Screenshot...

Halloween is coming... And Blizzard is celebrating. Voicless took the time to pose next to a Cyclops-style pumpkin!

They have a few quests coming out that are Halloween themed and I took part in a couple, but had to log off soon afterwards. I will try to do a few of them tomorrow, but I more inclined to work towards my lvl 79 goal! And yes, the 2xExp bar is full, so level 79 is definitely doable in a few hours!

Gear...

Frostsavage Cowl
Frostsavage Shoulders
Frostsavage Robe
Frostsavage Gloves
Frostsavage Leggings
Frostsavage Boots

Those are the 6 pieces I have currently, but I am not looking for the other 2 really. I figure 6/8 is pretty good. Haven't gotten to try out the gear yet, but I will probably do a run in the morning of some kind, but I do need to get those enchants for intellect or spirit. I think intellect is probably more important, the larger my mana pool, the longer I can last in the healing game...

Ding...

Ding!!! Should I be excited? Nope, I still have two levels to go, and realized that I don't want to do anything till I have hit lvl 80. I did do myself a little bit of a favor and bought Voicless some nice gear for 78s from a Tailor I know, who is also offering to enchant them as long as I can get the mats. Shoutout to Daiz!

Anyway, now that I am at 78, I feel much better and I seem to be getting a bit of attention to be pulled on as a healer a lot more often. The new gear I bought seems to have done a number on me for spirit, but has nicely supplemented it with some awesome spellpower. My bonus healing/damage is around 1500 right now, but I haven't even gotten the items enchanted yet. But out of the possible set of 8, I own 6 of them. So the resilience bonus and whatnot are ok. I also have the gear that grants plenty of stamina, which is great for Shadow, seeing as I solo a lot of things, more HP means more time to live. I am thinking half the gear towards intellect and the other half towards spellpower. Is spirit still disappearing?

Anyway, the 2xExp bar is about 2/3 of the way full, mostly because I go full days without playing, thanks to the schedule. But it should be about full by the time I get home from work tomorrow. And then the climb to 79 begins.

I want to talk about something. Something everyone in a guild will encounter or already have encountered... I call it organizing for raids...

I asked in my guild chat that everyone register to the webpage and the forum so we can figure out the raid times/groups/schedule/etc... Well someone threw up a comment in chat that "webpages, imo are unnecessary now with the guild calendar." Well I wasn't sure what to say to that, but from what I understood, this is a great tool IF you have a schedule/groups already worked out. I was thinking more along the lines of the guild having a forum discussion on raid dates/times and trying to figure out a system for making sure of the members who will be participating and should be present. I know the calendar is great, BUT, what if you have no foundation on which to base it on? What if no one has voiced their opinion on when the agreed raid times will be?

I know we use the guild info section for broadcasting the raid times that are upcoming, but what if I want to know a week or two ahead of time so I can coordinate with the wife? I have a life outside of WOW, a very active and fulfilling life, so being able to plan things is key to being happy here. I will try to get everyone to register on the forum at least, and try to approach my GM about making it a mandatory requirement. Basically headed in the direction that if you don't register you don't raid, easy as that... I don't find it unreasonable to require guild members to be required to make themselves another step more accessible on the webpage/forums. In fact it would make it so they don't have to log in, try to get some info from the GM/Officers, wait for someone to log on to ask them... It would mean there would be no dependence on requiring a presently typed msg in guild chat... I think it could also be more economical of our guild chat, keeping the clutter out and making sure only what needs to be talked about be brought up.

Maybe it is just the "old man" in me coming? Will keep ya'll posted!

78...

*Sigh* I hate when work interferes with mith my WOW life... I am less than a bar away from 78 and trying to get mor einvolved with the guild runs and whatnot, but alas, work calls and I have to report to duty at 1800...

So I guess in the morn I will be getting that last little bit of work in and trying to start the process of getting into some nice gear!

What I do dislike is the Nesingwary Quests. Kill 60 friggin beasts?! Wow, talk about a waste of time, but I did it, and it only put me that much closer to my goal. But once I am out of the Basin, I will be much happier. I just hope that I can push thru 78-80 as fast I did 76-78. I say that while taking into account what type of availability to WOW I have had. The last 3 days I have not jumped on the game, Real Life calls, and I spent the time with my wife in Tokyo. I cannot complain, fun times. All it did was build up my 2x Exp bar, which does nothing more than make the uphill battle to the next level even more tolerable.

On a note that has nothing to do with anything WOW, I just saw the Quizno's new sandwich, looks to be a tasty Philly Cheesesteak. Only thing is, there is no Quizno's here in Japan. I can't wait to get home in january for my visit to the States!

Hall of Stone...

Someone mentioned that this instance can take a bit of time, but we cleared this pretty quick. Of course I had a few guildmates on my side, namely Jen(lvl 80 'lock). So it was more of a cinch.

The group was composed of:

Tank: Lvl 76 Pally
Heals: Me! Lvl 76 Holy Spec Priest
DPS: Jen Lvl 80 'lock
DPS: Lvl 78 Shadow Priest(yay for face melting!)
DPS: Lvl 80 Shammy

Anyway, all the fights went fine mostly because of the higher than needed lvls of the 78+ members. Thanks again!!!

One of the things I noticed, was the tank was not really a good tank. I know he has a lower lvl than the other members, and so was going to have to beat them out on having aggro. But even with a few seconds of leeway to allow him to gain some aggro, he just couldn't hold on to them. Also adds... He/she couldn't handle the friggin adds. Seriously? Why volunteer to tank?! Maybe I am being too hard on the player, but seriously, if you have ever tanked, then you should know the basic concepts... If you can't handle adds, but can hold onto what you are tanking, then I can be pretty understanding. Sometimes being aware of your surroundings can be difficult, but it is essential for a Tank! Anyway, next rant...

Fire, circles, laser beams... Don't stand in them, don't run into them! Wierd... Why would you stand in something that can hurt you... 2 of the 3 members didn't follow this rule and instead bathed in the pit that is a void when the Maiden of Grief gets angry. WHY WOULD YOU STAND IN THERE!!! Don't you see your health dwindling!?!?!

I was furious, but the healer in me threw out heals like a madman and no one died. But Jen, was pretty upset about that. She told me to not heal anyone who stands in the fires just so they can understand what it can do to you. I obliged, but the rest of the group saw what she had wrote, and decided they should not stand in the fire... Why didn't they do that before? Probably because they were lazy and because I was facilitating it by keeping them alive... Never again, I will let the group wipe next time something like that happens.

Well anyway, the Maiden fell to massive DPS and was easily downed. Just had a few hectic moments of keeping everyone alive.

Krystallus... I died, but we lived. I got hit by successive attacks for some reason, probably being turned to stone then hit with a random boulder? I think my heals caused me to snag the aggro, but it wasn't like the Tank was all that successful to hold aggro in the first place. I died, but I was turned into an "Angel" and threw out some quick heals to top people off, and threw out a Renew or two to keep them capped off. He fell shortly after. Was rezzed by the Pally, and onward we went.

The Tribunal was a piece of cake, just mobs to control and basically deal with like you do any other pull. Again, bad tank = a running battle with me running around trying to keep the mobs from contacting me. I usually ran thru the middle of the battle while being followed so that my group members' AOE DPS would cause them to change their focus... I think it is a rather unnecessary thing for me to have to do, but you know, make due with what you have.

Sjonnir, the Ironshaper. More like the Claymaker. He fell apart pretty easily. Standard Tank and Spank, just keep the tank at 75% or higher, and throw a few CoH or PoHs around to keep the others topped off, and you got yourself a bit of buffer. Anyway, he fell easily enough.

HoS, not too bad, decent XP, and got a new backpiece. Oh well...

So level 76, tomorrow I plan to do my darnedest to hit 77, or even 78 so I can contribute more to the guild and participate in some Raids. Can't wait, I get excited with the prospect of healing a raid. Of course I will probably be given a minor role, and just be off-tank heals or perhaps group heals. Although I think a Resto Shaman or a Druid will be better at that, I have a much easier time focusing on a single target, but Holy seems versatile enough. Anyway, all done for the night...

See ya in the fight!!!

Typhoon time...

Well this week has been quite eventful. Lot of work to do and work that was required to be done. A Typhoon came thru Japan, and it gave me some time to just play a bit of WOW. It got decently wet, however, I believe we suffered very little. The only true benefit was that I got an extra day off, no complaining here.

Voicless enjoyed some attention and he progressed a little bit more. When I say a little, I actually mean a little more than that... He has hit the 75 wall, and passed it. He is currently sitting at a pretty little 76 and is enjoying the use of Mind Sear. Killing multiple aggros while under the protection of a PW:S is rather fun.

I am now open for HoS for Ulduar, and will be looking forward to running that sometime tomorrow. Well perhaps on Saturday. Either way, I will be glad to give it a go. My first steps to more serious instances/raids.

I did enjoy a bit of fun on AV, and I believe I had to have contributed to our wins. I topped the charts on healing, and made it difficult for anyone who I tagged along with to die. But the wierd thing is, I stayed in Shadow mode. Odd? I thought so too, initially it was a mistake on my part. But I stuck with it, and I worked what wonders I could with what I had. I chose not to jump into shadowform, and stayed out, and instead played healer as Shadow. Did it work? Yes... I threw Renews and PW:S onto those who were my focus. Then ayone who tangled with my partner, got hit up with some DOTs and times Fears to buy me healing time. With Dispersion and Shadowfiend, mana was not even an issue.

I was able to survive nearly the entire battle, which is really odd. But with the ability to Disperse and throw Shields on myself, I could survive long enough for whoever I latched onto to save me. Then I would heal them and throw my annoying DOTs. Those who tried to run away, eventually died, I know it must have been frustrating. Mindflay also threw a wrench into any opponents plan, especially those that attempt to break thru the mass wall of Horde by riding thru. I slowed them down, then they got jumped on by my fellow Hordies.

So a bunch of DPS and HPS was thrown around, and I received a decent amount of praise. I topped the healing charts... How was that possible? I know we had some Resto Druids and some other healers running around with us. But I feel that they were dying more than living. We downed Bal quickly and that was actually what gave me the Ding to level 76. Oh yay!

Anyway, it was a pretty productive few days, and I know that 80 should be attainable before the end of the month, well at least I hope so!

Until next time!

Progress...

I made some... Needless to say it was not exactly as much as I wanted to make, but that is ok. I do what I can with the amount of time I had. The moonlit pic is a pic of Voicless at 73. He had the same staff from the two previous levels, and was just soloing for the most part. He kept the Shadow Spec as his main tool and continued to mow thru mobs like a hot knife thru butter. I enjoy that solo aspect of the game and the fact that I do not have to rely on anybody else to make for an easier time questing... But sometimes you want a change...

A change I had. I recently had purchased Dual Spec and was NOT disappointed. Initially I continued to Shadow Spec in instances, but then after I was given the opportunity to heal a few instances, my name was passed around and the once unholy Voicless, was spending his time in Holy Spec, healing people. I spent the majority of my last few days of play time in Holy Spec and snagged for instance after instance. Also, due to the large number of DKs and Warriors as of late on my level, I seemed to be the only cloth wearer in the group, so I received any cloth I wanted. I got that nifty looking sword(which in all reality is an oversized knife) and a nice book to read as I was grouping. Both gave me about a total of 50 spellpower increase over the staff I had in possession earlier. I also have to say that I look a bit more intimidating, but my knife skills were sitting around 60, so I spent my time attacking rabbits, roaches, lizards, and whatever else could be one-shotted by my inferior knife-fighting skills.

Holy is such a huge change from Shadow, but not a disappointing one. It gives a huge change of pace, and gives me a different sense of accomplishment. One where I saved the day!

For instance, the other night, I ran VH with me being the heals and with a group of toons ranging from lvl 73-77. That made for a very interesting fight. At one point it was just me and the lvl 77 Shaman. The tank got knocked out, mostly because while in the middle of casting I was interrupted and the tank we being difficult and running around. This kept putting him in a position of being out of my LOS. Anyway, the Shaman and I worked it out and were the only two alive, fighting the lady-dragon at the end. How very nice. Well I kept Shields up as much as possible and PoH and Flash Heals, along with a little Renew... I also took advantage of the Shadowfiend and regained some mana when I hit about halfway. The battle lasted a while longer, and eventually we downed the beast. I was OOM and the Shaman was very much dead, but not dead... You know what I mean. But needless to say High-Fives were passed around and congratulations were passed around!!!

That made me happy. People really appreciate me keeping them alive, and I love it when it shows.

On the flip side, I had a complaint from a member. He plays a DK at level 74 and was speccing frost... Needless to say that I was a little disconcerting. But regardless, we went along with it, maybe he knows something we don't? Well, once tank hit the boss, he immediately followed after. With his frost spec he ended up gaining aggro, because he used abilities that would do so!!! So needless to say, he got one shotted by the level 77 lady-dragon, and was a goner in the first 15 seconds of battle.

Well after he died, he sends a party tell stating that I let him die... I was furious. I don't just let people die, that was rediculous. So I ignored it till the end of the battle, and then lit into him. I gave him the lowdown on how I work and how it was gonna be if he ever continues to be in the group as we instance a few more places. I told him that the Tank is who I care about, I don't care about anyone else. If the tank dies, we die... I told him he needs to respec or stay away from attacks that cause large amounts of threat. He pretty much left it at that, and didn't make another complaint for the rest of the duration of our night doing instances.

Almost to level 75, once I hit that, Mind Sear here I come!!! Can't wait to solo mob groups for quick leveling!! ;-) I can meet questing requirements quickly this way too, especially for the "slay this many to complete the quest." I can also do some farming this way. Sounds like a good time!

Anyway, 75 should be obtainable in about a day or two. Then I do a little bit of work with the guildies. But 78 is where I want to be! Anyway, till next time!