Back in TOC, my 10 man guild ran “organised PUGs” of 25man TOC, including heroic modes – which, at the time, put us briefly at 3rd on the server progression ladder, or something similar. So I’m always interested to see “casual” or weekend raiders getting through content.

Yep, my guild just downed LK. We raid about 6 hours a week. I don’t really play much outside of that.

Just wanted to give a thanks to Blizz for allowing people like me, that have the desire and skill to raid, but not necessarily a whole life to dedicate to this game to be able to progress and see all the content.

I’ve never been about striving to be the very very best at this game, but through the badge system and many of the new tools the game has to offer I’ve been able to stay relevant (and viable) enough to let the way I play, not my gear, qualify me as a raider.

Please continue with the direction you are taking the game (minus the forced RealID of course).

Looking forward to hard modes.

/cheer

It made me smile. I figured the guy would be pounced on by a few jerks, with false “grats”es and whatnot. Zarhym was in there censoring, so that may have been the case.

But it just made me think about the ICC buffs, and how much I like this system.

Back in Sunwell, we were racing against the 3.0 clock. We didn’t get Illidan first, but we did get Kalecgos and Brutallus, by quite a good margin. Unfortunately Felmyst, while an awesome encounter, called for bulk shamans and priests, something we just didn’t really have. We recruited new ones, but they were undergeared or not terribly good. People got tired of wiping to slow reactions, and the snowball of attrition and burnout got bigger and bigger, until eventually the guild dissolved.

We reformed later, and with the 3.0 nerf to boss health (and our new abilities), we easily cleared Sunwell.

But it was no achievement. Not really. Not when you knew how hard guilds struggled against Mu’ru, or how finely tuned KJ was. We had the smug satisfaction if beating Brutallus the hard way (that fight really felt earned), but everything else was a bit of a freebie.

I really wish, back then, that it had been a gradual process, like we’re seeing in ICC, rather than WHAM – 30% nerf/buff.

My guild has dissolved twice – once at Felmyst, and once at Yogg Saron. While we always had a strong and skilled core, it seems hard to escape the problem of having a chunk of raiders that aren’t willing to wipe for more than a few nights. I remember working on bosses for months – but these days, it seems as though a night or two is the limit before people start posting absences and dragging their feet. That’s highly contagious, and always on my mind as we approach obstacles.

Coming up to the harder heroics in ICC, I begged my officers to consider taking things easy and not pushing. We’d love to be first on the ladder, of course, but not ever again if it meant running the guild into the ground along the way.

So we “took a break” from progression (much to the delight of our resident harassers), and slipped back to second place. For a few weeks, while attendance was low and lag was high, we cut our raid nights back, and simply farmed the easier heroics, and swapped to normal mode to do Putricide, Sindragosa, and the Lich King (being able to toggle difficulty is also a great feature, rather than separate lockouts). We recharged our batteries, waiting for Ruby Sanctum, and hopefully an upward trend on attendance.

Basically – we were willing to take people pointing and laughing at our stalled progression, if it meant protecting the guild from burning out as a group. We don’t mind waiting for the 30% buff to get things down, if that’s what it takes, without pushing people over the edge.

As the expansion approaches, attrition is inevitable. People are tired, or on vacation, moving house, having internet problems.. but instead of giving ourselves ulcers, we’re adopting the “slow and steady” approach.

And honestly, without the gradual buffs, I doubt we would have got this far. The knowledge that in a few weeks things will be a bit easier – I think that goes a long way to help veterans stave off burnout, and new recruits bridge the gap between the gear they have now, and the DPS we need.

So.. thumbs up to this idea Blizzard – I think this new system is great. I think there are probably some improvements that can be made, such as allowing people to choose the level of the buff (if they don’t want the full 30%, for example), but overall, I think it is really good. Letting everyone see the content has not been as much of a “casual zergfest” as I suspect many people though it would. You still can’t breeze in and mow everything down in a PUG. And, of course, it lets people jump in on their alts, too, without hurting the group. In Cataclysm, I may need to revert to being a weekend raider, so the prospect of still being able to see all of the content, even if it takes much longer – that’s just fantastic.

Most importantly (to me) though, it means that serious guilds, who might otherwise have fallen frustratingly short of the mark (as in the past!) can use the buff to finish what they started, despite attrition and despite having to recruit green or undergeared players. Perhaps there’s no difference between nerfing a boss by 30%, or buffing the players by 30%, but doing it over time lets us feel that we’re earning it, rather than just flipping a switch and making it a cake walk.

All I want is to finish what we started – but if we can do it without feeling like we were handed a freebie overnight, that would be great, too.

Good luck everyone, I hope you get through the content that you want to, before Cataclysm.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Power Auras exports – Ruby Sanctum
• A 10man raider in a 25man guild
• Raid lockout changes – why I love it (but why I fear for 25s)


My code also plays an alarm sound; if you want a sound attached, you can simply save it into your Power Auras / Sounds folder and name it the same as mine – “burglar_alarm_going_off.wav”, or change the Power Auras settings to suit the name of your sound. If you don’t want a sound, you can just leave the code as-is.

Here are the codes:

Fiery Combustion:

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.082352941176471; anim1:nu1; g:nu0.027450980392157; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:st; size:nu0.48999997973442; torsion:nu1; r:nu1; y:nu-30; x:nu0; customname:st; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu2; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu58; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:bofalse; isResting:bofalse; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu1; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; spec2:botrue; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:stburglar_alarm_going_off.wav; combat:nu0; id:nu28; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:botrue; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stFiery Combustion; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:botrue; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; sound:nu0; finish:nu0

Soul Consumption:

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.23529411764706; anim1:nu1; g:nu0.082352941176471; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:st; size:nu0.48999997973442; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.36078431372549; y:nu-30; x:nu0; customname:st; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu2; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu58; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:bofalse; isResting:bofalse; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu1; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; spec2:botrue; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:stburglar_alarm_going_off.wav; combat:nu0; id:nu29; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; buffname:stSoul Consumption; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; sound:nu0; finish:nu0

Possibly Related Posts:

• Casual Kingslayer
• Resto Druid calculator!
• WTF is my Gearscore?

When I posted on this subject last April one of the common responses I got was “I enjoy 10mans more but I raid 25s for the better gear.” I find that statement to be nonsensical. Does this person truly prefer 10mans over 25mans? In my opinion they do not, and their actions prove it.

While this person may prefer the 10man size over the 25man size, their actions prove that they value the 25man gear more then they value the 10man size. So they are not being forced to participate in an activity that they don’t enjoy. If that was the case they would stop.


My rebuttal: It’s perfectly acceptable for someone to make that statement – that they prefer 10s but still do 25s for the gear. This is not nonsensical at all. What is nonsensical, or perhaps just extremely naïve, is the statement that if they don’t enjoy a particular raid, they would stop. History shows us that this is simply not how the game works (and this is what Blizzard is trying to fix).


Why I prefer 10s, but keep doing 25s

So why the heck do I do 25s, if I prefer 10s?

A few reasons. First and foremost, I love my guild, I love raiding with my guild, and they raid 25mans. They do 10s on the side, of course, but these are often late at night, or full, so 10man raiding is sporadic. I want to raid with them, so I raid 25s. I could leave and find a cozy little 10 man guild, but my buddies wouldn’t be in it, so I don’t want to.

Second, to kill dragons. Until a while ago, I was still very competitive and wanted to “win” on the realm progression ladder. Not so much, these days. And, once, I was hung up on the fact that 25man raiding was “real” raiding (unfortunately – this is not a jab at 10man raiders), and I didn’t want to settle for anything less than the pointy edge of the game. More and more, though, I wish I could just raid 10s for fun rather than 25s for progression.

Third, to improve my character. Inexorable was a 10man guild through TOC, and I really enjoyed it. But wearing 10man gear felt unfinished; it’s like still having a Heroism badge item in your gear, or an ilvl 200 crafted epic; it might do the job OK, but you won’t be happy until you replace it with something that is better.

Now, some (many) people improve their gear so that they can show it off on the bank steps, or compare themselves with others, compete on the Gearscore ladders, on the wow logs rankings, or to see if they can get a new crit Eviscerate record. I don’t. I improve my gear because I enjoy working towards the next step – whatever that is. If my boots are a tier under what’s available, then I want to upgrade them. If I’ve been stuck with the same offhand since Naxx, I want to upgrade it – not so I can kick ass on the meters or put my spellpower over 9000 – but because it’s the next thing on my list to “fix”. I won’t be happy until I’m wearing BiS gear, not because I want to be uber, but because I enjoy that process of continuous improvement – it’s what keeps me playing.

Obviously, increased numbers come with upgrades, so without trying, I am improving my numbers, getting bigger crits, pulling higher figures on the meters. But I don’t strive for gear for those purposes.

For many people, this is difficult or even impossible to understand. I’m sure some will think I’m flat out lying when I say I don’t do it for the numbers.

They believe that 10man raiders go do 25man raids because they want bigger numbers, or to epeen in higher levels of gear. Some do. I do not.


Stopping short of the finish line

Wearing 10 man gear when there is better equipment available made me feel like I was stopping short of the mark. It made me anxious. Better gear was out there – I could theoretically keep improving my character – but not in the 10man raids. I didn’t NEED the gear in order to continue running our 10man raids; I wanted it because I am not satisfied with “BiS (out of what is available in 10mans)”.

For 10man strict raiders, that list IS their BiS list. They’re not settling for second best – that is their BiS shopping list. They have a finite list of items to work towards, from the same content they are running as normal.

But non-strict 10man raiders are kinda stuck in limbo.. they could write down a BiS-from-10s list, but those “real” BiS items are still out there, available through PuGs or GKP runs.


I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t be able to relate to this feeling, and would simply put it down to me wanting moar epix. But it’s not that. The idea of spending ages working on your character but still never quite being able to finish it off properly – well, to quote one of Graylo’s commenters, it just sucks.

As another commenter said – “When 25s have better gear, people feel obliged to raid 25s to get it, as “sticking to 10s” feels like an arbitrary stopping point.” I couldn’t have said it any better – arbitrary is exactly it. It feels like you’ve stopped short, stalled.


Nobody is forcing you to do something you dislike

Nobody is actually obliged to do raids that they don’t want to do. Gray’s argument is, “if you don’t like X, don’t do it” – ie, if you prefer 10s and don’t like 25s, stop doing 25s, silly. It’s logical. And it’s what many people want, too – we don’t want to grind instances because we feel obliged to.

But historically, that’s just not how it works. It would be nice if it did, but it doesn’t. At least not so far.

Look at TOC. Think about the thousands of people who ran four lockouts of TOC every week (more, if they did alt runs), loathing it, burning out on it, despising it. Wanting to punch Jaraxxus in his demonic happy place for never giving up the damn Solace. But they kept doing it, even when there was no challenge left, no more achievements, just a grind. Why? Why keep doing something that you hate so much? Gear, obviously.

At this point it probably sounds like I’m looping back and contradicting myself, agreeing with Graylo that gear is more important than my personal preference to run 10s. My point is basically that Gray (as I interpret it) is saying that my lust for epics keeps me going back to 25s, and if I truly disliked them, I would stop – but I don’t, because I want shinies (or numbers). This is an easy conclusion to make, because many people DO lust for epics and continue to run content solely for this reason.

But I can put my hand on my heart and say I prefer 10s but still want to do 25s because I’m not satisfied wearing second-place equipment. Not because I *need* better equipment to do my 10s, but because I will never be happy with gear that is simply adequate. My character can’t be “finished” if I settle for 10 man gear.

If a player chooses the 25man format for 13 extra itemization points then it is obvious that the raid size really isn’t that big of a deal.

If they still felt the need to do 25s for the improved gear then it is obvious that the raid size is really not that important to them.


The above statements tell me that Graylo doesn’t understand the mindset of many 10man raiders. Those 13 extra itemization points are not just about being uber, or doing more DPS, or looking cool. Those few points represent the final little step to finish off my character, to put the cherry on top of all my hard work. Not being able to reach that is incredibly frustrating, and in a game where personal progression plays a major part in most people’s gameplay, why wouldn’t it be? Why wouldn’t I feel short changed, settling for 10man gear when there’s 25man gear out there – regardless of whether I “need” it to play, or not? (again, stricters excepted!)


Analogylol

I have a lot of trouble playing alts that aren’t going to “go anywhere” in terms of end game. I can level an alchemy mule, I can level a herbalist/miner, because they will have a purpose. But I can’t level a character if I know I won’t play it at max level. I have to have a reason to continue to improve it, otherwise it’s just pointless busywork. I find myself dropping alts around 50-60 because I realise there’s no point in continuing to level them.

On the other hand, I consider my main, Keeva, to always be in a state of “not quite finished”, and I’m always keen to find the next piece of the puzzle to make her better. It’s what keeps me coming back – the next little goal on the list. And because I know she has a purpose, so far as end game is concerned, then I am happy to put in those hours to keep improving her.

Settling for 10man gear when I know there’s 25man gear out there – it’s like spending hours and hours on a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, but before you get started, you already know that there are 5 pieces missing because your cat took them behind the fridge.

You can see them there, slightly out of reach. You could get them back, I guess, but it would mean moving the fridge, which is something that isn’t terribly easy, and you don’t want to do it.

But if you don’t go do it somehow, you’ll have to settle for a mostly-finished jigsaw puzzle with someone’s left leg missing. Is that good enough?

Are you happy to settle for a jigsaw puzzle is “pretty much” finished? Does it worry you that those pieces are still stuck behind the fridge, or do you consider the puzzle “done”?


Cataclysm: No more stopping short (gear wise)

Blizzard has recognised that people want to do a particular type of raid, but still feel obliged to do the other, in many cases. Graylo’s idea of having two completely different paths of progession, 10 and 25, and making people choose, is nice, but Blizzard knows it won’t work:

We sort of tried that, Gray, and they all chose 25 (meanwhile telling us that they wanted to play 10 but felt stupid for doing so since they were missing out on gear).


Exactly – we can do 10s, enjoy them, feel like we’re progressing and doing well, but there’s always that nagging feeling that we’re missing out on gear that is sitting right there in front of us. We still love 10s, but we feel obliged to reach out and grab the 25 gear if we possibly can. That doesn’t mean we’re lying to ourselves about what we want, or cheating, or being dumb for raiding something that we don’t really want to do. It just means we want to keep moving forward. This isn’t nonsensical, it’s the nature of the game – to continue to improve ourselves.

But in Cataclysm, raid lockouts will mean that 10 man raiders won’t be left feeling like their finish line is 30 yards back from the “real” one. While I have concerns about making 10 and 25man lockouts exclusive, that’s a post for another day. Gear wise, the fact that shared lockouts will never make me choose between sticking with Tier XYZ gear or pushing myself into 25s to get Tier XYZ.5 gear – that makes me very happy. I don’t really care if 25man raiders get more badges than me – I can get the same over time – but having access to the same gear drops out of the raid format that I prefer – I’m quite thrilled about that.

I will never again have to decide between my preferred raid size or being able to “finish” Keeva – something that many 10man raiders have had to do in the past – it’s BiS gear OR your favourite raid size, not both (25man raiders on the other hand don’t ever have to make that choice, they get access to their BiS by default).

Now I’ll be able to do both – raid 10s with close friends, while never feeling like I’m “settling” for runner-up equipment.


You guys can crawl around with the dust bunnies behind the fridge, I’m doing 10s in Cataclysm!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Cataclysm talent update, armor specialisation
• Blizz dev chat on Twitter – druid question roundup
• Cataclysm: the brand spankin’ new 31pt talent trees

* 10- and 25- man raids in Cataclysm will share the same lockout
* Normal versus Heroic mode will be chosen on a per-boss basis in Cataclysm raids, the same way it works in Icecrown Citadel
* 10- and 25- man bosses will be close in difficulty
* 10- and 25- man bosses will drop the exact same items
* 25-man bosses will drop a higher quantity of loot, but not quality
* Content will continue to be gated
* First Cataclysm raids will be tuned for players in dungeons blues and crafted items



10 man raiders have always been the red-headed step-child

First of all, it’s not a big surprise. Giving all healers dispels, the creation of Magelust, consolidating buffs – it all points to “take the player, not the class” and making it easier to fill a 10man group – without missing out on key buffs and abilities. 10 man raiders have been crying out for a long time that it’s unfair that they work hard for their boss kills – often with inferior loot – and despite Blizzards previous claims that 10 mans were a viable “branch” of raiding, they still fell short and were not as difficult, and didn’t give similar rewards.

On the other side of the street, you have 25man raiders rightly claiming that 25man raids are harder to coordinate – it’s harder to wrangle 25 bums into seats, for a start. Harder to keep recruitment running, harder to deal with attrition, etc. There’s usually more drama in 25mans, more cliques, more pressure on officers to “run” things (when we were a 10 man guild, nobody had to run anything – the guild practically ran itself).

So part of me believes that 25man raiders deserve more because it is undeniably harder to run a 25man raid team and 25man raiding guild.

But the other part of me believes that if Blizzard really does want 10man raiding to be parallel to 25man raiding in terms of skill (etc) then something has to give. Giving 10 man raiders inferior loot always made them feel like it wasn’t “real” raiding. I remember the Valanyr debates – why can’t 10 man raiders get one, too? Obviously because 25man raiders would go run 10s for multiple maces – just as they would run multiple instances for extra loot if it was made equal to the 25man gear – and obviously that is unfair. And 25man raiders would often claim positions on the 10 man progression ladder, wearing their 25man loot (that won’t be a problem anymore, since we’ll all be wearing the same stuff – 25man raiders won’t have a head start on 10 man fights through superior gear).

So what’s the choice? Either continue as we are now, with 10man raids being (unfortunately) inherently inferior, or change it so that they truly are in parallel with 25s.

Evidently Blizzard really does what the 10 man raiders to have their raids without feeling like it’s a consolation prize, when they should really be doing “real” raids with the “real” raiders.


They want more people to see more content

Anyone remember 10man Stratholme? I loved that place with 10 people. It was a great size. But they changed the 10 man dungeons because it was too difficult to form a group from Trade. Making it 5 man made it much easier for groups to form, which meant more groups seeing the content.

This is the same. Bringing 10s in line with 25s means more people getting a chance to do it. Not restricting it to the people who have and run large guilds. Allowing small groups of friends to raid. I remember back in Kara, playing with my friends – I loved that place. But I always felt like I was lagging behind the “real” raiders because I wasn’t in 25man raids.

10s are more fun, with less hassle, a closer group, and less chance of you having to drag half a dozen slackers around for free loot. I loved it when we were a 10 man guild.

So, honestly, I like it. Throw your stones, I don’t care. And I’m a 25man raider!


Less pressure to cram it all in

These days, I never get to do 10s. I still haven’t killed LK on 10, despite him being killed by our guild weeks and weeks ago. Why? Because we have one group that raids at midnight on (I can’t do that), and another group that is already set in stone and I only ever get invited if the other druid is away. It’s not fun being on the bench permanently. The only chance I get is if there is a third part-alts run, perhaps on a weekend. And I feel obliged to go because I want those achievements, I want to say that I’ve done it. And because I do need some of the gear for my other spec. And then someone is away, and we can’t finish it off tonight. Or tomorrow. There goes another week that I don’t get to finish the instance.

I’m left feeling ripped off that I can’t get a group for 10s, while other people can. And why? Because it’s there. Because the achievements beckon. Because there’s a bit of gear, I guess. And more badges. I feel obliged to do it.. and I feel really annoyed and upset when I miss out on a week.

If that option/obligation is taken away – well, I’ll be honest – YEEHAW.

Some people are upset about “missing out” – ie if you choose to do 25s, you’ll “miss out” on 10s. You’re not missing out on something that doesn’t exist anymore (a second lockout). We never had parallel 10 and 25 raids in TBC. There were 10man raids, and there were 25s. We didn’t have the same instance for both sizes. I think at first, it seemed like a good idea to be able to choose; it seemed like it would give people the choice to be a 10 or a 25man raider. But all that really happened is that 10 man raiders felt ripped off, and 25man raiders felt obliged to do double or quadruple the raiding each week.

I am not a fan of double (or quadruple) raid lockouts. I feel obliged to run them – as many serious raiders do – to maximise my character. And that’s not even bringing alts into the picture. Two or four runs of the same instance per week – per character – is not fun. I can’t say I’ll be sad to see the back of that.


The near death of 25s?

I don’t buy the argument that 10man loot is poorer because the fights are easier. If Blizzard can balance 40 man raids to be difficult for 40 people, and 25man raids to be difficult for 25 people, then they can balance 10 man raids for 10 people. Especially with the changes to buffs etc.

However, I do know that it is harder to pull together a 25man guild, and to keep a 25man guild running, keep recruitment up, keep the bench healthy, etc. But I still don’t think that should mean free ponies.

I do agree that extra gold and badges won’t be enough to encourage people to do 25mans. 10man raids are easier to put together, more fun to run, with less drama, less noise on vent (I ran last night with a migraine and vent made me want to curl up in the dark and die). I think that this change will be the death of many 25man raids – because there just won’t be enough incentive to bother with all that hassle, when you can do the same encounters, for the same loot, but with a smaller and tighter-knit group.

Heck, it’s hard enough now with 25man heroic loot to get people to turn up – why would anyone turn up to a 25man raid with more noise, more people to organise, more hassle… when you can go to 10s and get the same stuff, just fewer pieces (which won’t matter much, since the raid will be half the size – more items is only to make sure the raids are outfitted at roughly the same pace – it doesn’t mean everyone will gear up super fast in 25s)?

I’m not sure how they can make it more attractive to 25man raiders, without simply going around in circles to make 10s feel downtrodden again. If you give the 25man raiders anything more than the same loot but higher quantities – say, a mount or a title – it’s just like it was before, with the 10man raiders clearly being second-class, and making them feel obliged to do 25man raids for the better rewards.


Why bother?

I loved 40 mans. I miss 40 mans. But there’s no denying that they were a royal pain in the butt to put together. Not to mention incredibly frustrating when you had 38 people online and had to cancel because you were just short of being able to run MC. As much as it made me sad to say goodbye to 40 man raids.. I knew it was mostly for the best. And as much as I do enjoy 25man raids, they also come with their share of pain. And, frankly, these days I am beginning to feel that the pain outweighs the supposed glory of being able to claim victory over a 25man sized raid encounter rather than a 10man sized one. I think I’m over it.

If the 10man raids really are equal in difficulty, then I would love to do them. At this stage in my WoW career, I am far more interested in killing dragons with friends than being #1 on the 25man charts. Sure I love being a peacock at times, standing around in heroic 25man gear and getting comments – but having fun with my friends is so much more important than showing off my pixels. All I ever wanted was to know that my (our) skill was competitive – and you can’t do that in the current 10mans – they are seen by many people as the ezmode/casual option.

I just want to be at the pinnacle of raiding – whatever that is. If the 10man fights require the same skill (and aren’t seen as the “ezmode version”), then I will quite happily give up competing on the 25man ladder – because it won’t matter anymore. Whether or not they are equal remains to be seen, though.

I believe that they only reason people will do 25s is to be able to say they’ve done it, on the realm progression list, and, presumably, if there are 25man achievements separate to 10 man achievements (god I hope not – or I’ll STILL feel obliged to do both raids, over time).

I’m certainly not going to make assumptions or decisions for my guild, so far ahead of time. But with the trouble we go through week to week trying to fill a 25man raid – I seriously doubt that a chalk mark on the wall and some check marks on an achievement list will be enough to keep a 25man team running strong in Cataclysm.


And if I said that thought upset me, I’d be a big, fat liar.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Cataclysm talent update, armor specialisation
• Blizz dev chat on Twitter – druid question roundup
• Cataclysm: the brand spankin’ new 31pt talent trees

• High Priestess Mar’li (ZG spider boss) – spiders and poisons everywhere. Spammy and boring.

• Lucifron (MC) – curses all over the raid increasing spell and ability costs by 100%. Spam, spam, spam.
• Chromaggus (BWL) – my job for this fight was literally to cleanse and little else. And I had no idea what the boss even looked like in action for ages. Stand out of LOS and spam your cleansing spells. Boy was that fun.
• Hyjal trash – curses applied to most of the raid, and would be almost instantly reapplied zzzz
• Naxx trash – makes me weep.
• Grand Widow Faerlina (Naxx) – annoying AOE poison volley that would just keep poisoning people very 15 seconds. We usually ignored it and healed through because removing it was so tiresome. Case in point – trivial debuffs that are constantly reapplied and a total chore to remove (so much so that we just didn’t bother).
• Lady Deathwhisper (ICC) – only one or two people here and there, but just seems to happen all the time. Perhaps I’m being a bit hard on this one, but it feels very whack-a-mole to me – someone lights up purple, hit decurse. Someone else lights up purple, hit decurse. Zzz.
• Faction Champs (TOC): can be a spamfest depending on the NPCs you get. See Lady Deathwhisper: Not a fan of reactionary style fights.

Vanilla healers: You know what I’m talkin’ about.



The average

• Gehennas (MC) – reduced healing, so it has to come off the tank asap.

• Shazzrah (MC) – increases damage taken – take it off the tank asap, and anyone else.
• Nefarian (BWL) – nasty curse on the MT.
• Yogg (Ulduar) – not too bad, can get spammy if people leave corruptors up – but that’s the raid’s fault, and can be controlled.
• High Priest Venoxis (ZG snake boss) – lots of poisons on the MT. Nothing special.
• Viscidus (AQ40) – nasty poison dot, but also very boring.
• 3 Bugs (AQ40) – Nothing special, just poisons everywhere. Boring.



The good (please revisit these!)

• Ossirian (AQ20) – AOE curse of tongues around the boss – not bad. Only on a few people, and you could prioritise MT healers then spellcasters.

• Princess Huhuran (AQ40) – Wyvern Sting on up to 10 people, but if cleansed deals 3000 damage (so it usually wasn’t cleansed). Interesting tradeoff-type debuff. We should see more of this kind of thing, but probably not in a way that the tradeoff will kill them and make dispelling completely undesirable. Adding danger or any kind of decision making to the “to cleanse or not to cleanse” question is good. Anything that means you shouldn’t just mash away at your cleansing spells is good. (I always loved the Zul’jin “heal and you hurt yourself – so choose your heals wisely” tradeoff. More please.)
• Archimonde (Hyjal) – Grip of the Legion – 2500/2sec. Nasty, nasty debuff – has to come off ASAP. Only ever put on a few people at once, but since everyone is moving around, it became dangerous if you were out of range of your dispeller. DEFINITELY an awesome dispel fight; I used to love racing to someone in travel form to save them. Thumbs up on dispels here – would love to see more of these very dire debuffs, rather than trivial, mass debuffs. This was a fight where dispelling felt important and valued, not just as though you are going through the motions.
• Kalecgos (SWP) – need to wait for the curse to get to a certain point before you dispel, then it jumps to another person. Yes, by the end we are practically only decursing, but at least you have to think – and it also made the healers work together to coordinate healing towards the end. One of the few heavy cleansing fights that didn’t feel like a chore.
• Noth (Naxx) – a curse applied to multiple people that (if not decursed) will basically wipe the raid. As long as this kind of curse isn’t applied constantly to the raid (making it so that you are constantly decursing), it’s pretty neat. Decurse or the entire raid dies, yikes.
• Sapphiron (Naxx) – affects 20% of the raid every 24 seconds, draining life from the victim and healing the boss. Another debuff that is only put on a handful of people, but could do bad things to your raid if your dispellers aren’t on the ball.



Suggestions for going forward

My wish list for dispelling in Cataclysm is quite simple:

1. No more trivial, raid-wide debuffs.
Stop making trash pulls with mobs that debuff most or all of the raid at once, with trivial debuffs, and when those debuffs are removed, the mobs instantly re-debuff the raid. This is boring, tiresome, and feels pointless.

Nothing we do should ever feel like we are just mashing a button to get rid of something that doesn’t really matter too much but we should probably do it because it’s our job, yawn. Why put a debuff on the whole raid if it doesn’t really do anything? It’s just token busy-work.

No more trifling, raid-wide, token debuffs. If you think it adds variety, to make trash more fun and interesting rather than having us “just” heal – it really doesn’t. It makes life miserable for healers. Just leave these types of trash abilities out, please.

1a. Stop using mass debuffs to make things “fun”.
Cycling cleanses through the entire raid does not make trash fun, interesting or novel. It makes it tedious and mind-numbing. Please stop thinking that it adds novelty to our day.

2. More super nasty debuffs – just not all the time
For boss encounters, use debuffs that are nasty, threaten to wipe the raid, require fast reaction time, BUT are only placed on a handful of people at a time and NOT more than once every 30 seconds. I want debuffs to be seriously bad news if I don’t do my job fast – I want my dispels to be valuable – but I don’t want to spend 80% of the fight removing debuffs. I’m here to heal.

Key point: Put dangerous/dire debuffs on few people, occasionally, rather than petty debuffs on the entire raid, frequently.

3. Make us think.
Look at the list above. Fights that made us time our dispels, or came with a tradeoff, required class or role prioritisation or required us to run into range to get our target – they’re the fun ones.

4. Don’t make me wear +hit gear.
Make it so that defensive cleansing cannot be resisted.


Please follow through.

You guys have said you want us to mash less and think more. You’re upping the mana cost to make us more conservative with our dispelling – but good encounter design will do a lot more towards the goal of reducing dispel “spam”.

Give us dispel fights that make us think, that come with trade-offs, that make dispelling feel like an important and valued part of the fight – not a tedious chore that gets in our way. Make debuffs a real threat to the raid, not just something to keep us GCD-locked.

Don’t just serve up raid-wide debuffs (and this includes trash) that force us to cycle through our frames and button-mash (and do it over and over, when the mobs re-apply their debuff).

I’m counting on you this time!


I remain your humble druid servant,
~ Keeva

Possibly Related Posts:

• Cataclysm talent update, armor specialisation
• Blizz dev chat on Twitter – druid question roundup
• Cataclysm: the brand spankin’ new 31pt talent trees

Possibly Related Posts:

• Casual Kingslayer
• Power Auras exports – Ruby Sanctum
• A 10man raider in a 25man guild



I’ll break this one into my druid tips, and some placement tips.

Normally I don’t post strats because various other sites do a great job of them; but I spent the time creating the placement diagrams for my guild and though I would share them. It’s not a full strat, just some ideas for placement that might help you. You’ll need to check out a full strat to understand all of Sindragosa’s abilities and phases entirely.

As usual, this is mostly aimed towards 25man raids, but some tips will carry through to 10man raids also.


Quick tips

Talents

Use a raid healing spec for this fight, and make sure you’re at the haste soft cap – because other than when you have the Unchained Magic debuff, you’ll be casting something pretty much every GCD.

I highly recommend Imp Barkskin if you have room for it; it has saved me a couple of times when hit by Blistering Cold. If you think you might not make it out in time, hit Barkskin to be safe. I lagged once and didn’t quite get far enough away from the boss. I got hit for 27,000 with a 2k overkill; if I had used my Barkskin, I would have lived. If you’re playing with moderately high latency, Barkskin is your friend.

Even if you can’t fit Imp Barkskin into your spec, Barkskin should still save you – it might just be closer. If you have high latency, face yourself with your back to the dragon, so that when you get pulled in, you don’t have to turn – you can just run straight ahead and save a second or two.


Glyphs

I go with Wild Growth, Swiftmend, and Rapid Rejuvenation. WG is a must, mostly because melee will continue to DoT themselves throughout the course of the fight, and hitting 6 of them at a time is very handy.

If you run with another druid, go RR; if not, you may prefer greater raid coverage. If you don’t take RR, perhaps take Nourish (for helping to top up the tank/s in P3) or regular Rejuv, for anyone who can’t control their debuffs very well. We found that tank deaths were a major cause of our wipes in P3, not raid damage (if people learn to control their debuffs), so I value RR here for its ability to tick faster on the tanks.

Rotation

Generally a standard 5×1 (five Rejuvs, Wild Growth, repeat) rotation. In P3 the tank damage can be heavy, so try to keep HoTs on the tanks, especially during a transition, or when you know the tank healers are moving and not able to heal.


Special note: Unchained Magic

Unchained Magic is a debuff that Sindragosa places on random people. While the debuff is on you, anytime you cast any spell, it will add one stack of another debuff, called Instability. After 8 seconds of not casting anything, Instability will expire and do 2000 damage per stack. So if you cast 5 spells and then stopped, after 8 seconds, you would be hit for 10,000 damage. If you cast something again before the 8 seconds is up, the stack will go up by one, and the timer will start over from 8 seconds.

So what I usually do when I get UM (in P1) is to refresh Rejuv on the tank (when it runs out), and toss a WG through melee, to help with their Chilled to the Bone DoT (you should be at 2 stacks now). Refresh WG on cooldown and RJ on the tank. I try not to go past 5 or 6 stacks (10-12k damage); if I get that high, I wait 8 seconds for the stack to reset, then I go back to RJ on the tank, WG on the melee, to maintain a little healing.

Also, if your stacks got a bit high, hit Barkskin and wait your 8 seconds. This is also why I like having Imp Barkskin, because it gives you more wiggle room with those Instability stacks. You can also make Lifebloom your last cast on yourself, since it will bloom conveniently right after the 8 second stack expires; but you need to weigh up whether it’s worth doing that, or whether adding another stack of the debuff (by casting Lifebloom) might endanger you.

IMPORTANT: In P3, Unchained Magic will do more damage according to the number of Mystic Buffet stacks you have; so don’t go racking up as many stacks of Instability in this phase. You might get away with it in P1, but in P3 it could kill you. Keep HoTs on the tank, but don’t kill yourself!


Setting up Power Auras for Unchained Magic and Instability

The problem with Unchained Magic is that you can easily miss it if you’re busy watching health bars.

I set up Power Auras to put a big, fat, DANGER sign right across my character – but also to play a really annoying siren noise. This immediately tells me that I have the Unchained Magic debuff, and to be careful with the spells I cast for the next 30 seconds.

Plus, I set up Power Auras to show me the number of stacks of Instability, and the seconds left until that stack expires:




If you’d like to copy this PA setup, here’s the import code. Note: you’ll need to set up one code for the Unchained Magic debuff, and a separate one for Instability:

Unchained Magic

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0.16470588235294; anim1:nu1; g:nu0.027450980392157; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Arcane_FocusedPower; size:nu0.75; torsion:nu1; r:nu1; y:nu-139; x:nu-8; customname:st; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu2; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu43; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:bofalse; isResting:bofalse; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu1; buffname:stUnchained Magic; spec2:botrue; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:stburglar_alarm_going_off.wav; combat:nu0; id:nu16; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu0


Note: you’ll need to choose your own sound effect and change the file name. I recommend finding a really annoying danger/alarm/siren noise.

Honestly, I really can’t recommend more highly the use of hideously annoying siren noises for debuffs like this, because even if you are terrible for tunnel-visioning your raid frames, you can’t miss a debuff screaming “AWOOOOOGA AWOOOOOOGA DON’T CAST” at you.


Instability

Version:st3.0.0E; gcd:bofalse; b:nu0; anim1:nu1; g:nu0.34117647058824; optunitn:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; stacksLower:nu0; target:bofalse; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Arcane_ArcaneTorrent; size:nu0.76999998092651; torsion:nu1; r:nu1; y:nu-139; x:nu-8; customname:st; groupany:botrue; isAlive:botrue; timerduration:nu0; unitn:st; bufftype:nu2; stacks:nu0; focus:bofalse; raid:bofalse; texture:nu43; alpha:nu0.75; aurastext:st; symetrie:nu0; owntex:bofalse; isResting:bofalse; duration:nu0; mine:bofalse; multiids:st; inVehicle:bofalse; speed:nu1; anim2:nu1; buffname:stInstability; spec2:botrue; stacksOperator:st>=; realaura:nu1; InactiveDueToState:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; sound:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupOrSelf:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; id:nu17; inParty:nu0; HideRequest:bofalse; Active:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; inRaid:nu0; tooltipCheck:st; customtex:bofalse; stance:nu10; isSecondary:bofalse; thresholdinvert:bofalse; spec1:botrue; Debug:bofalse; beginSpin:bofalse; Showing:bofalse; UseOldAnimations:bofalse; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; party:bofalse; texmode:nu1; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; finish:nu0; timer.InvertAuraBelow:nu0; timer.dual:bofalse; timer.HideLeadingZeros:bofalse; timer.h:nu1.4500000476837; timer.ShowOnAuraHide:bofalse; timer.UpdatePing:bofalse; timer.Texture:stDefault; timer.enabled:botrue; timer.Showing:bofalse; timer.lastShownLarge:nu1; timer.HideRequest:botrue; timer.lastShownSmall:nu30; timer.y:nu-101; timer.x:nu-122; timer.CustomDuration:nu0; timer.Transparent:bofalse; timer.a:nu1; timer.DurationInfo:nu111933.698; timer.id:nu17; timer.cents:botrue; stacks.a:nu1; stacks.Showing:bofalse; stacks.HideLeadingZeros:bofalse; stacks.enabled:botrue; stacks.y:nu-103; stacks.h:nu2; stacks.id:nu17; stacks.Transparent:bofalse; stacks.UpdatePing:bofalse; stacks.lastShownValue:nu7; stacks.x:nu89; stacks.Texture:stDefault


When marks go out, they assemble; everyone else runs to the top to avoid extra iceblocks.

Make sure you have the mark debuff (Frost Beacon) on your raid frames, so that you can Rejuv the people who get marked up so they are healed while they are inside (2 people in 10 man, 5 people in 25man – you have time to Rejuv them).

We have a set position for our marks:




DPS the back ones down fast.




Then we DPS the front blocks from right to left, so everyone knows which ones will die first.




Remember you have to LOS the bombs, but LOS doesn’t just mean standing directly behind them. You have to look at where the bomb is going to land (look for the white swirly) and put the ice block between you and the bomb spot.




Throw a regrowth & rejuv on the tank as she lands and runs back over to him, so he gets heals while everyone is getting into position.


Phase 3 (combo phase)

These ones basically speak for themselves – we tank her out have two designated ice block spots. Our second tank will run and put green flares down in these spots at the start of P3 (since he’s not doing much else at that point!) and it really helps people to get the positioning down.




The important thing is that as a healer, you should still have LOS on your tank, even when you’re standing behind the ice blocks to drop your debuffs.

The people marked for ice blocks alternate between the left and right positions, and the raid stands behind them each time to drop their stacks.


Your strat may vary – but hopefully these tips help a little. I definitely recommend Power Auras with an annoying siren for Unchained Magic – it could save you from killing yourself. Good luck!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Casual Kingslayer
• Resto Druid calculator!
• Power Auras exports – Ruby Sanctum

Possibly Related Posts:

• Casual Kingslayer
• Power Auras exports – Ruby Sanctum
• A 10man raider in a 25man guild


So it’s a fight where healers have to think as if they are a DPS class – and squeeze every last bit of extra healing out. Normally, we react to incoming damage, and choose the heals to counteract that damage. Sometimes it works, sometimes not; sometimes our heals land for full, and other times they overheal because someone healed our target first.

Not in this fight; there’s millions of health to be healed, zero overhealing, no such thing as sniping – just an open invitation to put out the highest HPS you possibly can. And because there’s no overhealing, druids can perform very well when pitted against the traditional single-target healers.

This is the one fight where the healing meters really DO matter.

So, in the interests of putting out as much healing as you can, what steps can you take to maximise your performance?* Below are some tips that may help you maximise your healing for this fight.

*Note: some of these tips may seem a bit extreme for you, particularly if you’re not in a guild that min/maxes for raiding. You may not be willing (or able) to swap gems and glyphs around for one single fight; that is absolutely your choice – but for those of you who want to maximise your healing potential, like a DPSer would – here are some options.

Also, obviously, these tips are aimed at healers who will be healing the dragon primarily. If you are assigned to heal the raid, then you should be throwing HoTs on Dreamwalker, but raid healing “as normal” – so I wouldn’t advise you to change to a throughput spec/set – you may run into mana troubles.

• Revitalize and Wild Growth are useless, skip them.

• 2 points in Natural Perfection for 2% crit (there’s that incidental crit we can pile on!)
• Living Seed is nice to have, but it is unreliable since she isn’t being hit very often and most of the seeds will be overwritten as you spam. It’s a nice bonus, but if it won’t fit, don’t worry about it.**

**Note: I believe you’ll get more out of 2 points in NP rather than 2 in LS. If you believe this isn’t the case, please let me know.

No CF

If you’re already haste capped (or almost) and you can free up those Balance points, I would go this way: 14/0/57



• 3/3 Nature’s Grace. Nourish should already be a <1sec cast, so NG won't help you there, but it will make a marginal difference to your Regrowth refreshes, and fill in the gaps if you are just shy of the haste cap. It's one of those "might as well fill it out" talents, for this particular fight.

• 3/3 Natural Perfection for 3% crit.
• 3/3 Living Seed – every little bit helps. LS will be unreliable and mostly wasted, but it came in at ~4.5% of my healing (and I wasn’t even critting for the big numbers that come with getting your buff stacks up).. so it’s another “nice to have” talent.


Non-negotiable talents

2/2 Empowered Touch and 5/5 Nature’s Bounty. 60-70% of your healing is going to come from Nourish, so you definitely don’t want to skip Empowered Touch, especially.

I’ve seen some people deliberately skip over these (probably because it has something to do with their every day spec). Don’t – Empowered Touch especially will provide a huge boost.


Rotation

Set Dreamwalker as your target and focus before the fight starts. On the pull, pop a Potion of Wild Magic. As you run in, toss a Rejuv up, hit your Nature’s Swiftness/Healing Touch combo (for a chunky heal before you lose Wild Magic), and Swiftmend. Find your position, and start your normal rotation.

The basic rotation should go like this:



• Keep Rejuv and Regrowth up at all times

• Slow-stack Lifebloom
• Nourish “spam” in between
• Swiftmend your Rejuv on cooldown. Note: you’ll need to make sure it’s Rejuv and not Regrowth; the easiest way to do this is to cast Swiftmend straight after you cast Regrowth, so that Regrowth is definitely the longer HoT, and it chooses to Swiftmend your Rejuv.
• When NS comes up again, it should be roughly in time for everyone to pop all their cooldowns (Bloodlust/Heroism, GS, potions, etc) because they have a large stack of portal buffs. When it’s called, pop another Potion of Wild Magic and hit your NS/HT combo, hopefully for some obscenely large amount Note: Bloodlust/Heroism won’t help you here as you’re casting instant HT plus <1sec Nourishes, but timing your NSHT with all of the buffs and a potion means you should get an enormous HT crit.
• Try to Rejuv just before you enter a portal, and as soon as you come back out, for maximum uptime.



UI enhancements

HoT timers

First of all, unless you’re a Healbot user or an LUA guru and you can create your own HoT timers, you’re probably going to run into the problem I had, first attempt:

“AMG, I CAN’T SEE MY HOT TIMERS!” *flail*

I’m used to having all of my timers on Grid, and everything is precise and neat and in static positions. Since Valithiria isn’t a raid member, she won’t show up on Grid, so you can’t use Grid to track HoTs on her. Healbot users can set her as their focus, and she will show up on Healbot (yay!), but for Grid users, you’ll need a HoT counter to track your timers on her.

There are a bunch you can use – HoT Candy, Dotimer, Quartz, Class Timers, I think Lifebloomer does all HoTs too. So if you’re already using one of those, you’re fine.

I quickly grabbed Class Timers and configured it to show me a large HoT icon (bars don’t work for me) and a simple timer next to it. As the HoTs tick down, they reshuffle to display the next-to-expire spell at the top. So basically all I have to do is keep an eye on whatever is on the top of the list, and refresh that next.

Alerts and alarms

Using Power Auras, I assigned some super annoying alarm bells and whistles to Swiftmend and Nature’s Swiftness, to make sure I use them on cooldown each time. I have to say – having Swiftmend chime at me is a much easier system than looking at a cooldown.

Acquiring your target

Most people set Dreamwalker as their focus target; unfortunately when you take portals, your focus resets, and you have to get it back again.

Kae from Dreambound suggests a couple of macros to get her back as your target ASAP:

/focus Valithria
/cast [@focus] Rejuvenation

/target Valithria
/cast Rejuvenation


Both of these macros will re-acquire her as either your focus or just your target (I recommend focus, because if you accidentally click on someone else in the raid, you’ll lose the dragon as your target again), but it also casts Rejuv, which saves you a keypress. Seconds count in this fight, so bundling a Rejuv in with finding your target is a great idea. Thanks Kae <3


HPS, HPET, and Rapid Rejuv

I've heard people discount the RR glyph because "it makes you refresh Rejuv more often, which means you are wasting GCDs that you could be using to spam more Nourishes."

I'll repost something my mage friend Cogfizzle posted, because it explains quite well why this thinking is incorrect (he's a creepy gnome.. but he's good at math, so I don't mind having him around most of the time).



As far as DPS (err… HPS?) strategy on this fight, basically think of yourselves as affliction warlocks in a general sense.

Your goal is to maximize healing done in a given time. Since you only have a certain number of seconds available before the boss dies (err… is healed?), if you want to maximize HPS, it stands to reason that on any given one of those seconds, you want to be using whichever ability you have at your disposal that will cause the highest amount of damage (err… healing?) to the boss. It’s not about the HPS of a spell per se, it’s about the HPET (Healing Per Execute Time) – so even though a Rejuv lasts 15 seconds (unmodified), it only costs 1.5s (unmodified) to cast. Its HPS may not be as large as nourish, but its HPET is enormous.

Since I’m not a druid, and also not active in wow anymore (so no parses from my guild to draw from), I’m going to pull the first set of HPET numbers I see off EJ, and sort largest to smallest. They may not exactly match your numbers, but they’re probably roughly proportional (poster did not state which glyphs were in use.)

Rejuv – 19603
Regrowth – 15756
Lifebloom – slow 3 stack w/bloom – 15067
Lifebloom – rolling – Once it is rolling, 1 cast is worth 7 ticks of 1893 or 13251.
Nourish(w/glyph 3 hot) – 12169
Nourish(w/glyph 2 hot) – 11640
Lifebloom – fast 3 stack w/bloom – 10649
Nourish(at least 1 hot) – 10582

And then you simply base your next spell on this priority list. Rejuv is at the top for HPET, so that’s going to always be your obvious first choice – spending a second casting rejuv is always going to give you more raw healing than spending a second casting nourish (no matter how many hots are buffing it). Rejuv, Regrowth, slowstack lifebloom, and use Nourish as a filler when there are no higher-value spells to cast.

Now, as for the rapid rejuv glyph causing you to need to recast rejuv more often? That’s a good thing. Because rejuv is your #1 top HPET spell – the more often you cast it, the more often you’re taking a second or so of time that would otherwise be spent on low-value Nourish filler and using high-value rejuv instead.


So you can see, the Rejuv, Regrowth, slow stack Lifebloom (w/bloom), and Nourish strat is going to give you the best output for this fight. Oh, and don't be tempted to fast-stack Lifebloom (a bad habit of mine), thinking that getting it ticking a 3 stack faster will mean more healing - as you can see from the example numbers above, it actually cuts the HPS quite a bit if you do that.

Again, if you use Hamlet's spreadsheet, you'll be able to plug in your own stats and spec to find your personal potential HPS for a Regrowth, Rejuv, slow stack LB and Nourish spam rotation.


So - do you have to do all these things to win against this fight? Nah.. as long as your healers are getting their stacks up, and doing a moderately decent job, you'll win. If you don't want to change your gems or spec etc, you'll probably still do fine (not sure how heroic mode be, though)... But this is the one fight where we can sit down and put together a proper rotation for maximum HPS - and theorycraft how to gem/gear/enchant/play in a way to maximise our potential output. It's so different and interesting to our usual buffer-style healing - I'm making the most of it

Possibly Related Posts:

• Casual Kingslayer
• Resto Druid calculator!
• Power Auras exports – Ruby Sanctum

• make a target macro so I don’t keep losing her as my target. Yes, she’s a whopping great dragon in the middle of the room, but I still managed to click on other people by accident. Seconds count, and fumbling on your target is bad.

• tweak Dotimer to get my HoT rotation as tight as possible (done – I’ll show you guys later)
• DON’T FAIL AT CLOUDS
• Mark healers so we don’t all run for the same portal



So.. the heal-to-DPS fight – what did I think of it?

I really liked it, for something different. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in this kind of role all the time – I do prefer the “think on your feet” style of healing, rather than just sticking to the highest HPS rotation possible. But I enjoyed the challenge of a healing encounter that was entirely different to anything we’ve seen in the game.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Casual Kingslayer
• Power Auras exports – Ruby Sanctum
• A 10man raider in a 25man guild