We’ve discussed many consumables and professions as they relate to healing and raiding, so here’s a few more. While I considered these non performance tips, they still come in handy and can help you reach your raiding goals. Leveling crafting professions is usually a painful & expensive endeavor. Doing it at the beginning of an expansion can cost you your first born pixel baby, or an insane amount of time and patience. But you NEED that crafted gear or crafting bonus to give you that edge or push you into raid readiness. If you have an alchemist with access to Transmute: Living Elements, gathering those mats might be a little less painful.

Just a quick note to point out what I’m seeing as a very overlooked potion: Potion of Concentration. Like many of the tools at our disposal, these can be extremely powerful when used properly. The possible 22,000 mana return is much more than a mythical mana potion, but unlike the mana potion, the return is not an instant gain: Mana is restored over ten seconds, during which you are “channeling”. You can interrupt the effect at anytime, but not letting it tick for the full duration obviously will not net you a maximum return. Because of this mechanic, this is not a “use it anytime” potion. Rather, understanding your encounters will let you identify when you can use this. Periods of light healing or down time are perfect, such as …

First off, I know what you’re going to say. Just stop right there and wipe that smug look off your face. I blame all of you for me being here. That’s right – YOU.  All your chitter chatter on twitter and facebook. The emails. The previews. That fiendish asshole Derevka singing how amazing I am, & bribing me with a baby boomkin pet. IT’S SO FUCKING CUTE HOW CAN I RESIST???!!! Add in the fact that once I left, he tried “classing” the site up by adding doilies & curtains everywhere, and now it looks like this – enough is enough. Don’t expect me to match him post for post -I’m simply back to bring the trash to his class, so get the “I told you so’s” out of your …

This is probably one of the most difficult posts to write. To most of us, World of Warcraft has become a huge part of our life: we talk about it, blog about, we even have get-togethers focused around it. Giant Nerd label or not, I’m sure we can all admit that even though the game was frustrating at one point or another, the benefits far outweighed the cons. Perhaps that’s why it’s so painful to finally come to this conclusion, but my World Of Warcraft career has come to a close. No, it’s not a protest to the state of the game or a statement about what I think of Cataclysm – it’s really nothing more than ‘it’s time to move on’. I’ve been here since the game’s original beta …

(Note: This is based off PTR build v4.0.1.13033) Hey kids! It’s me! Ava! Remember me? You do? Shit. I still don’t have a beta key, so all you’re going to get from me is PTR scraps. And if you’re looking for awesome videos of me talking, like Derevka does- sorry, won’t happen. I’m usually too drunk for you to understand what I’m saying, and talking into a mic requires me putting down my beer glass. So today’s musing is Disc at level 80 when 4.0 hits – what to do, what to spec, what to freak out about…kidding, kidding. This is the WoW community – you should freak out about everything! Let’s start with the 33/3 build, and the one I’m planning on starting with. With the changes to Archangel …

Power Infusion can be a baffling spell to one who doesn’t understand it. Even to those who play priests, understanding how it works, when to use it, who to use it on & who NOT to use it on, is a daunting task. It becomes even more difficult for raid leaders who don’t play priests to make sure their raid is set up for it’s optimal usage. With so many new priests, priest alts, & new Raid leaders riding out the expansion, I think a Power Infusion Re-revisited is in order. Let’s look at the spell: Power Infusion (Remember that 1% haste = 32.79 haste rating, so Power Infusion grants 655.8) Some of the confusion comes from the fact the spell didn’t always work this way – it used to …

I apologize for the gaps in my posts – I wasn’t kidding when I said my RL work obligations& health issues were consuming my time. We have all these great ideas for posts, but the past few weeks, all I’ve had time for is discussions with Derevka, and he ends up piecing together all the ideas in the final posts. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not feeling bad he actually has to do some ACTUAL work during his daily latte routine, but I do feel bad that I haven’t been contributing as much as I want. That being said, we DO have some great posts coming in the next 2 weeks – Renews & You, Holy Nova How to, Grid For Dummies, PI guide for non healers, Heroic LK25 …

CYPHAN? Sounds like a venereal disease, doesn’t it? I assure you, it’s not. It’s a new Midwest Scifi/fantasy convention for costumers, collectors, gamers and fans located in the Chicago Suburbs, and it’s happening this weekend. One of the weekend seminars is a World of Warcraft discussion, and a last minute change of plans (or desperation) has planted yours truly as one of the speakers. It’s nothing hardcore, raiding or even healing related – more of an intro to the game for new and newer players. We’ll be covering such things as choosing a faction, race, and class, leveling, gold making, guilds, dungeons, & etiquette. So if you’re in the area, and need something to do this weekend, come check out the convention! The seminar is scheduled for Saturday at 11:00 …

Because it doesn’t tell us jack shit about what a raiding guild is really looking for in a player. Thanks for reading! See you next week! What, you actually want an in depth answer? No one wants an in depth answer any more ! No one wants to THINK! If they did, we wouldn’t have this WUTS UR GS mess in the first place.

Just a quick update to let you know Episode 42 of Pugcast is available to download. I joined the show hosts Jeg & Draechen, along with fellow players Cornelious & Bryterside, for an informal roundtable chat about the upcoming raid changes for Cataclysm. Lots of great discussion involving guild structure and challange, and a even a bit of talk about PVP changes (I took a nap at that part). I wasn’t drunk for once, so for those that look forward to me embarrassing myself – sorry. There’s always next time.