Mend Pet

It was a holiday yesterday up here in the North, and I decided to take the day and see how far I could get my beloved Paladin.  He was all set with his Charger at level 61, ready to head to Northrend to slay demons and red Orcs.

After about 10 hours of playing yesterday, I managed to go from 61 to 64.  That’s practically halfway done Outlands!  In a day!  Hah!

I even picked up dual specs, he’s my very first character to specialize.  I made up a prot spec for his secondary talents and tried to learn what it’s like to tank as a paladin.  I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

I did want to try some instancing though.  So I jumped into LFG while questing, and hoped for the best.  I get a few “u healz?” whispers, which I promptly answered no to.  Then I got an invite.

Ramps PUG attempt #1: 2 Death Knights, a Rogue, a 64 feral Druid, and me (62 Ret/Prot).

Group Leader DK asks me if I’m a healer.  I say no, I’m ret/prot.  Druid pipes up and says she can heal, she is our most viable option for healing and doesn’t mind doing it even though it’s not her main spec.  Sounds good to me!  “Who’s tanking?”  I ask.  “I’m not, DUH, I’m BLOOD I don’t tank” says Group Leader DK (this is the same guy who insists on a ret paladin healing).  I volunteer, since it’s my second spec.  “Ghugh you are HEALING.” he says.  /facepalm.  The druid and I both say that she’s volunteered and is a better option to heal.

We run to the instance.  We zone in, I Bless everyone.  “OK so Ghugh you are healing let’s go” says Group Leader DK.  I say, “Uhh… why me?”

You have been removed from the group.

…

OKAY!  Well, it probably wouldn’t have gone well anyway. A little while later, I get another group invite

Ramps PUG Attempt #2: 3 Death Knights, a DPS Warrior and me.

“We need a healer” says DPS warrior.  I tell them it’s not my spec, but I put my healing gear on and seem to heal effectively enough for a Ramps run, and the tank is 64 so that should help.  We start running off towards Ramps.  A couple of us fail to make a jump and end up splattered on the ground underneath Ramps.  We all have a good laugh, blame Crusader Aura and start the run back to our bodies.

DK #1 has left the group.

DPS Warrior has left the group.

…

OKAY!  Looks like we’re done here.  Back to questing.  I get a whisper from a healer.  He invites me to a ramps group as DPS, says he has a tank already.  That’s a good sign!  We pull a group together quickly.

Ramps PUG Attempt #3: 1 Death Knight, 1 Feral Druid, 1 Holy Priest, 1 Elemental Shaman and me.

We made it into the instance.  This is a good sign.  We pull the first group – this is the furthest any of my PUGs have gotten.  Good sign!

We make it through the run with no Deaths.  Huzzah!  Success!  I can’t say it was a perfect run, but it was something.  We all agree to go again.  This is where the problems started.  I believe the healer and tank began to get a bit cocky.  “Just chain pull” says the level 59 healer.  “Just pull the entire room” hears the 61 DK tank.

I started noticing a strange behavior.  The DK was just… standing there.  Tanking.  He used some abilities, but he was NOT auto-attacking.  I target his target – it seems he’s always got whatever mob is BEHIND him targeted.  Man, DKs must be so easy to play if you can tank without even facing your target!  Things got worse and worse – after a wipe, he pulls before the healer is even into the zone.  He pulls when no one has mana.   He facepulls and lets the ele shaman and I try to pull the adds off of the healer.

We get to Nazan… make it through the Rider’s phase pretty smoothly, but then everyone forgets the “don’t stand in the flames” rule.  Priest gos down, Shaman goes down, Druid goes down.  It’s just me, the DK and the Dragon now.  My eyes look towards the very close instance exit and I contemplate making a run for it.  But no – I’m at nearly full health and mana, I can do this!  Holy Light!  Judgement of Wisdom!  Holy Light!  Judgement of Wisdom!  Luckily I’m regenning enough mana with my Judgements to afford my big heals.  It’s a long fight, but we take him down.  Just the two of us.

Ramps PUG Attempt #3: SUCCESS!

Today’s lesson: 

There is an inverse correlation between the number of Death Knights in a PUG and the success of the PUG.

So yesterday I was dual-boxing on my machine with my boyfriend’s Hunter to help me get Ghugh’s dungeon runs for his Charger quest. It was a very long afternoon, as we had to run UD Stratholme, Dire Maul and Scholomance… and I can sometimes bore easily.  We took turns playing to get it all done, and much frustration was had in Scholo.

When doing the final event in Scholo, I read that if you wipe, you have to reset the instance and do it all over again.  Well, my paladin died from AoE pretty early, and I was not happy.  I tried running him back, but of course the gates were shut so I could get close enough to get XP, but not in the door.  The event seemed to be taking forever, so I figured I had to reset.  Since my Hunter was stuck in the instance, I hearthed them both out and then started the long journey back to Scholo.

It was only then that I read that the event can still be completed after the paladin has died as long as he is… close enough to get XP.  So I reset it and hearthed for no reason at all!  He died again the second time, but the strategy worked, and I finished the event with the Hunter and ran the Paladin in after.  Much rejoicing was had!

I also saved a lot of money by going this way instead of buying the ability at 61.  Since I had most of the mats from being a miner, it only cost me about 230g to get this quest done, rather than the 500g or whatever it costs to just simply train it and buy the mount.  So there!

"Feat of Strength? ... What we have is great Strength of Feet!"

But an interesting little thing happened during this run.

At one point I decided to swap out his cat pet for his Gorilla pet, because… well, it just makes more sense.  So I used Call Stabled Pet, spent Gorilla’s talent points and went on killing things.  Then I noticed the little +s and sparkles that go with Mend Pet… but I didn’t remember casting it.  I look at his buff only to find this:

Huh!  That’s pretty sweet.  Bring this to a raid and you’re sure to top the healing (and overhealing) meters.   And it’s still there today, after logging out and everything… but now there are only 20 days remaining!

Ghugh finally pushed through the last 15% and hit level 60 last night!  I’m so proud of him… *tear*!

I am determined to do the epic mount quest.  Why?  Because it’s EPIC!  Yes, I know I can just buy the darn thing at 61.  But I had most of the mats I needed to get for the quest on me already from mining, and the boyfriend needs to run the instances on his 80 anyway, so it’s really no big deal.  The only big deal is trying to find time to run them

Ghugh has developed a nemesis though – a creature known as the Nerubian Overseer.  Nasty little bug, he is!  I was determined to kill this rare and take his pretty loots… but he does this horrible web that prevents you from attacking, moving or casting spells for 8 seconds, and he casts it over and over again.  He killed me no less than 3 times while I was on my way to work on my Paladin quest.  What a jerk.

Once I finish up my mount quest, it’s off to Outlands!  I was going to head out right when I hit 58, but I figured, I need some Argent rep for my paladin quest anyway, and I was moving along very quickly with the quests I had, so I just hung around in Winterspring and Western Plaguelands.

I’m thinking of buying dual specs for Ghugh.  I want to try my hand at tanking.  As you can see from the screenshot… my Mining/Skinning combo and my not having to pay a lot for mounts has put me in quite the advantageous position, as far as gold goes… so I can certainly afford it. But I really don’t know anything about tanking!  HALP!

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of character jumping.  Raiding on my Hunter, leveling my Paladin and my Mage too.  These three classes do not have very similar playstyles.  In fact, they are almost as far apart from each other as you can get. Ranged with a pet, melee with heals and spell casting clothy.

This makes it difficult for me to switch between them smoothly.  Last night I played my paladin for a bit, then switched over to my mage, who I hadn’t played in a couple of weeks.  It was… a shock.  I was too used to my buttons and keybindings, expecting different things from different abilities, quite a disaster! (Let’s just say Polymorph != Holy Light and Pyroblast != Exorcism)

I realized I need to adjust my alts to follow a similar keybinding strategy to my main.  I need to know where everything is in a pinch.  So I need to decide what abilities I associate between each class.

So here are the major categories of situations/abilities and which spells and abilities I associate them for each class.  Hopefully this will help me sort my keybindings out so no matter which class I’m playing, the same button will have approximately the same effect.

OMG I’M GONNA DIE, GET IT OFF ME! (Aggro drop/damage protection)

• Hunter: Feign Death
• Mage: Ice Block or Mana Shield
• Paladin: (What are you talking about?  My paladin NEVER dies.) A.K.A. Divine Shield or Lay on Hands

Crap, he’s a runner!  Get him quick before he pulls adds! (Intant ranged cast)

• Hunter: Arcane Shot
• Mage: Fire Blast
• Paladin: Hammer of Wrath

You’re trying to heal?  I don’t think so! (Stun/Interrupt)

• Hunter: Intimidation (when BM-spec’d) or Silencing Shot (when MM-spec’d)
• Mage: Dragon’s Breath
• Paladin: Hammer of Justice

They’re EVERYWHERE!! (Area of Effect)

• Hunter: Volley
• Mage: Flamestrike or Blizzard
• Paladin: Consecration

YOU! Stay there while I kill this guy.  kthx! (Long-term Crowd Control)

• Hunter: Freezing Trap or Freezing Arrow (depending on mob/location)
• Mage: Polymorph
• Paladin: Repentance

Any other situations that you need to be readily accessible instinctively?

I decided to hang out with Ghugh most of the weekend.  I’m finding that the more I play him, the more I love him!  Ret Paladins are so OP.

Got him from 46 to 51 this weekend, as well as a boatload of achievements.

With the help of Bellbell of 4Haelz, I was able to take a stroll through one of my favourite dungeons (we even had a picnic!)

The strangest part of my weekend though was getting the [I Found One!] achievement on Ghugh.  I didn’t bother with any of the Noblegarden stuff (already did it on Brajana and 2 other alts).  But as I was questing through Un’goro, I stumbled upon an egg.  Why would someone put an egg here? And why wouldn’t they open it up?  Who knows!  But it was about as free as an achievement can get.

I also spent some time in Alterac Valley at 51.  Determined to get my [Ice Barbed Spear], I suffered through a 50 minute Alterac Valley war of attrition.  It was painful, as the battleground was full of level 60 Death Knights decked out with 10k HP, when little me had barely 3.5k.  But I got a boatload of achievements as well as picking up the spear, so I certainly can’t complain!

Hope your weekend was as much fun as mine!