Legendary Staff—A relief in a few different ways

One of our guild mates, a Shadow Priest,  has recently started the epic quest line for Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest.  What I really like about this particular quest chain is that it’s really a group effort.  He has completed the quest chain all the way up to Delegation, and at this particular stage he has to complete certain tasks during the Boss fights. 

Shannox –Each time a crystal prism trap is destroyed 3 emberstone fragments appear on the ground.  You need to loot these and create a Dull Emberstone Focus.  This item must then be placed in the area of a thrown spear.  A red marker appears in the location where the item must be used.  If done correctly the spear will charge the focus, turning it into a Charged Emberstone Focus, which can be looted from the ground! Yay!

Beth’tilac-Each Cinderweb Drones drop 3 Chitinous Fragments.  Yes, 3 each.  We seemed to have missed that little tidbit that EACH drone drops 3, and with the fight being a little time sensitive we wiped it a few times.  So, after getting the 3 Chitinous frags you can combined them into a Dull Chitinous Focus.  Then you climb to the upper level, place the item on the ground, then get the heck out of there before smoldering devastation.  After smoldering devastation is cast, the focus will become charged, and you simply go back to the upper level to retrieve your charged Chitinous focus. 

Alysrazor-Each time  a Voracious Hatchling hatches from an egg it will leave a Pryreshell fragment that you have to collect 3 of.  All good things come in 3’s! These combine together to form a Dull Pryreshell Focus.  This focus is placed under Alysrazor in either stage 3 or 4, and when he reaches 100 energy it will become a Charged Pyreshell Focus.  It can be looted from the ground afterwards.   Our spriest was able to do this while still going into the air and doing his normal routine–so it’s not routine altering.

Lord Rhyolith-At random times Rhyolite fragments will appear on the platform, and again you have to collect 3 of them to turn into a Dull Rhyolite Focus.  They look like little dirt piles.  To charge the focus, you place in under Rhyolith right before he does a Concussive Stomp.  Tada! Loot your charged Rhyolite Focus.

The Anvil of Conflagaration– The entrance of the teleporter is found at the end of a pathway located between Beth, and Baleroc.  Inside the portal is the Branch of Nordrassil, which is being channeled by 4 Harbingers of Flame.  Killing them is Phase 1.  After they are killed, in order to start phase 2 our spriest has to attempt to retrieve the Branch of Nordrassil.  Phase 2 is facing the Tormented Protector.  Our strat for this is to tank the Tormented Protector near the portal entrance to avoid the spawning adds in the middle of the room, and to also stack for aoe heals as well as a mass dispell. 

That is as far as we have gotten so far.  We went a little past raid time this past week, but we’ve got the gist of it! It’s really fun to help our Spriest through this because it gives us a little break from the repetative grind of the Firelands.   It also goes to show that our guild is patient, and really just great :).  This accomplishment will be a full on guild effort, and it’ll dull the pain of the post expansion blues. 

xoxo

Nera

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Firelands: To disc, or to holy? That is the question.

To go Disc, or to go holy, that is the question.

For a good long while our guild was over-run by pallies, and after a few people moved on and a few main changes they vanished into thin air! I miss having a go-to tank healer, but the absence of them forced me to learn disc, which I kinda grew to like.  Spectacular, and great right?! Mostly, yes, but now I did find myself testing out my two specs on different Firelands bosses.  

Our current healy situation is 2 druids and me! Priesty 🙂 And most of the time our two tanks are druids as well.  (we are currently being over run, but the druid pest control service said our infestation is too severe and they split!) Just kidding! 🙂 x’s and o’s to the druids!

Onto my spec choices! This is based on a 10 man group.

Shannox – Since there are two tanks for this fight, I heal the tank on Shannox and run disc.  I’ve found that almost always when I tank heal these days its better done in disc because of shields, mana, and the whole sha-bang.  Plus, being able to shield the raid  and use Power Barrier comes in handy.  The only time I would go holy is if I was set to raid heal, but that isn’t going to happen ^_~

Beth’tilac – AOE AOE AOE! Lots of AOE damage.  I run holy for this fight and chill on the lower level.  If you end up going up, disc would be the better option.  Even though I tank/raid heal on the lower level, the tank on the bottom can easily be maintained by both healers.  Also Holy Word: Sanctuary  comes in handy after Beth lands.  Easy AOE heals ftw.

Lord Rhyolith – I also run holy for this fight.  There’s really only one tank needed in this fight, so between 2 druids and myself, there is no problem.  Holy is my main spec, and I’m most comfortable raiding in that spec, so when the fight is so comfortable I have a little more leaveway to do what I prefer.  As long as he doesn’t drink, it’s not that healing intensive.

Baleroc – This is hands down my favorite fight in the Firelands.  I use disc in this fight and I tank heal.  I begin on the shard target (another awesome priest) and I build my stacks on him, and then continue on the second shard target until the first inferno blade.  After that I just need to pay attention and keep the tank(s) up.   The other two healers assist on inferno blade, and decimation blade.  If I was healing the shard targets, I would probably run disc as well for the simple fact that direct heals would be more beneficial than aoe in this fight. 

Alysrazor – In this fight I use disc and tank heal.  I use a smite healing style, so I like to help the tank get his add down and I LOVE beating on Alysrazor when he lands 🙂 I digress! For raid healing in this situation I believe disc or holy is interchangeable.  The shields will be helpful to mitigate damage, but aoe would be nice to just blast everywhere.  Have fun with it!

Majordomo Staghelm – In this particular fight I run holy.  In scorpion form there are bursts of AOE damage, and with everyone stacked it’s a perfect time to bust out some moves.  In my opinion it is the best spec to run in this fight.  Our mastery is awesome (echo of light) and I believe its very useful in this fight to top people off. 

Ragnaros – So far, I’ve tried out both specs on this fight.  We have a great guild with some really awesome players, and we are progressing on this fight, but we just have not had an epiphany moment where everything just works.  I’m responsible for one of the tanks in this fight, while also raid healing.   If I go disc, the tank will be in better shape, and I can use my shields to help mitigate damage.  I just have a hard time not being able to have those strong aoe heals to correct the health deficiencies, but I think steadier tank heals and shields might be key, especially when the tanks stacks increase during phase one. 

Like I’ve said in my About me section, I’m not an elitist or wow pro, but this is what I found works for me and my guild’s raid setup.  I know I’ve looked for a source that lays it all out, so take it, mutate it, and do what is most beneficial to your group.

Kisses!

Nera

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Leap of Faith vs. Haters

Naturally, I decided to make my first post based around the popular ability available to priests at level 85: Leap of Faith.  A lot of debate has surrounded this new ability, along with cries of outrage and dispar.  But the real question is: What gives?

Since the beginning of time, priests and healers alike have been plagued with witnessing group members bathing in patches of fire among other nasty things.  The time of spamming heals and watching dismally as they either drain our mana or die  is OVER.  Yes I said it.  O-V-E-R.  Yes, some of the haters even agree that for those purposes LoF is a very handy ability.  Of course they are right.  LoF is only able to be cast on a person within the group, so many people should consider themselves lucky that the ability is not so loosely available! Who doesn’t like to be grouped with a priest? Wait…don’t asnwer that just yet.

There are priests that are more inclined to use Lof.  I will be honest with you, it is an ability that I thoroughly enjoy.  I have had my moments in raid where I Lofed an individual and A) Killed them.  On purpose.  B) Threw off their groove.  Do I regret it? Nah, never 🙂

What it really comes down to is the fact that I don’t use it during boss encounters in raid, I don’t kill people like its my job (make love not war), and its never done maliciously.  It is tiring sometimes to see all the complaints.  So I have a few simple solutions to change Haters into Lovers! 

1. Realize that if you are randomly Lof, it may very well be a term of endearment.  Priests lof people they are fond of! You should probably hug them for it 🙂

2. If #1 doesn’t apply, and the priest is being a jerkface to the extreme /wave and boot said priest.  There are Lof abusers out there, but not every priest is an abuser! (currently there is no Lof rehab available.)

3.If option #2 is not available, and said priest has to remain within the group most definitely whisper them and ask them if they would PLEASE refrain.  If the answer is no, then you have to ask yourself “Is it worth putting up with?” If not, revert back to option #2.

No one likes a complainer, but it seems that no one likes a Lof abuser.  So my core advice on this matter is: Don’t be that person.  As of right now, Lof isn’t going anywhere. 

With Love,

Nera

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