent gear?  This is especially troubling given all the new rating requirements for season 4 gear.  Not that season 4 gear is all that much better than season 3 gear, but I’ll be maxed out on gear if I can’t climb past the 1500’s.  I’m sure I’m not the only one with this problem.  I suppose I can start buying healing if I have nothing else to spend points on. 

There is one thing that may help appease my PvP bloodlust, but it won’t be here for another 6 months, maybe longer.  No, I’m not talking about Wrath of the Lich King. 

WAR is coming…

Rorik

What the heck…

It was a regular Thursday evening, just spending some time doing 5s. It had been pretty slow, no major excitement, just a regular PvP night. We weren’t doing extremely well, nor were we sucking, like I said it was pretty average.

I took a couple seconds to get some more reagents while we waited for another queue. All of a sudden, the little box showed up on my screen, I quickly accepted and entered into the battle. The 5 of us stood there buffing up and getting ready for the fight, when all of a sudden Krys let out a squeal.

“Is that a horde?” Krystofar said, panicking.

Well, of course I laughed, assuming that Krystofar had gone insane. I mean, we are in the arena prep room, simply buffing up and getting ready. What a crazy thought.

“OMG it is a horde” I was so confused. Krys said he had heard of such an arena glitch, but never expected to actually see it.

Frantically, all of us stared at the Orc Shaman, waiting for him to make a move. He threw a /wave and buffed us all up. But, was he going to help us or was he going to watch us die. I mean I did notice that he was resto; another healer would nice.

Finally, the arena doors slid open and we all made our way up over the bridge. Our opposing team did the same and as they made their way to the top I noticed something. There are 6 horde against us. As if it wasn’t chaotic enough with the original 5, now there were 6 people staring straight at me. We stood there a while until they finally charged, my nerves shaking.

It was hectic. Luckily, the Shaman did throw some heals all over the place. It was like a free-for-all with so many people, it was too hard to CC and heal. I was just randomly casting and hoping for the best. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most successful match I had been in; they had an extra DPS and our heals couldn’t keep up.

Never the less, it was a good time. (pictures below!)

/hug
Siarah

Picture 1  Picture 2  Picture 3

A rogue problem

Today, I decided to talk about something that is really very hard to talk about. Every time I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes and terror to my face. I know you have all thought the same thing and we are all hoping and praying for a nerf. All I have to say is I hate rogues.

Not to discriminate, but I really have an issue with the rogue, specifically, the horde rogue class. It probably doesn’t help that I am a rogue magnet. Whether I am farming or doing arena, rogues are drawn to me, every single time.

I think my whole rogue issue started when I was just a young druid, questing my way through Darkshire. I was minding my own business, doing my own thing, when all of a sudden SAP. Confused and panicked, that level “skull” rogue wouldn’t let me go. It was stun, then stealth, then almost kill me, let me health up, and then stun again. It was awful, never ending, and I was traumatized.

I know I have said that every class is equal and that it only depends on your skill and spec. But, honestly I think rogues have a complete advantage with their stuns and poisons that kill me without even letting me move. That’s when I realized; the only way to beat a rogue is to roll a rogue.

So I tried it, and realized that being a rogue takes a lot more skill than you would think. Even though I’m only at level 6, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to be a 70 rogue. The stuns and poisons that kill me would probably take a lot of practice to master and a lot of time to learn. So, its not that I hate the rogue, it’s that I am jealous of them.

/hug
Siarah

I can kill Prince, do I get an extra credit?

Maybe some people don’t like hardcore raiding because it reminds them of being in school.

The first thing I do before I start a new raid is look up the fights. I like to be informed about what I am doing and I like to have some sort of idea of what’s coming up. It helps to know the pulls and the bosses, just to be prepared. It’s just like getting ready for an exam.

Yes, it is exam time. I have 4 exams during a 2-day period. I’m not really looking forward to it, but, it always more fun to compare my real life to my WoW life.

The first thing I do is gather all the information I have about the specific topic. I take all the notes I have written during class and all the notes from the textbook together. I go through everything and highlight all the important things. This is almost the exact same thing for raiding; except it is just a digital version. First, I open all the related windows and read through everything; copy and pasting the important things into a Word document. Then, I ‘grind’. I read it over as many times as I can hoping that the information will get stuck in my head. I read it over and over or I write it over and over. Eventually, it all sticks.

Usually, looking up about a raid happens a few nights before or maybe even the night of. But, for exams it doesn’t work that way. I need to spend time ‘grinding’ every single night for at least 3 weeks before the exam.

See, the outcome of both these things is almost the same. If I study really hard for an exam and I am sure that I know all the information, it will be successful (that epic A). The same for a raid, I read up about what is going to be happening and I spent the time to learn my part and what is going on around me. The difference is, that doing an exam, you are completely alone throughout the entire thing. Not one word to anyone, depending only on you. But, during a raid I am depending on the other 4,9 or 24 people to have done the same thing I have. I know there are a lot of people who don’t do that, so I know that the outcome of the raid doesn’t get blamed on my lack of knowledge. But, if I bomb an exam it is completely my fault.

As I get ready for my exams I would much rather be reading up about a raid, but it doesn’t work like that. I have to do the exams and I pretty much have to do well on them. Hopefully things will go well and soon I’ll get back to reading up about my raiding.

/hug
Siarah