No time for hurt feelings...

After trying to kill Garrosh for 3 weeks with close attempts (8% on phase 3) and no success, everyone is getting a little frustrated. Totally understandable. The problem is mainly due to people going the opposite direction of the rest of the group during Empowered Whirling Corruption and that's when they are not dying to random stupid things, like getting hit by the Iron Star for no reason other than just not paying attention.

We have a pretty cool 10 man group, we all get along fairly well, we joke around and have plenty of laughs during raid time. Everyone in the group is mature and know what they have to do and get it done. It's very rare that I have to say something to them, unless they're having a little too much fun during a boss fight and it's affecting their performance. At that point my tone gets a little stern, I tell them to focus, they do, the boss dies and we all go back to enjoying ourselves.

Garrosh is a jerk though, and he's making me be a bit more harsh with my raid team than they are used to, especially this weekend and some people didn't like that. We've been raiding together for almost 2 months and although I like to generalize it, so as to not single anyone out when people are messing up, some of them wanted to know if it was them in particular. So after 3 hours of wiping on Garrosh people needed to be called out on their mistakes and that's when feeling started getting hurt.

Why are you getting defensive? Did you want me to ask you nicely not to stand in things that will kill you, or stay to please stay in the vicinity of the healers, or not die to stupid shit? Did I need to say pretty please with a cherry on top??? Seriously! Why are you getting me at me for finally raising my voice after 3 hours and 3 weeks of the same mistakes?

Sigh...

Maybe I have a different mind set or just used to raid leaders yelling in general. Is that the biggest difference between 10 and 25 mans? I've raided 25 mans for the past 7, going on 8, years. I've raided hardcore with plenty of heroics and casual with my fair share of bad pugs in between.  I'm used to having an entire 25 man team being yelled at for making the same mistakes after just a few attempts on progression fights and unless I was being disrespected I never took it offensive, much less personal.

So why is there a difference in 10 man? Shouldn't a 10 man team be a more tight-knit group and therefore less likely to get butt hurt for being individually asked to stop screwing up? Or is it because you are so much closer that they take it so personal? Maybe this is more an issue of people just not being used to progression raiding?

Lessons in raid leading at it's best, I suppose. I've been told that sometimes I need to treat them like children, I have 4 of those, so I guess I should have plenty of experience to deal with them then lol.

Bettle.net ap, Flex and Garrosh...

I decided to install the Battle.net desktop app this morning and I have to say it's pretty cool. Here's a screenshot of my desktop so you can see what it looks like:

You can manage your account, get support, change download settings for patches. There is a "news" tab where you can see what's going on with blizzard and all their games. You also have the option of viewing just World of Warcraft updates.

You can see when your Bettle.net friends are on and what game they're playing. There's also a timer showing you how much game time you have left. 

And of course, you have a "play" button, so you can jump right in. I've set mine to launch when my computer starts, so WoW will already be open when I want to sit and play, and the best part is you don't need to log in to the game, it will automatically take you to the last character and server you were playing on! How sweet is that?

I def recommend it, especially if you're like me, who's always going to worldofwarcraft.com to check for updates and patch notes.

In other news, Izzy finally got his Merrymaker and mount yesterday. Of course I had to create 4 characters for him to do Let it Snow to be able to get them! 

We also did flex with the guild and that was excruciatingly painful :( We had a smaller group than usual this week, about 18-20, and a lot of them I don't even know. New members or alts? I have no clue, I was on my shaman and she's not in the guild to check who they were, but it was a mess. Wing 1 was fine, but for whatever reason they decided to Q for Wing 3 after that and that's where the shit hit the fan. After 5 wipes on Malkorok we finally got him down with half the raid dead. The problem seemed to be mainly with dps who, by the way they were acting, were there to get carried and not do a damn thing! I get that it's flex, but please don't make it hard for those that are on their mains to help get YOU gear. Talk about being selfish. Spoils was better but not by much, so I decided for mine and Izzy's sanity not to stick around for Thok. I was getting to the point where I wanted to yell at people, so I decided we needed to go before I went bitch-mode on someone.

Tonight we have our raid and I'm hoping we get to Thok or Blackfude, so we can get as much time as possible on Garrosh. Last week someone suggested we try a new strat, leaving the desecrated weapons up during phase 2 because that would give us 10% more DPS on Garrosh. After seeing how the night went, I've decided to go back to DPSing them down. There was so much running around when we left the weapons up that the 10% we were hoping to gain where lost going back and forth.

If anyone has any suggestions and strat ideas for Garrosh, I would love to hear them. This will be week 3 on him and he seriously needs to die already! We have the heals and we have the dps, but when the empowered desecrated weapon comes out it all falls apart. Our best attempt got him to 17% in phase 2. Any advice you could give me to help our team would be greatly appreciated :)

But they're NOT my characters!

I'm certain that there are a few of you out there that get where I'm coming from here. The last few days I've found myself playing on Izzy's priest more than my own characters! Since he came back to playing I've been trying to get him his legendary cloak, he's on secrets right now and half way through revered with the Black Prince.

Last night we were playing with some guildies, very random stuff like PvPing in Blasted Lands, moved to Hellfire only to end up doing Maly and Grull's. At some point he realized that Winter Veil has begun and after checking his achievements he noticed it's the only thing he needs for his Merrymaker and What a long, strange trip it's been. First words out of his mouth are "you're going to do this for me, right?" >.< /rolls eyes  /facepalm  /wrist

Seriously?

I got mine back in 2008, but the man keeps quitting WoW around the same time every year and always misses his Merrymaker achievement lol. So I literally logged on Kaliapy for 5 minutes this morning to tend to my farm and then switched to Rah when a friend mentioned needing to do the achievements as well. So after spending the day running around trying to get these things done I've finally gotten all of them except for Let it Snow. Which is proving to be a pain in the butt because I can't seem to get ANY snowflakes! These revelers don't seem to like me :P

Between kissing under the mistletoe and running LFRs for secrets that don't want to drop I have done nothing to make gold on MY toons today. Rah hasn't been completely unlucky though, last week he got a Primal Egg which ended up being a Red Primal Raptor, and today he got another! We'll see what it turns out to be in a few days. And because they needed healers for LFR he also ended up with a Phoenix Hatchling in his bags as well.

I complain because I'm a Latin woman and it's one of our specialties :P, but I don't mind it so much. He's working all day and doesn't really have the time to do all these things. So I do it for him to keep him happy and playing WoW :)

Haters will hate...

As some of you know my raid team has been together for 5 weeks now and this is our second week on Garrosh, with no kill yet :( I can tell people are starting to get frustrated, probably because we've killed everything else with much ease and now it feels like we're hitting a brick wall now. We've spoiled ourselves into believing that we would breeze through Garrosh as well. I believe that with this weeks gear upgrades we'll get him.

I myself was dying to stupid things last night and it has a bit to do with the bit of gossip I got from Izzy during raid. Let me give you a little back-story so you understand:

When I left group 2 (solely due to their change in raid days) and made this group, I made the decision of not having any alts in the group. Although I have no issues with alts I don't feel that the dedication is there as it is with a main character. I was able to find core raiders except for 1 tank before our first raid. The GM and her boyfriend, Xinu, offered their alts to help as we needed them until we were set up. Both of their mains are in the guild's main raid group and Xinu is actually their raid-leader. Our entire group had about a 540 ilvl when we started and we've all worked hard for our gear and for those boss kills. After many days of looking for a tank for our group Xinu told us that he would dedicate the time on his monk alt to our group and so it has been for the past 5 weeks. Which leads me to last night's gossip. Group two is run by the GM's son (who's also in the guild's main raid group) and his girlfriend, and while we've progressed to Garrosh, they have been stuck between Galakras and Shamans for the past 6 weeks. They don't have a consistent group, many alts and end up melee heavy a lot of the times, none of which is any of our fault. And so now the GM's son's gf feels the need to complain and pretty much talk shit, saying that Xinu, who is on his alt and just as under-geared as the rest of us when we started, is carrying us. She feels that he should do the same for her group, which I don't get because they hate him anyway, but I guess not enough if it means a stupid boss kill. Oh but wait, her bf is in the main progression group as well, and his alt is in group 2, so why isn't he carrying them all the way to Garrosh? Could it have something to do with the fact that one person can't carry an entire group? 

It's very upsetting for me to hear this because even though I left group 2, I have continued to recruit for them in hopes of getting them consistent raiders. I certainly don't wish them bad, never have. When our group started there was talk of friendly competition within our own groups chatter, never in guild chat and never in a malicious way. When we passed shamans our competition shifted to the guild's main raid group (who are now 3/14H) and that kept us motivated to push forward.

So now after 6 weeks of having a dedicated group we are at risk of losing our tank because this woman is jealous that we are at Garrosh and her group isn't. It has a lot more to do with the family dynamics than anything else, and I hate the fact that it's starting to affect my raid team. How bad will it get when we do get our Garrosh kill and start working on heroics?

Have you ever had to deal with family issues within your guild ranks? How do you deal with people like this, who don't seem to be happy unless everyone is miserable like they are? I'm more determined than ever now to have my team, group 3, succeed!

Proving Grounds as a Resto Shaman

Let me start off by saying that the NPCs in the proving grounds are retarded some times and you will want to kill them, especially the Mage. This is not an easy achievement to get, so please be patient with yourself as you learn the waves and figure out what cool downs to use and when.

A few things you need to know before you get started:

- Any item above ilvl 463 is scaled down to 463; items at 463 or below are not affected or scaled up.
- Find a trinket of ilvl 463 or above with a good proc for this (I had just gotten Thok's Acid-Grooved Tooth which has a nice healing proc and prov what helped me get those last 3 waves in).
- Tier set bonuses are not active, neither are Sha-Touched Gems, legendary meta gems, or legendary cape procs (if you have any of the above, find a good replacement before you try or you will be very frustrated like I got on my monk before I realized this).
- Stats from flasks, enchants, gems and profession bonuses are not reduced (so buff yourself up!) It's also important to note that mana pots don't work here, keep that in mind as you plan out your CDs.

Now let's talk about glyphs, talents and strategies:

I used the following glyphs: Glyph of Telluric Currents, Glyph of Eternal Earth and Glyph of Healing Wave. TC was useful not only to regen a little bit of mana, but it also helps with dps and in combination with Glyph of Eternal Earth it allows you to stack ES back on the tank without losing mana for it. Glyph of Healing Wave allows you to focus on everyone else. I can honestly say that I barely had to heal myself, with this glyph and standing in Healing Rain, I was set.

I used the following talents: Stone Bulwark Totem, Totemic Persistence (although Call of the Elements would probably be better for this because it would allow you to use your Bulwark, Healing Stream Totem and Capacitor Totem back to back in a pinch every 3 minutes). I also used Ancestral Swiftness (for the stats and that oh shit moment when you need a quick GHW on the tank), Conductivity (can't go wrong with endless healing rain!) and Primal Elementalist (helps greatly when you get behind on DPS and you need a little push to get caught up or simply to Empower your healing.

About the Endless waves:

- The mobs have a buff that adds 1% damage each wave.
- The same set of 10 waves repeats endlessly, but doing 10% more damage each time.
- Each wave is 1 minute long and there is a 15 sec break after every 10th wave where you will be out of combat (so do you're best to get that last mob down so you may sit and drink).

Before you start the actual challenge you will find NPCs that provide you with a few useful items like a soulwell, reforging, JC supplies and stat foods.

You'll want to use the following spells EVERY wave:

- Earth Shield the tank.
- Riptide on CD (if the tank still has his Riptide buff and someone else takes damage, like the hunter, use it on them and let that bring their HP back up, focus on the tank, he's not a brick wall as he claims to be lol).
- Unleash Elements in combination with your Earthliving Weapon to buff up your next direct heal or healing rain by 30%.
- Healing Rain on the group (all should be in your healing rain except for the hunter and sometimes the mage when she's being retarded).
- Healing Stream Totem also helps you heal that stinking hunter back up, I tried to save it for the last part of each wave when all interrupts and stuns have been used to help with the healing.
- Wind Shear when you can, but not at the expense of getting so behind on heals that you end up going oom trying to catch up.
- Capacitor Totem on CD, should use it once every wave to minimize damage and sometimes twice when you can if you're feeling overwhelmed.
- Searing Totem or Magma Totem to help with DPS.
- Stone Bulwark Totem especially when there's a lot of AoE damage going out, again usually towards the end of a wave after stuns and interrupts have been used up.
- Mana Tide Totem around 3rd wave and on CD every time after that.
- Lightning Bolt every chance you get to regen mana, help dps and add ESs back on the tank.

- And last but not least don't forget to pull up your totems at the end of each wave to get that extra bit of mana back. 

Now for the big Cooldowns:

Wave 1: Large Illusionary Flamecaller, Small Illusionary Ripper x2.
     Simple wave, no CDs needed here except for those you should be using each wave.

Wave 2: Large Illusionary Hive-Singer, Large Illusionary Aqualyte, Small Illusionary Ripper.
     If you can interrupt the Hive-Singer with both Wind Shear and Capacitor Totem you will minimize a lot of damage. Just be careful not to lose your tank to all the incoming damage. Clear the debuff as needed.

Wave 3: Large Illusionary Tunneler x2, Small Illusionary Ripper.
     You'll get a few chomps here which will not go away until your target is healed to 90%. This is where you might want to use your Healing Tide Totem.
Chomp goes away at the end of the wave, so if you are feeling the pressure just focus the tank and keep a riptide and healing stream up on the chomp victim.

Wave 4: Large Illusionary Aqualyte, Small Illusionary Aqualyte, Small Illusionary Flamecaller.
     You'll get two debuffs at the same time here, so be aware of everyone's location and choose who you want to cleanse carefully. If it's on you and an NPC, clear the NPC and back away from the group, then you can go back and stand in the healing rain. If it's on the hunter and someone in melee clear the melee, you don't want you're group taking damage and getting knocked out of healing rain. If it's on 2 NPCs in melee clear one and prepare to heal everyone back up. I like using Stormlash Totem here to help DPS these guys down faster.

Wave 5: Large Illusionary Conqueror, Large Illusionary Hive-Singer, followed by Large Illusionary Tunneler.
     I use Spirit Link Totem here when the tank gets low on HP and once the Tunneler comes out I use Ascendance to clear chomps and bring everyone's HP back up to full. I also use my Fire Elemental for that extra DPS.

Wave 6: Small Illusionary Aqualyte, Small Illusionary Flamecaller, Small Illusionary Tunneler, Small Illusionary Ripper.
     This wave can feel a bit overwhelming, just keep focused, be sure to stun every time you can here and hold on till you can use your Healing Tide Totem again. Watch those fires, the NPC can get low on HP very quickly.

Wave 7: Small Illusioanry Conqueror x2, Small Illusionary Hive-Singer.
     This wave isn't too bad just a lot of damage on the tank. Be sure to stun and use your Earth Elemental to get some damage off the tank when possible.

Wave 8: Small Illusionary Flamecaller x4, Small Illusionary Ripper.
     Stuns and healing rain. Ascendance when it's up to get caught up. Watch out for those fires again.

Wave 9: Large Illusionary Hive-Singer, Small Illusionary Tunneler, Small Illusionary Aqualyte.
     You'll want to use Healing Tide Totem again here and your Fire Elemental to help DPS things down. Stay focused cause you'll also be dispelling here and you don't want to clear the wrong target. You can also use your Spirit Link for either this wave or the next.

Wave 10: Large illusioanry Conqueror, Small Illusionary Flamecaller, followed by Small Illusionary Aqualyte.
     The Mage will Lust/Hero here to give you that extra push to get through this wave. Use your Earth Elemental, Stormlash totem and anything else you have in your arsenal to clear this wave fast. You want to be able to drink up the moment the last mob dies. And remember that the next wave will be fairly simple, so you can let the tank take a few hits before you have to get up, so try to fully regen.

Remember that the next 10 waves will be 10% harder than the previous ones. The more you practice, the better you'll get at them. If you can manage to get through the first 4 or 5 waves of each set without using a CD you'll be better prepared for the more difficult waves closer to 20 and 30.

Once you're ready you can talk to Trial Master Rotun to begin.

I hope this helps some healers, resto shamans in particular, out there trying to get this awesome achievement! If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment, I'd be more than happy to add your tips to this guide :)

Happy Friday the 13th!

the Proven Healer!

Since the Proving Grounds came out I've been slowly doing the achievements as I had time, but the last two weeks the only one I had left for healing was the endless (30 waves) and I finally got it done yesterday on my shaman!!!

Around wave 26 I starting getting nervous and excited and the adrenaline was rushing and I couldn't even scream because Izzy had just gotten home from work and dropped dead on the bed lol.

So here is Rhyannon proudly showing off the title she earned!

Makes me realize that I'm a way better shaman than a monk and have every intention of going back to her come Warlords of Draenor. I would do it now, but she's only at a 516 ilvl and Kaliapy is at 557 and my raid team would probably kill me if I tried to gear out Rhy when we're already on Garrosh. That's ok though, this little break has only made me realize how much I LOVE playing her and how well I know how to play the class. So come Warlords you will be seeing a lot more of her :D

I'll try my best to make a post in the next few days on how I did the proving grounds on her while it's still fresh in my mind for anyone that is interested.

Good luck to all the healers out there trying, keep at it, it's worth the trouble, I promise!

OMG, they know I have a blog now!!!

So last night in the middle of a raid boss fight I notice some chatter on guild chat and I read just enough to see someone post about how they joined the guild because of my blog! My first thought was "cool, someone actually reads my blog!" And then the panic set in "omg, what have I said in my blog that could affect me in this guild!" LOL Of course there is nothing, because there is nothing bad to say about this group of people. They are the friendliest bunch I've ever met. They love doing things together and pitching in to help each other when they can. They raid new and old content together, they pvp, level alts, you name it. I sincerely couldn't be happier with my new home on WoW. In case anyone is interested in joining just send a tell to Kaliapy on Bleeding Hollow horde side and I'd be more than happy to invite you to the guild. So anyway, Ripclaw, next time you're on I hope we have more of a chance to chat!

I am proud to say that my raid group (group 3) is now 12/14 SoO with Paragons of the Klaxxi at 35% or so! I couldn't be happier with the progression we've made in 3 weeks. And I think we've been a little off cause we've had some pugs and alts come in to fill due to the holidays. I have no doubts that we'll be seeing Garrosh by our second raid night this week! I can taste the heroics!!! :P

And last but not least, yesterday was our elemental shaman, Verbalm's birthday. He turned the big "30" and Izzy and I decided to get him a Royal Satchel to help him celebrate!