Spam Healing Vs. Triage

Boosh.

 Pardon the unstructure of this (Yes, I just made up a word), I've been busy these last few weeks and decided to finish up this post sitting in my drafts on my blackberry while I had some downtime away from home. This isn't up to my usual quality standards, but it's been on my mind and I've been ridiculously busy with a heavy class load and work. I'll try to polish it up a bit later if I get some time.

Now that Cata has been out for awhile, and we've gotten to play around with the new healing system, we can finally make some decisions about whether or not we actually like it. Was spam healing superior, or do we like that we've gone back to the triage days of old? Is triage "too hard" for people to grasp? Are we even truly on a triage system?

Is A Main More Than Just A Class?

My name is Aunna, and I'm an altoholic. My healers are my favorites, but recently I've been playing my hunter more than usual, and I've made a little warrior tank. (Gnome tanks are adorable!) I was having a discussion with a friend, and we began talking about the class changes, and he mentioned how he doesn't like the changes to his main class, but is very fond of an alt now, so he was considering switching mains. I've swapped mains in the past, but I've never had as many things on my main as I do now. I can't imagine not furthering the work on just her, and leaving alts as alts. When has there been too much work into a toon to swap anymore?

I like all my characters. If you asked me which one I liked the most, I would say my Paladin. However, if you rephrase the question a bit, my answer would be different. For example, if I lost my account and had to start from scratch again, what would I make first? My answer would not be the same. I'm not sure what it would be, but it wouldn't be a Paladin.

I love the mechanics of my main, but I love the same things about my alts too. What keeps me there isn't the class. It's the amount of work put into her. The titles, the achievements, the mounts. Things that just aren't viable on alts. Even beyond that, it's the reputation I have. The fact that people know my main. Her name is familiar on my server, and I often name drop her to get into groups on my alts. There are a ton of things that I just can't re-create on another toon, and that's what keeps me from swapping.

For the foreseeable future, my Paladin will remain my main. I will keep putting work into her, and making her as amazing as possible. I will also continue raiding on my alts, but they will never get the same amount of care that she does.

I'm really curious to hear from someone who does swap mains a lot, especially if you are a hardcore raider or have something otherwise unattainable on a former main. How can you handle letting go?

/bubblehearth

A Look At Cata Healing, Part 1: General Design

I couldn't think of an appropriate image, so here's an adorable kitty.

 So I've finally had time to actually play with (almost) all my healing characters now fairly extensively in an instance setting on beta, and I must say, It's quite different. Not that I've had the chance to play with it, it's time for me to pontificate about the new system's ups and downs. This will be split into two parts, this first part dealing with general design of the healing system, and a second part dealing with individual classes and my thoughts on the changes to them. The second part will be posted in a few days.

Why The Paladin?

I have a ton of healers. An unhealthy amount even. So one question I get a lot is "Why do you play your Paladin? What makes you like it more than your other healers?" It's kind of a hard question to answer, but there's a few things about the Paladin that just have me hooked.

Healing Peripherals

While this works all well and good, I highly suggest upgrading.

Good peripherals can really aid in the job of keeping people alive. Personally, I just don't like the feel of a standard 3 button mouse and a basic keyboard. I have small hands, so it's just not realistic for me to be able to reach my "9" and "0" keys while still being able to use "WASD" to move. Plus, as a healer you are most likely using either mouseovers, or click bindings. Both of these methods of healing can be greatly enhanced by getting some better peripherals. Depending on how much you want to spend, there's several options available.

Adjusting To A New Guild

The Old Guild

Recently my guild decided to call it quits until the expansion. Not everyone was ready to put more time into hardmode Lich King, and that's fine. However, a handful of us also weren't ready to give up quite yet, so many of us have server transferred to find a new guild, myself included. The last week has been my first with a new raid group in about a year, and it's been quite an experience so far.

BA Shared Topic - Group Relations, Assisting Your Healers

So I really liked the idea for the shared topic this week over at Blog Azeroth. This week it's group relations; how you can go above and beyond standard play to assist and protect members of your group. I want to focus particularly on what a dps can do to help me out as a healer. Little things that aren't required, but would definitely impress me, and maybe get you into my good graces so I'll heal you on trash. I'm looking at you, fury warriors!

Game Sound And Healing

The argument of whether or not game sound is helpful crops up from time to time in raids, and so I wanted to take some time to point out why you, as a healer, are gimping yourself without it. However, I enjoy listening to music while I raid as much as the next guy, so I want to share some tips about how to make game sound, vent, and your music all live together in harmony. It seems like something small, but by not using game sound, you're taking out an entire sense. That can seriously gimp you, even if you don't think it is.

Even the default sound options are fairly flexible

New Launcher Live in Beta

So today I wanted to do a post on the default UI in the beta, and how it affects healing, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I wanted to get a better feel for it first, and when I logged in to do so today, i was greeted by a message telling me the new launcher that was recently announced is now available, and I'd have to reinstall WoW. I thought I'd use the opportunity to take a look at this new launcher and how it affects game play if you fire it up before it's completely done patching.

I never thought I'd start a blog.

If you would have approached me a few years ago and asked me my interests, writing would not have been on that list. However, the more I think about it, I really do spend a large amount of time writing. Whether it be discussing new strategy in game, or posting thoughts on forums, I was already doing much of what I expect to accomplish by publishing my thoughts here. Now, it's just centralized.

In a game as expansive as WoW, player interactions quite frequently stem beyond the world of Azeroth. Most players I talk to check one or more fan sites at least semi regularly. Whether it be wow.com, mmo-champion, elitist jerks, plus heal, or any number of other websites, most players don't stop with just what's presented in game.

Now, as the places to find information vary, so do the reasons people visit them. Some are simply looking for news, others a place to chat with like minded people about their hobby, or maybe they're trying to better their abilities and are looking for tips.

I fall into all these categories and more. I strive to be the best I can, I love hearing about what's planned for the game, and I really enjoy discussing things with other fans. I spend a large amount of my leisure time outside the game researching changes and discussing them. I started this blog as a place to centralize my ideas, and perhaps help another player or two find the information they were looking for. When people ask me questions about my class, rather than link them to ten different theory crafting sites that I've commented on, I wanted to be able to say "Hey, I wrote a post about that on my blog a week back. It's pretty easy to understand, why don't you check it out and then we can talk if you have more questions?"

So I never thought I'd start a blog. I didn't think I'd enjoy it, and I didn't think anyone else would get any use out of it. But, even if it's only me reading this, It's somewhere I can collaborate and reflect upon my thoughts as this ever changing game grows. And if it helps someone else, I'm a healer, it's what I do.

/bubblehearth