Patch 6.0.2 - First Impressions

Patch is finally here and as usual everyone has mixed emotions. Trade is bustling with people trying to figure out where things are, others complaining about their missing spells, and most secretly enjoying the excitement that comes with a new patch and expansion.

First thing I noticed logging on was Rhyannon. I could see the difference in the character model right off the bat and she looks great!

After logging on you get a prompt about the new changes and a way to start the quest line for the invasion in Blasted Lands.

After I accepted my quest I was sad to see all the gaps in my bars :(

As a shaman healer though, I have to say it is kinda nice to have space for things other than totems everywhere!

Then I went off to check my bank and check out the Toy Box.

SPACE!!! Space to fill with more junk! It's really nice to have that trade goods tab too.

The new map with quest is nice and simple to use. I wish it wasn't as large, but I'll get used to it.

And you can't hate on the transparency when you are on the move!

Quick tip in case you are going crazy looking for this as I was. To remove the outlines go to your interface> display> and at the bottom you will see options for the outline. I made mine go bye bye.

Then I grabbed Rah and put him on follow and I did the invasion story line.

And got us a title:

And a cute little pet, which can be caged, by the way, for some extra gold when the expansion comes out.

When not bugging out I got a chance to do UBRS, which gives you a little taste of what's to come.

I noticed the healing changes but it was nothing too overwhelming that I couldn't handle. Most of my gear lost it's spirit and yet I have no mana regen problems what-so-ever. I'm currently at 587 spirit, with 2689 mana regen with a 565 ilvl. I went from having 50% mastery to 103% O.o once reforge was removed. MUST GET CRIT/HASTE GEAR ASAP! Other than the slower cast timese due to my loss of haste shaman healing remains much the same as before. I'm scared to go on my other characters though lol because I know they have not been as fortunate as Rhy.

You also get a chance to grab some 550 ilvl blues in UBRS, which can be disenchanted into the new enchanting mats and are selling for a butt load on the AH.

And last, but certainly not least, the new Horde mount! It's AWESOME! And I love the way my shaman looks riding it!

Over all not a bad patch day, but the day isn't over yet. Raid tonight should be fun and interesting and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no resets during that time.

How has patch day been treating you guys? What do you love/hate? Let me know!

Shaman Healing for 6.0.2 and WoD

With 6.0.2 patch coming out tomorrow I decided to take a quick peek at my shaman in the PTR before things go live. Our guild is going to be raiding Mythic 20 mans on and I want to be prepared.

So here are the changes for shaman, in particular to restoration shamans:

New for Restoration:

 Ascendance: The Shaman transforms into a Water Ascendant for 15 sec. While in this form, all healing done is duplicated and distributed evenly among nearby allies.

 Purification: You gain 5% more of the Mastery stat from all sources.

Changes for Restoration:

 Chain Heal: 
Now Restoration only. Now 14.2% of base mana, down from 22.5%. Heals the friendly target for 
162.5% of Spell power), then jumps to heal the most injured nearby targets
. Healing is reduced by 10% after each jump. Heals 4 total targets. - Mana cost lowered and healing has been reduced by 10% instead of 15% per jump. Overall a good thing for chain heal spamming!
 Earth Shield: 
Now 12.6% of base mana, down from 19.0%. Protects the target with an earthen shield, increasing the effectiveness of Shaman healing spells on that target by 20%, and causing attacks to heal the shielded target for 0 (+ 
63%). 9 charges. Lasts 10 min. This effect can only occur once every few seconds. Earth Shield can only be placed on one target at a time, 
and only one of your Elemental Shields can be active on you at once. - Mana cost has been lowered, which is always good. The big change here, and I'm certain all resto shamans are as excited about this as I am, more than one shield can be placed on a target!!! NO MORE SHIELD OVERRIDES!
 Healing Stream Totem: Summons a Water Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster that heals 
an injured party or raid member within 40 yards for [((Spell power * 
0.2571) * 1)] every 2 sec. Lasts 15 sec. - Mana cost has been reduced and so has the amount it heals for by 50%. Def not happy about that :(
 Healing Wave: 
Now 10.4% of base mana, down from 19.5%. Heals a friendly target for (
412.5% of Spell power). - Mana cost reduced. This is our Greater Healing Wave renamed. We are now forced to use this spell, and if you are like me I always used Healing Wave for single target and I could spam it all day with how mana efficient it is. Now it's either this or Healing Surge. UGH...
 Restorative Waves: 
Your heals increase allies' maximum health by 10% of the amount healed, up to a maximum of 10% of their health.
 Resurgence: Values have changed and this is no longer affected by Greater Healing Wave. 
Your direct heal criticals refund you mana: (812 * 100 / 100) mana from 
Healing Wave, (812 * 0.6 * 100 / 100) mana from Healing Surge, Riptide, or Unleash Life
, and (812 * 0.333 * 100 / 100) mana from 
Chain Heal. - This hasn't been changed other than having the heals they removed taken off the tool tip.
 Riptide: 
Now 9.0% of base mana, down from 12.0%. Heals a friendly target for 
138% of Spell power) and another 
180% of Spell power) over 18 sec. Your Chain Heal spell is 25% more effective when the primary target is affected by your Riptide. - Mana reduced here as well and the initial heal has been increased by 70% and heal-over-time has been reduced by 20%. I can deal with that, especial when it's glyphed.
 Spiritual Insight: Increases your mana pool by 400%. - Unchanged really since hit will no longer be in the game that part of the tooltip has been removed.
 Spiritwalker's Grace: 
Now Elemental and Restoration only. - Same as always, exept that enhancement shamans can't use it.
 Telluric Currents: Your attunement to natural energies causes your Lightning Bolt spell to 
cost no mana. - This is sexy and about damn time!
 Tidal Waves: When you cast Chain Heal or Riptide, you gain the Tidal Waves effect, which reduces the cast time of your
nextHealing Wave by 
20%
or increases the critical effect chance of your 
next Healing Surge spell by 30%. 2 charges. - Reduced from 30% to 20%.

Changed Talents: Not going over the new level 100 talents yet because there is so much to cover for the current patch.

 Ancestral Guidance: For the next 10 sec, 
20% your direct damage and healing is converted to healing on up to 3 nearby injured party or raid members. - Down from 40% and 60%. I use Rushing Streams here for the most part, so I'm not too concerned about this change.
 Ancestral Swiftness: ncreases haste by 5% and attack speed by 5% at all times. When activated, your next Nature spell with a base casting time less than 10 sec. becomes instant. - Same as before just included attack speed with the new consolidations.
 Conductivity: When
 Your Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Earth Shock and Stormstrike increase the duration of your Healing Rain by 4.00 sec, up to a maximum increase of 30 sec. - Can't use pew pew spells to make this last longer... suckage.
 Echo of the Elements: 
Your spells and abilities have a chance to 
trigger Echo of the Elements. 
Echo of the Elements causes your next short cooldown spell or ability (Lava Burst, Frost Shock, or Earthquake for Elemental; Lava Lash, Stormstrike, or Fire Nova for Enhancement; Riptide, Unleash Life, Purify Spirit for Restoration) to not incur its cooldown. - No longer duplicates your spell, instead it removed a CD. I may try this out, although the haste increase from ancestral swiftness is prob still better. Could work nicely on a fight like Thok with Purify Spirit.
 Elemental Mastery: 
2 min cooldown, up from 1.5 min.
 Elemental Blast: Harness the raw power of the elements, dealing (
145% of Spell power) Elemental damage and increasing your Specialization [Agility (Enhancement only)] Critical Strike, Haste, 
Multistrike or Mastery by 137 for 8 sec. 
Restoration: Also increases your Spirit by 257 for 8 sec. - Hasn't changed, only the tooltip and the addition of a spirit buff for resto shamans.

Unleashed Fury now has three spell IDs, one for each specialization, instead of one lengthy tooltip for all:

 Unleashed Fury, Restoration: Empowers your Unleash Life, increasing the healing from you next single-target heal on that ally by 50%. - Only the tooltip has changed.

New Glyphs: Only one worth mentioning for resto, or any shaman really, is:

 Glyph of Ghostly Speed: Ghost Wolf grants an additional 60% movement speed, but can no longer be used while in combat.This effect is disabled in battlegrounds and arenas and cannot be combined with other temporary speed bonuses. - Yes, please! I'd like to get to Thok fast after a wipe! TYVM lol

Changed Glyphs:

 Glyph of Chaining: Increases the jump distance of your Chain Heal spell by 100%. Now Restoration Only - OH YEAH! 
 Glyph of Cleansing Waters: When you dispel a harmful Magic or Curse effect from an ally, you also heal the target for 4% of your maximum health. - Down from 5%.
 Glyph of Totemic Recall: Causes your Totemic Recall ability to return 25% additional mana when recalling a totem. - Down from 100%.
 Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace: Now Elemental and Restoration Only - No change, but only used by resto.
 Glyph of Totemic Vigor: Increases the health of your totems by 2% of your maximum health. - Down from 5%.

Class Abilities: Class ability changes.

 Ancestral Spirit: Now costs 4.0% of base mana, down from 84.3%. - 
 About damn time!

 Grace of Air: Empowering winds swirl around the Shaman, granting all nearby party and raid members 141 Mastery and 5% haste. - Added haste!
 Healing Rain: Healing rains blanket the area targeted by the Shaman, restoring [((16.3882% of Spell power) + (16.3882% of Spell power)) * 2.5] health to up to 6 allies in the area over 10 sec. - A bit of a nerf to healing rain, but we'll live ;)

 Healing Stream Totem: Now 8.6% of base mana, down from 23.5%.
 Healing Surge: Now 20.7% of base mana, down from 34.3%. Heals a friendly target for 412.5% of Spell power) - Slight mana reduction.
 Hex: Now 1.7 sec cast, up from 1.5

 Wind Shear: Disrupts the target's concentration with a burst of wind, interrupting spellcasting and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 3 sec. - Threat reduction was removed.

This pretty much covers all the changes that apply primarily to restoration shamans for 6.0.2. For the most part, it seems that shaman healing is the same as far as the mechanics are concerned. We'll have to make a few modifications to our healing style due to the lack of smart healing, but since we didn't get any instant heals affected by the new cast times, "yanet "S" keys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" <---- Izzy :D lozlwafflesncheese, it won't be as big of an adjustment as other healers. This ^ is what I have to deal with on a daily basis from my husband lol.

Tomorrow night Izzy and I will be raiding with the guild 20 man Mythic. Izzy may be Twitching it at 11:30 pm server time (Bleeding Hollow) which is 8:30 pm PST. Here is the link for his TwitchTV in case you want to drop by to check it out: http://www.twitch.tv/drdopepeddles

The guild is currently 12/14H, so we should be able to down a few bosses on heroic even with the new changes and the extra people being added to the current group.

I can't wait for all the bag space I will have tomorrow and once again being able to experience the pre-expansion event. Good luck to all of you starting your Mythic raiding tomorrow, feel free to drop by and let me know how it goes!

Not letting that stop us!

As you may already know, my comp is done for. No matter what we tried it just wouldn't turn back on. So Izzy pulled out his old comp, which also had issues, but workable once it turns on. I spent a day downloading the necessary things to be able to raid and have been playing like this for almost 2 weeks now. I'll have to deal until I'm able to get a new comp.

So last week we attempted Heroic Norushen. The first few attemps were a crazy mess of people forgetting their order and if they were to kill their big ad first or last. Once we got it squared away we had a good real attempt where we got him to 3% and the next one was a solid kill with 15 seconds to spare on the enrage timer. I believe we had a total of 7 attempts. Not bad I would say.

This week we went for Heroic Immerseus. At first it was a giant mess off adds, puddles and debuffs, but after just a few attempts we got the hang of it and on our 7th attempt we got him down with no problems. Healing that fight is insane with how much crap you have to watch out for: don't stand in puddles, heal and decurse people, stay out of whirls and swirl... it was fun though. I do enjoy hectic fights, it keeps healing interesting!

So for next week I plan to have us working in Heroic Galakras. Seems to be the next easy heroic to attempt. And from there we'll prob hit Protectors, Sha and Nazgrim, with Jugg and Shamans following.

We've gotten plenty of gear from heroics as well between rolls and loot drops. Izzy got 2 pieces for his priest last night, Bolt-Burster Grips from loot drop and Ichor-Dripping Shoulderpads from his roll, so he's happy as can be with his new BiS shoudlers for his Disc spec. And our lock picked up the Purified Bindings of Immerseus on a roll which made the rest of the casters happy cause that's one less person to roll against when it actually drops. On H Norushen I got heroic warforged Boots of Broken Reliance which is awesome because it's been so long since I've gotten gear that I'm Valor capped, so now I actually have something to spend them on!

In other news, my shaman was picked up by a pug on Tues for SoO reg and she was able to full clear with them in one night :D Not only that but I was loot whoring it up! I ended up with 3 tier pieces, neck, boots and 2 pieces for enhancement! She went up 8 item levels in one night O.o Now that I know I can handle normal Siege I'll be bringing her in on our reg boss kills in hopes of getting some loot and will eventually replace Kaliapy with her once their ilvls are much closer :)

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!