Mend Pet

This weekend I ran the first guild event we’ve had in a long time.  I decided to make it something simple, just to get a feel for what all the new people in the guild were interested in.  I figured, who doesn’t like to kill Alliance?  (If anyone in the guild were to reply “Me”, they would be gkicked immediately, of course).  The plan was this:  Attack Southshore, then raid one of the major cities, chosen by the guild members on the forum.  I wanted to do Southshore because Hillsbrad would be a good place for us to all congregate, and back before the days of BGs, Southshore vs. Tarren Mill were where all the action was (at least on my old PvP server).

So I spent the afternoon gathering supplies for the event, fished up 100 Deviate fish to distribute, gathered some Heavy Leather to make Heavy Leather Balls, bought 40G worth of alcohol from the Barkeep in Org.  I filled my bags with non-combat pets, my Mario costume, and all my other assorted fun gear.  I made my way to Undercity to start heading to Tarren Mill.

Ever gotten bugged in the UC elevators?  Never happened to me before.  But good ol’ WoW decided that Sunday was the day to show me what it’s like.  It may have had to do with the fact that I was alt-tabbed out when I was going down, I don’t know.  But I came back to find myself disconnected.  I try to log back in, and I get booted.  Again.  And again.  On the character log in screen, I notice that my location is listed as blank.  Greeeeat!

I finally gave up and logged onto Fergy, reluctantly opened a GM ticket (knowing I wouldn’t get a response in time).  There goes all my tasty fish and alcohol!  It was a sad day.

But the event was fun, nonetheless.  Other than a little confusion with the start time (Whoever put 8PM in the MotD sure screwed up there! *shifty eyes*) we started without a hitch, and got Soutshore down in a matter of seconds.  It was enough to weit our palettes, and we were ready to head to SW.  I hadn’t really planned the whole evening, I figured we’d just play it by ear, which we did.  We portaled to Stonard and took the short jog to Elwynn, taking a visit to raid Hogger first (although some level 12 ninja’s our kill!).  The beginning of the Stormwind raid was quite disorganized, but most of us ended up on a dock by Stockades.  We co-ordinated a res and managed to take out our impromptu nemesis, Starbeam (one of the many NE hunters).

After we got a little tired of all the dying and running back, we used Stockade as a safe haven, and decided on our next action.  Since we are a PvE guild after all, and we are playing it old school, an Onyxia raid is just what the doctor ordered.  We spent the rest of the evening in 5-man groups trying to get everyone finished at least the LBRS part of the chain, with the help of Boostah and a couple others who could still remember their way around!

All in all, I think the event was a success.  Sure, it wasn’t super organized, but I found it really interesting to see how people worked together and made decisions as a group, something we don’t get to do while raiding very often.

I’ll be planning the real Onyxia raid in a couple of weeks, and I think it’ll be a blast!

Since my return from my short study break from WoW, I’ve come to realize something about my gear.  It’s always the same.  I seem to have gotten stuck in a rut with my gear, and other than my SSO necklace and featherduster, I haven’t gotten much new gear in the last seven months.  And I seemed content with my gear level and look, until I recently compared myself to the other raiding hunters of the guild.  And then, the jealousy kicked in.  Why am I not first on the DPS meter?  It’s my gear, of course!  And it’s time to remedy that.  Time to get my butt in gear, so to speak.

If you don’t know me well enough, you probably don’t know my love for spreadsheets.  Well, I’ve started to compile a list of improvements, and ranking them based on several factors.  I use RatingBuster, but there are some things it doesn’t account for well enough, like enchants and gems.  So, with the help of Cheeky’s Hunter DPS Spreadsheet, I’ve compared my current gear and a bunch of upgrades that are within my grasp.

You can see the current condition of my spreadsheet here.  It comes complete with colour-coding and all!  It may not make complete sense to you, but I find it really interesting to see how much each item can affect my DPS, and where I have to make sacrifices to get some good numbers in the damage meters.

It is a work in progress for sure, but I think it’s going to help me in the long run.  I now have my priorities straight, and it has already helped me decide between a new ring and a new chest.  I’ve still got to add some more possibilities to the list, like more crafted gear, but at least I have something to aim for!

I know this blog says it is about a Holy Priest and a BM Hunter, but to be honest, my priest is actually considered Shadow right now… He’s level 65, and I leveled from 1 to 60 without doing any instances (other than generous runs by other people) and never actually being a healer… I was shadow all the way, with just enough points in discipline to get me some extra wand pew pew.  However, the whole reason I rolled a priest was to be a healer!  It was just so much easier to play shadow leveling up, that I neglected my holy duties until I hit Hellfire.

And then it was time… time to see if healing really was for me.  As I played my Hunter, I’d BEEN healed plenty of times, which was always a pleasant experience.  I’d even cast some renews on myself occassionally, but I’d never had to watch a tank, know whether to use Greater Heal or Flash Heal… all those sparkly yellowish ability icons all looked the same to me!

And I made a mistake… I jumped right in, thinking “I can level as a Disc/Holy priest, right?  They have Holy Fire and Smite!”  This is not true, at least not for me.  I couldn’t kill ANYTHING.  Either Outlands was way harder than I remembered it being, or holy/disc is not the way to quest.  So I figure, I’m left with a choice:  Go shadow and don’t try being a healer til I hit 70, or be holy and ONLY do instances.  Hrm.  Neither of those sounded much fun… so I compromised.

I went Shadow/Holy!  I was, and still am, a noob priest.  But this seems to be working for me.  I went as deep into Shadow as I had to so I could get Shadowform… and then everything else gets poured into Holy and Discipline.  This is about what it’s looking like I’ll end up with by 70 (although I won’t keep it at 70 for long): 12/18/31

So far, it’s been going well.  I am not having a problem with my healing numbers, and I am also not having any problems finishing my quests.  I have luckily learned that I do, in fact, love healing… and seem to be doing it pretty well in my instance runs, even though I’m still learning lots and lots every time.  Although it does feel a bit like “Whack-a-mole” sometimes, it is fun!

I look forward to hitting 70 and going full out Holy and see what it’s like to be a REAL healer!

Undead.  Lost.  Forsaken by the Light.

Ferguson lived a life of peace.  He was a Priest of the Holy Light, he had a family, his faith was strong and his motivation to help others was even stronger.

And then, the Plague came, and it spread quickly.  Ferguson learned what the plague was doing to the infected, and he and his family fled the land they called home, in search of safety.  However, before they arrived, Ferguson began showing symptoms… he was infected, and it was only a matter of time before he became undead.  In a last desperate move, he sent his family away, hoping it had not spread to them, and that they could find safety, while he was left to rot.

Much time was lost to Ferguson.  He awoke to find himself somewhere strange, not remembering anything since the time he left his family, with no concept of time passed.  He found his jaw had been removed, or rotted off, and had to learn other means of communication.  He learned of others around him with similar stories, and they banded together, determined to return to their homes and get revenge for what had been done to them and their families.  They found a leader in Sylvanas Windrunner, and forged a home in the underbelly of their old capital, Lordaeron.

The Light had forsaken them, they could no longer call upon its power, Ferguson quickly found.  And so he followed a new order, the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow, he and his brethren were forced to wield the power of the Shadow against their greatest enemy, the Scourge.

Ferguson, powered by his anger for his lost life and loved ones, fought viciously against the Scourge.  However, as he battled in the land beyond the Dark Portal, memories of his past began to influence his decisions.  He was tired of fighting, he wanted to return to his life of peace, he wanted to help.  He left the Cult of the Shadow, and worked to find a way to call upon the Light, although it was tainted, to help his companions in battle.

From meager beginnings in Sen’jin Village, a great huntress arose to fulfill her role as a defender of the Horde.  From her first visit to Ogrimmar, and her first encounter with the great Warchief Thrall, Brajana knew her destiny was to uphold the might and honor of the land she had come to call home.  She felt that it was up to her to help give the Darkspear Trolls a new name and help build upon the alliances built with the Orcs and Tauren that had saved them from their conflict, and offered to share their land to give a home to the exiled Darkspears.

As she worked toward her goal of being recognized by the Horde as a true asset, especially by Thrall, whose opinion she valued above all, Brajana met many new people, and learned to appreciate that some members of the Forsaken really could be trusted.  She was aided by one particular member of the Forsaken as she battled her way through Stranglethorn Vale, her family’s former home and the land of her most hated enemies.

In her many conflicts with the crude Alliance, Brajana fought diligently to show her pride for the Horde, and demonstrate her prowess as a hunter.  Alongside her, Fiddlesticks, the white pride lord who she had formed a particular bond with while journeying through the Barrens, destroyed many foes.

When the battle of the Horde turned a focus on the forces of Outland, Brajana rushed to the Dark Portal to do what she could, where ever she could.  In this new land, Brajana made a new ally, Willy, a Warp Stalker.  His swift movements and brilliant white colour made him quite notable, and his power could not be contested.

However, Brajana realized that although she had Willy and Fiddlesticks, she could not make a true difference in the Horde without a greater number of allies to work with.  She quickly found a ragged cuddly and friendly group of fighters aiming for the same goal as she was: The Unemployed.  She quickly made her home with them, and that is where she, Willy and Fiddlesticks help to make their contribution to the Horde, hoping to someday gain the attention of the Warchief, Thrall.