Earlier this week NBC reporter, Ann Curry, said, in remembrance of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut:

“Imagine if everyone could commit to doing one act of kindness for each precious life lost. An act of kindness, big or small — are you in?”

(or click here)

I responded and said, “Yes, I am in…”

This “movement” as taken the internet by storm on Facebook as as well as on Twitter via the hashtag #26Acts.

In real life, I did a #26Acts at the Starbucks I frequent every day… and treated 26 strangers to their morning coffee (picture). 

I then got to thinking… what if I could bring this into Azeroth as well- we can make an impact. We can remember. We can remind people about humanity. The WoW Community is generally quite strong, we could do this! Here is what I will be doing: Over the course of the next few days, I’ll just pick 26 random people I see walking around Azeroth and give them a Pandaria Level Flask that they could use and the following message:

“Hi there, I am doing 26 Random Acts of Kindness in honor of the 26 in Newtown, CT. You are number [Number Here]– enjoy. Pay it forward if this made you smile.  facebook.com/26acts or #26acts on Twitter. Have a good day.”

Now, I can’t affect most folks who might read this personally in game. (Since most of you are not on my server!) If this post, and/or Ann Curry’s message inspires you… I urge you to start your own chain of #26Acts. A few minutes of your time to run a lowbie through a dungeon, a free flask, a random BOE, or even a simple “do you need a ride on my flying mount to your quest hub?” can do it.

Ok, Azeroth…. are you in?

26 Acts of Kindness — In Azeroth is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Beta Build #15689:

Glyph of Holy Resurrection

Glyph of Confession

Glyph of Lightspring

Glyph of the Val’kyr

It is worth mentioning that as of build 15689, these glyphs are not yet available in the beta. They are data mined tooltips, and no Glyph Vendor, nor Scribe/Inscriptionist has them. (Some) Show up in our Character’s Glyph Menu, but you cannot learn/equip them yet. Consider this your disclaimer: Speculative Derevka Post, is Speculative.

Holy Resurrection & Confession

First lets discuss the two pure vanity glyphs: Holy Resurrection and Confession. Holy Resurrection will be a pure flashy, fun glyph that makes the chore of rezzing your comrades a little more amusing. Confession will give you a new spell in your spellbook (much like the Holy Nova glyph), which (under a 30 minute cooldown) will let you force a friendly target to “confess” something to you. This will likely be a /say /emote or /whisper of some predetermined random phrase or comment that will, in all likelihood be an attempt at a humorous comment. (eg. “Sometimes, when I am alone… I like to dress up like a merlock and dance.” )

Glyph of the Val’kyr

Now to the more meaty glyphs:  Glyph of Val’kyr…. obviously  this is Holy Priests only, since it is the only specialization that has Spirit of Redemption. First let me say that I think the cosmetic change is awesome. I’ve always liked the Val’kyr model, ever since WOTLK. However, SoR is a talent I’ve always struggled with. On one hand, you have an ability that lets you continue healing for 15 seconds (25 if Glyphed, but no one glyphs it… or should, IMO). This can sometimes result in a first kill… I’ve heard a number of stories where the Priest in SoR form, is the last man standing and heals the tank/dps for the last few seconds in an enrage or wipe, resulting in a first kill. Or in situations where you are completely OOM, and you intentionally stand in the fire for 15 seconds of uninterrupted, mana-free healing. On the other hand, you have a talent that requires you to die to be useful. Yep… a talent that requires you to fail to be useful.

That is where I struggle. A core specialization and one (admittedly badass) minor glyph, that I’ll only use in the event that I die. I’ve always been in the camp that SoR lost its usefulness in Cataclysm when it lost its passive +5% spirit bonus it provided. I would think that SoR would be better if it was a manual option. Either allow us to (with a CD) to enter SoR and heal mana-free/no movement for 15 seconds— while OP, potentially for PVP given the damage immunity (and some PVE encounters) It seems superior to that of a talent that requires you to die. Alternatively, make it a Holy Priest only “Reincarnation” where we can pop back up (like Shaman) on a 30 minute CD for… Putting us in a Spirit/Val’kyr (if glyphed) appearance for X minutes. (Simiar to the appearance change you get when you are targeted by a DK’s Raise Ally– you get debuffed with Void Touched) – I just struggle with SoR being, “Improved Death”. There has been a lot of Development Time by the Dev Team fixing the lag on the ability, figuring out what spells work on it, and not to mention certain exploits that existed with SoR in the past).

Glyph of Lightspring

Now onto the more drama inducing glyph…. Lightspring.

Now, its worth mentioning that Blue on a number of occasions has stated they did not want to turn Lightwell into the Trial of the Crusader Lightwell… constantly spewing heals out- stating that Priests already had enough smart-heals. (Hymn, COH, POM) Well, this seems counter to that, now doesn’t it?

First notice that it will only heal if a target is <50% HP, and then has a 5 second CD. The reason that 5 second CD exists, is to prevent Lightspring from becoming a second Divine Hymn and spamming Lightspring Renews across the raid. The 5 second CD, throttles how fast it can dole those heals out.

Many forums have already erupted with comments stating that priests that Glyph Lightspring are bad priests, since they need Lightspring to Auto-Heal for them. This isn’t really accurate, and isn’t really a marker of skill.  Glyphed Lightspring is not a marker of a bad priest, per say…. its a marker of potential issues in the RAID/GROUP. Its akin to raiders not using Healthstones. Survivability is EVERYONE’S responcibility. Raiders who die, in range of a Lightwell, do have a certain amount of onus on themselves for that death. However, making it a smart heal it will have to be out-scaled by normal LW, and reward raiders/players who know how to click it and when to click it. Just like if Heathstones automatically used themselves, it would HAVE to heal for less than if you had to click a Healthstone yourself.

Raiding priests should be ready to say on vent/mumble “Lightwell” when big damage is going out and healers are falling behind… that one word on vent, shouldn’t make or break “how you prefer to play with Lightwell/spring.” I personally like Lightwell, as I previously discussed at the start of Cata in this post.

The most important thing to keep in mind is the coefficients for Lightwell vs Lightspring. Unglyphed Lightwell seems to have an advantage given how it seems to outscale (substantially)… then again, the new glyph is still untested, and we’re just speculating off tooltips.

Lightwell
Friendly players can click the Lightwell to restore (((5,735 + 30.8% of Spell Power) * 3) * 1.15) health over 6 sec.

Lightspring
Lightspring will attempt to heal party and raid members lower than 50% health for (5,735 + 55.3% of SP) over 6 sec.

Its those underlined multipliers that allow regular LW to outpace LS, rewarding Raids who know how to/remember to use Lightwell intelligently. I see raiders who either, for whatever reason, cannot train their raid to use Lightwell correctly, or LFR will be taking Lightspring (or if a Fight Mechanic calls for it).

These new glyphs give priests a number of fun color and choices, which is exactly what the glyph system is supposed to be– dynamic. We are meant to be glyphing and changing as we go from fight to fight.

What does everyone else thing about these new glyphs and the system? 

Follow Up Post With Math Available Here:  http://talesofapriest.com/2012/05/15/lightwell-vs-lightspring-ready-fight/

New MoP Glyphs, Lightspring, and Spirit of Redemption is a post from: Tales of a Priest

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!

33/3 Disc spec with Smite capabilities at 4.0

Let’s start with the 33/3 build, and the one I’m planning on starting with. With the changes to Archangel and Atonement, I really get the feeling that these are not simply “DPS Disc” options. I really feel as if this is intended to be part of our healing arsenal, and turns healing on it’s head. It’s more interactive. It has more strategy. And it has the potential to really make things interesting. My only hesitation is I don’t think we’ll be able to get the full potential at 80, and it might turn people off.

I really got a nice “weaving” feel, using flash/heal with smite, penance and shields. The higher my Evangelism stacks, the harder my smites hit. The harder those hit, the more  healing Atonement hits for. The higher Evangelism stacks dictates how much healing bonus and mana return I receive when activating Archangel...and neither are minor. Smiting also utilizes Train of Thought in this spec, and allows for more penance usage. Rotating Heal in utilizes Strength of Soul. And our defining talent, Power Word:Barrier, is going to provide some amazing uses.

Some notes on the 33/3 Spec

I see a need for a power aura code to let me know when 5 sec remain on Archangel. Since each stack of evangelism lasts for 15 seconds, and is refreshed upon application, I think it’s possible (in theory) to have 5 stacks ready for every 30 second AA cooldown. I say “in theory”, because we all know there’s no script for healing, and situations will arise where it’s not feasible to utilize this technique, much less maintain the application.

Mental Agility: not needed at 80 – I can’t cast faster than my mana was regenerated. Like everything in this post, it’s use and application most likely changes at 85, however.

Atonement – I’m still up in the air on this. The mechanics behave similar to the Abacus trinket, and the random selection of the target makes me hesitant. In a perfect world, it will hit the tank when I smite….but I have yet to find a perfect world (it would probably be made of booze). Currently my smites hit for around 6K unbuffed (non crit) which at 3/3 equates to a 7200 heal. It doesn’t seem that much currently, but the scaling at 85 could change all that. I was unable to validate it’s usefulness in a raid setting at 80,unfortunately. This is subject to change if I can convince enough guildies on the PTR, or I can find 9/24 other people that have a family tree that forks, and test it out more. Regardless, it’s still a free heal, and there’s not much else to do with the talent points, unless you prefer to put them in Mental agility. See my thoughts on Train of Thought for more applications. I’ll keep an eye on it.

Are Archangels supposed to be this pretty?

Inner Sanctum -No longer increases our spell power gain – now reduces spell damage, like our old spell warding talent. Unlike spell warding, I don’t think this will be needed at 80 after 4.0, but 5 years of raiding sets off my nerd sense, and tells me it will probably be a ‘must have” for progression raiding. At in the fact we get Inner Will at 83 (the speed buff) and I’m willing to bet on it. But at 80 in 4.0? Pass.

Inner focus is not taken with this spec, but I would take it if I dropped atonement. I’ve never considered this a “must have” talent, and my opinion hasn’t changed.

Strength of Souls - I’m guessing a “must have” for tank healing at 85, and if tank avoidance & damage “spikiness” go live the way it is now, a must have at 80. It also looks like the effect is repeatable (ie every application of heal knocks off 4 seconds) – if that’s intentional, I see some great uses, and not just for tank healing. For the bubble spamming robots, it’s a possible way to encourage moving away from being one-button-wonders, and using it as a way to speed up reapplication of PW:S as needed.

Train of thought – the value I see in this (at 80, mind you) is the reduction of the penance cooldown. I would probably like it more if it reset the cooldown all together (like our original 4pc t10), and this has little to no value it you are not using a Evang/AA approach like this. Each application appears to remove one second, and could prove very interesting using a weaving cycle of smite & flash/gheal/heal to build Evangelism stacks for Archangel while relying on atonement to fill in on some healing.

Focus Will – note that this no longer gives Crit. It seems to be a purely PVP talent not, thus I didn’t take it. Duh.

I rounded out with 3/3 Divine Fury. This spec revolves around the use of Heal and Smite – reducing the cast time by a 1/2 sec is important.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

One thing you will notice at 80 with the current build is Flash Heal still hits considerable harder than Heal. Don’t be worried – remember, the mechanics are based around level 85. Because of that, I will probably still be relying heavily on Flash Heal & the only use Heal has to me AT LEVEL 80 is for Strength of Soul. So if you find that mechanic is not important to you at 80, spend the two points in 2/3 Empowered Healing for a 31/5 build. But I really recommend trying the new mechanics out before writing them off, and remember to re-evaluate as we get closer to 85.

What If I don’t WANT to use the Smite mechanics?

31/5 No smite talents, 4.0

Why wouldn’t you? Don’t be afraid to try! If you’re going to be stubborn about it, you could do a variation of the 31/5 spec, dropping Evangelism, Archangel, Atonement & Train of Thought, replacing them with 3/3 Mental Agility, 2/3 Inner Sanctum & Inner focus (or 3/3 mental agility) and 2/3 empowered healing. I understand wanting to stick within a certain familiar comfort zone of healing, and taking baby steps in learning how to use Heal & Gheal all over again with the new mechanics, but I think ignoring the smite mechanics entirely could potentially be cutting off a huge part of your arsenal.

Don’t be scared of new things – we’ve always asked to have healing made more interesting, and here’s an option to accomplish that – don’t ignore it! It may play out that the smite mechanics aren’t worth the risk or are too situational to be of use – we’ll have to see, experiment & give feedback. But I’m hoping that won’t be the case, and it will come down to knowing how and when to use them.  This is the time to experiment, and the jury is still out on what’s viable. So again – don’t be afraid to try.

OMGOMGOMGOMG What about GLYPHS AT 80!!!???

Based on what I know is available, I’ll pick the following. This is subject to change before the the final 4.0 release. Thanks to Nahmanides for reminding me to mention that as of 4.0, once you learn a glyph, you never need to relearn it, and you can switch between them at will (out of combat, of course).

Prime: The 2 must haves still seem to be Glyph of Penance and Glyph of Power Word:Shield. The third seems situational depending on fight and raid makeup. Grab a Glyph of Flash Heals, Glyph of Prayer of Healing and Glyph of Power Word Barrier and experiment in your raid fights.

Major: My two “Must Haves” with the 33/3 Smite build are currently Glyph of Divine Accuracy (obvious reasons) and Glyph of Mass Dispel (remember we can’t talent the cast time reduction now!). The third is a crap shoot currently – I might stick with Holy Nova despite its changes, but I’ll probably carry a Glyph of Dispel Magic, and maybe even a glyph of Fade for leveling with PuG tanks *shudder* (note: If you need Glyph of Fade during raids – get new tanks)

Minor: Your call, as these are usually a matter of convenience. I take Fort for the mana reduction in case I need to rebuff someone mid raid due to battle rez, soulstone, ankh, etc. Shadow Protection for the duration increase, and Levitate so I don’t have to carry feathers. Fiend is an option, but he’s not so stupid anymore, and doesn’t die very often.

What about Gear & Gems?!! OHSHITOHSHIT….

Relax. I was all prepared to completely re-gem and re-gear when I hit the PTR because of the mana mechanics. I loaded up with uncut gems, and extra 264/277 tokens to experiment with and…..I didn’t need it. Using my current “Live” Disc gear (read: minimal Spirit) I couldn’t cast faster than I regained mana. The only time I could burn thru mana was when the Holy Nova bug was still active (And BOY! Did I learn some great new words playing with THAT in the PTR battlegrounds!!) – even spamming gheal couldn’t dent it.

Now that doesn’t mean that’s how it will be going Live, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated as things change. And it most certainly will be different at 85.

As always, keep reading Tales of a Priest as we explore this and other mechanics throughout beta and Cata. And I just wanted to show you the ridiculous tabard I have to walk around with in our beta guild, thanks to Derevka.

Disc at 80 at 4.0 and a Bunch of Other Numbers is a post from: Tales of a Priest

It’s time for another contest and giveaway here at Tales of a Priest! As many of you know, I am a little obsesed with my UI… I love mods;, I love seeing what they can do to improve my gameplay. One of the most annoying things about having a UI that you love: is keeping it updated.

The Curse Client is a great  application that lets you search for mods, read the description, install them, and helps you be sure you have the latest and greatest version. If that was all that the Curse Client did, I would be happy. But wait –– There’s more!!

The Curse Client also helps you keep your mods synched up across different computers. Many of you who follow me ton Twitter, know I travel a lot for work  and I bring a gaming laptop with me. The Curse client helps me keep my Desktop PC and my Laptop synched up as the Client keeps my Mods and Settings synched up! Had to reformat your computer or zombies stole your hard drive? You can use the Curse Client to restore your mods and settings.

So today, thanks to the generous folks over at Curse, we are giving away 2 One-Year Subscriptions to Curse Premium!

What are the differences between a Premium client and a Non-Premium client? The Premium client is has all the great stuff the Non-Premium client, and much more:

• Update all your addons with one click
• Addon Sync
• Addon Settings Backup
• Faster addon downloads
• Automatic addon updates
• No ads

Visit www.curse.com/client and www.curse.com/premium for more information

How do you win? Easy! Send an email to contests@talesofapriest.com with the answers to these 2 questions:

1. With the release of a good deal of Priest Cataclysm information what one thing are you looking forward to the most.
2. What one thing do you want Blizzard to revisit in their reviews of the Priest class in Cataclysm? We all know that with Beta not even annouced yet, changes WILL happen!

(And of course, if you want to provide any comments or feedback or Blog Post topics, please feel free to comment in that email as well.)

Two winners will be selected, at random, from the emails received.  We will be accepting emails through June 22nd, 2010. Emails must be received by 11:59PM Eastern Time to be considered eligible for this prize. Each winner will be given One Year of Curse Premium. The two winning entries will need to provide their Curse username/email to us to have the Subscription activated.

A big THANK YOU again to the folks over at Curse.com and good luck to everyone!!

Cataclysm Contest! Curse Client Craziness! is a post from: Tales of a Priest

That being said, we’ve been busy. We completed Glory of the Icecrown Raider on 10-Mans and got our very sexy Frost Wyrms. They’re almost as frigid as Derevka, but way cooler.

Would you say Derevka is riding a boner?

Currently, our ten man groups are at 11/12 in ICC heroic, and we’re plowing along in ICC 25 Heroic. We just downed Heroic Sindragosa(25), putting us at 10/12 with only Professor Putricide and The Lich King Himself left to round out our heroic 25 man romp. While I enjoy the strategy of these new heroic fights, the planning that goes into them, and the feeling of accomplishment & camaraderie we get with each new boss kill, it makes me wonder: With only 2 Heroic 25 man bosses left, & one Heroic boss in ten….what the hell do we do until the expansion? I don’t see the Ruby Sanctum occupying raiders for very long. I guess we’ll be doing alt runs until we vomit again! Wheeeeeee! Maybe my totally KICKASS warrior, Dazana, can get a Shadowmourne……

And SPEAKING of Shadowmournes – we finally completed our first one. It was the #7th in the world, and the #3rd US….granted, not much of an accomplishment when the fragments are completely dependent on RNG, but still pretty cool! Congrats to our GM, Amisaalia. He’s the same special individual that wore his chef’s hat during our first TOTGC25 Tribute to Insanity (And I’m going to lose all my DKP for bringing that up.) But it’s pretty damn  neat looking. And to say his DPS increased is an understatement. This thing is amazing.

Who is that Priest with the fine ass to the left?

This thing attracts people like bugs to a light

So that’s enough horn tootin’ for now.  We’re excited to be closing in on the end, but saddened at the same time. I strongly urge those of you to make the foray into heroic modes as soon as you can; you will enjoy it!

I’m also aware many of you are approaching the Lich King fight, or are attempting it, based on the tweets & emails I receive (and we LOVE getting them!). I apologize – I meant to have a “how to heal the LK” post awhile ago, but I’ve been swamped at work, leaving very little free time (And yes, this post is another way of me skirting a deadline….I wonder if Derevka noticed). You have my word: You’ll see it this week. I can’t let Derevka have all the fun around here.

A Dark Nemesis Gratuitous Self-Congratulatory Post is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Power Word: Fail! Podcast Now Available is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Now Raiding guilds themselves are also diverse. You can have the casual raiding guild that shows up for a few hours a week to tackle some 10/25 man content when there’s enough people on, or maybe a guild that has a set schedule & some hard mode goals. Perhaps you’re even a progression raider, tackling content in its hardest form as soon as it available. Whatever your style or desire, a big part of the raiding game is finding a raiding guild that works for you. Contrary to popular belief, raiders are not a group of 25 people that hate each other & tolerate each other’s presence long enough to get the purples and log off. It’s quite the opposite actually. Raiding is a TEAM activity, and if a team doesn’t work well together and share the same goals, chances are, that guild won’t work well either.

So what do you do when you decide your current situation or raiding guild doesn’t work for you? First, assess why you want to find something else: Do you want more dedication from your teammates? Do you want to attempt harder content? Do you not enjoy the company of your current guild? Figure these reasons out – this will narrow down the list of guilds that are possible new homes. Read recruitment posts on MMO-Champion, the WoW forums or numerous other places. Research the ones that catch your eye: What type of reputation do they have? How is their member turn over? How long have they been around? What content do they focus on? Go as far as to make a character on the server and ask a few of the guilds’ members some questions, or ask other players what they think of the guild you are looking at.

If you are looking for any type of raiding guild, chances are, you will be asked to fill out an application. Now, if you scoff at the idea of an application in a video game, that is probably a good indicator that the guild you are trying to apply for is not a good match for you. As I said, raiding is a team activity, and any guild that raids even somewhat serious wants to make sure you will be a good fit for the team. The application is CRUICIAL. Most likely, these people do not know you. This is their first impression of you. If you turn in garbage like this or maybe this, it says that this is the kind of effort that can be expected of you. Literacy and a grasp of the English language (or whatever the main language of that guild happens to be) is also a good idea. Horrible spelling, improper grammar, run on sentences, and any use of “Internet speak” such as LOL, ROFL, Y?, UR, NE1, N (instead of ‘and’), SUM1, IMO, IDK ect should be entirely avoided. You’re trying to sound intelligent, and even a physicist that typed like that would sound like a drooling retard. Keep in mind names like “DarthDeathz”, “CritHealz” “xXDrizztXx” “IPwnHorde” ect can’t help but make many people think the person behind that name wears a helmet, so if that’s you, make sure you have a damn good application. Also, playing Johnny Bad Ass, the Internet Tough Guy, doesn’t really work too well when playing computer games, and it certainly doesn’t have the effect you were looking for if that’s the angle you play in your application…unless your goal was to give people a chuckle, in which case, you probably succeeded.

Most applications questionnaires will be given to you by the guild you are applying to, and ours is no exception – it’s a simple cut & paste job (And yet, people still manage to screw that up). Look for stickies in the application forum as well. Most, like ours, will explain exactly what they are looking for, what the main guild’s focus is, and what will be expected of you. It can save you and that guild a lot of time if you realize that their raid times, goals, expectations and objectives are not the same as yours. Also, be realistic – you may be a fantastic player, but if your raiding experience is limited to a few Naxx clears, Flame Leviathan, and a few clears of TotC in a pug, you’re probably not ready to apply to a World Top 100 guild – progression heroic raiding is vastly different than the guild that just runs a regular Ulduar or TotC once a week. Set your sights a little lower – there are plenty of guilds out there still learning and looking for smart players. Also, assess your gear (and don’t be a Gear Score Shithead – higher ilevel does not always equal better; ask to see my Hunters Spellpower set if you don’t believe me). Gear is not very difficult to come by, and many guilds are willing to help a promising player gear up. But some may need a player that is ready to hit the ground running – reading beforehand can help answer all this.

When filling out your application, fill it out in detail, take your time, and understand & answer the questions in depth, provide your WoL/WWS logs if applicable, and demonstrate you know what you are talking about, such as you see here. If asked to explain your spec, talent choices, glyphs, gems, ect – demonstrate you understand how your class and the game works – saying you copied your spec from someone or from something you saw on EJ a few months ago will probably not go over well with the higher end guilds. If you’re still learning, no one will hold that against you as long as you’re honest and applying to a guild where members are willing to tutor you or learn together. Everyone started somewhere! But if you’re applying to a progression guild, you will be expected to make spec and gear choices based on what’s needed for upcoming content – you’ll need to be able to contribute to strategies and planning without having your hand held or looking for a strategy that doesn’t exist yet. Remember, it will usually be apparent that you don’t understand what you are doing if you really don’t have a clue.

Another big point: DON’T LIE. I’ll say it again here: DON’T LIE. The Armory is a beautiful thing, and I’m still amazed at people that claim to have done certain bosses or achievements, but a quick armory check throws that claim out the window. And for the love of beer, don’t claim you did those things on some unnamed alt on another server – no one buys that one either. They’ll probably figure it out the first time you stand in the pretty blue circles on Hodir, or eat all the black orbs w/ your white essenced face on Twin Val’kyrs. Lack of experience is not always a bad thing, so don’t lie about it. This may be one of those cases where you are more than capable if given the chance, but the guild you were in wasn’t interested or able to try those things . Another thing to avoid lying about is why you left your last guild. Try to avoid badmouthing, but be honest – most likely, it will be researched and there are sites that can track your server and name changes, so you might as well come clean. If you ran off with the Guild Leader’s wife and guild bank, they’ll probably find out.

Now if you find a guild, and they accept you, remember: you are an INITIATE. You’re the FNG, the low man on the totem pole. You may sit for some raids, and you are being evaluated on your performance & attitude in and out of raids. Don’t be that guy that whines he has to sit, or didn’t get in a group, or claim you’re better than that other player. Being a great player is only half of fitting in! Make yourself available & get involved – 5 mans, PvP, alts runs..anything guild related. Do your best when you do get in raids, and get a feel for your new guild. Also – Ask questions! You may have done fight X a hundred times, but not with this new guild – they may do it a different way, & your lack of knowledge may have a negative impact. If this guild uses forums, ask for access and familiarize yourself with their polices, strats, ect. How you react to the other players is also something to note – if you’re offered some advice, a suggestion or guidance – LISTEN. Don’t turn defensive, don’t assume you’re being picked on & take the advice to heart. These people recruited you because they had a need, and it’s in their best interest to see you succeed with them. Ignoring them or being outright hostile probably isn’t a trait in a team member they are looking for.

Keep in mind, however, you are trying them out as well as they are trying you out. How do they treat their members? Do they socialize out of raids (5 mans, Battlegrounds, ten mans, achievments, ect) and is that something you enjoy? Is the atmosphere comfortable for you? Raiding is STILL a game made for fun, and if you find you don’t enjoy your new home, politely explain that you will be moving on in some manner, and gquit after you fulfilled any raiding obligations you were expected to attend. It’s strongly recommended you don’t just ninja transfer in the night – these people spent time on you and maybe even taught you a few things and got you some gear – be courteous. Remember, your next guild just might be asking these exact things about you.

I will make a special request, however: many players move on because they seem to lose their enthusiasm for raiding or the game in general for one reason or another. If it is a distinct possibility you just may end up quitting the game in the near future (and you will know this – you don’t just wake up not wanting to play), let your possible future guild know – no one is very happy when they finally fill a vacant position with a solid applicant, only to have the player decide to do other things and never log on again. No one likes their time wasted.

Applying to a new guild can be daunting & intimidating – it’s like a first date. But by doing your research first and putting your best foot forward will determine if this could be the start of something beautiful & you’ll be getting in those epic pixelated pants, or taking a cold dunk in the Great Sea with a shriveled, ahem, ego.

- Avalonna

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So you want to join a Raiding Guild? is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Many guildies and friends server wide have PM’d me or emoted me /gasp when they see my new look. Perhaps to them I will always be the short little female dwarf with freckles, not the bushy bearded, bald-dwarf man.

Character Re-Customization is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Since my last post on COH and Cooldowns, it is now even further expanded upon.

AoE Healing Nerf
I feel the need to post here in the hopes of alleviating player confusion. The first FAQ was a link to my quotes attempting to explain our concerns about Circle of Healing and Wild Growth. This FAQ by contrast is written from a player POV that this is a shaman issue. It isn’t in our minds.

We looked at the three main AE heals and found that CoH and WG were being used too much in too many different situations and making AE healing too easy. CH is supposed to be used in more situations, because the shaman arsenal is smaller. It isn’t as easy to use as CoH and WG. Shamans are still casting other spells.

Of course we realize not every Holy priest is spamming CoH. That’s good — you all will notice less of a difference after the change.

Some encounters will likely be more difficult with this nerf. Malygos phase 1 comes to mind. We are prepared to make encounter changes if necessary.

We explored several options to nerf CoH and WG and eventually settled on a cooldown. You can use those AEs when needed and then switch to single-target heals to top everyone off.

I’m not going to keep responding to this thread, because we have plenty on the topic already, but I wanted to offer a clarification.

Before everyone screams. GC has a point – COH shouldn’t be 70% of your healing done for a given encounter. That being said, we have a lot more heals in our arsenal that are available to us to use.

Prayer of Healing, well timed for Loatheb following by blowing your COH cooldown can be just as good as a few quick COH snaps.

Prayer of Mending, during Malygos’s Vortex is quite nice. Especially if you can couple it with a T7 bonus. Be sure you have it up on yourself prior to Vortex being cast, so your CD is up. Watch a Prayer of Mending tracker, and recast it after all 5 (or 6) charges are used. (which should only be 6 seconds). While you wait for the CD, you can PW:Shield and use 2 COH’s during Vortex – One at the start and a second at the end.

To expand on Vortex, Blizzard has already stated that they would be watching and possibly nerf Vortex.

With the cooldown on COH and WG we will probably nerf the Vortex. I say probably because players are farming the encounter already so I’m not 100% that things will go from farm to impossible with this change, but we’ll be sure to test it out a lot and watch for your feedback.

Yes, a 6 second cooldown is a long time— especially considering we’ve been used to having it spammable. It will require some additional thinking- which from some of the priests I’ve seen could be an uphill battle. When to cast it? Do I spec Holy Reach? Etc… I think after they introduce the cooldown, it won’t be the end to this story.

Circle of Healing and Cooldowns Part 2 is a post from: Tales of a Priest

Don’t get me wrong, I really like the content that is put together at a lot of the other priest blogs, but, perhaps, if I focused on only Healing (which is what I do, I don’t raid shadow) I could work on a great Priest Blog. There is always room for more blogs out there.

I think I’d like to apply my write ups with a more live raid healing perspective, provide some insight that may (or may not) be missing out there. I’ll leave the shadow analysis to my DPS brothers and sisters, I’m going to focus on mainly healing.

Background of me: I am a Dwarf Priest and have been playing since January 2005. I’m in my late 20′s. I’ve been in a guild that has gone over the years through the gambit of being a social leveling guild, to raiding, to end game raiding. In classic WoW I’ve raided all of MC, BWL, AQ20, and nearly got C’Thun in AQ40, as well as the early bosses of Naxx 1.0. In TBC (pre 3.0) my guild and I have cleared all of MH, BT, and Kalecgos.

Healing all the way- It’s time for the Shadowpriest discussions to have a ying to their yang. Don’t get me wrong, I love my SPriest brethren. Perhaps the priest community will like my perspective on healing in WotLK, perhaps not. But we’ll see. Close your eyes and jump!

Another WOW Blog, or is it? is a post from: Tales of a Priest