tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65020160830250219782024-01-20T05:55:30.018-05:00Penance PriestDiscipline priest blog.Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-66785625183175919802010-09-17T15:08:00.000-04:002010-09-17T15:08:11.150-04:00First Life<style>
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<p>Hope your summer has been fantastic! Mine certainly has. </p>
<p>This isn't exactly a "closing up shop" post... just touching base during this amazing period of transition for me. See, First Life has taken every possible turn for the better, and all cylinders are firing at full speed. It's hard to even consider going online at the moment, because there are simply so many incredible opportunities opening up right now. There's nothing to escape from, and no way to see a three-hour raid holding a candle to community building, or developing wonderful and significant relationships, or refining and actualizing my life's purpose. Yes, it sounds grandiose, but there you go. Raiding has taken a distant back seat for the moment.</p>
<p>Luckily, this is the perfect time to be taking a break from the game. Not much needs to be said that hasn't been hashed out a million times over the last month or so. It's just a major lull in the WoW adventure.</p>
<p>I expect to return come Cata. Whether or not I'll be as passionate or committed to the Priesthood remains to be seen.</p>
<p>In parting, I had planned to offer my retrospective analysis of the WotLK experience. But instead, I'll leave you with a post that <a href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Azuremyst&n=Beaute">Beaute</a>, my former GM, <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=24915162134&postId=249130606234&sid=1#10">wrote</a> on the Azuremyst realm forums earlier this summer. She's as insightful and intelligent as anyone I know. Here she distills one key dimension of what happened with this expansion in a way that only a perceptive, cool-headed GM could.</p>
<div class="longQuote">
<p>I think my biggest gripe about this expansion is the exact opposite of my BC gripe. </p>
<p>In BC, our server had about 3-4 guilds alliance-side (at any point) who were hitting the more difficult raids. Those guilds had trouble recruiting people because they were so far behind gear-wise. When those guilds did the end of Karazhan + Gruul & Magtheridon (and needed full Karazhan gear), almost everyone else was on the first few bosses in Karazhan (and still partially in blues). When those guilds were on SSC / TK, everyone else was in Karazhan gear, etc. Mid-level guilds had to implode because, by the time the 3-4 guilds got to MH & BT, they couldn't take applicants to the raids as the applicants were so, so, so undergeared. Several members of our guild never got credit for Illidan on their mains as they had to bring healers & rely on their knowledge of the fight so we could clear the instance. </p>
<p>In an attempt to rectify this imbalance (among other reasons), Blizzard brought us WotLK where everyone can get gear almost immediately. While it has been a blessing to be able to recruit people with gear that will allow them into the current instance, it has basically removed the need for guilds. Many people have confided that they prefer pugging rather than being "expected" to show up at a certain time & they can do that in this expansion & see most of the same content. </p>
<p>As someone who has been an officer of my guild since it was formed in January 2007, I can say that trying to recruit in this expansion has been the least pleasurable aspect of this game in the 5 years I've played it. Many people are arrogant. There are more small & unprogressed guilds. Everyone is running with bare bones crews, it seems. And, worst of all, the general chat in the most progressed instance is AWFUL. Seriously, it's bad. </p>
<p>tl:dr summary - BC had too much gear disparity. WotLK has not enough. Recruitment sucks. So does ICC general chat.</p>
</div>
<p>Enjoy the colors, those of you still in places that have fall beauty! I miss the northeast already, but I think Cali and I are in for a long love affair :)</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-54299936814114928412010-06-30T20:03:00.000-04:002010-06-30T20:03:59.513-04:00Trinkets<style>ul.trinks li { margin-bottom:0.8em }</style>
<p>I so totally shouldn't be doing this.
<p>I'm writing on a hotel wireless, in the beautiful desert, awaiting my sunset photo op in Canyonlands. Rough, I know.
<p>But <a href="http://missmedicina.blogspot.com/2010/06/trinkets-for-packrats.html">Jessabelle</a> upset me. She just posted on trinkets, and did it all wrong. It's ok, she's still a very good priest, and a cool lady. We all make mistakes.
<p>Here is my trinket list. All but one are in my bags at all times. I hope this helps with your own gearup plans, even as we're in the denoument of a long hard road through Arthas' world.
<ul class="trinks">
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=32782"><b>Time-Lost Figurine</b></a>. I got this the first week I hit 70, while helping a friend farming his Sha'tari Skyguard rep. It used to be fun to run Shadow Labs while disguised as an Arakkoa. Now, well, it's still the best disguise in the game IMO.
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=21579"><b>Vanquished Tentacle of C'Thun</b></a>. Because who doesn't stop and stare at a tentacle in the Dalaran bank?
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42341"><b>Figurine - Ruby Hare</b></a>. I don't PvP much nowadays, but when I do, the mobility boost is just too much fun. Call it the luxury of being <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=59752">human</a>, and the price for not being an <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55016">engineer</a>.
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=45929"><b>Sif's Remembrance</b></a>. I just need 9 more people and I'll be able to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3316">Herald</a>. Until then, I have a bag in my bank filled with 226s.
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42992"><b>Discerning Eye of the Beast</b></a>. Holy Nova + Discerning Eye + Skellies in Culling of Strat = infinite mana. I don't use this as much as I used to, but definitely if I get Strat right after changing specs.
</ul>
<p>If you need to shard <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47041">Solace</a> or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=50358">PLD</a> to make room for one of these, don't hesitate.
<p><i>-- disappears back into the Utah desert --</i></p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-51893608927397515832010-06-17T12:50:00.000-04:002010-06-17T12:50:19.906-04:00Cataclysm Will Fix It<p>One of the most exciting blue-tinted things I read in a
while came from Wowhead’s exclusive <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/blog=159586">interview
with Ghostcrawler</a>. It’s a great interview, so if you haven’t read it, go to
it.</p>
<p>Here’s what got me all jazzed.</p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:90%;color:#0070C0'>...really
what we're trying to do—and with like, the passive talent trees we're putting
into Cataclysm, we're trying to give ourselves better tuning mechanisms to be
able to make easy changes. One of the things we're often up against is: Say
we're going to make a patch. We want to, for example, buff mages. We have to do
something that both does what we want it to do, and, you know, isn't buggy.
It's not a good time to mess with, you know, "Hey we're going to add a new
talent", or "We're going to put in this untested tech that makes this
other thing proc" or whatever, because then we're just going to be fixing
our own patches over and over again. So we have to be so strategic that we
often can't make the changes that we really <em>want</em> to
make, and we know "this is still going to leave Frost Mages underpowered
in PvE, but we can't do anything else—we just physically, technically can't
make the change we want." So what we're trying to do in Cataclysm is build
in a lot of hooks to let us constantly tweak, and when we see something is too
low we can dial it up a little bit, or dial it back a little more.</p>
<p>I’m a professional programmer, so I know how challenging it
can be to tweak a complex system. Once you have something that works – and the
definition of “works” can sometimes be quite sloppy, but hey – making changes
to it is far more difficult than most people realize. Everything is tied
together, and the more complex the system, the more delicate the connections. </p>
<p>So it looks like at last, for real and for true, Cataclysm <i>will</i>
fix it. They just need to man the dials, and we’re good to go. *<i>fingers
crossed</i>*</p>
<h3>Deceive. Inveigle. Obfuscate.</h3>
<p>Let’s be honest. Blizzard lies to us. It’s just a fact of
life in an organization that has to work 24/7 just to prevent global riots. It
gets a little extreme sometimes… remember how they were telling us for months
that shadow was in a really good place, despite the mountain of data showing
the contrary? They weren’t simply ignoring us; they said repeatedly that there
was no problem. Eoy <a href="http://www.ensidia.com/eoy/blog/1062/">blogged</a>
about it, and Blizzard continued to deny. Then one day, out of the blue, shadow
got a huge buff. No warning, no discussion. Suddenly we were competitive again.
</p>
<p>I’m sure there are many reasons they don’t always let on
that they’re looking at buffing some spell or class. First is the obvious,
which is that it opens the door to everyone to whine about perceived
deficiencies in their own favorite ability. Second, it’s such a complex system
that even if Blizzard <i>wanted</i> to buff an ability or a class, there’s no
guarantee that they could pull it off gracefully.</p>
<p>The more tweaky-hooks they put into the system, the easier
it will be for them to make changes. And the less they will need to lie. There
will be fewer instances in which Blizzard says “we can’t do that.” It will be
more “we don’t <i>want</i> to do that,” and that’s a good thing.</p>
<p>Yes, I am a very optimistic person. I really do hope and
expect that Blizzard will be far more responsive to real complaints, as they
were (eventually) with shadow priests and frost DKs, even if both of those
specs lingered at the bottom for months.</p>
<h3>Aren’t you going to say anything about the new talents!?!1?</h3>
<p>Yes yes, I’m getting there! In fact, that’s the whole point.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t really have much to say. It’s all “in
theory” right now. Until we’ve played with it, what can be said beyond “I’m excited”
or “I hate Smite” or other unsubstantial comments? </p>
<p>Here’s my unsubstantial response: I’m very excited! But I
love change, and welcome the disorienting feeling of being a nub again, having
to relearn everything. I hope you do too!</p>
<p>You see, there seem to be two basic objections to the new
talent tree for healing priests. The first is, in a word, Smite. And the second
covers a lot of ground related to balance: How much mana will we regen from
Archangel? How much dps will we be doing with Smite? How much indirect healing
with Atonement? What about talents that were removed, like Holy Specialization…are
they nerfing our crit? Those sorts of things. </p>
<p>(Well, there is a third objection, one that I don’t see
enough discussion about. Which is why the HELL is Improved Holy Nova so deep in
the Holy tree? This is grave mistake, one that I hope Blizzard rectifies before
it’s too late.)</p>
<p>The whole balance issue is one that will be tweaked until it
works exactly as planned. Smite not putting out quite as much damage as they
wanted? *<i>Tweak</i>*! Not enough regen? *<i>Tweak</i>* This is also obvious
in the masteries; if abilities aren’t performing properly, or classes are
imbalanced, they have a knob to twiddle to adjust these things relatively
easily. They could even implement nonlinear scaling so that as you get more
mastery from gear, the three masteries grow at different rates.</p>
<p>Oh, and don’t bring up PvP. It is, and always will be, an
impossible balance to strike. Unless they implement Arenawell Radiance (which
they damn well should), or some other debuff that tweaks coefficients when you
step into PvP, balancing abilities for PvE and PvP will remain stormy and
frustrating.</p>
<p>My big questions for Cataclysm are about creativity. Since
we all know Blizzard is trying to encourage us not to shield spam (because we <a
href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/25026435563/where-s-blizzard-heading/">love
shielding so much</a>!), will we be given new fixed rotations? Like, five Smites,
then power-heal for 10 seconds, then back to Smiting? Or will we be given room
to breathe, room to be dynamic and creative again? Will encounter design follow
the new philosophy of talent design, which (in theory) reduces the need to
min-max in favor of choice? They say Smiting will be optional, but <i>really</i>?
Once we get in there, will it become clear that there is really a best way,
bringing us back full circle to cookie-cutter specs and rotations? </p>
<p>I’m as curious as everyone else about how it will <i>feel</i>
in Cataclysm. But I’m not concerned about the balance issues. The new “CWFI”
system (not such a good acronym, I’m afraid… will Cataclysm fix <i>that</i>?)
will be used to adjust the numbers so that the big-picture changes don’t leave
one class desperately behind. </p>
<p>As for Smite, it’s a big change. We don’t know what
encounters will be like. We don’t know how much idling time we’ll have. But
surely if Blizzard wants us to be Smiting, it will be obvious, and eventually,
natural. </p>
<h3>AFK</h3>
<p>With this I bid you a temporary farewell. In about a week I
begin a cross-country move, followed by lots of other stuff that will keep me
mostly away from WoW and away from writing. Who knows, but it won’t surprise me
if I’m away most of the summer.</p>
<p>So have a great one!</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-21350210368537764342010-05-20T21:37:00.001-04:002010-05-20T21:38:39.895-04:00Yellow Sockets & Disc Stats<style>
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<p>I’m not a big fan of yellow sockets. They throw me for a
loop. And from looking at other disc priests, it seems there’s plenty of disagreement
about what to put in your yellow sockets.</p>
<p>Here’s what I’ve got in my yellows right now:</p>
<p>2 runed<br>
1 reckless<br>
1 luminous</p>
<p>And I just socketed over one potent. What gives?</p>
<p>Lucky for me, I’m only interested in one thing at the
moment: 25-man bubble-botting discipline. Poor <a
href="http://www.wow.com/2010/04/18/spiritual-guidance-priest-gems-for-raid-roles/">Dawn</a>,
having to recommend gems for all purposes, all playstyles. I have it easy!</p>
<h3>But first, a blog post</h3>
<p>I wrote my <a
href="http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2010/05/random-musings-at-end-of-era.html">last
post</a> right after giving up on guilds on my server. The one guild of
interest to me hadn’t responded to my app after two weeks, so I interpreted
that to mean “no thanks.” Well, the day after I posted I got a tell from their
recruitment officer, and 15 minutes later had a ginvite. Many thanks to my
future wife for going to bat for me. (She doesn’t know it yet, shhh.) So now I’m
back to raiding, doing 7/12 hard modes. Sweet!</p>
<p>And my move across country is pretty definite, but won’t
happen for another five weeks. So I have some quality raiding time before…well,
I don’t know what will happen then.</p>
<h3>Stats for bubble bots</h3>
<p>Wait, haven’t we covered this before?</p>
<p>Why yes, yes we have. I apologize if this is redundant for
you. The following analysis only applies to 25-man bubble-spamming disc
priests. No other healing scenario lends itself to this kind of
oversimplification. Under normal circumstances, you’ll be casting 9 shields and
PoM, rinse & repeat. Obviously you’ll cast the occasional Penance, or Pain
Suppression, whatever. So this is not exact, but it gives a fine approximation,
which is enough for our purposes.</p>
<p>Do not try this for holy. Do not try this for 10-man disc
healing. Or for any other healing spec. Healers are not like DPS classes; we
cannot be reduced to Patchwerk-style simcrafting.</p>
<p><b><u>Haste</u></b>: Because of the way Borrowed Time works,
bubble-spamming disc priests need about 150 haste rating to reach the soft cap,
which is where your GCD hits its minimum of one second. You probably had this
much haste the day you hit 80 and are scary past that now. Therefore haste has
zero value for a bubble bot.</p>
<p><b><u>Crit</u></b>: Power Word: Shield can’t crit. But its
glyph can. So you get 20% value for crit. PoM bounces can crit, of course, but
you get five bounces (at most) per nine shields. So we’ll boost the value of
crit by half to 0.3. Good enough for science.</p>
<p><b><u>Spell power</u></b>: Your shields grow by about 1.5
hit points for every point of spell power. (Yes, that’s where all of our talent
points are going!) This is our super-stat for super-sized shields. </p>
<p>So, to sum it up:</p>
<p style='margin-left:27.0pt'>Spell power = 1.5<br>
Crit = 0.3<br>
Haste = 0</p>
<p>And you can fill in your own stat weights for intellect
& spirit.</p>
<h3>Luminous</h3>
<p>I’ve been using <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=51799" rel="ench=3854&gems=40113:40113">Halion</a> for the last week or so. It
matches nicely with my other <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=50033">crit</a>/<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=50205" rel="ench=3831&gems=40151:40151">haste</a>
gear, of which I have a ton. It also looks awesome.</p>
<p>The thing is, once I got it I started OOMing on every fight,
10 or 25, with or without replenishment. (That’s because I’m <a
href="http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2010/04/abc-of-discipline-priesting.html">always
casting</a>!) Even doing my best to abuse the <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnGKkc4p6XA">Rapture bug</a>, I still popped
more mana pots and begged for more innervates than I have in a long time.
Thanks to Matron for indirectly kicking my butt.</p>
<p>So I gemmed full <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40151">luminous</a>
in all my red and yellow sockets. And did not regret it one bit, despite the
insane amount of conformism and peer pressure amongst disc priests to gem runed
only, ever.</p>
<p>What’s the numeric value of luminous? It only has value if
you need the mana. If you don’t, it’s obviously the wrong gem to use. In fact,
last night I got a new staff, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=50725" rel="ench=3831&gems=40113:40113:40113">Heroic Dying Light</a>. It has so much
additional intellect, and an ungainly amount of spirit, that after using it for
a few fights (including LK25) I’ve decided to drop my luminous gems for runed. So
far so good. (And yes, I am still always casting!!)</p>
<h3>Reckless</h3>
<p>There are two reasons to socket haste: First, haste is an
excellent stat for 10-man tank healers. If you do both 10 and 25 seriously then
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40155">reckless</a> is a viable gem to
use.</p>
<p>The second reason is that haste is the best yellow stat for
shadow priests. Any piece of gear you share with shadow will likely have reckless
in it.</p>
<p>For bubble-bots though, haste is useless. If those two
conditions don’t apply to you, reckless is kryptonite. Don’t touch it.</p>
<h3>Potent</h3>
<p>Crit is also an excellent stat for 10-man tank healers. And
for bubble-bots, well, it’s not terrible, but it’s still not very good. It has
about 1/5 the value of spell power, which means you’d need an unreasonably good
socket bonus before using a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40152">potent</a>
gem for your bubble-spam role. Bottom line: probably not.</p>
<p>(<a href="http://plusheal.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4937">This
article</a> is required reading if you want to know the relationship between crit
& haste for disc priests.)</p>
<h3>Summary</h3>
<p>As you can see, a lot depends on what you do when you’re not
bubble-botting. If you have more than one job, you’ll need to prioritize your
gemming towards one or the other. </p>
<p>And remember, gemming is a minor component of your healing! </p>
<p><b><u>Full-time bubble-bot</u></b>: You have only two
choices. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40113">Runed</a> or <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40151">luminous</a>.</p>
<p><b><u>Bubble-bot / 10-man</u></b>: You have three choices:
Runed , luminous, or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40155">reckless</a>. <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=40152">Potent</a> is also acceptable. </p>
<p><b><u>Bubble-bot / Shadow</u></b>: You have two choices:
Runed or reckless. </p>
<p>Ah, the flow chart!</p>
<p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kd4wgnYHNbA/S_XU5sYkxxI/AAAAAAAAAG8/rfd3Iz3noso/s640/yellow-sockets.png"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kd4wgnYHNbA/S_XUvIEIIzI/AAAAAAAAAG0/6eN2-HE803Q/s320/yellow-sockets-sm.jpg" /></a></p>
<h3>Blue sockets?</h3>
<p>Muahahaha.</p>
<p>Exercise for the reader.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-83203738022853438072010-05-15T20:18:00.001-04:002010-05-15T20:19:14.660-04:00Random Musings at the End of an Era<h3>Cataclysm is coming</h3>
<p>No matter where you stand on the changes to priests, or any
other class for that matter, rest assured that Cataclysm will be a huge
upheaval. We’ll have at least one more go-to spell (the return of Heal, filling
the gap between Flash and Greater). We’ll have Power Word: Umbrella. And of
course, Life Grip. Those are just a few key abilities, to say nothing of an
entirely new way to play: how we manage mana, how the encounters are designed,
how we will be affected by larger health pools, how we navigate a new set of
stats on gear, etc. </p>
<p>If you think back to the time period before WoLK dropped —
probably around summer ’08 — we had the same tingling sensation, knowing big
changes were coming. This is the calm before the storm.</p>
<p>Other than airy rambling, what I’m saying is this: enjoy
yourself. Our spec is mature, well-defined. It’s not perfect, and it’s
certainly not perfectly balanced. It has come a long way, as have we. Enjoy the
comfort of playing something you know and love, knowing that change is around
the corner. Almost like spring semester as a senior; let’s make the best of the
time we have before the Cataclysm, when we will have to relearn, well, not
quite <i>everything</i>, but a whole lot.</p>
<p>The expansion is probably six months away. And for many of
you, there’s a lot to do between now and then. Not so much for me. It’s already
feeling like it’s winding down.</p>
<h3>The guild</h3>
<p>I haz none. The group I joined in December turned out to be,
how shall I say: a very bad match. I gquit after we killed the Lich King in
March. There are no compelling options on my server at the moment, which leaves
me in a bit of a pickle. </p>
<p>For now, WoW is pretty easy mode for me, since pugs still
don’t usually get very far. I don’t see apping across realms to be a good idea
at the moment, so I’ll hang out until the big reset this fall, and in the
meantime, have fun pugging with smaller friendly guilds.</p>
<p>And yes, I do look forward to ten-man raiding. A lot.</p>
<h3>Specs</h3>
<p>Ok, because I’m in limbo, I decided to play around with my
spec. Why? Because our role as discipline is polarized. In 25-man content, we
do little more than bubble bot. And in 10-man content, we <i>can’t</i> bubble
bot; there just aren’t enough bodies to bubble. Instead, we do it all. You
might call it tank healing, but really, it’s man-handling the entire raid.</p>
<p> So? What about it? Have a look at a <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bVcbuhhVRIosfktoxtcr:bAd0Vz">spec I’m
playing with</a>. This is all in the context of the above section: I’m not
doing much hard-mode content, just playing around as an overgeared, 15%-buffed
mercenary priest.</p>
<p>I’ve dropped some talents that are borderline useless in 25s
(<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=47517">Grace</a>, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=63506">Improved Flash Heal</a>), filled up
on my GH potential (omg 5/5 <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=18535">Divine
Fury</a> and 2/3 <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=15013">Improved Healing</a>)
and PoH potential (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=27790">Holy Reach</a>
and the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=42409">glyph</a>), mainly for
10-mans.</p>
<p>If you’re doing hard modes, you should be ignoring me about
now. </p>
<p>The moral of the story? If you’re overgeared for content,
boosted with a 15% gimme buff, and feel like futzing around, now is the time. I’m
enjoying some creative tinkering with no particular goal in mind, and no
pressure to min-max myself to perfection.</p>
<h3>On the move</h3>
<p>On a more personal note, I’ll be moving next month. Across
the country, to a new city, where I know few people, starting a new job. So
it’s definitely the end of an era for me personally. My playtime will be
affected, as will my blogging. Don’t be surprised by periods of inactivity!
There is less to write about nowadays, and with the move coming, my attention
will be elsewhere. Once I land, the process of starting a new life will take
precedence over fantasy-game escapism. Hang tight though, I’m not closing up
shop.</p>
<h3>About the name</h3>
<p>Since I snuck into random territory, I thought this would be
a good chance to introduce the original Paolo. I’ve had numerous people in-game
ask me if I’m named after this-or-that Paolo from real life. (Actually, they
ask me if I really AM this-or-that Paolo.) I suppose that’s the price for
picking a toon name that is very common in the world-at-large. I suspect
DethBludXXNite does not get the same treatment.</p>
<p>The inspiration for the name comes from Mary Fahl, who is
one of the bestest, most beautifulest singers around. I was listening to her
music a lot back when I started this guy. Her EP <i>Lenses of Contact</i> has a
song called “Paolo,” and while it’s not her best song, the name was in the
right place at the right time, and it stuck. Her earlier band, October Project,
is even better.</p>
<p>Instead of linking “Paolo” here, I’ll give you “Breathe,” a
taste of her “coming soon” DSoM tribute record. Enjoy!</p>
<object width="580" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gPOrXSu_eKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gPOrXSu_eKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-44366835004340833742010-04-20T16:38:00.003-04:002010-04-20T16:45:21.569-04:00The ABC of Discipline Priesting<style>
.longQuote { margin:0.5em 2em }
.longQuote p { font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size:90% }
</style>
<p>There is a little-known secret among disc priests.</p>
<p>We all know the two basic principles of the discipline spec. First, that our greatest value is our ability to mitigate, whether it be from our <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48066">shields</a>, our <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=47515">crit-bubbles</a>, or our <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=57472">passive quasi-aura</a>. Second, our direct heals are pathetically small. This is why bad raid leaders everywhere continue to fire disc priests from their raids when we register near the ret pallies and shadow priests on any healing meter that doesn’t count absorbs.</p>
<p>But I’m not here to tell you that there’s a secret way to combat this. Bad raid leaders are bad. Apparently they missed the patch notes from 3.0.2, which came out, like, a YEAR AND A HALF AGO. Sheesh. </p>
<p>No, I’m here to teach you a secret way to maximize your output. Yes, I know you’re already doing great, and I know that when you factor in absorbs (hooray World of Logs!) that you end up at or near the top of the meter. I’m here to challenge you to pump out <em>more</em> healing (and shielding) that you thought you could in a given fight.</p>
<p>Ready?</p>
<p>Always. Be. Casting. This is the ABC of discipline priesting. And it seems to be a well-guarded secret!</p>
<p>This is a mindset you learn as a damage-dealing class. Any time you’re not casting, you’re leaving dps on the table, so to speak. Shadow priests learn to spam <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=63627">Devouring Plague</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48158">Shadow Word: Death</a> when they’re running so they don’t waste precious seconds getting from orange to green. But healing classes have been trained the opposite way. We might shield pre-emptively, but we also stand idly when there doesn’t appear to be anything more to do.</p>
<p>Think about it. Every global you don’t cast a spell is a potential loss of 10 to 30 thousand points of healing/mitigation, maybe more. How many globals do you spend moving without casting? Or waiting, just regenerating mana, subconsciously living in the BC-era world of dodging the five-second rule? If you idle for just six globals a minute, you’re looking at a 10% reduction in your output. You might as well be healing in your Ulduar gear. Or be healing through a minor Mortal Strike debuff.</p>
<p>“But wait,” you say, “I only pause when there’s nothing to heal!” Well, dear friends, disc priests are the best in the business at healing people who are already at full health. We spam bubbles. Bubbles are instant. They’re our most valuable function in a raid, our most powerful spell. </p>
<p>And after all the bubbles have been spammed—and I do mean <em>all</em>—we spam direct heals. Because with our high crit rates, even direct heals turn into more shields. And when you’re on the move, if Weakened Soul is on every raid member…what then? Of course PoM is on CD (isn’t it?), so you suck it up and toss out your only remaining instant, our weakest heal: Renew. Renew is terribad for disc, just awful. But it’s better than doing nothing.</p>
<p>Have I managed to rile you up yet?</p>
<p>Ok, fine, I’ll back off Renew. But that’s as far as I’ll go.</p>
<p>I have to confess, this post was 100% inspired by something <a href="http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2009/11/matron.html">Matron</a> wrote over on <a href="http://www.plusheal.com/">PlusHeal</a> a couple of weeks ago. For reference, he’s the GM of an 11/12 hard-mode guild, so scoff at your own risk. It was part of a discussion on <a href="http://www.plusheal.com/viewtopic.php?p=63469#p63469">how disc priests should gem</a>. Remember that he is speaking about a 25-man progression context, in which disc is a raid <strike>healer</strike> shielder, not healing the tanks. Tank healing in 25s is best left to our bacon-loving friends, at least until Cata. Ok, here we go:</p>
<div class="longQuote">
<p>The #1 way to increase throughput is to cast more spells, not gem SP.</p>
<p>The popular advice to “gem INT if you have mana problems” and “gem SP if you don’t have mana problems” is the worst advice given on these boards. If someone is casting fewer spells than they should of course they’re not going to have mana problems, and what individuals take away from the discussion is a feeling that because they don’t have mana problems they should gem throughput. That’s absolutely incorrect.</p>
<p>You can go OOM on most every encounter in ICC, even with the best gear and using all your mana cooldowns, by simply spamming PWS, which will provide the most HPS for your raid as disc.</p>
<p>The challenge of any role is to cast more of your best spells/abilities. To do this you must support yourself with int/regen.</p>
<p>Rather than saying “if you don’t have mana problems gem SP,” instead we should be advising people that “if you don’t have mana problems you need to cast more spells until you do have mana problems”... pushing people towards a state of OOMness will increase their throughput much faster than advising them to socket an extra 100-150 SP.</p>
<p>The INT that people socket won’t even make much of a difference in terms of regen; again gems are only going to provide 150-200 stat points. However, advising people to socket SP if they don’t have mana problems tells people that their current level of casting is acceptable/optimal, when in reality 99% of priests aren’t casting using every gcd. </p>
</div>
<p>He clarified a few posts later:</p>
<div class="longQuote">
<p>Again, gemming INT or SP won’t make that much of a difference either way. We’re talking at most a 5-10% difference in mana pool or shield size. What makes the most difference is how many spells people cast, which I believe is a playstyle/practice better supported by focusing on regen/INT...</p>
<p>My feeling is that it is easy enough to go OOM by simple pro-active shield spammage, disc’s bread & butter; you don’t have to get fancy to go OOM…</p>
<p>Basically there are a ton of reasons/encounters for constant PWS spam. If you’re not taking these opportunities and you’re losing out on the meters, but you “don’t have mana problems”, gemming for SP is not going to close the gap with other healers. You’re playing incorrectly, not gemming incorrectly. In reality gems matter very little for us.</p>
</div>
<p>I am as guilty as the next guy for giving gemming advice like that. However, my own gearing strategy has its bedrock on <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=47041">hybrid</a> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=50358">trinkets</a> and an overpowered <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=41401">regen meta</a> (sorry <a href="http://www.wow.com/2010/01/10/spiritual-guidance-making-an-insightful-meta-choice/">Dawn</a>!). But as Matron said, the issue he’s poking at here is not so much gem choice as playstyle choice.</p>
<p>Try it out next time you raid. Challenge yourself to waste fewer globals. Fight the urge to wait for anything. When there’s no one to shield, Flash your neighbors to put up more Divine Aegis. Use Penance every cooldown, assuming you can risk not having it available for emergencies for a few seconds. </p>
<p>Treat yourself like a dps class who has to do everything he can to squeeze out another drop of damage. You might just discover a whole new level of play.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-81122824216352404972010-04-13T14:47:00.003-04:002010-04-13T16:56:35.165-04:00Ode to Holy NovaFair mage.<br>
<br>
Delicate, like a flower.<br>
<br>
Perhaps you are a gnome.<br>
<br>
Even better.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Oh my, is it CC time again?<br>
<br>
Would you mind —<br>
<br>
That Vrykul could hurt us so.<br>
<br>
Such big weapons! So fast! And so many of them!<br>
<br>
Is turning one into a sheep too much to ask?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
You, good mage, are the hero<br>
<br>
Of this small but important moment.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Chaos! Vrykul abound, uncontrolled!<br>
<br>
Only one wanders in circles<br>
<br>
On four legs.<br>
<br>
Smoke! Fire! Blizzards! Whirlwinding warriors!<br>
<br>
Who could keep track in the madness?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
/cast Holy Nova<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
“Who broke my —”<br>
<br>
So sorry, mage.<br>
<br>
I do not know how the sheep broke.<br>
<br>
Nor why it ran straight to you,<br>
<br>
Executing swift judgment for your offense.<br>
<br>
Surely the sheep breaker should have<br>
<br>
Drawn its ire, and not you?<br>
<br>
I mourn.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Good-bye, fair mage. Good-bye.<br>
<br><br>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-89238880701623456012010-04-08T13:02:00.001-04:002010-04-08T13:02:53.553-04:00Cataclysm Patch Notes, Super-Early Preliminary Pre-Alpha Version<p><a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/24038432151/cataclysm-class-preview-priest/">These are big ones</a>, people. We’re not talking about minor tweaks, like adjusting the spell coefficient on Penance. We’re not even talking about big tweaks like the recent haste buff to shadow. These class changes are shaping up to be a sizable earthquake.</p>
<p>My metaphor is unfortunate. I don’t think the changes are all bad. They’re just BIG ones. Our go-to heals will be different. Our buffs will be different. Our inter-class mechanics will be different. Our mobility, dps rotation, mana management, ohshit buttons… did I miss anything?</p>
<p>There will be a lot to test, a lot to change before putting in a report card. In general though, I like the direction, I like the creativity, and I like the size of the change.</p>
<p>And with any shift of this magnitude, there are two major processes that are guaranteed to happen along the way. First, the class-specific abilities will need to be tweaked. How much will the new Heal spell heal for? What’s the cooldown and threat-adjustment mechanic on Leap of Faith? What is the relationship between the current PW:Shield, the new PW:Barrier, and the possible inclusion of a new, smaller shield, especially in relation to Weakened Soul? With the right tweaks, Blizzard will be able to give us a dynamic, fun, and powerful class.</p>
<p>The second process that will happen is the inter-class balancing act. If they are going to make every healing spec into a viable, multi-shaped “peg” to fit into each raid “hole,” there will be a long series of adjustments to coefficients, cooldowns, and talent boosts. The skill and artistry of the game-designing team shows itself here more than anywhere. The 10-dimensional math puzzle they’ve created isn’t solvable in a single, perfect solution; but it has some very creative possibilities that they don’t seem scared of tackling. I mean, look what they’re doing for mobility: they’ve released previews for two healing classes, and both of them have mobility boosters. Different, not equal, but still parallel upgrades. Nice job… to be continued, I’m sure.</p>
<p>But wait, there’s more! There’s a third bonus process: encounter design. It’s not as separate from class-design as you might think. Blizzard designs encounters around the capabilities that we have, at least to some extent. We will have interesting opportunities to Life Grip that go far beyond yoinking suicidal hunters out of the fire. We will have challenges to our mana pools that we haven’t experienced in years. We will have moments when the mobility boost of Inner Will becomes an obvious and exciting choice. We will see progression encounters which will test your spell selection, and you will only pass if you get a 90% score or better. </p>
<p>The earthquake will shake things up a LOT. Do not expect all the pieces to land perfectly where they should be. It will take time, and it will be frustrating.</p>
<p>But honestly, I’m very excited about the magnitude of the changes that Blizzard is implementing. It’s a huge project. As GC has said, a game designer needs to learn how to kill his “babies.” We players need to learn to let go of those babies, even ones we’ve grown quite fond of. </p>
<p>Bottom line? HELL YEAH. The changes are big but not a complete gutting of the class(es). It’s very hard to comment on specifics so soon; mechanics have barely been revealed, and are subject to more big adjustments. It will take some time to grok the new talents and see how they can be best used in practice. Folks will get very creative with new mechanics, as they always do. We’re in for quite a ride! </p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-69008772727894073092010-04-06T13:22:00.002-04:002010-04-06T13:22:30.860-04:00Alterac Valley Memory<p><em>One of my most ecstatic moments in game was an hour-long AV back at level 59 in April 2008. I had twinked myself out, fine-tuned my spec (deep disc even back then!), and bought some great Outland greens. This match was particularly epic, featuring some great come-from-behind teamwork Ally-side. Yes, Ally teamwork…believe it. </em></p>
<p><em>I wrote this account right after the match. It really needs some editing, but I find that anything I try to do just ends up gutting the urgency and authenticity that was expressed in the moment. Enjoy!</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most battles in the Valley are won or lost before they even begin.</p>
<p>You enter the starting gate to prep for battle. You probably don’t know a thing about your fellow soldiers: Do they understand how the Valley works? Are they skilled at their job? And most importantly, do they know how to fight as a team?</p>
<p>But even more than all of that, you are at the mercy of the balance of power. The numbers, pure and simple. </p>
<p>This day we started out far behind. Our twenty to their thirty-five.</p>
<p>This battle was lost before it began.</p>
<p>When you start out at such a deficit, you’re hard-pressed to catch up. Sure, over the first 15 minutes or so you might get a trickle of new soldiers. But by then it’s usually too late. </p>
<p>We missed our initial push to kill the captain, so most of the team ended up back at the starting gate. By then, the enemy had killed our captain and had their full force on the road past Icewing Bunker. We were trapped, unable to move forward. At the bottom of the hill we fought for twenty long minutes, and through sheer force of will, or perhaps with divine intervention, we were able to push them back to Stonehearth Graveyard. And we took that graveyard with relish, and deep relief.</p>
<p>With our captain dead and one tower lost, our side was down hard. We had 200 reinforcements to their 400. In a situation like that, most teams will just lay down and surrender. Not today; our team had a desperate will to win.</p>
<p>Now with a forward graveyard, we were able to mount something resembling an offense. A few soldiers slipped past to Iceblood Garrison and mounted a small insurgence. Most of us were caught in a knot on the Field of Strife. And a large cohort ended up back at the defensive starting gate. </p>
<p>All three groups managed to hold ground. Defense protected Dun Buldar with more strength than the numbers would suggest. The forward group took Tower Point. The group on the Field of Strife made very slow progress forward, not past the field, but at least not being pushed back.</p>
<p>While all this is happening, attrition is wearing down reinforcements on both sides. We’re somehow losing ground more slowly than they are. By 45 minutes in, we’re down 100 to 200.</p>
<p>Tower point changed hands, and changed hands again. We recaptured it at minute 50, with reinforcements fading, 80 to 30. Capturing the tower is not enough: it needs four minutes to burn before it falls. Worth 75 reinforcements, it is the one and only key to victory in today’s battle.</p>
<p>It’s now two minutes later, with two minutes until the tower burns. Reinforcements at 70 to 22. If we can hold for two more minutes, the battle is ours. Most of our team turtles up at Winterax. The one and only goal is to protect the tower…and to stay alive. Only for two minutes more.</p>
<p>Soldiers shouting on comm for the timer…“how long to Tower Point!?” Thirty seconds to fall, with reinforcements now at 65 to 12.</p>
<p>At five seconds to fall, five seconds to victory, we lost the tower. Reinforcements are 60 to 8. Our last hope is gone.</p>
<p>Most of the team is still at Winterax. Shouts go like wild over comm…“Get to Galv!” We’re a short ride from their captain, still alive after surviving our initial attempt. No more than a dozen of us brave the ride across the Field of Strife to Iceblood Garrison. Never in my days in the Valley have I seen Galv go down so quickly, or with so few of us fighting. My own healing spells were shelved for this brief moment of desperation. For this moment, I am no Holy Priest. I am a soldier. </p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-89278577803808626332010-04-01T01:33:00.001-04:002010-04-01T08:38:15.349-04:00Dispersion<p>Well, at long last, it seems that the time has come to move on. I've grown pretty tired of one-button bubble-spam, as you probably know. After my <a href="http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2010/02/qq1.html">QQ last month</a>, I decided to take it slow, and not rush into any decision I might later regret. Now it's pretty clear where my future lies.</p>
<p>I'll be starting a new blog shortly called DispersionPriest. Stay tuned for the dark side.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-15926288787959848302010-03-26T13:29:00.004-04:002016-08-18T00:17:02.440-04:00Power Word: Shield Calculator<script>
function $(e) { return document.getElementById(e);}
function doCalcs(f,set) {
var sp, d, h, g, b, c = 0.8068;
b = $('pws_boost'+set).value;
b = 1+(b.length ? b : 0)/100;
sp = $('pws_sp'+set).value;
if (!sp.length) {
$('pws_disc'+set).innerHTML =
$('pws_glyph'+set).innerHTML =
$('pws_sg'+set).innerHTML = '';
return;
}
d = (2230+(sp*(c + 0.4))) * (1.15)*(1.05)*(1.04);
d = d * b;
g = d * 0.2;
h = (2230+(sp*c))*1.05; // lolholy
$('pws_disc'+set).innerHTML = Math.round(d);
$('pws_glyph'+set).innerHTML = Math.round(g);
$('pws_sg'+set).innerHTML = Math.round(d+g);
return false;
}
function comp(v1,v2) {
var diff = v2 - v1,
pct = (v1 == 0 ? 0 : Math.round(100*(v2/v1 - 1.0)));
return diff + ' (' + pct + '%)';
}
function doComparison(f) {
var s1, s2, g1, g2, t1, t2;
s1 = $('pws_disc1').innerHTML;
s2 = $('pws_disc2').innerHTML;
if ( s1.length == 0 || s2.length == 0) {
$('pws_discDelta').innerHTML =
$('pws_glyphDelta').innerHTML =
$('pws_sgDelta').innerHTML = '';
return;
}
$('pws_discDelta').innerHTML = comp(s1,s2);
$('pws_glyphDelta').innerHTML = comp($('pws_glyph1').innerHTML,$('pws_glyph2').innerHTML);
$('pws_sgDelta').innerHTML = comp($('pws_sg1').innerHTML,$('pws_sg2').innerHTML);
}
function pwsForm(f) {
doCalcs(f,1);
doCalcs(f,2);
doComparison(f);
return false;
}
</script> <style>
table.boxy
{ border-color: #aaa; border-width: 0 0 1px 1px; border-style: solid }
table.boxy td
{ border-color: #aaa; border-width: 1px 1px 0 0; border-style: solid;
margin: 0; padding: 4px; font-size:90% }
table.nobox td {border:0}
#pwscalc span { font-weight:bold; background:#ffd }
</style> <div id="pwscalc"><br />
<p><b>This tool is years old!! No update is coming though, I'm long out of WoW :)</b></p><p>Here's a little tool, something that I've wanted to do for a while but never quite got around to. It's the javascript equivalent of one of my posts: I start out with the intention to write something nice and simple. Then I get fascinated and pulled in deeper than I planned. Oh well!</p><p>It's a calculator for Power Word: Shield. The simplest way to use it is to plug in your spell power and hit calculate. You can also add a “booster,” which is used to mimic the T10 set bonus (5%) and/or the ICC zonewide bonus (5–30%).</p><p>(Until I see math indicating otherwise, I'll assume that those bonuses are applied after the normal shield value is calculated. Please link if you've done or seen this math!)</p><p>You can also compare two shields. E.g., how much of a boost would your shields get from an additional 100 spell power? The comparison shows both hit points and percentages.</p><p>The formula and some useful resources are below.</p><form action="javascript:;" name="pws_form" id="pws_form" onSubmit="return pwsForm(this);"> <table class="boxy" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center"><tr><td><b>OPTION ONE</b></td><td><b>OPTION TWO</b></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"> <table class="nobox" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td>Spell power:</td><td><input type="text" name="sp1" id="pws_sp1"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Boost:</td><td><input type="text" name="boost1" id="pws_boost1" size="5" maxlength="6"> %</td></tr>
</table></td><td valign="top"> <table class="nobox" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td>Spell power:</td><td><input type="text" name="sp2" id="pws_sp2"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Boost:</td><td><input type="text" name="boost2" id="pws_boost2" size="5" maxlength="6"> %</td></tr>
</table></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><input type="submit" name="Calculate" value="Calculate"></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"> <table class="nobox" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td>Shield:</td><td> <span id="pws_disc1"></span></td></tr>
<tr><td>Glyph:</td><td> <span id="pws_glyph1"></span></td></tr>
<tr><td>Shield+Glyph:</td><td> <span id="pws_sg1"></span></td></tr>
</table></td><td valign="top"> <table class="nobox" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td>Shield:</td><td> <span id="pws_disc2"></span></td></tr>
<tr><td>Glyph:</td><td> <span id="pws_glyph2"></span></td></tr>
<tr><td>Shield+Glyph:</td><td> <span id="pws_sg2"></span></td></tr>
</table></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><b>DIFFERENCE</b></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"> <table class="nobox" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td>Shield:</td><td> <span id="pws_discDelta"></span></td></tr>
<tr><td>Glyph:</td><td> <span id="pws_glyphDelta"></span></td></tr>
<tr><td>Shield+Glyph:</td><td> <span id="pws_sgDelta"></span></td></tr>
</table></td></tr>
</table></form><p>Here is the formula. For simplicity, I've assumed you're fully talented into all relevant talents.</p><p style="margin-left:2em">PWS = (Base+(SP*(coeff+BT)))*(1+TD)*(1+FP)*(1+IPWS) <br />
<br />
Base = 2230 for <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48066">max rank</a><br />
SP = your spell power <br />
Coeff = 0.8068 (the spell power coefficient) <br />
BT = 0.40 (5/5 <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=52800">Borrowed Time</a>) <br />
TD = 0.05 (5/5 <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=52803">Twin Disciplines</a>) <br />
FP = 0.04 (2/2 <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=33190">Focused Power</a>) <br />
IPWS = 0.15 (3/3 <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=14769">Improved PW:Shield</a>) </p><p>Now, whether or not the formula is working as intended is an open question. The comments and bug reports on the <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Power_Word:_Shield">WowWiki page</a> are very interesting. That page also lists some tips for using PWS, as well as the history of PWS in patch notes. Highly recommended reading.</p><p>Also, Zusterke has a full-featured <a href="http://zusterke.orderoftheathanor.eu/spells.php">priest spell calculator</a>. It does much more than this page ever will, including the ability to take less than full ranks of the relevant talents. It also does <em>all</em> priest spells, and works for (gasp!) holy priests too. It's a fantastic resource. </p></div>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-11002200747245539762010-03-04T14:06:00.008-05:002010-03-05T08:39:42.562-05:00Divine Aegis Revisited<style>td p { margin:0 }
.darevis table { margin:1.5em 0 }</style>
<div class="darevis">
<p>It seems to be a good time for a review of this
class-defining talent. I’ve seen many questions about it recently and tons of
misunderstandings about how it works. So I started writing a little “hey guys,
don’t forget!” piece. It kind of got out of hand. Honest…this really did start
out as a simple article, but once I got going, I realized how much there is to
talk about! It’s a simple talent, but once you start thinking it through,
you’ll see how valuable it is to understand its nuances and implications. </p>
<p>Also, as you’ll see, you can’t really discuss Divine Aegis
without including Inspiration and Grace in the mix. They’re all secondary effects
of your healing spells.</p>
<p>In fact, I confess. This isn’t an article about Divine
Aegis. It’s really about taking your understanding of discipline to a higher
level. </p>
<p>There’s a little bit of math in here, but it’s junior high
school stuff. No rocket science, I promise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>First, the definition of <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=47515">Divine Aegis</a>:</p>
<p style='margin-left:27.0pt'><b><i>Critical heals create a
protective shield on the target</i></b><i>, absorbing 30% of the amount healed.
Lasts 12 sec.</i></p>
<p>Here’s the update to the talent that made us go all a-flutter
back in 3.1. It’s an old change at this point, but I still see people
forgetting about it:</p>
<p style='margin-left:27.0pt'><i>Divine Aegis effects will now
stack, however the amount absorbed cannot exceed 125*level (of the target).</i></p>
<p>You can stack DA bubbles up to a max of 10k hp on a level 80
friendly. That was big news; before that change, DA was binary (on or off), and
confusion was rampant about how it worked in practice. (I.e., what happens when
you crit several times in a row?) The 3.1 version of Divine Aegis also takes
into account overheal, which makes it just… <i>mwah</i>.</p>
<p>I’ll be using that word (“binary”) quite a lot. It’s just
fancytalk for an on/off switch, something with no gray area. Shadowform is
binary (you’re in it or you’re not), as is pregnancy, a coin-flip, and whether
or not you’re Chuck Norris. There is no gray zone in binaryland.</p>
<h3>Detour!</h3>
<p>Here is the definition of a very related talent, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=15363">Inspiration</a>, which you are not
allowed to skip, ever, ever, for any reason, go Inspiration or go home:</p>
<p style='margin-left:27.0pt'><b><i>Reduces your target's
physical damage taken by 10%</i></b><i> for 15 sec after getting a critical
effect from your Flash Heal, Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal, Penance, Prayer
of Mending, Prayer of Healing, or Circle of Healing spell.</i></p>
<p>The same damage-reduction buff is provided by resto shaman
in their <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=16240">Ancestral Healing</a>
talent. </p>
<p>One more talent, not entirely related, but relevant for our
purposes here. The tank-healing disc priest’s wannabe scaling talent, Princess <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=47517">Grace</a> herself:</p>
<p style='margin-left:27.0pt'><i>Your Flash Heal, Greater Heal,
and Penance spells have a 100% chance to bless the target with Grace, <b>increasing
all healing received from the Priest by 3%. This effect will stack up to 3
times</b>. Effect lasts 15 sec. Grace can only be active on one target at a
time. </i></p>
<p>Only a few spells will proc Grace, but once it’s up, the
healing bonus will benefit all of your healing spells. (But no one else
benefits; just you.)</p>
<p>I haven’t forgotten that this is supposed to be an article
about Divine Aegis. Sort of.</p>
<h3>Secondary healing-effect
matrix</h3>
<p>I wish I had a catchier name for it. Let me know if you come
up with one.</p>
<p>Let’s look at which of these secondary effects can be
applied when you cast a healing spell. Entries in the table marked “crit%” will
only proc when you crit, so not every cast of Flash Heal will proc Inspiration,
for example. A “yes” in a column means <i>every</i> cast will proc the effect,
not just criticals.</p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="margin-left:40px">
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td>
<b><u><span style='color:black'>Divine Aegis</span></u></b></p>
</td>
<td>
<b><u><span style='color:black'>Inspiration</span></u></b></p>
</td>
<td>
<b><u><span style='color:black'>Grace</span></u></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<b><span style='color:black'>Flash Heal</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<span style='color:black'>crit%</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<span style='color:black'>crit%</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<span style='color:black'>Yes</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<b><span style='color:black'>Greater Heal</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<span style='color:black'>crit%</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<span style='color:black'>crit%</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<span style='color:black'>Yes</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<b><span style='color:black'>Penance</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>Yes (*)</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>Binding Heal</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>PoM</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>PoH</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (*)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>PW:Shield</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>crit% (glyph)</span></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>Renew</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
<td style='background:#F2F2F2;'>
<p><i><span style='color:black'>No</span></i></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>Entries with an asterisk (*) have multiple chances to proc. Other
than Penance, these are multi-target heals, so each target will only get at
most one application of each effect at a time. Penance, however, can proc
multiple times on the same target.</p>
<p>Power Word: Shield cannot proc Divine Aegis, although the
heal from the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=56160">Glyph</a> can. The
DA bubble will be 30% of the 20% heal from the glyph. It’s not much, but it’s
there. (Also, it's currently bugged so that it only procs DA on shields
you cast on yourself.) </p>
<p>Remember the different natures of these three effects. This
is important!</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Inspiration</b> is <i>binary</i>; it’s either up on your
target or it ain’t.
<li><b>Grace</b> is a <i>three-step platform</i>. It has zero, one,
two, or three stacks on your target, for 3%, 6%, or 9% increased healing.
<li><b>Divine Aegis</b> is a <i>gradual scale </i>from zero to 10k.
</ul>
<p>You know what? Just because I think it’s really important,
I’ll make a graph.</p>
<p><img border="0" height="170" width="565" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kd4wgnYHNbA/S5ADJaICVDI/AAAAAAAAAGM/dIVcaS14Wzk/s400/divine-aegis.jpg" /></p>
<h3>Divine Aegis scales with ____</h3>
<p>Quick! Fill in the blank.</p>
<p>If you said “crit,” you’re right!</p>
<p>If you said “spell power,” you’re right!</p>
<p>If you said “haste,” you’re still right, but the
relationship is a little more complex. Haste is one of the best stats for a
tank-healing disc priest, and certainly speeding up your spell-casts will speed
up the application of DA bubbles. But spell power and crit will be easier for us
to analyze, frankly, and haste’s effect on DA is more diffuse. We’re not going
to get into issues of boss-swing timers, or how fast you can build up DA to its
maximum vs. how fast a boss can clobber that bubble. For now, we’ll focus just
on maximizing the DA bubble through spell power and crit, and try to assess
which stat will have a bigger impact on your DA mitigation.</p>
<h3>Average DA per cast</h3>
<p>Let’s start with some basic calculations to figure out an
average amount of DA mitigation you get for every spell you cast. We’ll use
Flash Heal as a reference. </p>
<p style='margin-left:27.0pt'>Crit Heal Size = (base heal size) * 1.5<br>
DA Bubble = (crit heal size) * 0.3<br>
Average DA per cast = (DA bubble size) * (your crit rate)<br>
<br>
or
<br><br>
<b>Average DA per cast = (<u>base heal size</u>) * 1.5 * 0.3 * (<u>your crit rate</u>)</b></p>
<p>The last line is the one that’s the most interesting.
Average DA per cast shows the average amount of bubbly protection you get per
cast. You won’t get a DA bubble on every cast, of course. This is just an
average. </p>
<p>So, how do you raise your average DA per cast? More spell
power, and/or more crit. Our next job is to figure out which is better, if your
goal is to maximize this mitigation effect.</p>
<h3>Spell power vs. crit</h3>
<p>If your base Flash Heal hits for 5000, that means you’ll
crit-heal for 7500. When you crit, a DA bubble will be created for 30% of that
amount, or 2250. And if you have a 40% crit rate, your average DA per cast will
be 900. That means: on average, every time you cast Flash Heal, you will see
900 hp of DA mitigation applied to your target. To build up 10k of mitigation
(the max we can have at any one time), it will take approximately eleven casts
of Flash Heal. Odds are some of that DA bubble will have been chipped away in
the time it takes you to cast that many spells. </p>
<p>Now, consider how much your spells benefit from stacking
spell power versus stacking crit. Again, I’ll be using Flash Heal as an
example. I’m definitely going to ignore the bonus crit from <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=63506">Improved Flash Heal</a>, and I will
also ignore bonus healing effects such as Grace and Guardian Spirit.</p>
<p>We’ll take a nicely-geared ICC priest as our baseline, then
see what happens when we add a crit gem versus what happens when we add a spell
power gem.</p>
<p>The baseline priest will have 3400 spell power and 40% crit
rating (raid buffed). Priest “A” will add a single <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40124">smooth king’s amber</a>; priest “B”
will add a single <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40113">runed cardinal
ruby</a>. Let’s peek at what happens, shall we? We turn to Zusterke’s excellent
<a href="http://zusterke.orderoftheathanor.eu/spells.php">Spell Calculator</a>,
which, while it’s a work in progress, is awesome.</p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" style="margin-left:40px">
<tr>
<td></td>
<td>
<p><b><u><span style='color:black'>Baseline</span></u></b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b><u><span style='color:black'>With crit gem</span></u></b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b><u><span style='color:black'>With SP gem</span></u></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>Flash Heal</span></b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style='color:black'>4972</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style='color:black'>4972</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style='color:black'>4991</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>Crit heal amount</span></b></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style='color:black'>7458</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style='color:black'>7458</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style='color:black'>7486.5</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt'>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>Avg FH amount</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;background:#DBEEF3;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>5966.4</span></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;background:#DBEEF3;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>5977.2</span></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;background:#DBEEF3;'>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>5989.2</span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border:none;'>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>DA amount</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>2237.4</span></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>2237.4</span></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>2246.0</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt'>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>Avg DA per cast</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;background:#FDE9D9;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>894.96</span></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;background:#FDE9D9;'>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>904.7</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;background:#FDE9D9;'>
<p><span style='color:black'>898.4</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border:none;'>
<p><b><span style='color:black'>Total Avg Heal + DA</span></b></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
background:#5A5A5A'>
<p><span style='color:white'>6861.4</span></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
background:#5A5A5A'>
<p><span style='color:white'>6881.9</span></p>
</td>
<td style='border:none;
background:#5A5A5A'>
<p><b><span style='color:white'>6887.6</span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>WHOA NUMBAHS!! Let’s go through them slowly.</p>
<p>The first three rows show how much your Flash Heal hits for,
not including Divine Aegis. The base heal, the crit heal, and an average that
includes your crit rate. So our baseline priest will see an average Flash Heal
of 5966, which assumes that 40% of his casts will crit. The average heal amount
is in the blue-tinted row.</p>
<p>The next two rows show how much DA mitigation we can expect.
The first row, “DA amount,” shows how much of a DA bubble you’ll see when you
crit. The next row, tinted orange, shows the average amount of DA per cast,
which we discussed above. </p>
<p>If you add the two tinted columns together, you’ll get the
total amount Flash Heal will hit for, including DA mitigation. This total is in
the dark gray row.</p>
<p>As you can see, using a crit gem will increase the size of
your DA bubble more than it will if you use a spell power gem. (This is in the
orange row.) However, the spell power gem will increase your <i>average heal </i>amount
more than the crit gem will (the blue row).</p>
<p>The net effect? Both crit and spell power will benefit you. Crit
has a bigger effect on DA, while spell power has a bigger effect on your base
heal. Overall, spell power is more powerful.</p>
<h3>Chances to proc</h3>
<p>In every discussion I’ve seen about Greater Heal, someone
makes the point that two Flash Heals have more chances to proc Divine Aegis
than a single Greater Heal. Do you see the flaw in that thinking?</p>
<p>I sure hope so! DA is not binary. It scales. So while GH
takes twice as long to cast as FH, it also has twice the average DA per cast. <i>Over
the long haul, they will create very similar amounts of DA mitigation</i>. One
will create smaller shields more often, the other will create fewer, larger
shields.</p>
<p>(That’s a quickie generalization that doesn’t take into
account Divine Fury or your use of Borrowed Time to accelerate GH, nor does it
take into account the crit bonus from <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=63506">Improved Flash Heal</a>. I’m merely
debunking the idea that “chance to proc” is relevant at all when it comes to
Divine Aegis.)</p>
<p>The other two secondary effects (Inspiration and Grace) both
work on a chance-to-proc basis. Inspiration is binary, and can be applied by
any direct heal. Grace is stair-stepped. So if you need to apply Grace quickly,
you need to cast more spells (or use Penance for a triple-shot). </p>
<p>Here’s that graph again! So simple, but it shows so much.</p>
<p><img border="0" height="170" width="565" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kd4wgnYHNbA/S5ADJaICVDI/AAAAAAAAAGM/dIVcaS14Wzk/s400/divine-aegis.jpg" /></p>
<h3>Smooth vs. spiky DA</h3>
<p>Here again is our formula, which illustrates how DA scales
with spell power and crit rating.</p>
<p style='margin-left:27.0pt'>Average DA per cast = (base heal
size) * 1.5 * 0.3 * (your crit rate)</p>
<p>As a thought experiment, I’m going to go to the lab and create
two Frankenpriests. The first one will be monstrously oversized in the spell
power department, but barely have any crit rating at all. This means he will
almost never crit, but when he does, the DA bubble will be tremendous because
of his super-sized spell power. Spiky DA.</p>
<p>Frankenpriest #2 will have insane amounts of crit, but just
a tiny bit of spell power. He’ll be critting on every cast, but each DA bubble
will be small. Smooth DA.</p>
<p>Over the long term, the DA protection these two deformed
priests provide might very well be equal, or close to it. However, Frankenpriest
#1 will be creating huge bubbles (rarely), and Frankenpriest #2 will be
creating a large number of tiny bubbles. </p>
<p>Which is better? Well, as long as you’re not overshooting
the 10k cap (in between boss swings), either should be fine. Just get your DA up
as high as you can, as quickly as you can.</p>
<p>But certainly having a higher crit rate is one way to take
the RNG out of the equation. If you had 100% crit, you would never wonder if
you got a DA bubble. You’d have one every time. So the higher your crit rate,
the less of a factor RNG will be for your tank heals. And we all know that
bosses don’t kill tanks; RNG kills tanks. </p>
<p>So in a sense, the smoother DA profile (higher crit rating)
is better for maximizing your mitigation. <i>Marginally</i>. If you go telling
anyone I just advised you to stack crit, I will deny it vehemently. Because
tank healing is not only about Divine Aegis. If at any point your tank’s green
bar dips below 100% -- and it certainly will – the priest with more spell power
will be helping more. Go back up to the blue row in my chart above. Spell power
is still the way.</p>
<p>Short story: Get tons of crit on your gear, and gem for
spell power.</p>
<h3>In sum</h3>
<p>I’m exhausted! We just covered an entire semester of Disc
Priest University in under 2500 words. Your summary is this:</p>
<ul>
<li>Divine Aegis is good.
<li>It scales with spell power and crit rating.
<li>DA scales better with crit than with SP, but overall, you benefit more from SP than from crit.
<li>DA protection is not binary; it can scale up to 10k of mitigation at any time.
</ul>
</div>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-14917870473909215962010-02-27T00:21:00.002-05:002010-02-27T00:21:21.989-05:00The E-Myth<p>I was speaking with <a
href="http://missmedicina.blogspot.com/">Jessabelle</a> last week about why I
haven’t started my own guild. She wasn’t the first person to ask, or the fifth.
And it’s something that I struggled with quite a bit over the years. I always
knew why I didn’t want to do it, but recently I learned some interesting
vocabulary that helps define the territory. It comes from a fantastic book on
small business called <i><a href="http://www.e-myth.com/">The E-Myth</a></i>,
by Michael Gerber.</p>
<h3>The myth</h3>
<p>We all believe that small businesses are started by entrepreneurs.
Well, it turns out that this isn’t true; not for the vast majority of
businesses. Usually, the person who starts a business is a technical expert of
some kind – a programmer, baker, seamstress, accountant, you name it – who experiences
what Gerber calls an “entrepreneurial seizure.” One day you wake up frustrated
with your job, with your boss, with your lack of success, and decide to strike
out on your own. This fit of urgency is irresistibly logical, full of emotional
intensity, and holds the promise of an incredible future. Freedom and success
are right around the corner!</p>
<p>The problem is that technicians aren’t business people. They
start their business, then realize that they don’t have any idea what they’re
doing! They’re top-notch bakers/accountants/programmers, but don’t know the
first thing about marketing, management, bookkeeping, or any of the other
skills you need to have to be a successful businessperson. In short order, their
lack of business skills turns a venture that was intended to be the key to their
freedom into a ball and chain. </p>
<p>Great technicians do not automatically make great business
people. They can of course <i>become</i> great business people, but they rarely
start out as such. And more to the point, the desire to start a business does
not mean that one has any idea what one is doing. You’re just a fantastic baker
in the midst of a seizure, that’s all.</p>
<h3>Your guild</h3>
<p>Did you start your guild in this way? Were you an excellent
raider, stymied in progression, unsatisfied with the social environment, or
otherwise looking for more than your guild was providing? Did you decide you
could do it better on your own? Did you partner with another good friend and
excellent raider to share the burden that you somehow knew you didn’t want to
bear alone? </p>
<p>You brought your friends in. You recruited. You proved your
worth. You built a name or yourself and your guild.</p>
<p>And then the management questions came up; issues that had
nothing to do with building a synergistic raid composition, or your max-dps
rotation. Issue like loot allocation. Officer promotions. Inter-personal
tension. Guild bank management. How hard to push people, when to back off.
Paying attention to individual and group morale, with all its subtle manifestations.</p>
<p>What about cliques? Did you see them form? Did you let them
happen, or intervene to ensure they never got too solidified? Or did you just
hope for the best, staying hands-off because, well, you just aren’t in this to
get enmeshed in personal problems?</p>
<p>How did you handle ensuring you had a large enough roster,
but not <i>too</i> large? How & when to bench people? If you’re a 25-man
guild, how do arrange 10-man groups? Do you rotate in those who don’t fit into
the neat 10-man packages?</p>
<p>None of this has anything to do with being a great raider.
You can know everything about your class – heck, you can know everything about <i>all</i>
the classes – and still fail at <i>people</i>. I don’t mean to make it sound
tragic or anything. It’s just a completely different skill set from whatever it
is that makes you a great player.</p>
<p>Management comes naturally to some. Most of us struggle with
it. And most people who start guilds aren’t interested in management, don’t
want to deal with the challenges it brings. They want to have fun. They want to
raid. But they don’t want to pay the price for “owning their own business.”</p>
<h3>The “G-myth”</h3>
<p>This has nothing to do with the casual/hardcore spectrum. Every
guild, no matter how casual, is a collection of people. And if your guild is to
succeed, by any normal definition, it must satisfy the people in the guild.
Obviously, the guild must meets its goals (amount of progression, for
instance), but it must also find ways to navigate the people-issues I raised
above. If you progress but don’t bring your people with you, your guild will
never thrive, which means it will never reach its potential. If it were a
business, it might make money, but it would never be <i>successful</i>. </p>
<p>Is your guild a success? Not just in terms of the number of
bosses downed, but as a <i>guild</i>? Are your guild leaders more than raid
leaders, but people managers? Do they inspire greatness in those around them?
Do they create an environment of team spirit, of positivity, even when the
going is tough? Do they appropriately reward greatness and punish failure along
the lines that you would expect, given the nature of your guild? Do you feel
completely essential to your guild’s success, its character, its growth? </p>
<p>Do you love your guild?</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-43084456777227601392010-02-24T23:10:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:11:17.309-05:00Apparently<p>I'm nothing short of thrilled to be proved wrong!</p>
<p>This just in <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23425462429&pageNo=1&sid=1#16">from GC</a>:</p>
<p style="margin-left:3em;font-style:italic">
Discipline priests specialize in single-target heals and damage prevention. They are nonetheless fairly well rounded and have some fun tools, such as Power Infusion and Pain Suppression.
<br><br>
They are awesome and in some cases borderline overpowered. :)
</p>
<p>I actually can't argue with disc being OP. Shield spam is pretty damn strong, not to mention unique. However, that stuff about specializing in single-target heals and being well-rounded...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Edit) GC did a lot of posting yesterday. I find <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23329534731&sid=1&pageNo=12#236">this one</a> particularly interesting as well.</p>
<p style="margin-left:3em;font-style:italic">
I'll admit that paladins as the best MT healer is still a little bit of cruft left over from the older model. Unless we were willing to really nerf the crap out of them and reduce everyone's mana regen, it's going to be hard to dislodge them too much from that role. Really though what we're going for, and what we'll emphasize even more in the future, is "bring healers" not "I must have a priest."
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Edit 2) <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23425462429&sid=1&pageNo=7#124">This one</a> made me smile. Except for the fact that he suggests pallies need buffs (for raid healing) but not nerfs (for tank healing)...that's just silly.</p>
<p style="margin-left:3em;font-style:italic">Yeah, as I said in another thread just now, I think the paladin is an outlier. It's okay for healers to have things they are slightly better at or slightly worse at, but the paladin is too firmly cemented into the role of MT healer. We don't want building a raid to be "Okay, grab a paladin and another healer." It should be "Grab 2 healers, preferably different ones." This doesn't mean paladin nerfs are incoming, because some of the problem is the nature of healing right now (huge constant swings, unlimited mana, much spamming, little coordination), and the other half of that is making sure a paladin on raid heal duty didn't feel gimped.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Edit 3) And perhaps the most <a href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23329534731&pageNo=22&sid=1#433">interesting and promising post</a> I've ever seen from GC. It's too long to quote in its entirety; click the link for the full story. Excerpts below:</p>
<p style="margin-left:3em;font-style:italic">
<b>Q</b>: Its ok for paladins to be "required"?
<br><br>
<b>A</b>: You misread. I was acknowledging that it feels like that now, but it's not okay. (No offense to the paladins.)
<br><br>
Lightwell isn't okay either. We don't want to turn it into a totem, because the class already has plenty of spells that require little interaction. We're not entirely sure what we'll do yet, but we still like the basic idea (creating something and it does the healing) so we aren't going to just scrap it. </p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-82921270773817797142010-02-08T20:03:00.005-05:002010-02-08T20:03:50.339-05:00QQ3: Loot Council<p><a href="qq1.html">« Back to QQ #1</a></p>
<p>It will be difficult to make this seem less directly related
to my current situation than it is. What I mean is: this is a private QQ and a
public QQ. Both a philosophical argument and a more personal argument. I
actually have a proposal at the end of this rant. So bear with it.</p>
<p>Preliminary disclaimer: this is not about loot. It’s about
loot <i>policy</i>. We all know that getting loot is part of the motivating
factor for playing the game. If you raided all of ICC25, then all of ICC
heroic, and were victorious the whole way through, you would feel like you beat
the game for sure. But if you got no gear along the way, your gnawing sense
that you were being carried would get stronger and stronger. That you weren’t
living up to your potential. That you were in fact more of a burden than a
player. If your toon is not evolving, getting slightly but consistently more
powerful with every raid week, it becomes a psychic knot. It feels awful, and
it has effects on your performance, your relationships, and your interest in playing
the game. Whoever says that loot isn’t important might be correct if they’re
attacking gear-score whores. I just hope you don’t miss the deeper point: loot
is in fact quite important.</p>
<p>As I’ve said before, I believe loot council is the best loot
distribution method available. That is, if it’s run by philosopher kings and/or
enlightened officers. I have not met a single person who fits this description.
Therefore, in practice, it runs the gamut from merely awful to the absolute
worst.</p>
<p>The quality of a LC is limited by several factors, including but hardly limited to: (1) the
integrity of the council members; (2) the degree of team spirit on the council
and in the guild itself; (3) the data systems used for tracking loot
distribution, including a way to measure the amount of upgrade a piece
represents; (4) clear rules regarding performance and its affect on loot; and (5)
delicate care for the individuals in the raid, as well as for the raid itself.</p>
<p><b>Integrity</b>: This should be obvious. We’ve all heard
stories of loot councils in which council members grabbed high-value loot for
themselves, or gave it to their friends. That’s just the most obvious example
of a lack of integrity. While integrity is tied to team spirit (below), it is
so vast and multi-dimensional that it can’t really be narrowed down to a simple
bullet-point. There are more situations than you could ever codify in some
rulebook of loot allocation. Integrity <i>itself</i> must be the rulebook; you
need to be truly trustworthy to be a loot councillor. And that’s no small feat.</p>
<p>I’ve been in the position many times of having to make a
loot allocation decision that had no easy answer, and which would most
definitely anger or hurt someone who did not deserve their fate. It’s hard
stuff. Most people I know have small cojones when it comes to making hard
decisions, such that they’ll reliably take the easy way out, rather than make
harder, gutsier, riskier calls. Our true character is on the line when it comes
to stuff like this. We all know it. Challenging situations bring out the devil
and the saint in us; those with more integrity are more likely to show their
saint than their devil when the going gets tough.</p>
<p><b>Team spirit</b>: First of all, if your guild is missing
this, you should be looking for a new guild. And if your officers are missing
this, run for the hills. It’s a team sport, and if you don’t have a
team-spirited team, there’s no loot distribution “trick” that can fix it for
you. Certainly a LC needs to have its eyes not on the individuals, but on
the team. Where will this piece of loot benefit us the most? This is so obvious
it surely doesn’t need to be said. But it always needs to be said.</p>
<p><b>Data systems + upgrade measurements</b>: That’s fancytalk
for “spreadsheet.” The LC needs to track who was given what, and when. It needs
to track when people missed raids. It needs to track the degree of each upgrade
– getting a new ring with a 19-iLevel jump is very different than getting a
new 19-iLevel pair of pants, or a trinket.</p>
<p>If a loot council is looking at any single piece of gear in
isolation, it’s doomed to failure. Consider two mages, one decked out in Ulduar
(226) gear, the other in ToC10 (232) gear. Every piece that drops will be a
bigger upgrade for the Ulduar mage, so unless you’re tracking distributions as
a holistic upgrade model, with team spirit, and a lot of integrity, the ToC10
mage will get gear only after the Ulduar mage is fully ICC geared. This is a
stupid-obvious example of one of the problems that data systems <i>should</i>
be in place to help solve. No system is a replacement for integrity,
intelligence, and care, but those qualities without a data system cannot be
channeled and used properly.</p>
<p><b>Performance</b>: If there is ANY rule that affect how
loot is distributed, it must be articulated clearly so everyone knows what to
expect. Will missing a raid lower your loot priority? By how much, and for how
long? How about dying to fire? Lower dps? Will brown-nosing change your
priority? Being an officer? Donating to the guild bank? These types of rules are
often in place but unspoken until the moment they’re used. (See integrity,
above.) Personally I’m seriously opposed to a lot of these policies, but that’s
not the point: if these policies will be in place, they must be explicit.</p>
<p><b>Care for the individuals</b>: At any point along the way,
you need to be aware of what’s happening on the other side of the council’s
walls. Has one of your raiders gone three weeks without a drop? Maybe they
should get the next one even if it isn’t the highest benefit for the raid.
Maybe, just maybe, that will keep your raiders happy. And that’s in the loot
council’s hands. Is it paying attention?</p>
<p>Between all of these criteria, there has to be some way to
prevent imbalanced situations. Just as an example, I looked at our guild’s healing
core. In that group, you have people with this many main-spec LC-assigned
drops: 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7. (Which one do you think is the officer?) Maybe I’m
wrong about my presumption that fairness forms some portion of the policy. But in
case I’m right, I have a suggestion.</p>
<p><b>The proposal</b>: Limit loot council to non-armored
pieces: rings, necklaces, trinkets, cloaks, weapons and offhands/shields. Use
EPGP for anything with an armor class. </p>
<p>Let’s say your raid has an abundance of clothies, but only
two holy pallies. (Pretty typical, I suspect!) In a pure EPGP system, the
pallies would have less competition, and would spend fewer points on armored
gear than the clothies, leaving them freer to bid higher on shared gear like
rings or trinkets. Implementing a hybrid system where a LC handles shared gear
would ensure that your clothies, leather, mail, and plate wearers all have an
equal shake at that stuff.</p>
<p>It also allows the LC to shift the loot balance if too many
mail pieces have dropped recently (for example). So even if a ring might be a
great benefit to a resto shaman, the LC can rebalance loot distribution as it
sees fit.</p>
<p><b>The meta-point</b>: Running a guild is not the same as
leading a raid. There is a whole other set of skills that very few people have;
skills that are about humanity, fairness, and development of team spirit. And
no, leading a guild is not about group hugs. But integrity (in the way I’m
describing it here) has absolutely nothing to do with being soft. It has to do
with doing the right thing.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-27679670697464179662010-02-08T20:03:00.001-05:002010-02-08T20:03:12.822-05:00QQ2: The High Cost of Discipline Gear<p><a href="qq1.html">« Back to QQ #1</a></p>
<p>Tank healers, skip to the <a href="qq3.html">next QQ</a>! This one is not
applicable. This is for
bubble-spamming raiding discipline priests.</p>
<p>Let’s look at the stats on our gear. </p>
<p><b>Stamina, intellect, spell power</b>: More is always better. These stats are
on every piece of gear you’ll equip, and they scale with iLevel. As you gear
up, you really don’t have any choice – you’ll get higher and higher values of
spell power and intellect. </p>
<p><b>Haste</b>: The hard cap for bubble-spam is 150 haste
rating. Since we’re almost always affected by the haste bonus from <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=52800">Borrowed Time</a>, we need only a
tiny amount of haste from gear before our GCD hits the 1 second hard cap. After
that, haste will only affect the casting time of your long-cast spells (GH,
PoH, Penance, DH). Realistically, you get capped at 150 the moment you hit 80.
Because of the GCD cap, the value of haste is nearly zero. It’s not <i>actually</i>
zero, but the value drops precipitously at 150. To paraphrase my old
probability professor (discussing asymptotes), the value of additional haste on
our gear is so close to zero that we might as well just call it zero.</p>
<p><b>Spirit</b>: This is a mana-regen stat. Holy priests get a
spell-power conversion <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=15031">talent</a>,
but we get only regen. Spirit holds zero value if you don’t need any additional
regen; having more regen is just wasted mana. So there is a regen “cap” of
sorts. In ToC25 or ICC gear, you should not have significant mana problems (perhaps none at all), so spirit
has nearly no value for us. You can’t (and shouldn’t) get rid of it from your
gear entirely. But it’s highly unlikely that adding spirit to your gear will
change anything about your capacities, even marginally. Another wasted stat.
(FYI: I will lump mp5 in the same category here…it’s present on some gear,
especially shared gear like rings and cloaks, and it also provides zero value
if you do not need mana.)</p>
<p><b>Crit</b>: Our <i>direct heals</i> can crit: Penance,
Flash, Greater, Divine Hymn, and PoH. Shields cannot crit. The heal from the <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=56160">Glyph</a> can crit, but the heal is
only 20% of the size of your shield anyway. So crit benefits your shield only
20% as much as it benefits your healing spells. Of the stats listed here, crit
is by far the best, although <i>it is gimped by nearly 80% for shield spammers</i>.
The more you cast direct heals (like PoM), the more benefit you’ll get from
crit.</p>
<p>Ok, so all our gear will have stamina, intellect, and spell
power. Then we’ll get two of the three other stats as well – either
crit+spirit, or crit+haste, or haste+spirit. Two of these stats have zero
value, and one has about 20% of its nominal value.</p>
<p>Contrast this with gear for a shadow priest, for example,
who will receive less value from spirit on gear than from crit. But all three
stats offer some real dps benefit. None of them are wasted, none are as gimped
as crit rating is for discipline priests. And the only capped stat for shadow
priests is hit rating.</p>
<p><b>Ergo</b>: gearing for discipline is currently broken. On
gear that’s supposedly designed for our spec, we receive less value per point
of iLevel upgrade than any other spec in the game. If there were a piece of
gear that had stam+int+<i>double</i> spell power, that would suit our needs
just fine. But since that won’t happen, we’re stuck with getting approximately
half the benefit from upgrades that another caster gets.</p>
<p><a href="qq3.html">On to QQ #3 »</a></p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-20648789438661066022010-02-08T20:02:00.002-05:002010-02-08T20:05:29.242-05:00QQ1: Is Discipline Fun?<p>Happy Monday everyone! Especially in New Orleans. Awesome
game, just awesome.</p>
<p>Ok, to the heart of the matter. I’ve been one of the most
staunchly anti-QQ forces I know, both in this blog and in the forums I haunt.
Typically QQ is a sign of some sort of failure: failure of understanding,
failure to play with the right people, failure to adjust to changes in game
mechanics, failure to listen, etc. I hate the inner experience you have when
you’re complaining. I also hate the feeling of reading others’ (usually
irrational and aggressive) complaints. It just feels gross, and it’s a
self-perpetuating phenomenon: it riles you up in the wrong way.</p>
<p>It’s a life question more than a game question: with all of
its complexity, is life basically good but with bad stuff that happens? Or is
life basically bad but with some good stuff that happens? If you take the
latter position, you’ll QQ morning noon and night. If you take the former
position, you might QQ, but it will be within a framework of positivity and
forward motion. I strive for this philosophy.</p>
<p>However, not all QQ is just emo-ranting. I will be
presumptuous and assume that there is more than some merit in the QQ that I’m
collecting in this post. That, and it’s also a rant. </p>
<p>To spare you from repeated assaults, I’ve put in three QQs
into a triple post. Aren’t I nice? I have a chance to get it all out of my
system at once, and if all goes well, you won’t have to read QQ every post for
the next three weeks. I’ve put each one in a separate post, just to allow the dialogue
to make some kind of sense.</p>
<p>Here we go! It’s long, meandering, and has some intense
moments. Brace yourselves.</p>
<h3>Is Discipline Fun?</h3>
<p>I made the mistake of looking at an old post of mine. It was
the second post I ever wrote, called “<a
href="http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-disc-is-so-much-fun.html">Why
Disc is So Much Fun</a>.” I was still trying to figure out what the hell I was
going to blog about, and I definitely hadn’t developed much of a writing style.
In it I compared the Recount profiles between two priests, one discipline (me)
and one CoH. (This was in 3.0.2, prior to the release of the Lich King content.
We called Holy priests “CoH” priests back then.) Here are the graphs, just so
you can see them without clicking through.</p>
<p><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kd4wgnYHNbA/SRiOZw8Kf1I/AAAAAAAAAAs/YPeK3HBf59s/s400/graph---paolo.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267116337494916946" border="0" /> <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kd4wgnYHNbA/SRiOkrucf-I/AAAAAAAAAA0/OYaNmudJ8nU/s400/graph---s.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267116525073760226" border="0" /></p>
<p>The bubbling joy I experienced with discipline was not only
its novelty, but its versatility. Back then, I expressed my love for the spec because
it “forces a degree of engagement and creativity,” which is displayed very
nicely in the healing profiles above. I was using every tool at my disposal. The
creativity and versatility were the source of the thrill of discipline healing.</p>
<p>Well, as you saw in my <a
href="http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2010/01/change-of-plans.html">last post</a>,
discipline’s role (at least in 25-mans) is much more well-defined than it was
in those frothy days, when we were all finding out how the new spec would work
out. We’re now officially bubble spammers with a wee bit of tank support. The
more I play 25s with an excellent team, the more I realize just how narrowly
focused the tree has become. There are exceptions of course, and certainly in
10-man raids bubble spam isn’t really much of an option anyway, so there’s more
room for creative play in that setting.</p>
<p>Here’s a graph from our raid last Tuesday, covering 7
bosses. I removed the Glyph of PWS and Divine Aegis from the graph, since they
aren’t spell-casts. There are 662 shields and 17 ticks of Penance in the graph.
And a single Divine Hymn <i>out-healed my entire use of Penance for the night</i>.</p>
<p><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kd4wgnYHNbA/S3C0sUGtsAI/AAAAAAAAAFs/lo4bvjCGVXY/s320/image001.jpg" /></p>
<p>I’m thinking about renaming my blog “FUCK YOU BLIZZARD.” If
our ridiculous and broken one-trick pony-of-a-spec doesn’t get fixed on day one
of Cataclysm’s release, I’m folding my healing robes and burning them. Yes, I
know discipline has a powerful role in raids. Yes, I know GC recently declared that
discipline “is in a good place at the moment,” which means it’s unlikely to get
fixed. That doesn’t mean it’s fun to play. It’s not. I don’t play discipline
for its <i>function</i>. I play(ed) it because it <i>rocked</i>, because it “force[d]
a degree of engagement and creativity.” It revitalized my interest in healing,
which had gotten rather dull at the end of BC. The chart above shows the
current state of affairs: there is an <i>absolute and total lack</i> of engagement
and creativity. Props to those who still enjoy discipline. Seriously.
Meanwhile, I’m begrudgingly bubble-spamming my way to glory, hoping for the change
that I do not expect to arrive.</p>
<p><a href="qq2.html">On to QQ #2 »</a></p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-58183789632172881602010-02-02T14:33:00.004-05:002010-02-11T14:05:02.928-05:00OMG Emblems of Frost<style>a.bigga {font-size:120%; font-weight:bold }</style>
<p>Since we have agreed that (by and large) tier gear is for
chumps (or early adopters, you poor things) (or 10-man tank healers, ok?), that
leaves many of us with emblems to burn on other upgrades. What do you want to
spend them on? Which cloak? What about the trinket?</p>
<p>Well, as we all know, there are different needs for
different occasions, so as beautiful as that black dress might be, you’re
definitely not going to wear it out to dinner with my folks. In other words,
there is no single absolute recommendation for anything (except in the negative).
Everything always depends on everything else – the gear you’ve already got, the
gear you have access to, your role in raids, etc. I know my caveats get boring,
but they bear repeated repeating.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I’ve decided to at least comment on the
current emblem purchases, since emblems do you no good in your pocket. I’ve
also listed some of the other (non-emblem) options that you will be considering.
See the full <a
href="http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2009/12/discipline-gear-in-33.html">3.3
gear list</a> for details. A case could be made that this is not in fact a real
post, but just a rehash/reorganization of that list. To that I say poo.</p>
<p>Lastly, I’ll include my own gearup plan, which is finally becoming
focused.</p>
<h3>Cloak</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50468">Drape
of the Violet Tower</a>, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50469" class="bigga">Volde's
Cloak of the Night Sky</a> (50 emblems)</p>
<p>Violet is nicely itemized for disc. If you don’t have a 264
cloak, and don’t expect to get one, this is a great solution. But if you have
an offspec that you share gear with, Volde will definitely be better for you,
since both holy and shadow prefer spirit to mp5. Cloaks were the first emblem purchase
for many priests. </p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50205">VDW25</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50014">Saurfang25</a>. </p>
<h3>Belt</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50997">Circle
of Ossus</a> (60 emblems)</p>
<p>Haste gear is too easy to come by this expansion. If you already
have a 245 belt, I wouldn’t bother with this. Even if you have the nice <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50314">haste/crit 232</a> from HoR5, I’d
still pass on this badge belt. It’s nice for holy priests, and not so exciting
for disc.</p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51017">Putricide10</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50773">Marrowgar10</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50063">Festergut25</a>, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49978">Marrowgar25</a>.</p>
<h3>Chest</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50975">Ermine
Coronation Robes</a>, <a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50974">Meteor
Chaser's Raiment</a>, <a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50394">Crimson
Acolyte Raiments</a> (95 emblems)</p>
<p>Ok, here is where things get interesting. Chest! You’ve got
three badge options, each costs 95 emblems. Ermine has crit/spirit, MCR has
crit/haste, and T10 (shadow!) also has crit/haste. Only buy the shadow robe if
you’ll be upgrading it with tokens; the 264 version is nearly identical in
stats to MCR, and if you’ll be upgrading it to the 277 version, woweezowee. (That’s
my current plan.) If you’re a strict shield-spammer, Ermine is probably a good
bet; spirit is crap, but it’s better than the haste on MCR once you hit the cap.
(The haste cap for shield spam is 147, which you get practially by walking
through the door.) MCR (and the shadow tier robe) is perfect for tank healers.
Tough choice. </p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51790">Sindragosa10</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51379">Blood Princes10</a>, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50172">Blood Princes25</a>.</p>
<h3>Gloves</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50984">Gloves
of Ambivalence</a>, <a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50983">Gloves
of False Gestures</a> (60 emblems)</p>
<p>Same issue here. You have a great set of crit/spirit gloves
and a great set of crit/haste gloves. Both are delicious; depends mainly on
your raid role (tank or bubblespam).</p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50766">T10</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51005">Rotface10</a>, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50176">Blood Princes25</a>.</p>
<h3>Helm</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50765">Crimson
Acolyte Hood</a>, <a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50392">Crimson
Acolyte Cowl</a> (95 emblems)</p>
<p>Two tier pieces. Crit/spirit (healing tier) and crit/haste
(shadow tier). Same dilemma, largely determined by your raid role and offspec. </p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51554">BQL10</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50807">Saurfang10</a>, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50006">Gunship25</a>.</p>
<h3>Shoulder</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50767">Crimson
Acolyte Shoulderpads</a>, <a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50396">Crimson
Acolyte Mantle</a> (60 emblems)</p>
<p>Crit/spirit vs. crit/haste. Sound familiar? </p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50988">Festergut10</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50449">Trash drop</a>. </p>
<h3>Legs</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50769">Crimson
Acolyte Leggings</a> (95 emblems)</p>
<p>Meh.</p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50990">Festergut10</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51777">VDW10</a>.</p>
<h3>Trinket</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50358">Purified
Lunar Dust</a> (60 emblems)</p>
<p>PLD just got a spell power boost, which brings the trinket up to par for its
function. If you don’t have Solace and at least one other solid trinket, you
should definitely consider this as a very respectable purchase. </p>
<p>Competes with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47041">Solace</a>,
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50339">Marrowgar10</a>, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50359">Gunship25</a>. (The <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50354">BQL25</a> trinket is better for PvP
than PvE IMO.)</p>
<h3>Crafted gear</h3>
<p><a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49892">Lightweave Leggings</a>, <a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49891">Leggings of Woven Death</a>, <a class="bigga"
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49893">Sandals of Consecration</a> ($$$$)</p>
<p>Don’t spend your emblems on these just yet. If you have the
gold to burn, get them ASAP. But emblems are just too useful a commodity, and
in too short supply, to spend on these expensive items. Your benefit-per-emblem
is low. </p>
<h3>The Paolo Plan</h3>
<p>For what it’s worth. As you can see, I don’t really have
urgent plans to spend my frost emblems. After I buy my last piece of shadow
tier gear I can think about upgrading gloves or maybe cloak.</p>
<p><b>Head & shoulders</b>: Aiming for two-piece T9.258. I
have the 245s, and we should start killing Anub on heroic this week. I doubt
many other raiders will be as committed to T9 as I am, so I have a decent shot
at getting the 258 tokens. If I couldn’t upgrade to 258, I wouldn’t plan to
keep T9.245 gear. (No frost emblems needed.)</p>
<p><b>Legs, boots</b>: crafted. I already have both of these,
and have openly admitted my insanity for purchasing the hit boots in my last
post. I still think it was the right move. So sue me. (No frost emblems
needed.)</p>
<p><b>Chest</b>: Shadow tier, used for both shadow and
discipline. With the amount that I’m playing shadow, this makes perfect sense,
as the chest will be upgraded to 277 at some point. I could also have made a
case for using the shadow shoulders for healing, but the T9 head &
shoulders look like keepers for me. (Frost emblems already spent – no more needed.)</p>
<p><b>Gloves</b>: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50983">False
Gestures</a> for 60 emblems. Not in a huge rush, as <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47235">Lifeless Touch</a> are still quite
strong. After I complete my shadow 4-piece set (OMG!) these will be my next
purchase.</p>
<p><b>Bracers</b>: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47585">Bejeweled</a>
are not in urgent need of upgrading. Rotface25 drops <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50032">nice bracers</a>, but not really
worth spending capital on at this point.</p>
<p><b>Cloak</b>: My <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49491">Ony25
cloak</a> is still excellent. (See a pattern? All those 245 crit/haste pieces are
winners!) Upgrading is a low priority; my last emblem purchase will be Volde if
I haven’t gotten one of the other 264 cloaks.</p>
<p><b>Belt</b>: I have <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47977">Heroic Cinch</a>. I’ll upgrade to one
of the boss-drop crit/haste belts, but nothing else. </p>
<p><b>Trinkets</b>: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47041">Solace</a>
(I have already). If I don’t get <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47059">Solace
(heroic)</a> or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50359">Abacus</a>, I’ll
eventually buy Lunar Dust. But no rush for me on this. </p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-83645982709568298252010-01-22T12:27:00.001-05:002010-01-22T13:13:29.868-05:00Change of Plans<p>The times, they are a-changing.</p>
<p>I actually think the times are <i>conspiring</i>. But you
can’t mess with Bob Dylan, so “a-changing” it is. Here, friends and neighbors,
is what’s up.</p>
<ul>
<li>I’m now in a guild with real holy pallies. Like, two of them. They
take care of tanks. Really well. I rarely bother even shielding the tanks anymore.
If I have time I will, but it’s starting to feel like a waste.</li>
<li>We run with two priests: one is disc/holy, the other (me) is
disc/shadow. When we’re both disc, I’m generally on raid, he’s pretending to
assist the pallies.</li>
<li>Ergo: I am spending 95% of my healing time on the raid.</li>
<li>The boss tells me I’ll be doing shadow a lot more, so gear up, sonny.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Raid healing</h3>
<p>While we’re here, allow me to teach you how to raid heal as
discipline. Ready?</p>
<ol>
<li>PoM, shield, shield, shield, shield, shield, shield, shield, shield.</li>
<li>See step 1.</li>
<li>OMG PENANCE! OMG DIVINE HYMN! OMG PRAYER OF HEALING!</li>
</ol>
<p>I’ve been late to the progression party. Most of the last
year I’ve been overgeared for the content I was in, as my previous guild moved
very very slowly. I had been hearing about how discipline was falling behind on
tank healing, but it wasn’t my experience. Well, now that I’m playing content
at-level, and with a tag-team of power-pallies, it’s a brick wall to the face.
In progression 25-man content, discipline is not a tank healer. Discipline is a
raid healer. Or, as we like to say, with a smirk knowing what a lie this is, a “hybrid”
healer. We are “hybrid” only if you have no more than one pally in your raid. Let’s
face it though: tank healing is a long-lost dream. I miss it. </p>
<p>To those of you to whom this is obvious, or old news, I
apologize. </p>
<p>Oh, one more thing, in case my raid-healing tutorial did not
make it obvious. Raid healing as discipline is as boring as watching paint dry,
and as challenging as tic tac toe.</p>
<p>I’m not having fun.</p>
<h3>Tier gear</h3>
<p>You did get my memo about tier 10, yes? It’s rotten, bad to
the core, and should be removed from the game post-haste. If you have it
already, enjoy it, but if you don’t, you should find somewhere else to spend
your badges, especially if you’re a 25-man raider. (<a
href="http://bobturkey.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/my-emblem-of-frost-pick-list-and-t10-opinion/">BobTurkey</a>
has some good suggestions.) If you’re a 10-man priest, the tier gear is a shade
less evil.</p>
<p>And LOL if you think the throughput boost from the healing
tier bonuses will do anything to improve our standing as tank healers. </p>
<p>Three pieces of T10 shadow are top-notch gear for
discipline. Many of us are planning to buy shadow gear instead of healing gear
for this tier. Sad. Weird. Confusing. But for those of us who are part-time
shadow, it’s a mixed blessing. The shadow tier bonuses are pro. </p>
<h3>The tipping point</h3>
<p>I have plenty of gold, so I decided to craft the new items
early. I got the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49891">pants</a> made a
few weeks ago, and made up my mind to get the <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49893">boots</a> crafted as well. They’re
not perfect. <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50062">Festergut’s boots</a>
are awesome, of course, but I thought I’d help myself and help my guild by
moving quickly, freeing up those boots for someone else when they drop. If I
replace my crafted boots later in the expansion, it’s fine; I won’t lament the
lost gold.</p>
<p>Here’s the kicker. The healing boots are really nothing
special for discipline. Too much wasted itemization on spirit. Everyone needs
mana, but that’s just too much for my taste. </p>
<p>So I did something crazy. I made <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49890">Deathfrost Boots</a> instead.</p>
<p>“But wait,” you say. “Stop right there! How is the hit rating
any less wasted than the spirit on the healy boots?”</p>
<p>Well, obviously, the hit is wasted.</p>
<p>For discipline.</p>
<h3>Let’s review</h3>
<p>I’m not enjoying discipline healing. I’ll be playing shadow half
time. I’m buying a ton of shadow gear.</p>
<p>I’m a mediocre shadow priest. Not bad, mind you, just not
great. There’s a lot of room for improvement in lots of areas. Since it has
always been a neglected offspec, I never really bothered getting too serious
about it. But apparently that’s going to change. I’m pretty excited about it; I
love learning, I love going from good to great, and that’s what I’m planning to
do. </p>
<p>Is discipline healing dead? No. Is it dying? It just might
be.</p>
<p>QQ.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-26878652215070878732010-01-17T15:08:00.003-05:002010-01-22T12:28:29.892-05:00T10 Revisited<p>Don't.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-38839889394373014292010-01-02T18:59:00.002-05:002010-01-05T16:37:20.732-05:00Mad Skill and Goldilocks<p>So I got <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3809">Mad
Skill</a> on 10-man last night. How exciting is this? It's very exciting, since
I hadn’t even killed Anub10h before. How impressive is it? Well, not impressive
at all. This late in the game, we're all geared to the teeth, mostly in 25-man
stuff (including some 264s). And even though there were plenty of 232 alts in
the run, the players behind the toons were very experienced in the content. <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3810">Insanity</a> was the goal, and
it could very well have happened with this group, but for a few minor mistakes.
Which is, after all, what Insanity is there to prove: that you can pull it off
without mistakes.</p>
<p>I missed two full tiers of content: hard-mode Ulduar and
heroic ToC. So now I'm on a new server, in a guild that's young but shit-hot,
and where people are mostly just after <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3158">One Light</a> (for drakes) and
Insanity (for pride, and the cloaks are damn good too). I'm getting whisked along
as part of our “get to know each other” phase. It wouldn't be fair to say I'm
being carried, but it wouldn't be entirely inaccurate either. I'd never seen <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3180">Firefighter</a> before, nor the
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3181">Animus</a>, nor limited-ice <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3918">Anub</a>. My experienced
guildies are making it happen; I'm just following along, doing my healy thing,
and snapping up long-lost achievements. </p>
<p>As of last week I had <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=2923">Iron Dwarf</a> and <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3058">Heartbreaker</a>. Tonight I
might get a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=2957">drake</a> and <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3036">Starcaller</a>. So what? Well, like
I said, it's nothing to brag about at this stage, but it's still satisfying to
recover from months of progression-less farming on my last server. My old guild
is a fairly strong 10-man guild with enough good people to fill up the 25s. The
guys in the 10-man core are progressing, and I'm happy for them, and wish them
all the best in going as far as they can. I wasn’t in that 10-man core, which
meant my raid time was spent farming old content (boring) or attempting 25-man
hard modes for which we didn't meet the minimum dps requirements. Too easy or
too hard. No one is to blame for this; it's a server issue more than a guild issue.
But it basically describes the main reason I've moved on. Again, I’m not trying
to dis the great people in my last guild, but I’ve had a lot of “why did you
leave”s, and felt the need to clarify.</p>
<p>Never underestimate the Goldilocks effect: the most
satisfying content is <i>just right</i>: it provides a challenge, but not too
much, and not too little. I can't tell you how important this aspect of the
game is, especially for those in management roles. Keeping your raiders happy
is not about giving them loot; it’s about keeping them on this “just right”
edge of progression, wherever that may be for your group. I'm convinced that my
new guild will stay on the Goldilocks edge for a long time, and this is pure
win. With the right amount of ever-increasing challenge, on content that gives
you the right chance to succeed if you give it your all...that's when you start
to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)">flow</a>, start to really
have fun, and start to remember why you play in the first place.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-89661221995255539442009-12-31T10:30:00.000-05:002009-12-31T10:30:23.878-05:00Crit vs. Haste<p>One of the smartest members of the priesthood has done an excellent write-up of how crit and haste play out in practice. Well, in theory. In theoretical practice. <a href="http://www.plusheal.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4937">Go check it out</a>—Zusterke has done a splendid job of exposing the interlocking mechanics of these two stats.</p>
<p>He's concerned primarily with tank-healing throughput, which is of course what these two stats are all about. </p>
<p>TL;DR? Not sure I want to do this at all, because the article is not that long, and it's very well written. He quickly shows how a balanced profile gives the biggest boost to HPS, but that crit is slightly superior overall. Don't just take this over-simplified conclusion for granted though; his article is very nicely done and a fascinating read. I love good thinking!!</p>
<p>Enjoy, and have a safe & happy new year!</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-41997199788939394902009-12-23T01:20:00.004-05:002010-05-20T11:20:05.847-04:00Planning for Tier 10<style>
#gearcontainer table
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#gearcontainer td
{ border-color: #aaa; border-width: 1px 1px 0 0; border-style: solid;
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</style>
<p><i><b>EDIT</b>: As you can see, my comments on T10 were written prior to the changes in March. The new set bonus is massive for 25-man bubble-botting disc priests. The rest of this article is basically irrelevant now :( Except Gentle Giant. They still rock.</i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>We need to start planning our emblem purchases, so it’s time
to start looking generally at where the set bonuses will be taking us, what
compromises we’ll need to make, and whether or not those compromises are worth
it. This is not going to be a complete exposé on the value of the Tier 10 set
bonuses, but a broad-stroke look at the <i>cost</i> of going tier. Stay with me,
this is long! But hopefully there’s something in here you can chew on; I know
the whole issue of gearing up for T10 has been bugging me for a while.</p>
<p>As usual, if you come expecting a single, final, absolute
recommendation, you will be bored, disappointed, and end up sending me hate
mail. Bail now.</p>
<h3>The bonuses</h3>
<p>Just for review – here are the T10 set bonuses for healing
priests.</p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'>(2) Your Flash Heal has a 33%
chance to cause the target to heal for 33% of the healed amount over 9 sec.</p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'>(4) Your Penance spell has a 20%
chance to cause your next Flash Heal cast within 6 sec to reset the cooldown on
your Penance spell.</p>
<p>Apparently there was something in there about CoH too, but
who gives a hoot about holy anyway? (Lol at you dual-speccing traitors. Shame
on you!) </p>
<h3>For shield-spamming raid healers</h3>
<p>You, my friends, are SoL. (And that’s not Surge of Light.)
On a recent jaunt to ICC, I was on shield spam duty for the night, and Flash
Heal made up a whopping 2.7% of my overall healing for the night. Obviously,
since both the 2-piece and the 4-piece bonuses are tied to Flash Heal (and/or
Penance), you certainly won’t want to make any compromises to get the set bonuses,
which are basically crap for you. Get whatever gear you want, including tier
pieces if you like.</p>
<p>That’s about all there is to say for shield spammers. The tier
bonuses are largely irrelevant. But I feel bad, since you came here hoping for
a real post. So, as my gift to you, for coming here planning to spend some time
reading tons and tons of words, I offer you some music instead. Enjoy this
window into 1978 British prog-rock bliss. If my calculations are correct, this
was around the time your parents were dating, plus or minus.</p>
<p>This is one of my favorite bands. Consider it a sneak peek
at my playlist, which is on whenever I can spare the brain cycles for music
while I’m healing. Look up the albums Freehand and Interview for more
deliciousness. Yes, they're goofy to watch.</p>
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<h3>For tank-healing foos</h3>
<p>Clearly the bonuses are aimed at tank healers. Both the hot
and of course the Penance cooldown reset will be throughput boosts. How
beneficial will they be exactly? Hah! You shall not receive the glory of
mathematical analysis in this post. Instead of looking at the <i>benefits</i>,
we’ll be looking at the <i>opportunity costs</i> of using the tier pieces. For
those of you not familiar with the term, “opportunity cost” simply means: what
do we give up, relative to getting non-tier BiS gear, to get the tier gear? The
<i>actual</i> cost (in emblems, for example) might be the same for tier gear
and non-tier gear, but there’s a stat tradeoff that we want to look at carefully.
</p>
<h3>My own thinking</h3>
<p>Treat this as a disclaimer, or as deep thoughts on the
matter, or as the ramblings of a lunatic fool. But we all come with our own
context: the gear we’re wearing now, the role we’ll be playing, the
availability of upgrades, etc. Here’s my context, and how I expect it will
affect how I relate to the new tier gear.</p>
<p>First, as you know, I just transferred servers and joined a
new guild. How will that affect my role? Who knows. I might be needed more as a
shielder than as a tank-healing support healer. So until that’s resolved, I’ll be
moving slowly on tier pieces.</p>
<p>Also, I might be raiding as shadow quite a bit more now. Which is fine, I love shadow. And it turns out that several of the
shadow tier pieces are BiS for disc as well, although they count as offset from
that perspective, since those set bonuses won’t exactly proc on heals. </p>
<p>And, like many of you, I have two pieces of T9. I don’t plan
to drop that bonus any time soon! In an ideal
world, I’d find a way to have two pieces from each tier.</p>
<p>Lastly: I’m fascinated by the new 4-piece bonus. It’s not
clear yet how it will translate in practice, but I love the fun factor of it.
It’s a weak version of the other proc-based items they’ve added to the game (<a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49992">Nibelung</a>, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50028">Trauma</a>), of which I am a BIG fan.
I’m kind of peeved that there isn’t a weapon that summons a healing Val’kyr;
that would be just about the biggest win in the game. But you get the idea: the
reset on Penance, while not something you’ll be able to rely on, will still be
awesome to use. If I’m going to be tank healing, I will try to find a way to
make the 4-piece bonus happen. I just like the idea of it, and if it’s not the
perfect or absolutely optimal setup, I’m ok with that.</p>
<h3>Three sample gearsets</h3>
<p>Below are three 5-piece gearsets. They are made of all 264s;
nothing higher for now. The first gearset uses four tier pieces plus the BiS
item for the fifth piece. I chose offset legs for this experiment, although one
could certainly look at gloves, or even the robe as your offset piece. The
reason I chose the legs is that they are craftable (and more importantly,
purchasable with cash), which means I won’t necessarily have to wait to
accumulate additional emblems before getting them crafted. YMMV, of course.</p>
<p>The second gearset uses two tier pieces and three BiS offset
pieces. For this set, I picked the two tier pieces with crit (head and
shoulders), then picked the best offset pieces for tank healing.</p>
<p>Oh, all the offset pieces are crit/haste. I’m maximizing
tank-healing throughput for this experiment.</p>
<p>Lastly (I hope you saw this coming) I created a gearset
which ignores tier pieces altogether, and just grabs five BiS pieces. And yes, two of those pieces are shadow tier gear.</p>
<p>Here we go:</p>
<div id="gearcontainer">
<table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>
<tr><td><strong>Four Tier Pieces</strong></td>
<td><strong>Two Tier Pieces</strong></td>
<td><strong>No Tier Pieces</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51178">Sanct Crimson Aco Hood</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51175">Sanct Crimson Aco Shoulderpads</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51176">Sanct Crimson Aco Robe</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51179">Sanct Crimson Aco Gloves</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49891">Leggings of Woven Death</a>
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51178">Sanct Crimson Aco Hood</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51175">Sanct Crimson Aco Shoulderpads</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50974">Meteor Chaser's Raiment</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50983">Gloves of False Gestures</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49891">Leggings of Woven Death</a>
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51184">Sanct Crimson Aco Cowl</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51182">Sanct Crimson Aco Mantle</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50974">Meteor Chaser's Raiment</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50983">Gloves of False Gestures</a><br>
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49891">Leggings of Woven Death</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p>You can see the comparison on this <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?compare=51179:51178:51176:51175:49891;51178:51175:50974:49891:50983;51184:51182:50974:49891:50983&focus=0">Wowhead
page</a>, which gives a great presentation of the tradeoffs I’ll be discussing
below.</p>
<p>There are lots of debatable choices I just made. For
example, why the crit pieces instead of the haste pieces in the 2-piece
gearset? Why the offset legs instead of the gloves in the 4-piece gearset?
These questions are valid. But for now, as you’ll see, all this is secondary to
the main tradeoff we see in this comparison: regen.</p>
<h3>What do we lose in order to get the tier gear?</h3>
<p>Check out the Wowhead link above for a very nice presentation
that I won’t reproduce here.</p>
<p>I’ll start by using the 0-piece BiS gearset as a reference.
Going to the 2-piece gearset, we lose 156 haste and 16 crit, but gain 172
spirit. (And, of course, the 2-piece bonus itself.)</p>
<p>Going from the 2-piece gearset to the full 4-piece gearset,
we lose another 100 haste, 64 crit, and 25 spell power, but gain 180 spirit
(and the 4-piece bonus). (I’ve put red gems into the two extra slots we get,
just to keep things simple.)</p>
<p>The full tradeoff from the BiS gearset to the 4-piece
gearset is a loss of 256 haste, 80 crit, and 25 spell power, and a gain of 352
spirit, plus the two bonuses.</p>
<p>So returning to the debatable points I just mentioned: no
matter how you pick your pieces, the tier gear will give you more spirit, and
the BiS offset pieces will give you more throughput stats (crit/haste). The
throughput stats can be adjusted towards crit or haste by making adjustments to
the gearsets above, but in the end, it’s a tradeoff of throughput versus regen.</p>
<p>I expect this was not a big surprise, now that we look at
it. After all, I’m defining “best in slot” as those pieces with maximum
throughput stats, and the spirit on the tier gear is most definitely not a
throughput stat. </p>
<h3>About that regen</h3>
<p>Ok, using the BiS gearset loses us 352 spirit that we would
have gotten from the tier gear. For my current unbuffed setup (600 spirit, 1400
int), this translates to approximately 100mp5. There are ten gem slots in the
BiS gearset (eight slots in the 4-piece gearset). Using a healthy dose of
intellect in those slots would not quite make up the difference, but it would
make up enough. If you’re stacking throughput stats, you damn-well better have
enough mana to make use of all those big & fast heals!</p>
<p>So… go for the BiS gear, lose the spirit, and gem intellect.
Not bad…not bad at all.</p>
<h3>And the 2-piece</h3>
<p>Not known yet whether or not the hot will stack. This
matters a bunch. This question should be resolved soon, as enough emblems
become available for early-adopters to get this bonus and test it out.</p>
<h3>In conclusion</h3>
<p>The BiS throughput gear costs you a bunch of regen, which
you can (and will probably have to) recover by using int gems. The benefits of
the tier bonuses are as yet undetermined. Until we know about the hot stacking,
and until we can get a real-world sample of how the 20% Penance reset works for
a tank healer in ICC fights, we can’t put pen to paper and come up with the
perfect analysis of tier vs. non-tier.</p>
<p>And the real conclusion is that I have no conclusion. I’m
stumped. I’d like to have it all! As I said, the 4-piece bonus appeals to me on
levels that go beyond pure min-max throughput. But max throughput appeals to me
as well, not to mention the fact that gearing up with BiS throughput gear is
perfect for shadow play as well. I don’t expect everyone will share my opinions
in this matter, and that’s fine. Hopefully I’ve given you some food for thought
as you make your own way in this early phase of tier 10 gearup.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-88720148295160857842009-12-21T14:19:00.000-05:002009-12-21T14:19:08.998-05:00Found It<p>Well I think I found the guild I was looking for. In theory anyway, and over vent, and armory, all that stuff—anything that you can try to match up “on paper” matches up. So I'm server transfering this week, and we'll see if the “in practice” lines up as well! I have every expectation that it will. I'll give you the details after the dust settles.</p>
<p>Anyway: this quickie post is just to say thank you to my readers, who gave more pointers and invitations to apply than I had expected. You guys are great!! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWkMf-U5_X8">GRRRRREAT</a>!!!!</p>
<p>And unrelated but awesome—here's the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFybwg4wadI ">YouTube find of the day</a>.</p>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502016083025021978.post-1712224992743165052009-12-17T21:22:00.001-05:002009-12-17T21:53:05.517-05:00Q&A: Sinespe<p>I wasn’t in a real raiding guild in Burning
Crusade. We had several weekly Kara groups, and eventually I managed to get
some action in ZA, but our forays into 25-main raids were fairly minimal. I
always hated the larger raids, not only because (sorry guys) the number of
baddies in that guild was pretty darn high, but also because it felt like a
huge uncontrolled mess. That was due to the bad players,
lack of leadership, not to mention the fact that my computer couldn’t handle so much going on. I’ve since upgraded all of that – a much better computer, a
real raiding guild, solid leadership – and found that 25-man raiding can be
every bit as solid as 10-man raiding.</p>
<p>With WoLK, Blizzard introduced the notion
of parallel raiding tracks for 10-man and 25-man groups. I thought this was
brilliant. I envisioned a world where smaller guilds would progress on equal
footing (sharing equal pride) with larger guilds, and perhaps partner up if
they wanted to do the 25-man versions of content. </p>
<p>It hasn’t entirely worked out that way. Not
many players see themselves as 10-man raiders. Which is why I
wanted to include <a
href="http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Shadowsong&n=Sinespe">Sinespe</a>
in this Q&A series. His guild, <a
href="http://eu.wowarmory.com/guild-info.xml?r=Shadowsong&gn=Fancy+Hat+Club">Fancy
Hat Club</a>, is a “strict” 10-man guild, which is a term that <a
href="http://www.guildox.com/go/g.asp?w=AB">GuildOx</a> uses when ranking guild
progression. It places clear limits on the type of gear one can be wearing to
qualify for their progression chart. I sought his priesty perspective on the
10-man raiding scene, even though he is only a part-time discipline priest (and
in fact, he’s written a fantastic <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?forums&topic=93865">guide for shadow priests</a>,
not to mention a blog for the dark side, called <a
href="http://anathema-wowhead.blogspot.com/">Anathema</a>). Unfortunately, due
to some technicalities regarding alts and 25-man runs, they are currently
disqualified from GuildOx’s 10-man strict rankings, but that will be cleared up
soon.</p>
<p>One last note: Sinespe speaks a dialect
called “Old English.” It’s not his fault, really; he hails from Old England.
I’ve tried to make sure he’s understandable through his thick accent.</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="ppInterview">
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>How long have you been raiding?</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: I have been raiding since approximately
June 2007, when I first hit level 70 with my Forsaken Priest. At the start of
my raiding career, I was shadow – and loved it to a fault. My only experience
of healing during TBC was in heroics as holy, at which I was terrible for a
couple of weeks until I learned to down-rank Greater Heal to ranks 1 and 3 for
mana-sustainability. It was there, of course, that I learned to love Prayer of
Mending – well, not just there: there's nothing quite like doing 5v5 arenas
with two discipline priests, especially when you come up against a DoT class
with ADD, who will Curse of Agony everyone and send PrOM flying everywhere.</p>
<p class="cont">However, because I was pretty terrible at
everything, hating arenas especially because of how often we screwed up, I
didn't get much exposure to raid healing until after I re-learned my class.
This happened when I made a new priest and re-levelled, and for some reason
just realised all the things I'd been doing wrong previously. I started pulling
1.1k DPS on Nalorakk in Frozen Shadoweave-level gear, causing our tanks to
panic from how close I came to over-aggroing, and our rogue to fight every
second for his top DPS spot; and, on the holy side, I got into the proper
groove of exiting the 5-second rule wherever possible, cancel-casting Greater
Heal 3 when it wasn't necessary, etc. etc..</p>
<p class="cont">My real exposure to discipline healing
occurred during 3.0.8; as with TBC, I focused on shadow as my main spec, but I
made serious, early efforts to keep my discipline gear on par so that I could dual
spec and double my utility. Naturally, with the homogenisation of loot, this
was a lot easier than it was in TBC. I loved the emphasis on shields, as well
as the beauty of Penance and the familiarity of pre-Black Temple holy healing;
the holy tree, meanwhile, has morphed into something completely alien to what I
had become accustomed to doing in TBC, so I've left it alone with no real
desire to go exploring its mysteries. Furthermore (although this has changed in
3.3 with haste becoming far more important for shadow than it has been up until
this point), the itemisation of high-end disc play fits in very nicely with shadow
theory: crit/SP gems in yellow sockets enable items such as Merlin's Robe to be
usable in both specs, which lowers the overall gear maintenance requirement of
each spec. As I say, in 3.3 that has changed and I will have to maintain two
different gear sets almost completely; however, I look forward to having two
full sets of Tier 10 with the knowledge that I want every single piece.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Wow. Well that about covers it, thank
you for coming!</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: ...</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Ok, ok. What level of content are you at
now? How many hours per week do you raid?</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: Fancy Hat Club, raiding eight hours per
week, has managed to down Anub'arak on 10-player Heroic, focusing <i>entirely</i>
on 10-man raids with minimal gear pollution from the 25-man sector, with 49
attempts remaining. We value every hour and use it to its maximum potential,
being able to keep up with guilds who might raid three or four nights a week,
thanks to our efficiency. We'll be looking forward to ICC10H.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Do you raid on any other toons? And what
have you learned from non-healing roles that assist you on healing duties? Was
a priest always your main? </i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: I do have a Blood DPS <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=eu.shadowsong.pieness">death knight</a>
with whom I run ToC10/25N and other such casual raids with my guild's wide
variety of alts, but that's really just a boredom killer. The Blood DK and my
role as shadow have one thing in common: insane survivability as a standard
part of our DPS. Blood, every 10 seconds or so, regenerates 15% of the user's
own health through Death Strike, and shadow has the constant
25%-damage-as-healing stream from VE pouring into me. As a result, I've tried
to learn that certain DPS have quite a bit more resilience than healers tend to
give them credit for. It's very easy when you watch Grid to see someone's
health drop by 75% and think “ohcrapohcrapohcrap”, but they might not die at
all within the next 5-10 seconds because the danger of further damage might not
be present.</p>
<p class="cont">And, yes, I have most definitely been a priest
all my life. It is the only class I have ever raised to the level cap from
level 1 – death knights skip all the horror of Vanilla levelling, so they get
around the requirement for me to be in love with them in order to level them. I
do have to be in love with my class to haul it through the poorly designed mess
that is 1-58 Vanilla questlines.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>How much time do you spend healing versus
shadow?</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: Since shadow is my main-spec, I spend more
time in shadowform than I do throwing bubbles and balls of light around.
However, I would say that the split is closer to healing 40 : 60 shadow than,
say, 25 : 75. My role becomes more fluid as we start farming content rather
than training content. I anticipate that I will be in shadowform for 90-100% of
my time in Icecrown Citadel, perhaps healing in the last week before a new wing
gets opened up if it is required of me to do so. Ultimately, I like to get a
feel for an encounter as a DPS before considering that I'll be good to heal it.
I'm good at discipline, but it is not yet as instinctual as my ability to DPS.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Your favorite raid? (Before it was on
farm status.)</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: Ulduar, without a doubt, but Black Temple
comes in a close second. I was still a scrub when I was raiding Black Temple,
but the fights were really well-designed. I went there recently and heard
Mother Shahraz's spine-chilling <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qISyke8WfM">voiceover</a> without the
hectic noises of 24 other people casting spells. Ulduar has so much depth: the
encounters, in general, are well-designed and the graphics show a lot of
polish. The best thing about Ulduar while training it was the ability to choose
a completely different progression route from one week to the next. One week
you might want to work on Vezax and Yogg, so you'd rush through FL+0,
Trinketscale, and all the non-optional bosses, clearing the keepers quickly;
another, you might want to work on a specific keeper or Iron Council, so you
wouldn't even go into The Descent into Madness.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Why do you raid in a 10-man guild? What are
the unique challenges or opportunities?</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: I raid 10-man for a number of reasons, but
the chief one is that I feel lost in a group of 24 other people. I <i>very </i>briefly
(i.e., a
single raid) raided Ulduar alongside a good friend of mine, <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=eu.quelthalas.isolde">Zicon/Isolde</a>,
in her 25N guild on the Quel'Thalas-EU server.
I did something I very rarely do: I died. This was on Mimiron: he lag-bugged
when he targeted me with his Spinning Up attack. This caused him to <i>turn
anti-clockwise while I was moving anti-clockwise to avoid the incoming beams</i>,
meaning not only that it was impossible for me not to get hit by the beams but
that I also took a few people down with me. Naturally, they killed him without
me needing to be alive. That's what I didn't particularly like, and what I mean
about feeling “lost”: it felt like if I screwed up it didn't matter so much
because one death in 10-man is worth 2.5 in 25-man. The other “lost” feeling
comes on the social side of things: in FHC I'm one voice in 10 rather than one
voice in 25.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>How do you feel Blizzard has done in
creating a satisfying 10-man raiding game?</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: WotLK is the first time they've attempted
to do this, and they've been trying various different ways of implementing it –
I think it's too early to declare it a success or a failure. I am very glad
that they implemented it all the way up to ICC. That's as much as anyone should
be able to expect for one expansion, and I think there will be greater things
to come with Cataclysm and the Guild Levelling system – there's a lot of scope
for 10-man raiding in the future.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>The notion of 10-man strict is not a
Blizzard creation. Do you get respect from 25-man guilds for the progression
you’ve made?</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: Well...I would actually disagree with the
statement that 10-man strict is not a Blizzard creation. It is not <i>enforced</i>
by Blizzard in the same way that it is by <a
href="http://www.guildox.com/go/g.asp?w=AB">GuildOx</a>, but it is certainly
encouraged with and recognised by achievements such as <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3316">Herald of the Titans</a> and <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=4080">Tribute to Dedicated Insanity</a>.
The “strict” paradigm as it stands with regards to gear restriction is
certainly a GuildOx creation, though, and I think Blizzard does need to implement
some kind of deterrent for hardcore 10-man guilds not to pollute themselves
with 25-man gear. Just to pull an example out of thin-air, a way to do this
would be to force raiders to accomplish the “Glory of the Icecrown Raider (10-player)”
drake-yielding achievements under Herald/Dedicated Insanity conditions.
Out-gearing the 10-man version of the raid is a serious problem for a number of
reasons, although I don't wish to pre-empt my answer to the next question.</p>
<p class="cont">My thought about 10-man strict can be
summarised thus: Blizzard encourages it when they should restrict it by such
things as the Herald idea suggested above; GuildOx doesn't do enough to
restrict it in terms of building up a progression table. It is unfair, for
instance, that a 10-man strict guild has the potential to be usurped on the
rankings by a guild who, until 3.3, decided to run ToC25N, but after 3.3
chooses to do 10N/H raids only. GuildOx relaxes the rules on previous tiers of
content far too soon. Once more, I pre-empt a question here by evoking the
example of ToC10 trinkets being appalling compared to their 25-man counterparts
– yet, until a 25-man guild exempts itself from the 10-man Icecrown listings by
clearing the 25-man content, it will be listed as a “strict” 10-man guild, with
all its 25-man trinkets and other gear.</p>
<p class="cont">Within my own guild, I'm hoping that the
10-man strict paradigm will be followed more seriously in 3.3. As I said
earlier, we have self-disqualified from it purely because we have alts in FHC
who run ToC25 – even though they don't run with the main 10-man team and have
no ToGC10 experience at all, they cause us to be disqualified from a listing
which will remain disregarded as a serious progression table unless the 10-man
raiders themselves make a conscious effort to make themselves noticed and
competitive. So, to anyone in my guild reading this: please do consider the
setting up of a <Fancy Alt Club> or something, so that our guild's armoury
page doesn't get polluted in 3.3 with irrelevant 25-man kills.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Does it bother you to see 25-man raiders
talking about how easy 10-man raids are…even hard modes?</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: Yes, it does bother me, because it's not
true. It is a myth which has hung around from TBC when 25-man was the <i>only </i>progression
path available to anyone who wants to get media exposure within the WoW community – and before that, in Vanilla, it was the same with
40-man guilds. 10-man raids are easier only in the sense that they can be
out-geared if you run 25-mans. ToGC10, for instance, is tuned around the
premise that it is <i>challenging but possible</i> (that is, after all, the
definition of cutting-edge content) in approximately 70% 232 gear and 30% 245
gear. If you're raiding ToC25/ToGC25, however, your gear makeup is more likely
to be 40% 232/60% 245, or even more over-geared than that. The problem with
evoking ToGC10, I should note, is the fiasco with trophies only being available
at the end of the damn instance in ToGC10 instead of dropping off each boss (à
la conquest emblems from Ulduar-10H bosses) – an issue which Blizzard
themselves has admitted was a mistake; so, hopefully, we'll see Tier10.264
turn-in tokens dropping from Lord Marrowgar-10H, not from a chest after killing
Arthas-10H.</p>
<p class="cont">I fear, however, that this is one of these
issues which is only provable if/when a blue poster comes out to say, “We tune
10-heroic fights to be proportionally difficult compared to 25-heroic: they are
as hard as each other unless you out-gear them.” Until we get a definitive
answer like that, among other things that Blizzard could do for us, we'll be
second-class raiders.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Many people claim that the game is
harder for 10-man guilds. Fights like Sartharion 3-drakes (pre-zerg) had far
less room for error than they do on 25-man. And until the recent addition of drums,
you were less likely to have a full set of raid buffs.</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: Sartharion+3 10-man was a bit of an
aberration in terms of difficulty. If you were in full-213 gear with no 226
pieces, it's very unlikely that you'd be able to complete it. Herald/Dedicated
are extremely difficult, but I'd say Sartharion+3 10 was nearly impossible.
After the initial fiasco of Ulduar-10 scaling to 25-man values, everything
balanced out somewhat. In terms of encounter tuning, ToGC10 has been very
decent. With another raid night per week, we'd have Insanity by now, without question,
but not without some serious toil. In short, Blizzard is getting better with
the way they're tuning 10-mans as the expansion goes on and it bodes well for
the future in that respect.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Do you find that, other than the obvious
incremental benefit you’d get from slightly higher-level gear, that you are
being left out of some fun or exciting gearing opportunities? Ulduar 10-man <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45308">trinkets</a> were <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45929">very</a><a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=46051">good</a>. In ToC, you have one
10-man <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47728">trinket</a> that’s
sharded more often than it’s equipped (sorry!), and one 25-man <a
href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47041">trinket</a> that’s overpowered.</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: It has felt like Blizzard has given more
than just an extra tier level to 25-man raiders. However, I will admit that
from a discipline
perspective it hasn't been all doom and gloom on the trinket front. Those
Ulduar trinkets, along with the Talisman of Resurgence, provide a good pool of
BiS slot items for discipline
– they make Solace seem not so much of a huge loss: we don't <i>need</i> Solace
to get by in a 10-man setting. On the DPS side of things, however, things are
pretty grim. If I were to make a BiS list of items from purely 10-man loot
lists, Broodmother would be top of the list and then Abyssal Rune / Sundial of
the Exiled, a heroic-accessible trinket, would be below it. There just haven't
been many decent options at all. Really – who designs a spellcaster DPS trinket
without putting spell power somewhere on it? The ToC10 trinket designer needs
to have unpleasant things done to him; and it's a bit of an insult that our
10-man ICC trinket is just a re-hash of something that 25-man raiders have had
access to since 3.0.8. It's not a bad trinket – not at all – but it shows a
distinct lack of imagination or ingenuity.</p>
<p class="cont">Similarly, we don't have any legendary
items. Blizzard has said that legendaries are a 25-man only thing for the
time-being, but why? 25N is easier than 10H, but 25N gets access to Val'anyr
and Shadowmourne? What did casual 25ers to do deserve that treatment that
hardcore 10ers didn't do? Form a larger group of people? Irrelevant, surely.
Where legendaries are concerned, it should be difficulty that determines
worthiness, not number of people with whom to compete over the item and cause
guild drama. I would like to see 10-man-H raiding get something unique in terms
of loot, not just in terms of Herald/Insanity achievements.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>You can make one change to the
discipline priest. It can be talents, mechanics, cooldowns, you name it, but
keep it reasonable.</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: <b>New Talent: </b>Reflection of Piety. 20% of
base mana. Instant: Your target receives the
buff Confession, which lasts for
90 seconds. 60% of the healing of your Penance spell is applied also to the
confessing raid member.</p>
<p class="cont">Very simply, it is a weak form of Beacon of
Light. I don't at all think that our tank healing is bad. But, especially in
the 10-man raiding scene, and especially in ToGC, paladins are able to
out-perform us to such a huge degree that they pretty much break Anub'arak-H as
an encounter: They are the reason why 2-heal 6-DPS is even possible on 10-man:
because you can leave both tanks to be healed purely by the paladin and have
your discipline priest focus on Pen Cold with super-fast shields and Flash Heals.
It would boost our tank healing in a minor way: 8 seconds would not seem like
such a long cooldown for Penance.</p>
<p class="cont">It's also an excuse to see Penance's
animation bounce from one raid member to another. Penance has a gorgeous
animation.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>What was your proudest or most memorable
moment in your career? It doesn’t need to be a guild event or boss kill; it can
be something personal, solo or in a pug.</i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: I can't recall one specific time, but I
feel proud every time I out-perform someone, either healing or DPSing, when, on
paper, I shouldn't be able to do so because of gear difference, guild
reputation or unfavourable encounter mechanics. I love being the underdog, and
I love discrediting the opinions of pseudo-elitist gearscore followers – as
anyone who has read my blog knows. I still need to get my BiS blue list
together and get into a Naxx25 raid to show that it's possible to pull 4k DPS
through sheer skill.</p>
<p class="cont">My most recent victory is detailed in my <a
href="http://anathema-wowhead.blogspot.com/2009/12/hybrid-tax.html">blog</a>.
Hybrid power.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Overall, what is your experience of the
discipline priest community? </i></p>
<p><b>Sinespe</b>: This is a bit of a generalisation, but it
seems to me that discipline priests fall into two categories: People who get
it, and people who don't. The people who don't get it are not necessarily the
people who cannot perform, but they are the people who complain that we don't
heal as well as a paladin, or that we get schooled on the healing meters at
every turn ... They forget that, while we might be a different kind of healing priest,
we're still a <i>priest</i>: we're supposed to fill multiple roles. “Jack of
all trades” still applies, even if “master of none” does not. The people who do
get it are the people who wouldn't want to heal any other way – or the people
who are dual-specced disc/holy.</p>
<p><b>PP</b>: <i>Well, I said it before, but this time I
really mean it! Thanks very much for your time.</i></p>
</div>Paolohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17287005260591066775noreply@blogger.com3