And how sweet it is.  I dinged 60 with my shadow priest over the weekend, and I had forgotten just how much better the itemization gets when you hit the outlands.  Not just in terms of the various green drops I could find on the AH to wear, but also in the quest rewards.

After a few of the starting quests in Honor Hold, I made some huge upgrades by way of quest rewards.  I got the [Shadowbrim Travel Hat], which is both dapper and has some great stats.  Then I picked up a new pair of pants, the [Wanderer's Stitched Trousers] along with a very nice and fancy-looking, animated weapon in [The Staff of the Twin Worlds].  The capper though, was the [Goldweave Tunic], which will probably last me into the mid 60′s.  Wow, just wow.  It’s amazing how quickly you can acquire great upgrades in the Outlands.

To celebrate my newfound power, I decided it was time to give my first Outlands instance a try.  So I went about putting together a group for Hellfire Ramparts.  Awlbiste of Awlbiste’s Thicket offered to come out with her freshly 60 Druid to heal, and bring along her freshly 60 Hunter better half.  We picked up a guild tank, and put out the clarion call for a fifth, which was answered by the guild leader in the form of his 66 holy pally.  So, healer heavy isn’t the first thing you want to hear, but that’s what we were.  Also, the warrior we brought along was very new to the game, the warrior being his first character, and didn’t have much experience tanking.

So we had a group, and it was an interesting one.  Gahrie, the tank, had to use a two hander as his one handed weapon skills were quite low, since he had mostly soloed his way to 63.  He was also unable to fill the role the tank often takes, of marking targets and generally leading.  So, I asked if anyone felt up to taking that task, and noone spoke up.  So I found myself marking and leading the run.

Weird.  I never, and I mean NEVER have to mark targets or lead a run.  My main is a healer, and they hang back and do the same thing no matter what:  keep the party alive.  There was a time, long long ago, when I was feral spec’d.  Even then, though, I think I tanked a grand total of 2 Outlands instances.  So though I HAD marked before, it was only a couple times.  This should be interesting.

As I mentioned before, our tank Gahrie is a very green player, and doesn’t have much tanking experience.  As the leader I had to kind of give him advice and walk him through some basics, though my tanking knowledge is limited.  Gahrie was VERY open to my suggestions, and was eager to learn.  That’s a huge plus in my book, and it made the run easier than it could have been.

Anyhow, it becomes obvious to me fairly early on that Gahrie isn’t great at generating threats on multiple targets.  Of course it doesn’t help that he has to tank with a slow 2 hander, either.  My remedy was to use as much CC as we could, whenever we could.  So I often set up trap targets for the hunter where I often might skip them, and also spent a lot of the instance doing some CC myself — Mind Control.

Ok, though I’ve messed with MC a bit through my leveling process, I rarely used it.  But in Ramparts I had a HELL of a lot of fun MCing targets at any opportunity.  It was great for us because it both took one mob out of play and used said mob to bash on the others.  Of course this killed my DPS numbers on the meters, but frankly I didn’t care.  It was just too damn much fun to MC guys left and right.

Sometimes I threw MC on a caster, and blasted away at his buddies, or I MC’d an archer and launch some arrows.  By far my favorite target, though, was the Bonechewer Destroyer.

They hit quite hard for this mostly level appropriate group, so that was a good mob to choose.  They also had a couple nice abilities for me to use, and, to top it all off, they look badass.  Nothing like using the enemy’s best weapon against them, eh?

Now, the only real problem with using MC is the aggro when it breaks.  I very nearly died quite a few times, as it was very difficult to get a mob off me that I had MC’d.  Still, it was a ton of fun.

So in general the run went alright.  It was a little slow, it was a little messy, but we managed fine with that makeup all the way to the last boss, the Dragon and Rider.  After a couple of wipes, the GL hopped on his 70 hunter just so we could get it done and get out of there.  Without the GL on that run, we would not have fared as well.  He was multi-tasking like crazy as his Pally for most of the instance, and then saved our butts with his hunter in the end.

All in all it was a lot of fun for me, we made it all the way through, and I grabbed the [Witching Band] at the end. Nice, very nice. Our tank learned a lot of the basics of tanking, like pulling with a ranged weapon, and trying to LOS pull casters. The hunter got to practice trapping, a LOT. I got to play around with MC, and the GL, surely, got to laugh a little. It was great to group with a fellow blogger for the first time, and I was glad that we were successful. Then, to end my night on another nice loot note, I also picked up the [Mantle of Magical Might] from the Ramparts main quest.

Needless to say, I’m quite happy to be back in the Outlands, and I’m also VERY happy with the shadow priest at this point. It really is a VERY different playstyle from both my Druid and my Hunter, and a lot of fun. Now to tackle the Blood Furnace! Thanks for reading!

I had never run heroic Magisters’ Terrace before last night.  I had heard how tough it was, and based on how tough MagT is in regular mode, I believed the hype.  Well, last night I got to see the truth.

The group was a Druid tank, a Lock, Mage, Hunter and myself, the Tree.  Perhaps a warrior or pally tank would have been preferable, but I’d say that’s pretty close to an idea makeup for that instance.

We started out just peachy keen, one shotting the first two bosses without any wipes.  Things got a little dicey when we got to Delrissa, but we took her down after a couple of attempts.  She was also gracious enough to drop the [Vial of the Sunwell], one of the only drops I was looking for in there.  I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about that trinket, if it had +heal it would be a slam dunk, but I’ll test it out and see how it flies.

That pull between Delrissa and Kael, though, is just plain nasty.  Groups I am in RARELY wipe on five man trash, but that is one case where we did.  Even with the great blend of CC we had going, it’s just a brutal pull.  Still, we took them down in a couple of tries.

Then, the big guy.  Those fireballs he flings around hit HARD!  I made a big mistake in our first few attempts, I was trying to stay out of tree form since I had to worry about the phoenix.  Never again.  It was all I could do to keep the tank up, and if any of the squishies got aggro, forget about it.  2 fireballs and they were down.  We probably wiped on him 5 times before I finally found the error of my ways.  I finally wisened up enough to just stay in tree form and deal with the Phoenix slow feet and all.  That made all the difference, and we took his butt down.  It was a great learning experience for me, as I found that sometimes you just have to stay in Tree no matter what.  The bonus from the aura and the mana efficiency made all the difference in the world.

Oh, and I also ended up picking up the [Phoenix Hatchling].  Woot!

All in all, it was a fun night.  In  the future I don’t anticipate Heroic MagT being a real problem as long as we have a good CC mix.  I also got 2 drops I was looking for, along with 4 badges, and all it cost me was 24g in repairs!    All in all, I’d call it a nice, challenging instance where you can easily get your head kicked in.  I have the bruises to prove it.

As is often the case with a post of this nature, I had a lot of further thoughts and things I’d wished I had included once I hit the “publish” button.  It’s the nature of the beast, I guess.  So here are some further ruminations on Why We WoW.

One of the key points that came up with people when I discussed my post yesterday, both in the comments section and in the BA Chat Room, was the idea that WoW doesn’t mean all that much.  There were people who were vehemently in opposition to this thought, and they felt that there was real meaning for them in the game in one way or another.

There are some ways in which I agree.  I agree that the “good feelings” you get from accomplishments do in fact mean something.  I generally have what I’d call an “expansive” or “spiritual” way of thinking, and IMO having positive thoughts and experiences is VERY important.  I know that I generally “feel good” about things if I have a successful night in WoW, and I know a lot of other people feel the same.

So yes, “silly” accomplishments in the game can affect your life.  Heck, maybe you have a great night in SSC, and the next day at work feel uber IRL, and get yourself a raise. 

Entertainment or Hobby?

I think something that comes up again and again in reaction to my post yesterday is that WoW is much more than your standard movie or television show.  After all, those are passive entertainment activities, and passive WoW would be no fun at all.  I mean, you don’t make any decisions in the movie theater beyond “butter or no butter,” and you aren’t affecting the outcome of CSI by making decisions for the main characters.

In WoW, however,  you are playing an active role.  Isn’t WoW more a hobby than entertainment?

One of things that people who don’t play WoW don’t get is that it’s more than entertainment.  Many people look at WoW the same way they do television.  To them, we are spending hours and hours a week doing nothing more interactive or enriching than watching the Food Network 24/7.  (In defense of the Food Network, there are times that it’s all I watch!)

Would they think differently if they thought of WoW as a hobby?  I think so, but that might prove difficult.  Say I like to make model cars as a hobby.  If I spent 3 hours every other night painting wheels, nobody would look down on me, ask if I was addicted, and insist I was ruining my life.  The same could be said for most hobbies, too.

If I spent 20 hours a week reading, I’d be enriching my vocabulary, not hopelessly addicted.

If I spent 20 hours a week crocheting, I’d have beautiful blankets and wouldn’t have ben “wasting” my life.

If I spent 20 hours a week painting, people would admire me no matter how crappy said paintings were.

If I spent 20 hours a week raiding in WoW, I’m ruining my life, I need help, and I’m a loser.

Sound about right?  That’s the rub.  How do we convince people that WoW is a hobby, and NOT just entertainment?  I honestly don’t know.

For me, I was only successful convincing my wife that it had some merit once I started this blog, and soon had over 100 regular readers.  Needless to say, I make sure to let her know how my readership grows all the time.  This has largely let me off the hook.

In general, though, it’s hard to convince people that this is a hobby and not entertainment.  We don’t have any visceral “product” at the end to show people, really.  They don’t share our triumphs when we take down a new raid boss, or win the roll on a shiny new epic.  They don’t understand that we develop REAL relationships in game.  That we often talk of things other than WoW, that we share experiences with others.  They just don’t get it.

I guess, in the end, the answer is simple.  Get them to start playing WoW, as the more people that play, the more people understand and value this wonderful game.  (And yes, I have tried this tactic with my wife, but she absolutely refuses to even give it a look.  She can be stubborn sometimes, but it’s one of the reasons I love her!)  I know I value WoW.  Hopefully yesterday’s post didn’t make you think otherwise.  Thanks for reading!

I’ve been leveling away on my Shadow Priest, making the push to 58 so I could hit the Outlands.  I was just a bit into 57 last night, and spent the next 2 hours doing various quests in Winterspring.  A large amount of dead Yetis later, I reached my goal and hit 58.  I promptly turned in my remaining completed quests, dumped a bunch of stuff I’d never finish out of my log, and headed for Darkshire with the intention of hitting the Outlands the next time I logged on.

It got me to thinking.  What exactly had I just accomplished?

I had set a goal for myself, and upon reaching that goal I was happy, and excited to push into the BC content, where I knew far better gear awaited me, along with much better zones to level through.  But I had a bit of an empty feeling.

Had I really accomplished anything?  I thought some more.  Do we ever really accomplish anything in WoW?  Let’s say I was in a guild and we just downed Illidan.  Did I really accomplish anything even then?

Sadly, I kept arriving at the same conclusion.  No.  Even if I had just picked up the most uber of uber drops, I wouldn’t have accomplished anything.  How is the staff or whatever that Illidan might drop any different from the staff I had at level 1?  When you get down to it, aren’t they both just a collection of 1s and 0s, in developer parlance?  The only thing that really differentiates them, in the real world, is some ID number on a  server deep within the bowels of Blizzard.

Am I foolish to search for some kind of meaning in my enjoyment of WoW?  I don’t think so.  The time I spend playing WoW is significantly less than many people out there, but at the same time I spend a LOT of time in WoW.  Why do I spend so much time in this game, doing the same things I’ve done hundreds of times before?  I’m not sure.

Is it because I feel some lack in my real life, and I need to “achieve” in some way in a game?  Thankfully, that’s a big no.  I have a wonderful family that’s growing, and a solid career at a great company.  Oh, and I like to think I write a pretty decent blog, too.

Is it because I’m highly competitive, and want to “do better” than other people in the game?  Nope, that’s not it.  If it is I’m failing miserably at this point.  My biggest claim to fame is 5/6 in SSC.  Not all that much in the grand WoW of things.  I’m happy that I’ve at least seen some degree of “end game” raiding, but I’m well behind the curve.  You know, “part time” and all.

Looking at all the classic categories of why we play these games, I only mildly think I like to achieve and socialize.  I like getting new loot and better gear, I like hitting new levels, and I like progressing somewhat into new content, at least content that’s new to me.  I like being in groups and taking down bosses.  I do also like talking about WoW (as evidenced from this very blog) and I spend some time chatting in /g.

Honestly, though, everything I just detailed that I like about WoW is really nothing at all.  Just more 1s and 0s, excepting possibly the social aspects.  So why do I keep doing something that doesn’t give me any benefit in the real world?

Because I like it.  I can’t detail exactly how or why, but I really like it.

Besides, get down to brass tacks.  What other things do you like to do in your spare time?  Watch movies?  Aside from the occasional indie flick with philosophical undertones, that’s largely empty as well, right?  Watch sports?  Yeah, as a Cubs fan I can tell you that there’s not much there, either.  Our uniforms don’t even change.  I have yet to see the Cubs get any loot.  Yet I still watch them, too.

In the end I guess I just have to see WoW just for what it is:  entertainment.  Gripping entertainment, that leaves most others in its wake.  Maybe searching for deep meaning in something like this is folly.  It’s just like a movie that doesn’t end, or a book that just keeps going and going.  Maybe I just need to accept that as a good thing, and not try to find a true “benefit” I get from it in the real world.  Though I can at least say that’s it’s a great way to get away.

Ok, pointless rambling off.  If you’ve gotten this far, bravo!  Maybe you can share with me why YOU WoW.  Now excuse me, I have to go hit the Outlands.

If you liked this, you can read more of my thoughts here, where I get into WoW as entertainment vs. WoW as a hobby!

So, I’ve got nothing today.  I’m not going to try to cover the Midsummer whatchamacallit.  There are plenty of other bloggers who have that well covered.  Nor am I going to talk about Season 4, becuse, well, I don’t PvP.  Except in real life.

So, on a totally unrelated to WoW perspective, what’s your favorite bad movie?  You know, the movie that you KNOW in your brain is terrible, but you can’t help but enjoy it. Maybe it’s just plain funny.  Maybe it affects you emotionally in some way.  Maybe it reminds you of a different time in your life.  Whatever it is, you will always like that one BAAAAD movie.

For me, it’s a slam dunk – that movie is Strange Brew. If you were born after 1980 or so, you probably never heard of it.  It tells the tale of Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, respectively…and no, not the Dave Thomas from Wendy’s) and their quest for, well, free beer.  It’s actually loosely based on the story of Hamlet, but none of that is important.  Even though the humor is of the bad, low brow type, I can’t help but crack up when I watch it.  Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

BOB: Did you see the way she was lookin’ at me?
DOUG: Yeah, because she thought you were some kind of freak!

BOB: Jeez, you’re real nice. If I didn’t have puke-breath, I’d kiss you.

DOUG: I am your father, Luke. Give in to the dark side of the force, you knob.
BOB: He saw Jedi 17 times, eh!

So there is my dirty little movie secret. What BAD movie do you just love?

If you happen to be looking for a new guild, there is a refrain you’ll hear over and over again.  “No drama allowed.”  It seems guilds that are looking for members want to assure people that there won’t be any real conflicts, whining, or general mean-spiritedness within the guild.  This is something that is impossible to guarantee, and also something likely impossible to achieve, but that’s beside the point.  Is it possible that guilds and the people in them actually thrive on guild drama?

Classical Theory of Guild Drama

By the traditional way of looking at things, guild drama is nothing but deadly.  Many a guild has been torn asunder by intense storms of drama.  Big guilds, small guilds, high profile guilds, PvP guilds, you name it, many of them has fallen victim to intense drama.

Therefore, one big job that guilds have undertaken is the avoidance of drama.  Smart guilds have very specific policies to try and quiet arguments.  Very specific loot systems are set up to assure a “fair” distribution of loot.  Many guilds also have detailed interview processes and trial periods before accepting new members.  In the end, all of these serve to keep things peaceful and humming along.

Does that mean there is no place for drama?  Is there any way in which drama can be helpful?

Drama is Essential

Stop and think about this for a second:  where would we be without guild drama?  The various loot systems, for instance, would there be so many detailed systems if everyone automatically “got along?”  People have put a lot of work into various DKP systems to try to make them as fair as possible.  Would they have bothered if everyone could automatically get along?  Probably not.  Are we better for having these systems?  Yes.

Think about your guild message boards for a second, if you have them.  (And if you don’t, why not?)  My guild happens to have a very lively message board.  We talk about all things WoW and a lot of other things besides.  We’ll talk about nearly anything, excepting of course, politics and religion. (Though honestly I’d love it if we did.  I’ll argue anything.  I’m a secularist who supports Obama, if you must know.)

Even our lively message board, though, never gets as “fired up” as it does when there is some kind of drama at hand.  If we start arguing about guild direction, for instance, everyone seems to come out to play.  Lurkers suddenly make their stances known, and the more vocal members go at it in post after post.

This doesn’t mean it gets downright mean, it never does, but our guild “drama” posts are always the most lively.  They bring out the most responses, and guarantee a great deal of guild interaction.  Is that a good thing?  Yes.

Also, let’s face it.  People in some way enjoy guild drama.  Don’t kid yourself.  Some deep, dark part of you just likes it when things get a little heated.  Just look at the way that tales of guild drama spread.  Look at the success of shows like Jerry Springer.  Isn’t that just a different form of guild drama, after all? 

Break it Down to Build it Back Up

Sometimes this is the only way.  Think about it like a house – sometimes you can throw on a new coat of paint and make a few repairs, and it’s as good as new.  Sometimes, though, the studs are rotted out, the ceiling is ready to cave in, and you need to start fresh.  You need to bulldoze the thing to build it stronger than it was before.  The same could be said of guilds and their policies.  Sometimes, it’s necessary to tear the whole thing down to make it anew.  By this I don’t literally disband the guild, but sometimes you just have to throw everything out the window.

What causes that to happen?  A lot of the time it’s guild drama.  Sometimes things just won’t change for the better without vocal dramatists to bring it to the forefront.  There are often very serious issues that linger below the surface, and if you quash all sense of guild drama, you prevent them from surfacing until they get so intense that they tear the guild apart.  Isn’t it better to allow a bit of guild drama to take place once in awhile?

Heck, you could easily argue that the good old US of A was founded on guild drama on a grand scale.

Besides, do you want a Brave New World-esque totalitarian guild where you can’t voice your opinion for fear of rocking the boat?  I sure don’t.  I’m argumentative at heart, and I imagine a lot of other people out there are too!  Isn’t a perfectly peaceful guild just a little…boring?

Conclusion

Guild Drama does serve a purpose, and it does have its place.  That doesn’t mean you need to go all Jerry Springer, but you shouldn’t have an irrational fear of drama either.  Also, any guild that says there is “no drama” is probably lying.  If they haven’t had it yet, they will.  It’s just the way people are.  Eventually someone is going to be unhappy about something, and maybe in the process they can make your guild even better.  The strongest guilds are those that can weather guild drama, and use it to their advantage.  So don’t automatically fear those that might bring a little drama to your guild.  Maybe they just want to make it better for everyone.

With recent developments, and a lack of opportunities for my main, I’ve been working on leveling my Shadow Priest.  (Whether I will stay shadow or go holy at some point is still up in the air…it might be interesting to see healing from another perspective, but I already HAVE a healer.)  I hadn’t really played him that much in a bit, and he was level 52 when I started off in earnest again.

Now, when it comes to content, I have oodles of experience with levels 1-40.  I’ve taken every path imaginable to get a character to 40, so I’m well familiar with all the different zones, and what my options are at each progression level.  I also have plenty of experience with the BC 60+ content, I’ve run it with two different characters, and due to the way the Outlands are set up, there isn’t a WHOLE lot of variation to be had.

When it comes to content from about 40 to 60, though, I’m a bit hazy.  I went through it all with my Hunter, as he hit 60 LONG before BC, but with my druid I pretty much blew through it as quickly as possible and hit the Outlands at 58, never looking back.

Now I find myself at 52, and exploring this old content that at this point still seems quite new.  I spent some time in Un’Goro Crater, which is a pretty nice zone, though a little too spread out, and that dang elite Dino is still a pain in my arse.  Why didn’t Blizzard un-elite him?

Next I headed out to the Western Plaguelands.  I did all the quests in Chillwind, got an epic drop from a ghoul ([Wall of the Dead]) and headed on to the Eastern Plaguelands.

I quickly realized something.  I had never really been there before.  Sure, I had grabbed the FP in Light’s Hope with my hunter back in the day, but that’s about it.  Looking back I realized that I dinged 60 in Western Plaguelands, and after that went right to nothing but instance runs and MC.

How exciting was this?  The lay of the land was new to me, the music was new to me, I hadn’t ever done any of the quests.  Wahoo!

So I wandered around, being a bit more of an explorer than usual, found a nice little quest for a ghostly girl which I knocked out pretty quickly.  (I really like all the haunted and monster ridden towns in this area, and how basically everything is not quite right.  I’ve always been a fan of horror movies (the classics) and this was right up my alley.)  I got myself to LHC, and basically found out that everything else was too tough for my level 55 behind, and there wasn’t anything to do.  Bummer.

This, I realize, is where the old world content fails.  The progression curve is not NEARLY as well defined as in the BC content.  In BC you can pretty logically go to the next adjoining zone when you’ve exhausted the quests in the present zone, and you’ll then quickly find a bevvy of new quests for your enjoyment.

Now, however, in order to progress I had to think about things.  So, I took a look at the other zones that should be good for me.  Winterspring sounded good, as I had a couple continuations from Un’Goro that led there, but then I’d have to get my butt all the way to the other continent, work my way through Felwood, and then have to get my Timbermaw reputation sorted to get through the cave.  I could also head to Silithus, but I never really liked that zone.  Too desert-y, and also on the other side of the world.

No fun.  None at all.

And that is the other failing I found – stuff is just too darned spread out.  It’s nice to have “options” as far as different zones to level in, but it’s irritating that they are so far afield.  The added irritation is that I soon found out that I didn’t even have the Astranaar flight path, so I had to hoof it all the way from darkshore, through Astranaar, and then up to Felwood.

Oh, bother.

It makes me wish Blizz had revamped more of the old world content than for the 35-45 range, but oh well.  It goes to show how much Blizzard learned about what worked and what didn’t.  In the Outlands you still have options, you just don’t have to go out of your way to take them.  While I WAS planning to squeeze as much out of the old world as possible, now I’m not so sure.  It might be hit 58 and hit the portal again for me.  We’ll see.

As it is, I’m at least enjoying myself.  it’s interesting to honestly be on the trek to 70 again, as once you hit your mid-50s I figure you’re fairly dedicated to hit the max level again.  I have a number of low 40s that I grew tired of, but if I get this far, chances are I’m going all the way.  Now I just have to think about what to do when I get there…melt faces, or heal the masses?

Right now I am in the process of trying to decide whether or not to switch servers.  That’s the short version.  What follows is the long – and long is what I mean, so read on if you dare.

The possibility of me leaving my server doesn’t have anything to do with guild drama or anything like that.  It doesn’t even have anything to do with my recent posts about WoW apathy.  (And there is certainly plenty of that to go around!)  When you get down to brass tacks, it hinges on one issue, albeit a major one:  playtime.

I have been a member of my guild for about 5 years.  Yes, I have been in this guild since BEFORE WoW was even released, I began playing with them in that tank of an MMORPG, Horizons.  (Ugh!  Double UGH!)  It’s an old, tight-knit guild whose history goes beyond even that, they began life in good old Asheron’s Call.  (If you must know, it’s the guild that was formed by Faile Bashere, and if you spent any time in AC during its heyday, you probably know who that is.)

Anyhow, I have been with them a very long time, and they have almost everything I want in a guild.  They are all mature players, and have moved from game to game over the years, and they have a nice balance of a casual, family feel and enough raiders to keep me happy.  I love them, I really do.  The problem is, I hardly ever get to really PLAY with them.

Part of being the “Part Time Druid” is playing part time hours.  I log on around 9-10pm GT, and by that time most of my guild events are long since over.  I’ve only been able to participate in a dozen or so guild events in the last year, and have actually spent more time in our alliance events than strict guild events.  I just flat out can’t often log on at 7 pm GT, which is around the time most things start.  I have a family, and I cannot sacrifice very much, if any, quality family time for a bunch of ones and zeroes over the internet.

Now, another part of being the “Part Time Druid” is that I’ve recently gained a number of NEW WoW friends.  I’ve met a lot of other WoW bloggers through the wonders of Blog Azeroth and my ungodly long list of Google reader blogs.  I spend a good part of most days hanging out in a Blog Azeroth chatroom, chatting about everything WoW (and a lot of things non-WoW.)

Anyway, through this new bit of networking, I found what could be a very nice new home.  It turns out that Fimlys of Asleep at the WoW and Twisted Nether fame is in  a guild that happens to be west coast centric.  What that means is that most of their guild events start right around the time I usually log on.  Another blogger, Lady Jess also recently transferred over to that server to join Fim.

So last week in BA chat, I told Fim I was going to roll an alt over on his server, just to hang out a little.  So I did.

What I found out quickly was that when I logged on, there were roughly DOUBLE the amount of players logged on as there were at the same time on my server.  Sometimes many more than that, even.

So, then I decided to take another baby step.  I transferred my highest level non-70 alt over, a level 52 Shadow Priest.  Thus far, I’ve found the guild quite enjoyable, and very welcoming.  I’m starting to consider going “whole hog,” and transferring my two 70s over there as well.

But it’s so damn hard to decide.

I’ve been with my present guild for SOOO LOOONG.  I love all the people, and in very nearly every way they are very compatible with me.  But the one area in which they aren’t is a pretty dang big area.

One the other hand, this new guild is quite welcoming, and very compatible with me in terms of playtimes.  However, they are a bit behind my present guild as far as progression, and if I make the switch I don’t know how soon they will get to where my guild is now.

But do I care all that much about progression?  The answer is probably no.  If I did, I probably wouldn’t be with the guild I’m with either.

But God, I’ve been with my guild for so long, it’s hard to even imagine leaving them behind.  Have any of you reading been with a guild for over 5 years?  Do you know anyone who has?  In my experience, guild hopping in WoW is fairly common.  I’ve been with these guys since BEFORE WoW.  They’re like a comfortable old shirt, everyone knows me, and I know everyone.  But at the same time I honestly hardly get to see them.  I chat with them more on our quite lively message boards than in game, and I can easily continue to do that if I choose.

I just.  Don’t.  Know.  And I could really use some advice.  So if you’ve read this far, I hope you’d be gracious enough to leave a comment with your thoughts, or even send me an email at PartTimeDruid@gmail.com.  Thanks for reading!

The future of 10-man raiding looks bright. Blizzard saw that 10-man raids were very successful, and they have had the wisdom to focus on such “small team” raiding in Wrath. This is one of the most exciting changes to come in Wrath for me personally. It’s just much easier to get a 10-man rolling than to get together 25 willing souls to attempt the present end game raids. I can’t wait.

There is a problem I foresee, however. My guess is that the difficulty of these future 10-mans will be ratcheted up a notch or two, and the present “Kara Laziness” in healing strategy will go the way of the Dodo. Some guilds have had Kara on farm for so long they don’t even bother thinking about healing assignments, or what healers they bring. I’m sure there are also a few of you out there who are still learning about 10-mans, and maybe you’re wondering how the different healing classes work with Tree Spec Druids.

Well, I’m here to try to inform. Let’s look at the three different possible combos and what their synergistic strengths and weaknesses are, and what roles they fill best when working together. First, let’s look at the strengths of the Tree Druid.

The Tree Druid

• Very good tank healers. A well played tree can roll lifebloom on multiple tanks, 3 fairly easily, and up to as many as for or 5 with some effort.
• Good raid healers. Lifebloom or Rejuvenation are often enough to top off small bits of raid damage. Regrowth, since the changes to it in 2.4, is a very useful spell for raid healing as well. Reasonably fast cast, chance to crit and a ticking hot on the tail end. Their vast supply of instant HOTs can often make the difference in a raid healing situation.
• Poor at group healing. If there is a lot of splash damage to raid members all at once, Trees are not the best class to take care of it. We do have tranquility, but it is on a 10 minute cooldown and is limited to the group we are in.

Tree Druid, Holy Pally

This combination makes for a very easy assignment. Paladins just make flat out poor raid healers, but they are excellent single target healers. For that reason, this pair would work best with the Paladin watching the MT and the Tree handling the rest. Depending on the situation, the Tree can also assist with MT healing if necessary. This is one of the stronger combinations, IMO, because it is obvious how they can work together. You have all your bases covered in this scenario.

Problems could arise with this duo if there is a lot of raid damage. As mentioned before, Tree Druids are not very good at healing groups efficiently. If the splash damage comes at once and then stops, the Druid can handle it. If it is any kind of sustained damage, it could be difficult. The Paladin also does not have much to offer in this respect, so if there is a lot of raid damage, it could spell trouble.

Tree Druid, Resto Shaman

The strength of the Resto Shaman is the Brain Heal. This “smart” multi-target heal makes them a VERY strong raid healer. The big heals of the Shammy, however, are not conducive to effective single target healing. In this case, the Synergy says the Tree should handle the tank(s), and the Shammy can worry about everyone else. One of the benefits of having a Shammy in this situation is that he/she can easily throw a few heals the tank’s way in a pinch, without totally sacrificing his/her raid healer role. Ahh, the beauty of Chain Heal.

The only thing that worries me about this pairing is if both the MT and OT are taking a LOT of damage. Trees are excellent at smoothing damage spikes, and keeping tanks up in general, but if things start to get out of hand their tricks are somewhat limited. Pair that with the Shammy who isn’t the best at single target healing, and you could be in trouble. In my experience, however, I’ve rarely seen such a situation. Of course, who knows what kind of wonders await us in Wrath.

Pair of Trees

I’ve personally never run with this combo, and I’m curious as to how well it would work. There would be a heck of a lot of HOTs flying around, that’s for sure. There could be an amazing amount of Heals Per Second on the tank, if both trees are stacking HOTs. If they could figure out a way to play off of each other, it could be a potentially very strong combo.

It could also fall right on its face. Lots of spike damage and/or raid splash damage could easily spell doom for this duo. This would be interesting to see in practice.

Tree Druid, Holy Priest

I saved this combo for last for a couple of reasons. First, I believe it may be the strongest 2 healer combo you can get in the game. I would venture a guess that a lot of 10 mans in the future will be looking for this combo first and foremost. I also saved it for last because I found it the most difficult to articulate.

These two have to communicate and work together. The priest will have a large responsibility in this duo, as I would want the priest to both heal the raid and keep an eye on the tanks. The Tree Druid will focus on rolling all his HOTs on the tanks. These two have to communicate and work off of each other. The tree can handle throwing the occasional lifebloom onto raid members if necessary, and the priest can top off the tanks if they take spikes of damage that the tree alone can’t handle.

When I thought of this article about the synergy of Tree Healers and other healing classes, this is the combination I thought of. In this combo, both classes are using their strengths. The Tree Druid is the best there is at maintaining health, and smoothing spikes of damage. Priests are very versatile, and are both very good at big, single target heals and group healing situations. These two working together could be a VERY potent combination.

Conclusion

Assigning healing roles can be tough. It can be hard for me to understand the intricacies of Druid healing, and I’ve spent countless hours doing it. It’s even more difficult to understand how the different healing classes work. I don’t envy the people who have to make assignment decisions. I imagine a lot of it comes from the very basic understanding they may have of healer’s strengths. Couple that with differing specs, and it can be quite difficult to understand how best to use your healers.

The info I have given comes from my experience of working with other healing types, and seeing how they can work off of each other. If I had my choice of any combo including a Tree, it would be a Tree and a Holy Priest. I just think they cover all the bases, and both can play to their true areas of strength. I hope that the little knowledge about how Tree Druids can work with other healers can help someone, and I’m more than open to criticism of my thoughts and opinions, or questions if you feel I haven’t explained something fully.

I also need to give a special thanks to Matt Low icus of World of Matticus for his thoughts on the Tree/Holy Priest duo. Thanks Matt! As always, thanks for reading. Now flame away.

I was chatting in game the other day as I was playing around with my level 55 Shadow Priest in Eastern Plaguelands. I got the Sister Pamela quest where you have to go find this ghost, and then find the pieces of her ghost doll in a deserted, haunted town. Anyhow, whenever you enter one of the old buildings, the background music changes to this wonderful, haunting melody.

Background music? What’s that?

Well, you see there were these people called “composers” and they were tasked to put together different themes and melodies to help set off the rich, graphical areas that we find ourselves exploring in WoW.

Perhaps you’re an Itunes user, and you listen to the latest Weezer in the background while you play, maybe you like techno, or country, whatever it is, you don’t listen to the background music of WoW.

Why not? I mean, if you REALLY take the time to listen sometimes, there is some really great stuff, like the aforementioned creepy haunted house music in the EP. Listen to this, and tell me it’s not cool. I dare you. What about some of the music in Kara? Pay special attention to the Opera Harpsichord stuff… I love that!

Think of it this way: do you watch a movie but have the background music removed? Would Star Wars be the same? What about Indiana Jones? Music can REALLY add to the atmosphere in those movies, so you don’t do it. You probably wouldn’t even imagine doing it. So why do so many people do it in WoW? Is Kara really better with Enya playing? (Ok, maybe an extreme example, but you get my drift.)

Heck, one guy said that he didn’t think he had EVER listened to the game background music. What??

I can understand if you’re in SL for the 10th time, maybe you want something different. Maybe you need more uplifting music to get into raiding, that’s fine too. (I’ll never forget the day a guy started playing “Eye of the Tiger” during a boss fight in a heroic Ramparts run over Teamspeak. Epic!) All I ask is that you don’t completely discount the music of WoW. Some of it really is good!