Thursday, April 12, 2012
RP Post of Silly
Sunday, April 1, 2012
5 addons everyone should have, and 5 more that are awesome
In an effort to continue my occasionally useful posts, here
5 addons every player should have that you may not know about...
(all links go to curse)
1) Align-> puts a grid on your screen for lining everything up just so. I can't find it on curse, but it's rather out of date anyway. As in I'm not sure it's been updated since before Cat. Here's another one that does the same thing, but updated for 4.2
2) Healers have to die->Okay, you're wondering why I put a PVP addon here. It's so much more than a PVP addon. If a mob's healing, you'll know it. If you're in a group and your healer gets attacked, you'll know it. Sure, it's nice in PVP, but it's just as nice in PVE. It is a tad spammy in raids, but there's probably an option to fix that, I just haven't looked.
3) GTFO->makes noise when you're standing in owie. Brilliant and simple, and useful in all content.
4) Multishot->automatic screencaps of achievements, raids, all sorts of things. Any screencap you see on this blog was probably taken by this addon. You may want to change it from the default options, as they're the reason I had over 4000 screencaps last year.
5) BadBoy: Anti Spam Automatic Reporter-> Because gold farmers are really really annoying.
And 5 more that are awesome (and you may or may not know about)...
6)Gnomish Vendor Shrinker-> instead of those huge boxes, you get a nice compact list. Again, brilliant and simple.
7)OmniCC ->because having the cooldown countdown on the buttons just makes so much sense
8)Tidy Plates-> because the default plates aren't that good, and tidy plates shows you your dots, whether you've got threat on a mob or not, and manages to do that while looking pretty.
9)Bimbo-> Marks gear that's missing enchants or gems. Again, simple quality of life addon, and the second Tekkub addon on this list. He's good at making simple quality of life addons.
10)Quartz-> I've been using Quartz so long that I don't even remember what the base casting bar looks like. It's very customizable and shows you your lag, which is a big help in getting as much as you can out of your toon.
5 addons every player should have that you may not know about...
(all links go to curse)
1) Align-> puts a grid on your screen for lining everything up just so. I can't find it on curse, but it's rather out of date anyway. As in I'm not sure it's been updated since before Cat. Here's another one that does the same thing, but updated for 4.2
2) Healers have to die->Okay, you're wondering why I put a PVP addon here. It's so much more than a PVP addon. If a mob's healing, you'll know it. If you're in a group and your healer gets attacked, you'll know it. Sure, it's nice in PVP, but it's just as nice in PVE. It is a tad spammy in raids, but there's probably an option to fix that, I just haven't looked.
3) GTFO->makes noise when you're standing in owie. Brilliant and simple, and useful in all content.
4) Multishot->automatic screencaps of achievements, raids, all sorts of things. Any screencap you see on this blog was probably taken by this addon. You may want to change it from the default options, as they're the reason I had over 4000 screencaps last year.
5) BadBoy: Anti Spam Automatic Reporter-> Because gold farmers are really really annoying.
And 5 more that are awesome (and you may or may not know about)...
6)Gnomish Vendor Shrinker-> instead of those huge boxes, you get a nice compact list. Again, brilliant and simple.
7)OmniCC ->because having the cooldown countdown on the buttons just makes so much sense
8)Tidy Plates-> because the default plates aren't that good, and tidy plates shows you your dots, whether you've got threat on a mob or not, and manages to do that while looking pretty.
9)Bimbo-> Marks gear that's missing enchants or gems. Again, simple quality of life addon, and the second Tekkub addon on this list. He's good at making simple quality of life addons.
10)Quartz-> I've been using Quartz so long that I don't even remember what the base casting bar looks like. It's very customizable and shows you your lag, which is a big help in getting as much as you can out of your toon.
The Scroll of Rez is AWESOME and wow, what a week!
I finally decided to use a scroll of rez to reactivate my second account for, well, the free Cat upgrade and the lvl 80 toon. And that got me playing more than I have in quite a while, with awesome results....
First, we have a before of my new druid...
Then I had fun with having free character slots again. Yes, that's a gnome priest. I keep trying to level a gnome, maybe this one will work.
A goblin shammy (because I want one, darn it!). She's now level 13 or so, and made it to Org. I really like the casting animations and totems the goblins have. Also, I had shaman heirlooms lying around, might as well use them.
And Aethelred the Perpetually Unready with the invisible bear phobia has been reborn as Aethilred, the Sneaky and Still Unready. You may vaguely remember Aethelred from my World Cup posts. And yes, he does have an invisible bear phobia. He got killed by them in Silverpine frequently pre-Cat.
Then I lucked out, and got into a twitterland raid yesterday. Tons and tons of fun, and look, achieves! I just love this view....
But I still have no idea what happens in the Al fight. I must study for next week, since I believe we'll be going for heroic.
And earlier in the week I ran around with friends in Silver Dragoons. Sadly Ars has died, so I'm back to SD Alliance-side. Not a big deal since between twitterland raids and Redeemed, I can still scratch the raiding itch. Plus it's fun to run around with people who were there when I started raiding back in Naxx....
First, we have a before of my new druid...
Then an after the pimp bat hit her. That gear's good enough to get into Cat normals, and she's got more bag space and medium flying (280 speed). I have 85s with less bag space and slower flying. Totally, totally worth it, and if I'd sent the invite from another server besides Shadow Council, I could have also recustomized her and server-moved for free. Only complaints I have are that now I have to level professions from 1 to 525 and that she has no glyphs. They spec'd her but did not glyph her. And those are pretty minor complaints.
Then I had fun with having free character slots again. Yes, that's a gnome priest. I keep trying to level a gnome, maybe this one will work.
A goblin hunter. Because I could. And also, maybe leveling a new hunter will help me with learning focus. Sigh, I still miss mana and learning which bosses I could steal mana from, and working out how to spend as little time as possible in Aspect of the Viper.
A goblin shammy (because I want one, darn it!). She's now level 13 or so, and made it to Org. I really like the casting animations and totems the goblins have. Also, I had shaman heirlooms lying around, might as well use them.
And Aethelred the Perpetually Unready with the invisible bear phobia has been reborn as Aethilred, the Sneaky and Still Unready. You may vaguely remember Aethelred from my World Cup posts. And yes, he does have an invisible bear phobia. He got killed by them in Silverpine frequently pre-Cat.
Then I lucked out, and got into a twitterland raid yesterday. Tons and tons of fun, and look, achieves! I just love this view....
But I still have no idea what happens in the Al fight. I must study for next week, since I believe we'll be going for heroic.
And earlier in the week I ran around with friends in Silver Dragoons. Sadly Ars has died, so I'm back to SD Alliance-side. Not a big deal since between twitterland raids and Redeemed, I can still scratch the raiding itch. Plus it's fun to run around with people who were there when I started raiding back in Naxx....
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The Problem With Warlocks
So why are there so few warlocks? Cynwise has a great series of posts on the matter, and I figured i'd throw in my 2 cents. First off, go read his posts. It's okay, I'll wait, plus it's a great blog...
Leveling Data on warlocks is worse than I thought
Where did all the Warlocks go in Cataclysm?
Now, having just leveled a mage to 85 and being (in a rather slow process) of leveling a lock to 85, I figured I could perhaps shed some light on the leveling game. Here's the problems as I see them...
1)No real incentive to have a 'lock in a raid. No nifty buffs, just healthstones and demon TV. At least as a mage I can give my healers more mana (mmmm int buff) and cake. As a lock, I can give you underwater breathing. Big Whoop.
2) Warlocks are kinda underpowered in the leveling game. Mages are too, actually, or maybe I just stinke at frost maging. But playing affliction, I feel like I barely have time to dot a mob before the other dps have killed it. Destruction feels a bit better, but not by much.
3) I get bitched at for Life Tapping. Only way I can do halfway decent dps on non bosses is Rain of Fire, and that gets expensive mana-wise. Healers that don't mind Life Tapping seem to be few and far between. Believe me, I understand, I hated life tapping locks too, but a good warlock knows when you life tap and when you don't.
4) PVP survivability. I have none. Luckly I don't mind this overmuch, since I die a lot in PVP anyway, but it's kind of annoying being completely heirloomed out and still being that squishy. I do get a ridiculous amount of glee running around a BG with my gnome hair (on a Forsaken) dotting the crap out of everyone and giggling when my dots kill them. Sadly, this is generally shortly after they've killed me.
5) Pets. I remember my first lock (a belf who's somewhere in the 30s level-wise and this was endBC/beginning of Wraith days) having a blueberry who held aggro. He was a complete idiot compared to my hunter's pets. Still feels that way. Running around with an imp who does more damage than I do (because his cast time is less) is plain embarrassing.
6) Pure DPS class, no other options. Let's look at the other pure DPS classes....
Mage->squishy, can have pet, long cast time, but 2 viable end-game specs, much-wanted buff, portals and cake! Competes for cloth gear. Stupid cloth competition....
Hunter->Fast-paced, many options in terms of pets (and pet buffs), extreme soloing and farming very viable. Only competition for agility mail is enhancement shaman
Rogue->Just got a legendary, can pick-pocket, and stealth. Plus, seen as the extremely viable PVP class. Only competition for leather agility gear is feral druids.
7) If I want to play an evil toon, warlocks seem like a natural choice. But DKs start at 55, get ridiculously good gear to start, and are easier to play well. So unless I must be ranged, I'm probably going to go for a DK
If I have a friend just starting to play WoW, I'm going to steer them towards a hybrid class. If they really want to play pure ranged DPS, I'm going to suggest a hunter or mage. The dot DPS of locks is fun, but I play a shadowpriest, I'm used to dot management and it took me several months to learn how to do it properly. Warlocks are simply not a class I'd recommend to a beginner. I also wouldn't recommend priests (shadow is complicated), or feral druids. If you want to heal and hit stuff with a big weapon, I'd say pally, if you want to heal and cast I'd say shaman, and if you want to tank and or hit stuff with two big weapons, hello warrior. If you have no idea at all, I'd say hello druid.
Warlocks are awesome, and I'm actually really looking forward to raiding on my 'lock when she gets there. Here's hoping Mists makes them a bit more viable, since a good warlock is a wonder to behold.
Leveling Data on warlocks is worse than I thought
Where did all the Warlocks go in Cataclysm?
Now, having just leveled a mage to 85 and being (in a rather slow process) of leveling a lock to 85, I figured I could perhaps shed some light on the leveling game. Here's the problems as I see them...
1)No real incentive to have a 'lock in a raid. No nifty buffs, just healthstones and demon TV. At least as a mage I can give my healers more mana (mmmm int buff) and cake. As a lock, I can give you underwater breathing. Big Whoop.
2) Warlocks are kinda underpowered in the leveling game. Mages are too, actually, or maybe I just stinke at frost maging. But playing affliction, I feel like I barely have time to dot a mob before the other dps have killed it. Destruction feels a bit better, but not by much.
3) I get bitched at for Life Tapping. Only way I can do halfway decent dps on non bosses is Rain of Fire, and that gets expensive mana-wise. Healers that don't mind Life Tapping seem to be few and far between. Believe me, I understand, I hated life tapping locks too, but a good warlock knows when you life tap and when you don't.
4) PVP survivability. I have none. Luckly I don't mind this overmuch, since I die a lot in PVP anyway, but it's kind of annoying being completely heirloomed out and still being that squishy. I do get a ridiculous amount of glee running around a BG with my gnome hair (on a Forsaken) dotting the crap out of everyone and giggling when my dots kill them. Sadly, this is generally shortly after they've killed me.
5) Pets. I remember my first lock (a belf who's somewhere in the 30s level-wise and this was endBC/beginning of Wraith days) having a blueberry who held aggro. He was a complete idiot compared to my hunter's pets. Still feels that way. Running around with an imp who does more damage than I do (because his cast time is less) is plain embarrassing.
6) Pure DPS class, no other options. Let's look at the other pure DPS classes....
Mage->squishy, can have pet, long cast time, but 2 viable end-game specs, much-wanted buff, portals and cake! Competes for cloth gear. Stupid cloth competition....
Hunter->Fast-paced, many options in terms of pets (and pet buffs), extreme soloing and farming very viable. Only competition for agility mail is enhancement shaman
Rogue->Just got a legendary, can pick-pocket, and stealth. Plus, seen as the extremely viable PVP class. Only competition for leather agility gear is feral druids.
7) If I want to play an evil toon, warlocks seem like a natural choice. But DKs start at 55, get ridiculously good gear to start, and are easier to play well. So unless I must be ranged, I'm probably going to go for a DK
If I have a friend just starting to play WoW, I'm going to steer them towards a hybrid class. If they really want to play pure ranged DPS, I'm going to suggest a hunter or mage. The dot DPS of locks is fun, but I play a shadowpriest, I'm used to dot management and it took me several months to learn how to do it properly. Warlocks are simply not a class I'd recommend to a beginner. I also wouldn't recommend priests (shadow is complicated), or feral druids. If you want to heal and hit stuff with a big weapon, I'd say pally, if you want to heal and cast I'd say shaman, and if you want to tank and or hit stuff with two big weapons, hello warrior. If you have no idea at all, I'd say hello druid.
Warlocks are awesome, and I'm actually really looking forward to raiding on my 'lock when she gets there. Here's hoping Mists makes them a bit more viable, since a good warlock is a wonder to behold.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
UI Design for Dummies
First, figure out what's the most important stuff to know. This will vary from role to role, and from toon to toon. Generally this would be....
Party health bars for healers
Threat levels for tanks
Procs and/or DoT Durations for DPS
If you're raiding, this would likely also include
Boss Health, timing of bad stuff, warnings about where you're standing, that sort of thing
If you're PVPing, this would likely also include stun durations, cooldowns of your team, that sort of thing.
Now figure out how you want to display this most important stuff. Party health bars could be displayed by Grid or vuhdo or the raid frames addon of your choice. Threat levels can be displayed by Omen or tidy plates: threat plates. Procs could be displayed by NeedtoKnow, Power Auras, or a bunch of others. Dot durations can also be displayed by the above.
Positioning wise, the most important thing to remember is....
PUT THE MOST IMPORTANT STUFF CLOSE TO YOUR TOON!
Now, here's Lyllea's healing UI in a raid, to see what I'm talking about....
Party health bars for healers
Threat levels for tanks
Procs and/or DoT Durations for DPS
If you're raiding, this would likely also include
Boss Health, timing of bad stuff, warnings about where you're standing, that sort of thing
If you're PVPing, this would likely also include stun durations, cooldowns of your team, that sort of thing.
Now figure out how you want to display this most important stuff. Party health bars could be displayed by Grid or vuhdo or the raid frames addon of your choice. Threat levels can be displayed by Omen or tidy plates: threat plates. Procs could be displayed by NeedtoKnow, Power Auras, or a bunch of others. Dot durations can also be displayed by the above.
Positioning wise, the most important thing to remember is....
PUT THE MOST IMPORTANT STUFF CLOSE TO YOUR TOON!
Now, here's Lyllea's healing UI in a raid, to see what I'm talking about....
Notice vuhdo right in the center there? And under it is BigWigs countdowns for tank cooldowns. Below Vuhdo are my bars, and my cooldowns are shown on the spells themselves.
And here we see her DPS UI. See the difference (other than the minimap, which is due to it being patch day when this was taken and out-of-date addons weren't enabled)? Power auras is telling me I have shadow orbs, and vuhdo's off to the side.
And here's Eiunn's DPS UI as another example. Hopefully this gives you some ideas.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
How to get a mage somewhere in 10 steps...
Step 1) curse paucity of dungeon-choices in random dungeon finder from 84-85. Stonecore I HATE YOU! Vortex, I still like you, but only in comparison to Stonecore. Seriously, aren't there supposed to be others in here besides you two?
Step 2) Continue to run dungeons, while cursing. Console self with rep gains and justice points. Almost hit justice cap.
Step 3) Stop by the Faire long enough to pick up one of the books that allows for collecting of things. Because those things sell well in the AH, that's why.
Step 4) Curse tanks who see either Stonecore or Vortex and drop. HATE THEM SO!
Step 5)
Step 9) Realize it's past 4 am. Also realize that Ask Mr Robot is now firmly convinced Angetia's gearing for PVP (can't think why :) ). Decide to blog briefly, then go to bed.
Step 10) Figure out how to mage at 85 (that's tomorrow's problem)
Step 2) Continue to run dungeons, while cursing. Console self with rep gains and justice points. Almost hit justice cap.
Step 3) Stop by the Faire long enough to pick up one of the books that allows for collecting of things. Because those things sell well in the AH, that's why.
Step 4) Curse tanks who see either Stonecore or Vortex and drop. HATE THEM SO!
Step 5)
Step 6) Put on full set of 377 crafted pvp gear.
Step 7) Spend those hard-earned justice points. I went for a ring, a neck, and a wand (decisions based only on upgrading ilevels)
Step 8) Check gear score. 0_o at fact that in about 10 minutes went from new 85 to geared enough for Hour of Twilight heroics (okay, pvp gear is nowhere near optimal, and I'll be testing my dps before I hit them to make sure it's adequate, but still!)
Step 9) Realize it's past 4 am. Also realize that Ask Mr Robot is now firmly convinced Angetia's gearing for PVP (can't think why :) ). Decide to blog briefly, then go to bed.
Step 10) Figure out how to mage at 85 (that's tomorrow's problem)
Friday, February 24, 2012
BOOYA!
I believe the phrase I'm looking for here is...
BOOYA!!!!
Lyllea, Destroyer's End. Has a nice ring to it. Yay Redeemed for coming back from a series of heartbreaking sub 5% wipes to squash that stupid dragon!
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