The Innervate Wait

Hi. My name is Aoifen, and I have mana problems.

But that's a long story. First, let me give you a small update.

A new team

Remember a few weeks ago I said that I was looking to start raiding casually after patch 5.2? Well, after that post, I was contacted by a reader (Squee! You have no idea how happy that made me, Aceral!) and invited to go along to a farm raid with <Nessa and Friends> on Barthilas. 

I had been looking around at a few other options, but this invitation was welcome in several ways. Firstly, Aoifen is on Barthilas already, so no realm or faction transfers would be necessary. Secondly, Aoifen is my raid-ready toon - Leesah is waaay behind and would require some hard work to gear up. Lastly, Nessa and Friends are at a comfortable level of progression for me - they are working through Heart of Fear normal and only raid two nights a week, one of which is a farm night in Mogu'shan Vaults at the moment - perfect for my gear levels and current aspirations.

So, off I went! After a couple of raids with them I was convinced and bid a sad farewell to <Vitare> (who are kicking it in ToT heroics, by the way - go Vitare!) and joined <Nessa and Friends>. 

Big ugly bug

The mana problem

Raiding is everything I love about the game, and at the moment, even farm raids are progression to me so I'm loving it! There's just one problem - I have been constantly struggling for mana.

I use a Flask of Falling Leaves and reforge anything that doesn't have Spirit on it, but I still find myself, halfway through certain boss fights, with potions on cooldown and waiting desperately for the next Innervate to be available.

Why was I struggling so much? My gear level wasn't great, in the high 460s. I managed to replace a couple of items through LFR, but because I don't get a lot of time to play, the Valor Points come slowly so I haven't replaced as many items with VP gear as I'd like. 

I was fairly sure that gear wasn't the whole of the problem - there was something in my play style that was using up all my mana.

So, I did some digging. Here's some advice I collected that might help a newbie Tree with mana conservation:

Calm down. 

At first, I was having a bit of a panic in boss fights and healing anything that moved. My overhealing was probably massive! Don't forget that there is another healer or two there in a 10-man raid, so you can afford to consider who actually needs to be healed.

Know the fights, 

specifically when the high-damage phases are coming, so that you can conserve mana to spend then. If you are running low, at least try to keep enough mana for a Tranquility for when the raid leader screams it at you! I find using Tree of Life form a great way to regain a bit of mana while healing more, as you can sprinkle around Lifeblooms and make use of the Clearcasting procs for some instant Regrowths.

Innervate early.

Innervate gives back 20% of your own mana, so use it as soon as you get below 80%. The sooner it comes off cooldown, the sooner you can use it again. If you find yourself in the enviable position of being close to the end of the fight with lots of mana, see if any of your fellow healers would benefit from it!

Use Rejuvenation and Swiftmend.

Hots are still a Druid's best friend. I hadn't been using Rejuvenation all that much, preferring to use Regrowth as a flash heal. This is most likely where all my mana was going! Rejuvenation has just had its mana cost reduced, and Swiftmend is a relatively cheap heal with a built-in AOE component. Training myself to not use Regrowth so much has helped a lot.

Make use of Clearcasting.

Clearcasting procs come from Lifebloom ticks, so make sure you keep it rolling on the tank. You might like to take advantage of a Clearcasting to get a free Regrowth or Healing Touch.

Don't forget to macro your trinkets,

especially if you have a spirit one such as [Heartwarmer Medallion]. There's a guide as to how to make macros in Clique on my Macros page.

Make use of Ironbark and Barkskin.

The less damage you take, the less healing you have to do. Don't forget that you can cast Ironbark on other people. I'm still trying to remember to cast it on the tank in high-damage phases.

There's a lot to remember, but all it takes is practice to get a hang of it all. My thanks to Icy-veins.com and Restokin's guide for teaching me what my spells do these days!

I'm still setting up Weak Auras to help me with this stuff, so I'll try to post up some codes soon.

Please, if any other raiding Resto Druids read this and can offer advice on any of the information in this post, let me know!

Happy healing!

Pandaria Raids Loot Cheat Sheet

Pre-patch 5.2, [Elder Charm of Good Fortune] allows you to take an extra roll for loot after killing a boss in Pandaria raids. This extra roll gives a chance for you to receive a useful item of loot from that boss' loot table, or an amount of gold, a gem or a flask. The same charms are used in all raid types - Raid finder, Normal and Heroic.

After patch 5.2, Elder Charms will be replaced by [Mogu Rune of Fate].

The loot that drops will only be something that is from that boss' loot table, so I wanted to create a list of the pieces from each boss, so that I could choose when to use my lucky charms. So, here's a list of caster leather gear (with Resto Druids in mind) for each boss in Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring. I've also added the available loot from the upcoming Throne of Thunder raid. Not all the loot information is available yet, but I'll add it after the patch drops and as soon as its available.

This list can also be used by Balance druids and casting Monks. I've included the dps trinkets but not spellpower items with hit. 

I hope it helps! Please let me know if I've missed any items or if there's any way I can improve the layout.

All item information comes from Wowhead.

The Stone Guard

• Cape of Three Lanterns 
• Stonebound Cinch

Feng the Accursed

• Fan of Fiery Winds
• Feng's Ring of Dreams
• Hood of Cursed Dreams

Gara'jal the Spiritbinder

• Circuit of the Frail Soul
• Spaulders of the Divided Mind

The Spirit Kings

• Bracers of Dark Thoughts
• Mindshard Drape
• Zian's Choker of Coalesced Shadow

Elegon

• Light of the Cosmos (DPS trinket)
• Phasewalker Striders

Will of the Emperor

• Magnetized Leggings
• Tihan, Scepter of the Sleeping Emperor
• Worldwaker Cachabon

Imperial Vizier Zor'lok

• Gauntlets of Undesired Gifts

Blade Lord Ta'yak

• Drape of Gathering Clouds
• Hood of Stilled Winds

Garalon

• Robes of Eighty Lights

Wind Lord Mel'jarak

• Clutches of Dying Hope
• Gauntlets of the Shadowy Vanquisher (Tier 14 token)
• Korven's Amber-Sealed Beetle

Amber-Shaper Un'sok

• Leggings of the Shadowy Vanquisher (Tier 14 token)
• Seal of the Profane
• Un'sok's Amber Scalpel

Grand Empress Shek'zeer

• Chest of the Shadowy Vanquisher (Tier 14 token)
• Kri'tak, Imperial Scepter of the Swarm

Protectors of the Endless

• Asani's Uncleansed Sandals
• Cloak of Overwhelming Corruption
• Regail's Crackling Dagger
• Watersoul Signet

Tsulong

• Fear-Blackened Leggings
• Spirits of the Sun
• Weaver's Cord of Eternal Autumn

Lei Shi

• Jin'ya, Orb of the Waterspeaker
• Shoulders of the Shadowy Vanquisher (Tier 14 token)
• Weaver's Cord of Eternal Autumn

Sha of Fear

• Essence of Terror (DPS)
• Helm of the Shadowy Vanquisher (Tier 14 token)

Throne of Thunder (available in patch 5.2)

Jin'rokh the Breaker

• Drape of Booming Nights
• Infinitely Conducting Bracers

Horridon

• Horridon's Last Gasp (healing)
• Horridon's Tush Fragment
• Petrified Eye of the Basilisk
• Roots of Rampaging Earth
• Spaulders of Dinomancy

Council of Elders

• Robes of Teacherous Ground
• Gauntlets of the Crackling Vanquisher (Tier 15 token)

Tortos

• Robes of Concussive Shocks
• Shimmershell Cape
• Vampire Bat-Hide Bracers

Maegara

• Breath of the Hydra (DPS)
• Hood of Smouldering Flesh
• Inscribed Bag of Hydra-Spawn (healing)

Ji-Kun

• Giorgio's Caduceus of Pure Moods
• Leggings of the Crackling Vanquisher (Tier 15 token)

Durumu the Forgotten

• Deadly Glare Cape
• Durumu's Captive Eyeball
• Forgotten Mantle of the Sun
• Jerthud, Graceful Hand of the Saviour
• Ritual Dagger of the Mind's Eye
• Sandals of the Starving Eye

Primordius

• Leggings of the Malformed Sapling
• Stolen Relic of Zuldazar (Healing)

Dark Animus

• Anima-Ringed Fingers
• Athame of the Sanguine Ritual
• Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance (DPS)
• Chest of the Crackling Vanquisher (Tier 15 token)
• Constantly Accelerating Cloak

Iron Qon

• Orb of Arcing Lightning
• Ro'shak's Rememberance
• Shoulders of the Crackling Vanquisher (Tier 15 token)

Twin Consorts

• Girdle of Night and Day
• Helm of the Crackling Vanquisher (Tier 15 token)
• Passionfire Choker
• Suen-Wo, Spire of the Falling Sun

Lei Shen

• Grips of Slicing Electricity
• Lei-Shen's Orb of Command
• Lightning-Imbued Chalice (Healing)
• Soul Prism of Lei-Shen
• Unerring Vision of Lei-Shen (DPS)
• Torall, Rod of the Shattered Throne

Siege of Orgrimmar

Immerseus

• Bolt-Burster Grips
• Bracers of Purified Spirit
• Salt Water Sandals
• Seal of Eternal Sorrow
• Purified Bindings of Immerseus (DPS?)

Fallen Protectors

• Shoulders on the Roiling Inferno
• Purehearted Cricket Cage

Norushen

• Boots of Broken Reliance
• Confident Grips

Sha of Pride

• Robes of the Shattered Vale (Tier 16)
• Necklace of Fading Light
• Self-Reflecting Mask
• Gaze of Arrogance
• Prismatic Prison of Pride

Galakras

• Dragonmaw Emergency Strap
• Drakebinder Greatstaff

Iron Juggernaut

• Castlebreaker Bracers
• Juggernaut's Power Core
• Laser-Slice Signet

Kor'kron Dark Shaman

• Darkfang Mask
• Kardris' Scepter

General Nazgrim

• Nazgrim's Burnished Insignia
• Robes of the Warrior's Fall
• Handwraps of the Shattered Vale (Tier 16)

Malkorok

• Black-Blooded Drape
• Boots of Perilous Infusion
• Bracers of Averted Fatality
• Seal of Sullen Fury

Spoils of Pandaria

• Klaxxi Grips of Rejuvenation
• Lost Necklace of the Mogu Empress
• Shado-Pan Reliquary Kilt

Thok the Bloodthirsty

• Helm of the Shattered Vale (Tier 16)
• Signet of the Dinomancers
• Thok's Acid-Grooved Tooth

A Raider Appears (sort of)!

Okay, so it's been a while. Sorry about that. R&R seems to be turning into a bit more of a "here's what happened to Ang recently" blog rather than anything useful. Apologies for the wall-of-text nature of this one, too!

The truth is, I went away from WoW for a little bit. My friends on the Horde side stopped playing again, and all I was doing Alliance-side with Aoifen was dailies and a bit of pet-battling. I didn't have the item level for LFR and I couldn't upgrade much without Valor points. The thought of logging on just to do dailies really turned me off.

Then, two things happened that made me take an evaluating look at my game.

The talk about patch 5.2 started - the Thunder King, the new raid, the new quest hub area. I realised that I was so far behind in reputations and daily grinds that I wasn't even close to Revered with Golden Lotus. I was going to be way behind in any new content.

The second was this post by Ambermist of Tastes Like Battlechicken - World of Warcraft is My Game. Such a brilliant post, go have a read!

The facts about my game currently are thus:

• I love raiding with friends, and I haven't done any of it since Wrath, not counting a few LFR Dragon Souls. I miss it desperately.
• It's unlikely that I'll be able to raid with either of my two current guilds. My Horde guild has a few people still, but four or five people do not a raid make. My Alliance guild is full of lovely people, but they are heroic progression raiders and are unlikely to want a rusty noob in there with them, especially on progression content. Also, they start raiding before my Sproutling is in bed.
• Dailies suck, but I'm willing to do them to get the rep and points.
• I love to run old content for achievements and mog gear but I haven't any idea how to find a group to go with for the raids I can't solo.
• I am willing to put in some work and make changes to make sure I'm playing the game the way I love to.

 

New Goals

My first new goal was to gear Aoifen enough to run the current raids in the Raid Finder before the patch comes and they become "old". As a casual that's no small feat - I'm only getting two hours in the evening a few days a week do get this stuff done.

I did Shieldwall dailies almost every night for the last two weeks (I've barely seen poor Mr Ang) and I'm finally Revered! I also had enough VP to buy a trinket and get my item level over 260. 

Last night I went off to RF Mogu'shan Vaults for the first time. The first half was blindingly fast - even though I read the info about the bosses, I have no idea what happened on most of them! Thankfully as a healer you don't really have to know about target switching or anything, just stay out of fire and follow the ranged around when they move.

The second half was a little different - it seemed to be a slightly lower-DPS group as the bosses took a long time to go down and I had very little mana through most of the fights ("Come on, innervate, come on!"). But the fights looked really interesting - especially Elegon! Shiny stars ftw!

I even picked up a couple of pieces of loot, and I can't stay away from that shiny extra roll button, even though I only seemed to get gold from it. Is it worth using the coins, generally?

TL; DR

Long story short, all this whetted my appetite for more raiding so I'm on the hunt for a new home where I can do some. 

I'm looking for a guild who raids in the Oceanic GMT+10 timezone once or twice a week, preferably starting after 8 (8:30 would be even better), who needs a Resto Druid and occasional Moonkin. I'm planning on visiting a few different servers to see where I might fit in, so if anyone has space in their guild for a slightly rusty (but rapidly shining up) healer, please let me know! Horde or Alliance!

Wish me luck.

Whine Time

It's the 17th.  That means, apart from the day when people use the Irish national day as an excuse to get trolleyed, it is also Klepsacovic's Whiny Post Day.

I have but one whine today (that's not strictly true - I have a few whines but most of them are due to the 39 weeks pregnant thing and you don't want to hear about that).

See that picture above?  That was from September 16th last year, six months ago. That was the last time I raided with a guild - my guild, or any guild. Some of that was due to burnout, some was due to my guild turning casual and everyone drifting away. Some of course was my own laziness and being unwilling to move guilds when I knew I wouldn't be able to commit to a raiding schedule for much longer anyway.

The point of the whine is, that raiding has always been one of my most favourite parts of the game and I haven't done it in bloody ages.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest!

Ps. Before anyone says, "Ang, quit your whining!" let it be generally known that the raiding break was pretty much totally self-inflicted. I'm hoping to remedy the situation with a spot of casual raiding with the Effers, if I can get my baby druid up there in quick time and, of course, if they'll take me along. 

Progress Post: Kingslayer

It's been a week now since we took down Mister Lich King for the first time (or as one of my guildies likes to call him, "Fat legs").

I am pretty sure that the absolute joy at getting this fight down wasn't just me - the previous week we had been struggling to get into the second phase, two of our long-standing guildies had left and things were looking uncertain. Then we called in an old guildy who had done the fight to help us out with our strategy. Suddenly, things clicked into place, and we were getting into the rhythm of the fight. This did wonders to boost our flagging morale, and the next  night of attempts, the King was slain.

Honestly, for those who are still working on normal - if you can get through the second phase with Val'kyrs and Defile worked out, you've got it covered.

Two of our guildies who were on breaks came back to us as well, so we're (hopefully) back to a full team.  Tonight sees us starting off on hard modes, with an immediate goal of getting LK down again to get titles for everyone. Wish us luck!

Personally, I was extremely satisfied with the way things turned out.  Killing the Lich King was my main goal for this expansion, as I got Leesah to level 80, chose a guild to join and helped to push through progression. Of course I'd love to give him a go on heroic as well, but that's not so important as completing the storyline, in my opinion. Now that goal is reached, everything else is a bonus!

I'd like to extend my congratulations to all the other guilds who have completed ICC in the last couple of weeks, either on Normal or Heroic!  For those still working at it, I wish you the very best of luck.

Then there was dancing:

Don't Panic - The Internet Dragon is Dead

Last night the Disciples of Sneer took down Sindragosa for the first time. The nastiest Internet Dragon has been slain.

Yes, this is 10-man Normal. Yes, I know doing this with the 30% buff is not terribly difficult these days, but we are very proud.  Especially proud, considering that we got her down after only about six or seven hours of working on her, and while our main tank is away overseas, while our GM had connection issues and some of the rest of our main raid team are also away. And because we've pulled together and learned this fight, I know that although Arthas is going to be hard work and a steep learning curve, as long as we can keep our determination, we're going to get him.

After we'd finished whooping and cheering into vent, and disenchanted the loot (damn you, loot gods!), we headed off to find Mister Fatboy himself - except, we weren't quite sure which way to go. Then we got back into the central spire and saw all the ghosts moving upwards... Creepy!

Our illustrious GM posted this on the guild forums today (with apologies to Winston Churchill):

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defeat the Lich King, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for weeks, if necessary alone.

At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of the Disciples of Sneer - every toon of them. That is the will of Guild and the nation.

The Australian and New Zealand nerds, linked together in their cause and in their need, will fight to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.

Even though many guilds have faltered, we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in ICC,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall kill the Lich King, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, Cata is released, then our Guild would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to kill the mighty Lich King."

Wish us luck...

Important Advice for Raiders

So, poking around this place it appears to me that Angelya appears to be one of those bloggers who actually attempt to post useful, informative stuff for people. Even for raiders.

Hmmm. I suppose I should try and do the same, shouldn't I? People might not notice that I'm in here and therefore not call the BlogAzeroth cops to get me thrown out.

OK. Raiders.

Hmm.

Well, the most important lesson I've learnt in all my years of raiding, is this:

Tactical briefings are everything. Knowledge is at the very heart of execution. Without knowledge, execution cannot occur. Knowledge is, if you like, the path of the raider, the narrow path of fact and understanding that leads to success and the dropping of teh phat lewts.

It if, of course, the raid leader's job to impart said knowledge, which they should have gained through a combination of experience and research. And, it's important that they set it up early - right at the start of the raid, for example - even if that's just a general tactical briefing that will aid progress and, again, knowledge, for later in the run.

For example, here, in full, is our tactical briefing before we head into Icecrown Citadel:

Learn from our wisdom, padawans.


(Another guest posting from Leafshine)

Burnout: An Update

On Tuesday I wrote about our guild's progression break, where we spent the last two weeks bringing alts and teaching non-regular raiders the ropes in ICC-10. And er, now my guildies have discovered the blog, so hi guys, make yourselves at home :)

This Wednesday, we were back to the progression group, and blew through the first quarter and Festergut in about an hour and a half. After a bit more officer discussion (did I mention I got promoted? Well I did.  I know, I was surprised too!), it seems we are now thinking of locking the raid ID from week to week, possibly interspersing a progression week with an alt/gear-up week. Hopefully this will satisfy both the raiders who want to see some new bosses, and the casual side of the guild who wants a look into ICC without having to pug.

I'm excited, because hopefully this means we'll get to see the big nasties soon!

Unfortunately, just as we are about to have a night of real progression, I'm going away for a week's work trip so no raiding for me. You might not hear from me, but there may just be a guest post or two lurking around the place...

BA Shared Topic: Burnout

The Blog Azeroth Shared Topic for last week was about dealing with pre-expansion burnout. I know this response is a little late, but better late than never, eh?

My guild is small and casual. Many of the 10-man core team have children, so we don't start raiding until 8pm server time so that bedtime can be properly taken care of. A few others in the team live in New Zealand, so we don't tend to raid past 10pm because that's midnight for the Kiwis. We raid ICC on Wednesdays and Mondays.

That's four hours of progression raiding a week. Time is against us, for sure.

For this reason, I don't feel bad that we haven't got to the Lich King yet. Each progressive raise in the Warsong buff has helped us get a little further in our allotted time limits, but even at 20% we are only 8/12. I haven't even seen the BQL or Sindy fights yet.

It's been a little frustrating for me coming from a larger guild on the EU server I was on, where we did progression raiding 3 nights a week, sometimes more. I considered looking for another guild, but I really like the laid-back culture of this group. I always have fun raiding with them, even if we don't get as far each night as I'd like.

Our main problem is that we're losing people, and we didn't have many to start with. Because we only get the first 6 or so bosses done each week, that's a LOT of the same content over and over again. People are starting to take breaks, to lose interest. If we can get everyone together and on time we do well, but if core people are missing we have to bring in other lesser geared and inexperienced guildies, or call the whole raid off.

For the last couple of weeks, the officers have decided to take a different approach - a progression break. The raids this week have been for people who don't normally raid with the core team, to help gear them up a bit so we can bring them in for our progression runs if we need people. The rest of the spots have been a chance for the core raiders to bring their alts along.

I healed on Leesah for one of the nights but the other times I took Aefa in for a look-see. Apart from the rep-ring I don't think I picked up any gear at all, but it was fun for a bit of a change. We had some people there who hadn't seen many of the fights, as well as tanks who needed to learn the tricks, so it was still a bit of a learning curve.  The first week we downed up to Festergut and Rotface and were all very proud of ourselves. This last week we had slightly lower dps overall, and while we got Saurfang down, we struggled with the two farting nasties and just went and cleared the rest of the trash instead.

This week coming, we are back to a progression week. It will be interesting to see how it goes. If we have a really good night with our top dps there we can get 7 bosses down in one 2-hour session - we've done that before.

The raiders that aren't on WoW-breaks agree that we'd all really like to get Arthas down before Cataclysm, and I don't doubt that we have the ability, with practise, but the stars are going to have to line up for us to get that far.  If it's the 30% buff that allows us to get there in a faster time so we can have a crack at it, so be it.

How about your guild? Have you downed Arthas? Are you losing raiders to burnout?

Dragon Up!

So after all that whining yesterday about not getting to heal and not getting enough time for progression:

• We got Dreamwalker and
• I healed.

Sometimes I should really just shut my mouth, honestly.

Grats Disciples :)

Edit:  Just a quick edit since a lot of people are finding this page through searching and I thought I'd better at least try to be helpful.  


We did this fight with three healers - a paladin and a shaman going into the portals and I healed the rest of the raid on the outside.  We focus-fired the Blazing Skeletons when they appeared, and generally tried to keep the other adds under control. I was really out of mana right at the end but I tried to keep at least a Rejuvenation rolling on the dragon whenever I could spare a GCD.  Fun fight :)