With Nourish, Who needs Lifebloom?

Is it me, or is Nourish replacing Lifebloom by a longshot?

My healing pie chart “thing” used to show Lifebloom as 40% of my heals. However when healing VOA two days ago, This happened.

See my Lifebloom at a measly 4th place? What is going on? Why is nourish top spot. Am I a pally now? Nourish spam ftw?

I am still hanging onto my T7.5 4 set bonus, and Glyph of Nourish, Which is making my nourish a healthy zippy heal, though not the best mana management skill we have. And healing wise I am having more fun spamming nourish then trying to organize lifebloom stacks and blooms.

Set Bonus: Your nourish heals for an additional 5% for each HoT effect present on the target.
Glyph: Your nourish heals for an additional 6% for each HoT effect present on the target.

Druids are not skilled at casted heals. We cannot do 20k+ crit heals like pallies can. Our strength is our HoTs that are the best ingame and smooth out all that tank damage. However I am finding it harder to get into a routine with this lifebloom ordeal. There are basically two rotations I try for Lifebloom right now, both feeling “messy” when using.

Fast stacking - Reaching 3 stacks right away, then letting it bloom. This gives out more HPS however my mana pool hurts from those 3 stacks going on right away. Usually I will wait abit before repeating.
Slow stacking – Pop on 1 stack, then wait 6ish secs before applying the 2nd stack, letting it bloom once it gets to 3. This gives less HPS then stacking it to 3 right away but there is no harsh initial mana cost, and I find it easier to maintain.

So, due to my annoyance at not being able to get into a rhythm with lifebloom, I have created a NEW rotation idea.

-Casually- throw a lifebloom on your tank every now and then, Keep Rejuv and Regrowth on, Grab your pally boots and Nourish Spam your heart out.

Seemed to work well enough. Now let’s try it out in Ulduar.

Spex <3

Happy Midsummer Fire!

So us nerdy overachiever's have found something to occupy ourselves with. But this festival has some pretty neat bonuses too!

• Over 800 gold to be made by honoring your factions fires around Azeroth, Outland and Northend, And desecrating your enemy faction's ones.
• [Captured Flame], A cute little wispy vanity pet that can be bought with the Midsummer currency.
• [Fire-toasted Bun], [Elderberry Pie], [Toasted Smorc], [Midsummer Sausage], Wicked buff food, each can be bought with the Midsummer currency. All these foods stack with each other, and also with your flasks and normal food buff food/feasts, Making this a perfect addition to your raid consumables.
• New Threads!

I advise the poor to make the most of the money to be made, Northend and Outland being the easiest, fastest ways of making the cash. Also be sure to fill your bags full of those delicious snacks to go. The extra 30 haste and 44 spellpower is to good to shrug away!

Spex <3

Edit: The Midsummer Sausage in wowwiki says it adds 23 spell dmg. this is not true. The sausage adds 30 haste for 1 hour. Silly wiki >.<

PUG's are smarter lately

Is it me or did the general population of my server grow up in the few short months of Ulduar's release? PUG's, or Pick Up Groups, Used to terrify me. They meant lots of wipes, repair bills, time spent/wasted, getting locked to unfinished instances, and generally not having a good time. PUG's are the reason people have guilds. Or at least, were.

I was in a OS+2 the other day. We wiped once, then downed sarth like he was a annoying insect the second time around.

My guild (being small) decided we wanted some 25 Ulduar action on the weekend. We picked up 15+ players from the LFG channel, crossed our fingers and headed inside. a few hours later, Flame Lev, Razor and XT were 1 shots, and only 1 wipe on Ignis. A bunch of people that (probably) had never worked together, group up and knock out 1/4 of the latest instance? That is impressive.

Yesterday, I was trolling LFG, and got asked to heal Maly 10. Now Malygos is still tricky for alot of guilds, so I was fully ready to wipe alot, laugh about it and head to bed.. From this PUG I discoved an amazing pally tank, a spark-slamming DK and a 10/10 group. we got him first go, and afew people got the achivement for him!

Now.. afew months ago, I would NOT have set foot into a Naxx25 pug. or Naxx10 for that matter, And yet all these newbies are 1 shooting maly on their first go? Did blizz really go that bonkers with nerfs? or am I getting lucky? Perhaps we have all gone alt crazy and these guys are not newies at all?

Anyways, need a healer for your PUG? This week, I am up for anything.

Bring it on!

Spex <3

"I don't know this fight..."

“I have not done this fight, what does he do?”

This is when people do /sit, pull out their trains, alt tab to check mail, grab coffee, order pizza. He may as well have said “take a 10 min break” or accidentally pulled, causing the first wipe. At this stage some other raid member gets the fun time of explaining the fight to the “new” guy, which normally leads to heated discussions and small arguments in regards to describing all aspects of the Unknown fight, that Mr. Newbie is about to be thrown into.

When my guild raids, we have a rule that you need to be logged on your Raid ready char (not an alt) 15 mins prior to start time. In our particular case we have a start time of 9.00pm. That means be logged in ready at 8.45pm and be buffed up and pulling the first trash/boss at 9.00pm.

We also have a unwritten rule that you “Come Prepared” But I guess this is when the area gets shady. What does “being prepared” mean? To some, It means being online around 9, ready to get a raid invite and be summoned into the instance.

In MY perfect raiding world, this is what being “prepared” would consist of.

Before 9.00pm you:

• Are online on your character you will be raiding with.
• Have a few stacks of Potions, Health and any class specific ones you might use (Mana, Rage, Wild Magic, Haste etc).
• Have your correct flasks.
• Have checked your reagent stocks and bought extra just in case.
• Have specific Buff food to your class.
• Have the appropriate amount (and more) of ammo, soul shards etc.
• Have in your bag any item sets you would be wearing, all of which are fully Gemmed, Enchanted and Repaired.
• Are fully capable of getting into the instance by your own means.
• Understand what fights you will be getting yourself into, have read a guide/watched a video or had prior experience fighting each boss.
• Have loaded and updated DBM and any class specific add-ons you use while raiding.

Now, some of these people can slack off on. People can always help summon the slow pokes to the entrance, and some nice raid members (Thankyou Tristan, Spex) always seem to have a endless supply of feasts. Also repair bots are available (Thanks Donna, Spex). But.. if they were not available, who has come unprepared? The cooks with no fish? Or the individuals with no food buff?

So am I ranting? Maybe. But when I go raiding I bring feasts, repair bots, a mailbox, other class reagents and flasks, and heaps of potions.. Can you at least visit tankspot.com? wowwiki? Please?

Spex <3

WTB More Haste!

Is it my luck in Ulduar or is there a bucketload more Crit gear hiding in these bosses pockets?

Raiding in T7gear, The 4 set bonus was that Nourish healed for an additional 5% of any HOT’s placed on your target. Now, pair this up with the Glyph of Nourish, which increased this % by 6, And assuming(?) that you have already rained down HOT’s on your tank/raid, nourish spam was a wise choice. The fact that I started turning into abit of a pally healer, spamming nourish through the roof, made crit a pretty nice idea for me, so was happy to stack it. That T7 bonus is the reason why I still raid with afew pieces of T7 gear, with my T8 gear sitting in my bag. I just don’t believe the handful of extra stats is worth the loss of the T7 bonus.

However, check out the T8 4 set bonus!

(4) Your Rejuvenation spell also provides an instant heal on your target.

Now that, is HOTness. Right there. No more waiting 3 seconds for the first tic, It happeneds right away! It is a instant 2k(ish) heal and the first druid instant heal we have received! (Note: NS is not an instant heal, it makes your next skill instant. GCD = Time peoples! :D)

So, this bonus lets me believe that Blizz does not want me to be a pally, but to become a druid healer again, raining rej’s on the raid…

So why does Blizz insist on offering me sooo much crit gear. Three of the Five T8.5 pieces hands out crit, Most of the top items for Resto Druids contain Crit (My wish list to come out at a later date). I even saw a pair of Boots of Hasty Revival That’s right. Haste in the name and it stills gives crit.

I believe that in the days of Naxx, with Nourish coming out of the closet, Crit was a better stat to have. I feel that in Ulduar, Haste will be the winner, to decrease my GCD's. For my Mana's sake, I let Lifebloom bloom, so spend more time restacking that, And I plan on using Rej like there is no tomorrow when I get 4 peices, Goodbye Snipers!

But it is going to be a challenge getting all this haste, with crit bleeding from all the bosses eardrums.

Spex <3

What are you carrying?

I am constantly finding that I am out of bag space. I have no idea –How- I aquire so much junk but sure enough 2-3 times a day I go to loot something only to have this span across my screen.

Your inventory is full.

Sifting through my semi-organised bags, I have realized only my backpack has free room for looted items.

So what is taking up the other 85+ spaces?

PVP set (8 piece)

Moonkin set (5 pieces)

Additional Trinkets – I actually carry 8 trinkets on me at all times. Time and place for each J

Reagents – And not just Wild Spineleaf either. I’m talking Dust for mages, Symbols of Kings for pallies etc. I am like a walking reagent vendor as I cannot STAND hearing “Oh I forgot reagents, brb” outside boss rooms.

Consumables – Great and Fish feasts, Potions, Flasks, Elixirs, Health/Mana food etc.

Fishing rod, Detectors and Hat – Incase I feel the need to bore myself.

Toy Train Set + Wind-Up Train Wreaker – So I can put down a train before DESTROYING it again.

Piccolo of Flaming Fire – For silly in-raid dance parties.

Elegant Dress, Spring Robes, Pirate Costume, Bunny Ears, Festive dress, Tuxedo – For silly in-raid dress-up parties. Oh and for chilling in Dal.

Racing cars, Paper plane kit, Toy gorillas, Ragdoll, Battle robots, Happy Fun Rocks – Yay Toys!!

Elune stones, Blossoming Branches, Candy bags, Black Roses, Crashin’ thrasher, Snowballs, Preserved Holly – Assorted holiday crap never gets old.

Baby Spice – For bosses and gnomes in pvp.

Mailbox, Repair Bots, Army Knife – I’m Mr. Handy man!

Gear upgrades – Which I’m not wearing yet cause I keep forgetting to gem/enchant.

Romance Novels – these come out at raid times.

Wound Dressing – Ingame joke. I borrowed someone’s shirt and never gave it back.

Gift Wrapping – In 3 different colors! Perfect when sending little gifts to my friends ^.^

I mean there are definitely benefits of carry every little scrap of crap you find in the world. Fishing is a great pastime when your hearths on cool down, and I always have something amusing to bring out during “Afk” breaks, for people to play with. And who doesn’t enjoy being shrunk, being spammed by Leather Balls and Happy Fun Rocks, and forced to wear bunny ears and choo choo while you dance? HMM?

Anyways, the point of this post is, I miss the times when snowballs knocked you over :(

Spex <3

Tank-Healer Relationships

Somn, who is my GM and main guild Tank, and myself Were calming fishing in dalaran, chatting about Tanks, Healers and more importantly, them working together.

Somn: What would you tell a new healer to the guild about healing me specifically?
Spexie: Stay close! He likes to rampage. Don't loot in trash, you don't have time! Always be at his heels. Get in his Consecrate.

Probably not the answer he was looking for. Our GM is in constant motion, we move fast through raids and only pause at bosses long enough to make sure everyone knows what their job is. Probably the correct answer is Staying in Range and in Line of Sight, Don't get hit by the rockets, etc.. Oh yes, and throw out heals :D

However, he did make a comment about healers needing to mentally know what he is thinking.. which he said is silly but it sounded pretty reasonable to me. So as of this day forth, the best of us healers will be known as Mind Readers!!

Its important to know exactly what your tank plans on doing, and knowing a bare minimum on his skills and abilities is a bonus too. The more you know of what he's getting up to, the easier it will be to predict how much spike damage he's about to eat (and start up casts to be ready for it) or when there is a lull, which gives us druids time to restock all those hots we let drop. So the times when I got up and made myself coffee while the tanks talked about "tanky things" for the upcoming boss, I could probaly have learnt something which would have my job, and thefore the raids, job, abit or alot easier.

Maybe next time :)

Spex <3

R.I.P Glyph of Innervate

It used to be considered selfish to use innervate on yourself. It was not a skill you would use personally; rather you would save it for the healing priests in your party. But I did not mind much. When cruising in Naxx the only time I felt I needed that additional mana (And still do!) Was Kel Thuzard, due to his annoying Detonate Mana and my luck in getting spammed by it.

However, due to 3.1, Ulduar, mana regen and lifebloom changes, I have found that most Ulduar fights are pretty healing intensive, and I’m finding myself needing to use innervate on myself to get through it. Now the Glyph of innervate gives you approx. 3.1k extra mana, and seems I’m using the whole innervate on me, I have felt that that additional chuck is no longer worth the glyph slot.

So, after a good 4-5 months of using Glyph of Innervate, the time has come to throw it away and replace it with something fresh and new. I choose Glyph of Wild Growth, which adds 1 additional target to get hit by Wild Growth.

R.I.P Glyph of innervate. You were my best friend for many a Naxx run

Spex <3