Turn of DPS

Husband and I came to this guild so that we could stay on server. One of the key points to staying on server was regular raiding. We are two DPS. That had its challenges.

When we joined they were recruiting a rogue or two. They had 4 raiding warlocks… my time was not likely.

The Rogue was into raids. Husband was suddenly the third Rogue. And the only Combat Rogue. Once they got the three way tricks of the trade going they were fine.

Husband can run raids seven days a week. Me? Not so much.

Suddenly all the locks but one vanished. (You cannot prove that I did anything to them. *cough*)

I am now the second warlock.

I think I would go insane if I regularly raided seven days a week.

We run 25s four days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. The number of days does change depending on sign ups. Only two are progression nights.

That would be fine. My issue right now is… 10 mans.

Husband has been in an established 10 man. There was some trouble with tanks but they are working that out.

I was doing 10 mans on Moly for a while. Raids were going to be back to back. My Horde raid would end and then I would have to run to my Alliance raid.

It seemed really hard to justify taking a spot when I would have to leave at raid time with no expectations. Plus my horde guild seems to have some great people signing up for raids.

Plus I need to find time to eat. 

Here I am now months into raiding with my guild. I do not have an established 10 man raid group. I have mostly messed around in alt runs or filled in a night or two. I have been asked by my Husband's group to attach myself to them. I have now been asked by the guild leader to join his.

When the first 10 man asked me I made a deal. Sure I would join only if OS3D is done. “No Problem” I was told.

The guild leader asked me one week to come in for Sindragosa. My answer? “Sure if we do OS3D first.” He would have to ask of course.

Truthfully, I was using up all my opportunities to come into a raid that had all but two bossed down. It was not so much the loot I minded losing but that was a lot of Emblems of Frost. We were able to 9-man OS3D since the 10th didn’t log in until 25 minutes after start of raid time.

I don’t think I could commit to a 10 man from start to finish on the three non-25s nights. I like PVP, fishing, playing Horde, doing random crap, and even being off game. *gasp*

Right now I have choices. It is good to be wanted DPS. At the same time … I am watching the TV, sewing, and Sudoku.

This DPS can be bought for an OS3D run.

I think that makes me a DPS whore? Yes, Hydra, you are a DPS whore, wear it proudly. I can be bought!

... still. I do need to find a blanace between raiding and other things in my life. I don't know what to do about the 10 man raiding.

DPS is replaceable.

I have gotten a lot of grumpy remarks for saying this….

DPS is replaceable.

I have learned to live by this. To use this. To embrace the good and bad of this statement.

The bad: Getting swapped out and replaced.

The good: You really can say “No” and know they will go find someone else.

I don’t recall a raid that did not happen because I was the only one who said “No, I don’t want to go.”

I Cried

… you want to fight about it??!!

Everyone starts off new.

I was not use to being new. That first month in guild was tough.

Everyone is now whispering into the raid. I am now in this quickly filling up raid of 24, 25, 26, …, 31, 32 raiders.

I watch the raid leaders move unfamiliar names (to me) into groups 1-5. They get to go in and play when I sit in group 8… NOT going.

I indicated I am willing but … I am literally benched.

But I know I still have to be in vent… so I know the strategies if/when I am brought in.*grumble*

Truthfully I had a few “moments”. That went like this…

*Hydra staring at the screen*

/Y Don’t THEY *points angrily at the screen* know who I am! Don’t THEY know what I can do! I get to call out stuff. DON’T THEY KNOW MIMIRON IS MY BITCH. MALYGOS IS MY LEFT SHOE. Of course they don’t! Bitches.

[Husband] I hear yelling. Are you ok?

[Hydra] Yes I am fine. I’m making popcorn, want some?

This is just the normal time waiting in the wings. Waiting for a chance to prove I can move out of the fire. Waiting for a chance to dps to the point of breaking my gear.

It took some time for me to get use to the swapping people in and out for some boss fight. Changes were mostly based on if you needed gear from the encounter. Not necessarily about classes.

I took the time to ask more questions.

I observed how people interacted with each other.

I made notes on who or what I didn’t like.

At the same time looked at the reason it was that way. I ended up scribbling out or answered the things that concerned me.

I finally get into a TOC25. I have run the TOC10 a dozen times before with no problem. I died in an Icehowl crash.
…
…
I was so pissed I cried. Is that not NUTS! I, Hydra, cried cause I DIED on a boss that I have done a gazillion times.

I laid down to sleep after raid and had to get up again. I was so pissed that I couldn’t stop crying like a BOY. I cried like a little boy who just scrapped their knee. It was not even doing something cool like trying a wheelie.

I let myself down.

I quickly got over it.

Still… I did cry.

I am quite sure it was a bruised ego. Truthfully I didn’t realize I even had an ego. Being new will test what ego you do have. You will be tested at every turn. Not only with what you do in raid, but what you say in guild chat, in raid, even in vent. You will be scrutinized by everyone in raid. Not only by the people who are suppose to be but EVERYONE.

Going through the door is the first step. Just like in a job, you now have to back up what you put on your guild application.

If you actually get all emotional for the first time EVER about the game don’t let anyone in guild know *looks at the calendar* until three or four months after the event… if at all.

Moly the Undying

Head back to December 30, 2009. Moly was sitting in a raid for some Ulduar hardmodes. Unfortunately we only had seven in raid and we were not looking to PUG the other spots.

Tanks
Morbid the Grumpy, if there is a not so bright spot on a sunny day he would be in it. Even with that if you can get him to smile, you know it was at someone’s expense.

Uba the OP, as a Pally tank should not be able to /AFK tank and go grab a drink. Once known around Almost Evil as “THE Mage”, he is the best mage I have ever run with.

Healers
Arch of the Broken Hand, priest that has a tendency to want to shadow. Who will be going into surgery for tendons in his hand in a few weeks.

Alo the New, Resto druid with a sweet voice and no idea what she got herself into by joining us.

DPS
Rybo the Guild Drunk, he can warlockery better drunk. Get him going in vent and you cannot get him to stop.

iLock the Sweet, he is my partner in crime in making fun of Rybo. He also doesn’t get to raid much so it is always a treat when we can.

Moly the Hunter, she is a noob hunter who only knows fights from the warlock perspective.

Standing in Dalaran making stacks of Ink of the Sea, a call out for Naxxramas Undying was made.

Can we seven man Undying?
Why not!!

It will be better then farming more heroics and heck of a lot better then standing around Dalaran.

Here is the list of achievements Moly received on one run of Naxx.

• Sapphiron's Demise (10 player)
• The Hundred Club (10 player)
• Kel'Thuzad's Defeat (10 player)
• Subtraction (10 player)
• The Construct Quarter (10 player)
• The Safety Dance (10 player)
• The Plague Quarter (10 player)
• Arachnophobia (10 player)
• The Arachnid Quarter (10 player)
• The Military Quarter (10 player)
• The Dedicated Few (10 player)
• The Fall of Naxxramas (10 player)
• The Undying

With only three DPS we were 20 seconds off from getting the Patchwerk three minute kill. It was a clue that we were not going to have any trouble DPSing our way through the instance.

As a hunter I was suppose to kite Gluth’s adds. Well that didn’t go so well. I had no idea where they came from. I had no control. I didn’t do so hot. Half way through Uba took over the kiting and I turned to kill the boss fast.

I did have a close call with Heigan where on the first move I got a little singed. Scared me, I almost went down but with some quick heals and some focus I had no more problems.

We left Four Horsemen for last. For most of the run we talked about how we were going to do the fight. With only seven of us it was impossible to do and guarantee that no one would die.

We pulled in an eighth. An under-geared Holy Pally alt of a guildie who would be following Uba ensuring he didn’t go down. It was all we needed.

It was the most relaxing focused run I have ever done. There was joking and laughing. It was a really great time. We were all prepared to fail but stayed encouraged that we all had the knowledge to get this done. Yes, people died from frogger, but that was how we knew it was a Naxx run.

First Thoughts on Sindragosa

We now get a chance to kill the big dragon on the log-in screen. If this is not a sufficient reason for you to want to kill her think of it this way. Who do you see when you are DCed? Sindragosa

RAWR

Tankspot has some variations of boss placement. My tanks placed Sindragosa to the left of the stairs. At the point where the stairs end and the platform starts.

As ranged DPS you don’t have to worry about the Cleave, Tail Smash, and Frost Breath. As in all dragons there is just no reason for us to be in front or behind.

Unchained Magic… *growls* we will get back to that one.

Icy Grip sucks you into melee range of her. She then casts Blistering Cold. After the 5 second cast there is an AOE that kills anyone in a 25 yard area.

Demonic Portal is your friend. Put your portal out in ranged and after getting gripped you can port back to it.

Don’t rely on only your portal. You can portal on the run. MOVE. Portal. Then Move some more.

I had no problem at all in the first 10 attempts. I was caught once standing on my portal still to close, so I learned to keep moving. It happened because the tank needed to move the dragon and I didn’t adjust my portal placement.

Then there were the next few attempts. I kept moving … but started dieing from being to close. My portal failed and so I had to run like everyone else.

I needed to minimize my flight time when Icy Gripped. As we wiped and wiped I apparently was moving as FAR AWAY FROM ALL THE SMELLY RAIDERS as I could. I was at my max range. Really, it was nine guys running around for over two hours. I shoved some frost lotus (I know it is expensive but it was for a good cause) into my nose. Getting closer to the dragon shaved off flight time of the grip, giving me the 0.5 sec I needed to make the last few steps out of the AOE of death.

*sigh* Unchained Magic.

When you get Unchained Magic every time you cast you get one stack of Instability debuff on you. Each Stack will deal 2,000 damage when it falls off after 8 seconds after not casting. (No, you cannot just continually cast. It expires automatically after 30 seconds.)

Work with your healers. Initially I was allowing 5-6 stacks on me before waiting the 8 seconds for the debuff to drop off. Eventually we moved that to 8-9 stacks.

Every SB, Haunt, UA, Corr, CoA, and even a Life Tap will add a stack. I think even portaling to your Demonic Circle puts a buff on you. Our job is DPS. Standing there starring at dragon butt is not an option. Attacking with your wand does not put Instability stacks on you. Yea, I totally wand the dragon, that was more DPS then standing there.

Then there is an Air Phase. It is raid awareness. Raiders who are marked with the Frost Beacon and then Iced Tombed place themselves where the rest of the raid can line of sight the Frost Bombs.

I am a player that does not always look at the fight head on. I constantly mess with my camera angle and how far I am zoomed in or out. I also look at my toon from the side or even above. It is imperative for you to make a straight line from the Frost Bomb to the Ice Tomb to the top of your head.

To keep my trinket buffs up I DPS the Tombs only a bit. We had melee work on them.

An unexpected hard part was actually the transition from phase 2 (air phase) back to phase 1 (ground phase).

Affliction warlock DPS has to be ramped up. Our dots need to start ticking. By the time the dragon lands… all your work is gone. So I got a lot of time to learn to be efficient at starting the DPS cycle.

At 35% you go into the last ground phase. Sindragosa has all the same ground phase abilities but adds Mystic Buffet. Pretty much making you useless if you get Unchained Magic cast on you. You also get an Ice Tomb on a player that will help you manage your debuff stacks.

If raiders are not good with their spacing or they don’t anticipate where bad things can happen phase 3 is hard. Everyone needs to have controlled movement. Everyone needs to manage their debuffs.

I got to the point that if I had Unchained Magic it was more important that I do nothing so I survived at the end of the 30 seconds, than any DPS I could contribute at that point. Figure out what the debuffs look like and manage them accordingly.

A girl can only take so many 2%, 3% 7% wipes until the dragon finally dies. I did more damage then the other lock, completely must have been all the wanding I did (inserted only to annoy the other lock.)

With a dead dragon… we went after the Lich King.

[RL] What is the difference between real raiders and us?
[RL] They know how to get to the next boss.

We ran around. Went up and down elevators. Went around in circles. Crossed paths.

From Sindragosa’s room, turn left, go up the ramp. There is an elevator which puts you in a hallway facing the val’kyr room. Avoid the val’kyr as you run to the center transport that is now working. It takes you directly to the Lich King.

We got him to around 82% before we died a painful but swift death.

Heartbreaker

A good achievement to get on Valentine’s Day.

ICC Fun with Kilrogg

So…

Yea…

Bored warlocks are … bored.

If you are curious like I am…

Eye of Kilrogg DOES NOT agro trash.

Eye of Kilrogg DOES agro the boss.

Next time the RL goes /afk I will check out Lady Deathwhisper.

Differently

[RL] Stop dieing.

[Hydra] You told me to do it differently. So differently I am doing it.

[Hydra] Since you asked me to do it differently I have to throw out the difference. It is different then what I have been doing the last 60gazzion attempts and am relearning it differently.

[Hydra] Unfortunately this new differently is different enough that difference makes me die.

Following is where Hydra rambles some more…
When I learn a new encounter it is extremely fun. There are some fights that are classified as “tank fights” or “healer fights”. Every once in a while it is a “dps race”.

A big HUGE part of my dps is movement planning.

To effectively move well I consider
Boss cooldowns,
My cooldowns,
My DoTs,
Tank placement,
Healer placement,
Life Tap timing, etc. 

Affliction is the least movable spec right now for locks. If you remember I noted with the combining Siphon Life with Corruption was a HUGE movement nerf to Affliction. I love the damage change… but I like to move. A change of three instant casts down to one.

Once everything is applied affliction’s only instant spell is Curse of Agony. CoA gets refreshed every 24 seconds. If glyphed it is 28 seconds.

Destruction locks can plan on moving every Conflagrate. The cooldown is every 10 seconds.

It might be basic but movement is also when you use your Life Taps, Death Coil, and Nightfall procs.

I move way more then my instants allow me. … Why? Umm. Because dieing is bad.

A fight like Rotface, I am killing boss and planning. I am positioning myself so things on the grown don’t kill me. I move from things thrown at me. I watch where the off tank is. I plan my course if I get oozed. I watch the wall spouts so I know where it is safe to run too. I see who is next to me. I watch if the off tank changes direction. I watch if the tank turns the boss around.I have my next three spells planned out.

I plan how many steps I have to take.

That is correct… down to the steps.

Rotface sprays in my direction. I need to move three steps. It looks like I will get sprayed but… I don’t.

Then there was this weeks Professor Putricide (This was the topic of the “difference conversation” with my RL. Granted a bit one sided. But well. … I was dieing and I don’t like dieing. … at all. I use to stay in melee so I would miss the oozes all together and then just dodge the flasks on the ground. To ranged with you!)

TOSSING OOZES ARE CLOSER THEN THEY SEEM.
(Seriously … they are like car mirrors.)

I WILL GET YOU, WARLOCK! AND YOUR LITTLE FELPUPPY, TOO!!
(I swear that is exactly what the oozes emote at you. Listen the next time you will hear it too.)

If I had a computer that could handle recording WoW, I would love to show you how I move in the Putricide fight. But there are probably bunches on youtube by now.

Point of all this… I don’t know. Except a place to put some screenshots…

Staying alive is more important then dps, BUT giving your movement purpose gets the boss killed.

It's Football

[Hydra] I want the Colts to win.
[Husband] Why would you want the Colts to win?
[Hydra] Because they are not the other team.
[Husband] The Saints
[Hydra] Yea, them. I want the Horsie team to win.
[Husband] I don't want Peyton Manning to win.
[Hydra] I don't know who he is. I just want the Horsie team to win.
[Husband] *eyeroll*
[Hydra] For PONY!!!!!

WoW Achievements on a Blogger Blog

Some creative bloggers on Blog Azeroth created two different ways to put your last five achievements onto your blogger.com blog.Even with the recent armory changes this has continued to work.

I tested out both methods and found both to work very nicely.

Zigi of Twenty-Five Boxes did an extremely customizable achievement feed using yahoo pipe.

Gameldar of WoW in and Hour made a custom google gadget. This is what you will see on Almost Evil’s side panel.

If you want more information you can find it in the Blog Azeroth Forum at Platform: Blogger - Achievement Feed?

What?

What is this?

You want me to give you the information here?

*smirks* I think not.

Go sign up at Blog Azeroth, if you are not already, to get some great WoW blogging resources. Make sure you introduce your blog to everyone. Don’t worry we don’t bite… much.

Don’t get grumpy at me for not straight out telling you. I made Ratter do the same thing. Equal opportunity torture I say.

Meet Me In Azeroth

Meet Me In Azeroth - Diamond Town
My favorite part is where they get ganked dueling. I lol’ed.

Truthfully… it took me a second viewing to register why the one gentleman was wearing a robe. Yea. Yea. Yea. He plays a mage. Why would I ever think anyone would willingly play a mage? I figured it out all by myself … thanks.

Ticket for Hydra’s Cockiness

Tuesday raid night we went to kill the new boss, Toravon the Ice Watcher, in Vault of Archavon. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to expect. I just killed boss and killed adds.

He dropped the Sanctified Dark Coven Gloves. I won them in a roll off/bid/no you take them discussion. They are not an upgrade from my current gloves. But I will use them once I can get a fourth piece for the 4-piece set bonus.

If you have not had a chance to look, the helm and shoulders for Tier 10 are the strongest pieces. Those are the first pieces I picked up.

Off to ICC!!

First wing we are really quick on. WHAM! BANG! POW! Everything dead.

Exalted!

I’m a “force to be reckoned with.” Ormus said it, not I.

It was a funny night. We wiped on Festergut. A couple of times. It was from mostly inattention and people just spazing, like me. Our first pull… I was waiting for the ooze spawns. I was actually surprised when there were none.

Then there is this glitch I keep having. I cannot seem to reproduce it on a test dummy.

I get to my spot on the outside of the circle.
I then start typing /range.
My minion is set automatically to aggressive. 
Launches off to attack boss. 

I have no idea what is doing it. This has happened a few times. A few weeks ago I went to a training dummy and couldn’t reproduce the minion change. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Festergut is easier then Rotface. … so of coarse we went over to Rotface and one shot him.


One last thing. Remember those gloves I won?
…

Yea.

*cough*

I left them on the corpse.

*cough*

/open ticket

It was the Pits

I druid tanked Pit of Saron for the first time. I had two friends dpsing for me, lock and a mage. A ret pally was the third. Then there were the healers… That is correct multiple healers. 

Healer 1
Was fine. Then decided to stand in the mines, and dies with Krick and Ick still at 70% health. We survive another 20% or so but … you just run out of cooldowns. That healer left.

Healer 2
We killed Krick and Ick with no trouble. Then came the pulls I was dreading. I have no DK with me. I have no hunter or rogue to help me get agro on everything. Plus the 3 casters and 2 melee adds change after like 2 pulls. We died twice and the healer made a snotty comment and left. While none of us commented that he was still wearing pieces of 70 gear.

Healer 3
Still had to deal with ever changing trash pulls. I had no idea what their behavior would be like. At this point my dps friends were making fun of me, something about “Angry HYDRA”. Pfft. Just because I was yelling in vent did not mean I was angry. Harrumph.

We one shot every boss in Pit of Saron. (except Krick and Ick. I choose not to count that since seriously HEALER GET OUT OF THE EXPLODING PURPLE BALLS OF DEATH.)

The ret pally was really nice. And I thank my friends for laughing at me.

My trouble was understanding how the dumb adds moved since I normally stand 30 yards away… at a safe range.

I also said to them if you know of a better way then just yell at me. The third healer pointed out a thing or two, but that was it. So healers left in a huff knowing it is not the easiest instance to pull and had no constructive input. Plus, which part of “I have never pulled this place.” Did you not understand?

Patch 3.3.2 - More Lock Buffs

This maybe the last of the lock buffs for a while. I have been shocked by the ones we have been getting.Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am waiting for the stick.

With the start of Season 8 the rewards for Season 7 Arena should be out. I wonder what title I will be getting? I was informed that old pvp titles are removed and new ones replaces them. So you don’t get to accumulate them like in PvE. Not sure of the accuracy of this. Still it will pretty cool for a while.

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/ or over at MMO-Champion.

Dungeons & Raids
Halls of Stone

* Brann Bronzebeard has been getting into shape and now feels comfortable walking faster when escorted. //Win!

The Forge of Souls

* The Devourer of Souls will now cast Mirrored Souls less often. //Nerf brought to you by the nub pug near you.
* The Spell Reflect ability has been altered on several creatures. It now has a cast time, only has 2 charges, and has a 75% chance of reflecting spells. // Admittedly … I cannot see the reflect shield, I have my window scrolled back far. It is almost guaranteed that I will try to kill myself. I have seen me have all 4 dots on myself before realizing it.

The Nexus

* Anomalus will now use the Create Rift ability only once, down from 3 times. //Which will make getting the Chaos Theory achievement for this boss much easier.

The Old Kingdom

* Elder Nadox now only gets one Ahn'Kahar Guardian during the encounter. //How much are we nerfing the heroic instance bosses for bad pugs? They will never learn. I wish there was actually a boss ability description. Like a tip before a boss fight in your chat frame. /sigh They will never learn.
* Jadoga Shadowseeker now only ascends once during the encounter. //Boooooooring
* Several enemies between the Befouled Terrace and The Desecrated Altar have been removed or had their pathing altered. //How funny is it to watch a mage die from standing in Flame Strike. Good times.

Pit of Saron

* Players can now zone back into the instance if they are dead while encounters with Krick and Ick or Forgemaster Garfrost are in progress. //Stop standing in stuffs so you don’t die. Or be at melee as a healer. /facepalm

Utgarde Pinnacle

* Skadi the Ruthless can now be removed from his drake with 3 harpoon strikes, down from 5. //Boooooring
* Svala Sorrowgrave now casts Ritual of the Sword 1 time during the encounter, down from 3. //So this is actually good for me. I have this tendency to .. umm… after the boss is killed… umm… stand under the big black sword. It kills me of course. It is just mesmerizing to me.

Vault of Archavon

* Toravon, the latest boss to join the Vault's giants and masters of the elements, is now accepting challengers in 10- and 25-player formats. // A reason to go to Vault. Nice. Though. If you actually need the lesser gear in here, no one wants to kill the other bosses.

The Violet Hold

* The time between a boss being defeated and a new portal opening has been decreased. // Less time to go AFK


PvP
Arenas

* Season 8 has officially begun featuring all-new rewards. //Season 7 I should have gotten an Arena Title!! I wonder what it will be.

Warlock
Affliction

* Shadow Embrace: This effect can now stack up to 3 times, up from 2. However, the periodic healing reduction effect has been reduced from 3/6/9/12/15% to 2/4/6/8/10% per application.  //For the math impaired. old max and new max healing effect was not changed. But damage is now 3/6/9/12/15% per talent point. This may change your initial boss rotation to ensure 3 stacks are on before throwing up your dots. SB>SB>Haunt>start dots.

Demonology

* Demonic Pact: The damage bonus granted the warlock by this talent has been increased from 1/2/3/4/5% to 2/4/6/8/10%. The buff granted to a raid or party by this talent remains unchanged.

Destruction

* Conflagrate: The damage-over-time effect of Conflagrate has been increased to 40% of the spell's total damage, up from 20%.
* Empowered Imp: The pet bonus damage provided by this talent has been increased to 10/20/30%, up from 5/10/15%.
* Improved Shadow Bolt: Damage done by Shadow Bolt increased by 2/4/6/8/10%, up from 1/2/3/4/5%. //Most PvE specs have this ... More SB damage is always a good thing.

User Interface

* The party leader is now referred to as Guide in chat when a group is formed via the Dungeon Finder. //Really was this change needed?
* Fixed a bug where players with Raid Assist capabilities were unable to perform a Ready Check. //Excellent.
* Fixed a bug where the first couple of tutorials were not displaying upon logging into the game. //Welcome new players!