If it walks like a duck...
So, yesterday evening, our little merry band of Pod People headed into ZG. The sun was shining, mobs were dying, I was drinking a Fat Tire, life was good.
We went to say hello to our friend the snake priest (read: blow a hole in his chest with a frostbolt). He wasn't very agreeable to having a large hole blown into his chest with a frostbolt and ignored our tank for a couple of seconds and went into the core of the raid (not towards me, btw). Because our tanks are "teh awesome" the situation got back to normal and he soon checked out. It was a little messy, but a kill is a kill none the less.
Then, we paid a visit to our favorite nemesis, the bat priest. Now, for those of you in the audience that either haven't been there, this is an hard fight because until she hits 50% health, she summons waves of bats down every minute. There are about 8 bats per wave and they can tear the ass out of a clothwearer pretty quick without some pro healing. The usual strategy in this fight is to try and keep it down to just one wave of bats and go all out DPS on her. Well... last night we got 3 waves of bats. For some, that could have meant a fiery death with a side order of eating floor. However, we refused. We simply adapted and refused to accept defeat. In the end, we were left standing and she wasn't. We walked out of there 2/2 bosses on the first try and several epics richer.
I don't know what your definition of progress is, but to me, there's no clearer example.
A new world...
Well, 1.11 is here, and now a couple of days later and some real world testing I have a quick report on my new spec.
My SpecOdd Notes:
Elemental Precision is really nice. Thursday night in ZG I had a combined total of 3 resists from the bosses. Before the patch, I would see anywhere from 6-8 per fight.
Frost Channeling is "teh hawt". The treat reduction is just insane. Frost spells were always the lowest aggro spells before, now you're blowing a hole into a mob and they don't act like they notice. The other night in UD Strat
Thay was talking about was really the clincher for me. Thay took on tanking duties in bear form. The fight I remember the most was just after we got inside, Thay was tanking a ghoul and I critted 3 times in a row with a frostbolt. I dropped close to 5000pts of damage on this guy in the span of about 7 seconds and he didn't even look at me. Also, as Thay mentioned, I was dropping pryoblast on stuff for giggles and still wasn't pulling aggro. If there's one thing that came out of this review that was well worth it, the threat reduction wins.
The jury is still out on Master of Elements. I've seen some pretty good mana payback in a couple of fights and not so much in others. If there's one thing I might change down the line it's this. I'll have to play around with it some more to see.
All and all I'm fairly happy with the way it all came out. Here are some thoughts I have overall.
Instant arcane explosion and evocation as a trainable spell is great. I'm kind of disappointed that improved counterspell was not given the same treatment. That was one of the things they promised from the outset of the review was to make the arcane tree more appealing and useful. I really think overall they made the arcane tree less appealing and really of limited utility. Don't get me wrong, if I was doing more soloing, the arcane tree might have some things in there for me. However, I'm an instance runner with the occasional farm grind. My primary concern at the end of the day is how much damage I can pump into a boss from a distance. I'm also kind of disappointed they didn't add more to improve our downtime between fights. They added a new rank of conjured food, but to me that's pretty worthless. I'd rather have a new level of conjured water or a better mana stone.
I guess at the end of the day the review was not that bad. I've noticed that my damage has gone up and the rate at which I check out has gone down. I know that will be a disappointment for Mewgai because there will be less "ha ha ha ded mage". However, I like not getting hit in the face and eating floor.
A rant about raiding...
I wonder, sometimes, what it is that drives people into conformity. What special part of being like everyone else is that appealing. The conformity I'm talking about is "uber" and "hardcore" end game raiding guilds.
Now, before I get too far into this, I'm not making a blanket statement against all raiding guilds. This is aimed at the majority of those guilds and the people that make them up. I know several raiding guilds that are the exception rather than the norm, but they're few and far between. It's just these "uber" and "hardcore" guilds and their people that just have me pissed.
Some of my ire that has been raised lately is the continual assertion by various people that the way The Pod People does business isn't going to work. They've also stated that the way the guild is now is so hopeless that it's completely doomed to fail. For those people I have the following...
Fuck You.
Why is it that people automatically assume that a causal guild has no chance in this game? Why is it that people flock to these cookie cutter raiding guilds that turn a game, a bunch of 1's and 0's into a job? Let me tell you, I have a job, it pays me lots of money and it takes a lot of effort but it's a job. I'll tell you the main reason, and I can guarantee it's not the reason they profess.
It's all about the items and their perceived status in a make believe world.
There you have it folks, I said it. At the end of the day, it's not about making progression, it's not about seeing new content, it's not about having a good time. It's about grinding the content out for that next "uber" weapon, armor, or item that somehow, in their mind, makes then better than anyone else. Let me tell you something, all your "uber" gear and $2.00 will get you a large coffee at Starbucks. They'll tell you all day long it's not that way, but it really is.
The thing that kills me the most is extremes these people take.
Thout shall:
1. Raid when we tell you, where we tell you, and for however long we tell you
2. Be whatever spec we tell you to be even though it's 180° away from your comfortable playing style.
3. Have no chance on anything if Thou does not have enough DKP.
4. Take any abuse, or grief your raid leader/class leader gives you, even if you didn't deserve it.
I think the spec thing is what pisses me off the most. I've been playing a mage since shortly after launch. I'd like to think I know what I'm doing (read: I do know what I'm doing). I think each player has the ability to look at the content they're facing and determine if what they're doing works. I don't think that people should be forced into playing in a style that they're not comfortable with. Really, I think priests have the worst time because priests are always at a premium. However, I think you let people play the way they want to play and figure out how to make it work. To me it's more challenging and in the end more satisfying in the accomplishment because you went out of the box to make it happen. It may take a little longer, but we've already proved we can do it.
I know several people that are in guilds that primarily do raiding. They're in it to have fun with their friends, see new things, get a little gear and go home. It's not a huge thing for them. To them it's just another step in the game and they have fun with it. It's not a job, it's not some huge ball of difficulty, it's just a game. Some of them use DKP and it works for them. To that, I say that's good. In a guild setting, I don't really agree to the necessity, but if it works for them, that's fine. When you become more focused on the loot and not the point of the game, I think you've lost.
As for how the Pod People roll, let me give you this example. Last Saturday, the guild downed the spider priest in ZG on the only the second day of trying. This from a guild that has no spec requirements and no class leaders. Once the dust settled and the corpse was looted, an Epic caster robe dropped. One of our new 60 priests on her first trip to a raiding instance was very excited but rolled a 6. There was a quiet sigh over vent, and then something interesting happened.
All the other cloth wearers passed on the roll.
Yeah, you read that right. The other cloth wearers passed on the roll so this brand new 60, her first time in a raid instance, could get a nice robe. Now why, you might ask did this happen? Why did the other people, for whom the robe was probably an upgrade, pass on the roll. I can tell you very simply,
It's because we're the Pod People.
As sappy as it might sound, we care for one another and we want to make the experience of this content the most enjoyable for all. Most of us never thought we'd see the end game content. But here we are, forging ahead into content no one thinks we have any chance at. For me, I can tell you why I would have passed on that roll. I love this game. I plan on playing it for some time to come. I think a majority of the guild feels the same way. I know we're going to be into ZG more, I know there'll be other chances for me to get upgrades. However, I can tell you this, the guild as a whole will get more benefit out of a priest having that robe than I would have as a mage. This is a guild that will argue amongst ourselves for 10 minutes about who should get a drop because we care about the group more than we do ourselves. We all think about how something betters the guild before we think about it bettering ourselves. Some people might read that and blow it off as unlikely, or not everyone thinks that way. Well, I hope they enjoy being wrong.
At the end of the day, the raiding guilds will be raiding guilds and that's fine. You can have the structure, and the grief that goes with it. For me, I'll be doing what I always do, blowing stuff up and doing the chicken dance in front of a boss with 40 of my friends.
Orange Items
So, Blizzard has added a Legendary item for us caster types with the new 1.11 patch.
Atiash, The Legendary Staff of the Guardian
Two Hand Staff
130-244 Damage
(64.4 damage per second)
+31 Stamina
+32 Intellect
+24 Spirit
Durability 145 / 145
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to hit with spells by 2%.
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 150
Use: Creates a portal. Teleporting group members that use it to Karazhan.
While on the surface, I’m pretty excited. However, I know how this is going to work. I know how this will all shake out. So, to better explain, let me liken what the quest will be like with the help of Monty Python.
Sabrae and the search for the Holy Atiash
[enter Sabrae riding through the Plaguelands on her raptor]
[clop clop clop]
[boom boom]
[angels sing]
TSERIC: Sabrae! Mage of The Pod People! Oh, don't grovel!
[singing stops]
One thing I can't stand, it's people groveling.
SABRAE: Sorry.
[boom]
TSERIC: And don't apologize. Every time I try to talk to someone it's ‘please don’t nerf me and 'forgive me for dising the mage review' and 'I'm not worthy'.
[boom]
What are you doing now?!
SABRAE: I'm averting my eyes, O Lord.
TSERIC: Well, don't. It's like those miserable Paladins -- they're so depressing. Now, knock it off!
SABRAE: Yes, Lord.
TSERIC: Right! Sabrae, Mage of The Pod People, you shall have a task to make yourself an example in these dark times.
SABRAE: Good idea, O Lord!
TSERIC: 'Course it's a good idea! Behold!
[angels sing]
Sabrae, this is the Holy Atiash. Look well, Sabrae, for it is your sacred task to seek this ‘phat lewt’. That is your purpose, Sabrae: the quest for the Holy Atiash. That and raiding every night for the next year to get it…
SABRAE: ::groan::
TSERIC: What was that?
SABRAE: Nothing O Lord! Thank you Lord!
[boom]
[singing stops]
Blah...
