A Precursor of Things to Come

Last night I wrote a new chapter in the book of Baconstrip. No, I didn't go back to feral. For one, I dont have the gear to DPS in cat form, nor would I know where to start. Plus everyone is on autopilot mode to really care about improving their gear at this stage of the game with the expansion expected out later this year. My guess is that it wont be out till mid-late November. I'm saying guess because I dont really know and that the timing of a release like that has it falling in with the start of the holiday shopping season.

So what did I do? Well I respecced to a Dreamstate build and so far I hate it. Sure I can run dailies in no time, but damn I miss Swiftmend and Feral Charge. I did gain the ole Lazer Chicken form (Moonkin for you diehards) and Insect Swarm (which is a weaker dot than Moonfire and increases the miss rate on your opponent's hits). It does increase your armor value to that of Dire Bear form, which is extremely nice when your casting cyclone and entangling roots while an opponent is beating on you. While there are drawbacks as in missing another stun like Feral Charge and another quick heal like Swiftmend, it does provide me more DPS for lower bracketed arenas. For example, it would have been nice to have this spec when it was just me and a resto shaman left to duke it out in 2s. That match went on for an additional 20+ minutes till the shaman gave up and /leftarena.

But I went with this spec for a number of other reasons. One being that when WoTLK comes out, I'll probably level as Dreamstate or Moonkin. More than likely I'll be Dreamstate so that I can still heal in instances and also because I have a very weak set of feral gear. Actually, a healing spec for instances is still up in the air till I see some finalized talent trees. A second reason falls in line with the talent trees. The 8/11/42 build I had a week before will lose feral charge due to Blizzard changing the placement of that ability in the feral tree (requiring 20 points now, maybe they should Omen of Clarity further down the feral tree). So I might as well prepare myself for not having it. The Dreamstate build also provides me with the opportunity to plow through dailies at a fairly fast rate. For example, the Blade's Edge/Ogrilla daily of killing 15 demons (yes, I still do that daily) used to take Bacon a good amount of time. Once I started the portal, I could drop 3 -4 demons before the portal despawned (~ 3 mins) using the ToL spec. Now with the Dreamstate spec, I improved that to 5-6 per portal spawn. So my overall productivity in making gold has increased. Lastly and not least of all, I got a big brother in which to defend my shaman while I finished leveling her out.

I'm going to keep this spec and give it a fair shot. I've spent the gold and it's only fair. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Ganked and ganked

This weekend presented me with a topic that some people whine about on the forums. Usually you get the, @SoANDSo whining about SoANDSo ganking the poster's alt in STV. This usually followed up by alot of trolls saying, ... "if you don't like then reroll PVE.." or "... here's some cheese..." It happens alot on PVP servers. You'll never get away from it. It's something you have to deal with.

So here I am with my level 44 shaman, trucking through Feralas. Why Feralas? Well, it's not a heavily horde trafficed area as Stranglethorn Vale and Tanaris. My first run in came from a quest in Feathermoon that sends you south to a smaller island with a cave full of Nagas. This appears to be a great place to grind and finish out quests. Sure enough, it takes no time for me to get 2-3 bubbles on the XP bar from lvl 45. That is until I find a lvl45 undead rogue in the back part of the cave. In the past I would have gone the other way and come back later. But not this time. I make sure I have Windfury on my mainhand axe and Frost on the off hand and charge in. I did manage to get the jump, but she pulled off a gouge and vanish to regather herself. It was all over at that point. Granted I don't PVP much with the shaman and the fight was pretty much decided before it began. So, I lay there dead, letting the rogue taunt me, spit on me, and wait. I guess she thought I was going to blow my self rez leaving me behind the curve of fair fight. I probably would have had I had the anhks, but I decide to wait it out for the full 6 minute wait, hoping she would think I was calling in reinforcements and thus leave. I return and I dont see her around, so I rez. I get ready to go back to taking out my furstrations on the nagas, when I get 2 hits into the 2nd naga and the rogue jumps me. Ok, maybe I deserve that one for jumping her earlier. But after sitting through another round of /laugh, /point, /spit, etc. I decide that was it. I log and get Bacon. Sure he's resto, but that doesn't matter when the rogue is level 45. After I put her down, I let her rez and go back to grinding. But I pop out of stealth just to let her know that I was still around. See, I don't mind getting ganked, but have some respect and class. Leave the /spit, /point, /laugh for the battlegrounds or the guy who is 3 levels higher than you and still couldn't kill you.

The next day I take the shaman (who is now to Tanaris and decide that I'll venture out to the Southseas Shakedown, and Pirates Ahoy quests. Now this area has always been known as the Gankville in Kalimdor. Sure enough I run into the with a lvl42 Blood Elf hunter next to me. But after watching each other we decide that we go our own separate ways and peacefully in the area. Now this wasn't the only horde in the area. I manage to find an undead mage my level (at this point in time I am now lvl 46) and 2 - level 44 Blood Elf pallies (which appeared to be multiboxed by someone). The really crazy thing is that we all kind of ignore each other and everyone does their own thing. I leave there and help out a gnome mage my level finish out the second part of Waste Water Justice. Earlier I spied upon a group of 4 horde (lvl51 pally, lvl 48 hunter, lvl 47 hunter, and a lvl 44 druid) and made note of where they were. But eventually they find me and the mage and destroy us. Typical of the horde on this server. If they got you out manned and out gunned, they'll gank you. I decide to move on back to Feralas and finish out the missing courier quest. Upon retrieving the quest item from the Writhing Deep (or whatever it is called), I stumble upon a lvl47 Orc Shaman who is completely out of mana and sitting there with 80% health. We stare each other down, I grip both my axes tightly anticipating the attack. But he sits down and starts to drink. Huh? So I grab my quest item and start to back up. Nothing, he just sits there. Ok. So I head over to the ogres in Feralas ignoring the other 2 seamingly innocent horde questors. I get about 3 ogres from finishing and I get blasted by guess who? Yep the shaman I left back in the Writhing Deep. Damn it. I rez and this guy decided to camp me. MUTHER #&$%#*! So I log and get Bacon (see a pattern here?). I ride to the ogre area, scaring 3 other low level horde to near death. I wasn't interested in them, just that shaman. I find him. Sneak up and pounce him, let loose a rip, and then another stun, maim. I finish him off with a Moonfire when I realize that there was a lvl 50 Blood Elf pally, a lvl 48 mage, and a lvl47 druid in in the same area. That shaman probably wonders what or why I singled him out. Well, to drive the point home, I gank him one more time just to remind him what camping is like. Once again, there is ganking with class and there's cases of just being an @$$.

I don't mind getting ganked. It's part the game and storyline. Naturally, the Horde and Alliance don't like each other. But at least be a sport about it. Be mindful of the camping and taunting. Because as the sayings hold true, 'WHAT COMES AROUND, GOES AROUND' and 'THERE IS ALWAYS A BIGGER FISH'.

Now and the future

My last post left quite a few questions out there as to what my plans are for the expansion, my druid Baconstrip, and my role within Heroes Inc.

Now the last post had alot to do with the fun I had playing my lock. Granted it's a nice change of pace, but the fellowship of running an instance with people I knew wasn't and will never be there. And while I have spent a couple of days over there, I don't see playing my lock on Proudmoore as a main character. However, with the expansion approximately 3-4 months away, there is nothing to do as a resto druid on Altar of Storms. On a side note, AOS is a small and tight knit server. Most of the time you can't post in the LFG tool because no one on AOS uses it. So you're left with the dregs searching in the trade channel.

Sure I can respec and try out some Balance moves in healing gear. Go finish getting exalted with Netherwing and the Sunwell dudes. Make 10k gold. Beg for a pugging spot to ZA. Grind honor or do some arenas. All those aren't bad ideas.

The one about arenas really bums me because now my friend and neighborhood lock, Darkdescent left the server and abandoned our 2v2 team. I'm just about to the point where I may give up on doing 2v2 and 3v3 arenas. I did get 10 games in Stammpeed (fairly new lvl70 warrior). But he didn't want to push it any farther without some more gear. Can't say I don't blame him. But I don't see us competing for an 1800 rating this season. I have received an invite to do some 3s with a former guildie. Warrior/Ret Pally/Druid may make for a viable comp, but I will be the focus target in that match. And we'll definitely have our hands full with an RMP makeup. I will admit that it's worth a try. 5v5 arenas are going well. There's still communication issues that need to be worked out such as what target I am cycloning, the target our warrior is switching to, when our lock has DR on his fears, etc. But we're getting better and it seems to be working out for the most part.

So back to answering the previous questions. What are my plans with the expansion? Well, I am definitely keeping Bacon around. He's not going anywhere. I really want to do 10 man raiding in the expansion with him. And I want to do them with my friends. So that means he's staying put. Will I continue to heal? Probably. Because that's what I know and do best. But with the changes to gear stats and making +spell damage and +healing all one stat (spell power) means that I can DPS as moonkin with a simple respec.

My role within the guild? Well, that remains to be seen. I hope to have Bacon on the healing end of the 10 man raids. But I doubt I'll get to go over 50% of the raids with him as it appears that we will be rotating 15 people in and out among the raids. So I'll need a backup plan. And that would have to be an alt. Currently I have a lvl44 shaman. And maybe I finish leveling her out. Making her another Bacon. Something like elemental/resto shaman all in one.

Just about done healing... for now

Well last week's run into TK with another guild was a disaster, but it didn't kill my enthusiam for the PVE content of the game. Since the opportunities to raid or run instances in my current guild have dried up; I've done some raiding with my warlock. Last week I transferred the character to a PVE server and joined up with a friend of mine to run some content with a guild on that server. Since the transfer, I ran Kara (Curator to Prince), Gruul's Lair, and Mags. The change of scenery was pleasant. For example, check out the following:

I was lighting up Curator with Curse of Doom and timing it when it would go off during his Evocate phase. Being the sole AOE DPSer on Illhoof was key to that fight. Banishing elementals on Shade so that they don't bother the rest of the DPS who are focused on the boss. Slapping Curse of Elements on Prince for that extra punch from other casters helped alot. Enslaving the Fel Hunter from the Summoner on the High King Mulgar fight in Gruuls was a nice change from that maddening pull situation. And finally I got to do a smidgen of everything in Mags, being a cube clicker, banish/fearing elementals, and DPSing was all something I would have never done as a healer. It was a nice change of scenery.

But what all this has done is put me to thinking, do I want to continue to heal? I mean, I had done a healing part for so long that I never knew what it was like to do anything else. I filled the slot of a healer so as to cement a spot in a raid. And while it wasn't the best of roles, it provided me the assurance of running some content with my friends. Now that the secret's out that I can do more than heal, it changes my whole perspective on raiding. Maybe my charitable healing days are over and I want to DPS now. I dont know. But what is apparent is that I am just about done with healing... at least for now.

It was All a Mistake

Yesterday I pulled a classic Brett Favre move. I told my guild master that I maybe leaving the guild to do some raiding because I felt that I things were left undone on the PVE front. I log on and I feel pretty sheepish because I know that my gm knows my intentions, but hopefully noone else does. And the last thing I want in the guild is a huge dramatic event. I don't like to draw alot of attention to myself. So, I run a couple of AVs with them and I get a whisper from the GM of a raiding guild asking if I want to go for a trial run. So I after AV, I leave the group and accept a summon.

We begin with a cameo appearance with the Doom Lord Kazzak. I was told to do raid heals which was fine for me. After getting him around to 60% he starts spitting out these shadow bolt volleys that would make just about any healer cry. We wipe and reform. We were told that we didn't have the DPS for this fight and were moving on. This should have been a precursor to what as planned for me tonight and I should have left the raid right there. But I'm stupid and eager to get my fill on any raid content I can find. The raid leader informs us to fly across to Netherstorm for a run on the High Astromancer Solarian.

As we begin our trek to the Tempest Keep, I notice that there is alot of stupid chatter going on in vent. People were just talking about senseless crap. It had no bearing on the raid or anything for that matter. I was hoping it would end once we got into the instance. Boy was I wrong. We enter and the raid starts to get reassembled. A druid asks me what my spirit is and I replied 457. I guess this was the right answer because I'm shifted to the main tank group. Our first pull starts and I heal a little too early drawing threat and sending myself to an early the graveyard. Talk about being rusty. :) After the next few pulls I get my groove back and things seem to flow a little better. However, that was the only positive thing that happened for me.

We get to Azalor's room and start pulling the elite dragonhawks. It was after our final dragonhawk that the chatter on vent started to go south. At first it was annoying, but now it had gone too far. A rogue in the raid made a comment about how a certain priest should be better served in the kitchen because that was the place for her. It certainly wasn't funny and the fact that the person playing the forementioned priest is in fact a woman, made it even worse. The GM and co GM go off and start yelling about being civil with each other. The next few minutes on vent seemed like a paragraph right out of Pulp Fiction and would make old salty sailors blush. I was ready to park Bacon and go to bed at this point. But I was committed.

The next few pulls were tougher and the raid leader booted a warrior from the raid for being AFK. Apparently you are not allowed to convey things like that in raid chat. That's suppose to go to him personally (just be forewarned that he was bitching earlier about not to send him anymore tells and that he was busy). This opened the door for a whole string of booting people, People that were DCing (I would suspect on purpose) or people just tired of it all. A feral druid by the name of Tonkadonk started whispering me and lets me know that all the drama was getting pretty bad. He thanked me for being there to have someone to talk to. All I kept thinking was, "And I left pwnage in AV for this?"

We finally get to Solarian and managed to maintain a raid of 25 people with replacements. And just like clockwork, some kid pops off with a crude joke and runs off the one lock in the raid. I think she accounted for most of the DPS in the ranged group. They pick up a shaman to help out, but decline to boot the foulmouthed kid in fears that we might be short on healers. Now right before the boss fight happens, the raid leader informs that anyone getting Wrath and doesn't run away will get the BOOT. Wrath is a nasty ticking bomb put on a raid member and will kill whoever is in range of that person when it goes off. Now while that's not cool, booting the person who causes some deaths is even worse. I mean there are guarantees in boss fights. One is that people will make mistakes. Two, people die in boss fights. So how is a raid and a guild suppose to be able to progress and learn from these mistakes if they're constantly booted? Makes no sense to me. All I am thinking at this point is, "Let's do this so I can leave."

So, our first attempt goes on pretty well till a mage gets wrath and wipes about 25% of the raid. Auto-booted. The Raid Leader comments that he would rather down Solarian with 24 competent people than 24 and a moron. How nice of him. Second attempt fares much worse. With no pally tank available, we're left with trying to heal the AOE DPSers on the multiple spawns. It was just a matter of time till that attempt fails too. This time another person doesn't get away far enough with Wrath and still manages to kill 4 people. However, that person stays since he's in good with the officers. Now that's fair? Whatever. The 3rd attempt would be our final attempt and it was something we should have never begun.

Overall, this was a great reminder that should lay the PVE desires aside until the expansion comes out. What I found out in all this, is that no matter how tempting it is, raiding without your friends just really sucks. I'm going to back to leveling my shaman and battlegrounds with my friends in Heroes. So in a sense, I pulled a Brett Favre, I planned to retire from Heroes, but then I changed my mind because the grass is NEVER greener.

Things Left Undone

So, here I am once again talking about leaving things unfinished. I ground out over 9K honor this weekend in AV. I picked up my Guardian's Pennant of Salvation and gemmed it. As it stands right now, I have all the honor items for Bacon except for the ring and boots. And to get those, I need a team rating over 1650 (for the ring and 1700 for the boots). But the sad part is that I got 9K honor. Talk about a slow death. It was so bad that I didn't even want to run my lock through any battlegrounds. But that's only part of the empty feeling now.

And when I'm not running battlegrounds or arenas, I do what daily quests I can. Sunday was the first time I managed to do over 20 dailies on one character. Talk about being tuckered out. If you gave me one more quest to do, I would have paid for you to take it back. I couldn't do anymore. So, lately it seems that there is nothing worth doing. Everyone (both horde and alliance) seems to have their own agenda and kinda just does it. For example, there's no longer any collaberation to attempt the 1st couple of bosses in ZA or even put together a heroic. Calls in the trade channel are few and far between. Even the guild I am in has gone to leveling an alt or capping either their gold/honor balance. Can't say I don't blame them. There hasn't been much going on all around since the news of the expansion was released.

I will say that I feel like I am missing something on the PVE end of the game. That's were I started back when I rolled horde. At that time I knew nothing but instances. At this point there are countless of raiding encounters that I have never seen. Lately, I've had 2 different guilds approach me about doing things with them. Mostly guilds still running early content like Tempest Keep and such (I would consider Hyjal,Black Temple, and Sunwell Plateau as late content). And I would be lying in saying that it's not tempting to see what it would be like to finish out some of that content.

So I am at a crossroads here a few months before the expansion. Do I go and persue those raiding events with another guild? Or do I try to hash out another 3-4 months of dailies and PVP. It's a tough call. I remember a discussion I had a few months ago with a friend of mine. We were talking about how the raids were being ran with a core group. And my concern at the time was that once this core group finished a raid, they would never go back. And here we are. I hear things like, well there's no point to running them with the expansion around the corner. Or there's really nothing to see. That's probably true. But am I selfish in wanting more?