Hope you guys are doing well and enjoying the tail end of Season 6! Due to being incredibly busy, I haven't had much time to update or make videos during this season (not to mention my Alienware laptop is out being repaired), but I will be trying to get back into the swing of things next season as far as multimedia is concerned. ;)
For now, you can follow me on Twitter if you are curious:
Dreamspirit(y) on Twitter!
And I will be attending BlizzCon 2009 as well! Hope to see some of you there!
-Dreamspirit
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Quick Update
Quick Update: I have quite a bit going on out of game at the moment that I have to focus on so I'm a bit behind in responses, but fear not: I'll get to them just as soon as I can. :)
- Dreamspirit
- Dreamspirit
Friday, May 1, 2009
Now with Over 8k Achievement Points!
I broke 8k+ achievement points this morning (8035 atm), and have been running around #2-4th place on US-Tichondrius. The Nerd Points(tm) have consumed me just a bit, I'll admit, but it's a pleasant little distraction in game, to be sure.
Good times!
Good times!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Dreamspirit's New Arena Video (3v3 TR WoW Arena Feral Druid and Others vs. Various: (Video #1))
I've been making WoW/Arena/PvP videos for quite awhile now, and started up on YouTube a little over a year ago when I was crawling around in the 1600s and looking to improve. Since then, I've gotten a lot better and have done videos with tips, play-by-plays, commentary, you name it, and I really, REALLY enjoy the "community" that's sprung up there, and I enjoy helping others (when RL isn't kicking my rear).
Anyway: I've always loved Machinima, and a video or two ago I took a few tentative steps into looking into how to do it. For some reason with this video I just made, the itch to learn hit me harder than ever and I found myself toiling away trying to "animate" via small clips. Somewhere along the way I thought it would be neat if I tried to put some voices to the characters, and therein.... Remedi got dragged into this.
Ideas shared and dialogue and scenes and motivation refined in the early AM hours? I'd have it no other way. :) Even if you guys aren't into Arena, you might want to check out the first minute and a half or so so you can hear Remedi doing an impersonation of a Canadian, female Tauren.
The High Quality will take another hour or two to finish processing, but the low-quality is up on YouTube in the meantime. :) I spent a ton of time audio-editing the beginning (foley too!) so I'm looking forward to when the HQ version is available. Enjoy!
Once it's finished processing, the HQ version should be available here: 3v3 TR WoW Arena Feral Druid and Others vs. Various: (Video #1)
-Dreamspirit
Friday, March 27, 2009
Dream's Art: "Mine"
I've been incredibly, INCREDIBLY busy over the last few months (okay, last few years, but I digress), and I noticed I hadn't done art in a really, really long time. So, rather than QQ about it, I decided to cut into my "productive" morning hours and whip something up as a surprise for my boyfriend (for our anniversary).
He's the NE Death Knight. ;)I actually did a couple sketches before I found a layout I enjoyed (go go pre-planning!), and from there I did ink line art over the original sketch.
After that I scanned the line art (since I HAVE been known to entirely screw up the coloring process and enjoy having a backup "just in case"), and then went on to finish the piece in Copic Marker. While I DID use professional quality marker paper, for some reason it scans sort of weird and it killed all the neat little plays of color throughout the piece. Oh well.
It's a little under 8 1/2 by 11.
In any case, enjoy.
You can see the Black and White, Color, and Close-Up Here, on LJ.
-Dreamspirit
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Dream Fails at Updates
Hokkkaaayy!
RL has been incredibly busy for me lately, so I've been trying to juggle time as best I can, and in doing so, some things keep managing to get pushed back and pushed back and, well, you get the picture. >_>
I'm rather impressively behind in responding to YouTube messages and comments (iep!), and keep finding myself lacking free time enough to work on a new video, but the latter, in particular, is coming soon. Oh yes. :)
As far as in-game "stuff," I got Reins of the Twilight Drake (25 man) a few weeks ago, and shortly thereafter, completed my 10-man achievement Meta to earn the 310% speed Reins of the Plagued Protodrake. I'm hoping I can get the 25-man version before 3.1, but Immortal's been holding us up for months now (the ways we've lost it over and over have grown almost comical).
As far as PvP goes, for about a month now I've been sitting at entirely done with my Meta Achievement to be "Battlemaster Dreamspirit" were it not for 69 more wins I need in Alterac. :-/ I'm hoping once 3.1 goes live and Concerted Efforts Utilizes the AV tokens again that this will be easier to complete (since at the moment, games last 30 minutes to an hour+ and Alliance hardly queues, so we have 8 Alliance vs 40 Horde and, as such, very, very rarely win to the point that it's rather pointless to play).
After killing myself with the WSG rep grind (arg!), I'm sitting at 7010 Achievement points, and will be getting back to those "nerd points" a bit more as free time becomes available.
As far as PvP goes, it's been a bit of hit and miss. My 5s Team peaked at something like #12 on BG9, and #4 on our server before we hit a rough patch where we lost points and suddenly it seemed as if some members of the team were no longer insterested in investing as much of themselves in the team. :-/ I was in a position where I almost felt as if I had to hound people to show up, and even when I did, there studdenly started to be a lot of tension among some team-members, and nasty words that were doing no one any good. I guess people though that since we climbed so high, we'd just keep climbing, but well, that's not often how it goes. When one of our members left the team without notice and then began dodging me on his availability, I knew it was time for a change.
The team went semi-inactive for a few weeks, and now we've just started running with three new members (Balance Druid, Holy Paladin, Survival Hunter, Resto Shaman, and Arcane/Frost Mage). I don't knowhow competitive we are liable to be since we just started running together, but it is an absolute RELIEF to not have the level of stress and infighting the old 5s team seemed to have towards the end there. If anything, I'm thankful for that. The whole POINT of this game is to have fun, after all.
In terms of my other brackets on live (US-Tichondrius), my 3s has gone inactive for the last month and a half or so and I've put up an ad on Arena Junkies seeking a new team. Who knows if I'll get any hits, but it can't hurt to see what's out there.
2s this season has been quite an experience, to say the least. I've played so, so many comps with a mass of individuals..... and FRAPsed barely any of it. >_<>_>). Personality-wise, we're a great fit, and I've been having a ton of fun, so there's a good liklihood you'll see some Mookin+Mage 2s in a video at some point just because, well, it's really "different" and certainly not mainstream in the least.
That aside, I've been running on the Tournament Realm (2) to get the Armored Murloc Pet and perhaps the "Vanquisher" title. The team was more of a "Hey? You're interested too? Let's play!" so it's hardly serious, but it's been a nice experience away from Live-side. For one thing, all of us chose to roll Tauren, and we're running Resto Shaman, Feral Druid (me!), and Survival hunter 3s. At the moment we are in range for the Vanquisher title, but we'll have to see how the brackets shape up as the weeks go on. I think there are only 2-3 weeks left in the initial qualifier.
So, well, that's what's been going on with me. :) I'm still around, just really busy offline and on, it seems.
I hope Season 5 is treating you all well!
-Dreamspirit
RL has been incredibly busy for me lately, so I've been trying to juggle time as best I can, and in doing so, some things keep managing to get pushed back and pushed back and, well, you get the picture. >_>
I'm rather impressively behind in responding to YouTube messages and comments (iep!), and keep finding myself lacking free time enough to work on a new video, but the latter, in particular, is coming soon. Oh yes. :)
As far as in-game "stuff," I got Reins of the Twilight Drake (25 man) a few weeks ago, and shortly thereafter, completed my 10-man achievement Meta to earn the 310% speed Reins of the Plagued Protodrake. I'm hoping I can get the 25-man version before 3.1, but Immortal's been holding us up for months now (the ways we've lost it over and over have grown almost comical).
As far as PvP goes, for about a month now I've been sitting at entirely done with my Meta Achievement to be "Battlemaster Dreamspirit" were it not for 69 more wins I need in Alterac. :-/ I'm hoping once 3.1 goes live and Concerted Efforts Utilizes the AV tokens again that this will be easier to complete (since at the moment, games last 30 minutes to an hour+ and Alliance hardly queues, so we have 8 Alliance vs 40 Horde and, as such, very, very rarely win to the point that it's rather pointless to play).
After killing myself with the WSG rep grind (arg!), I'm sitting at 7010 Achievement points, and will be getting back to those "nerd points" a bit more as free time becomes available.
As far as PvP goes, it's been a bit of hit and miss. My 5s Team peaked at something like #12 on BG9, and #4 on our server before we hit a rough patch where we lost points and suddenly it seemed as if some members of the team were no longer insterested in investing as much of themselves in the team. :-/ I was in a position where I almost felt as if I had to hound people to show up, and even when I did, there studdenly started to be a lot of tension among some team-members, and nasty words that were doing no one any good. I guess people though that since we climbed so high, we'd just keep climbing, but well, that's not often how it goes. When one of our members left the team without notice and then began dodging me on his availability, I knew it was time for a change.
The team went semi-inactive for a few weeks, and now we've just started running with three new members (Balance Druid, Holy Paladin, Survival Hunter, Resto Shaman, and Arcane/Frost Mage). I don't knowhow competitive we are liable to be since we just started running together, but it is an absolute RELIEF to not have the level of stress and infighting the old 5s team seemed to have towards the end there. If anything, I'm thankful for that. The whole POINT of this game is to have fun, after all.
In terms of my other brackets on live (US-Tichondrius), my 3s has gone inactive for the last month and a half or so and I've put up an ad on Arena Junkies seeking a new team. Who knows if I'll get any hits, but it can't hurt to see what's out there.
2s this season has been quite an experience, to say the least. I've played so, so many comps with a mass of individuals..... and FRAPsed barely any of it. >_<>_>). Personality-wise, we're a great fit, and I've been having a ton of fun, so there's a good liklihood you'll see some Mookin+Mage 2s in a video at some point just because, well, it's really "different" and certainly not mainstream in the least.
That aside, I've been running on the Tournament Realm (2) to get the Armored Murloc Pet and perhaps the "Vanquisher" title. The team was more of a "Hey? You're interested too? Let's play!" so it's hardly serious, but it's been a nice experience away from Live-side. For one thing, all of us chose to roll Tauren, and we're running Resto Shaman, Feral Druid (me!), and Survival hunter 3s. At the moment we are in range for the Vanquisher title, but we'll have to see how the brackets shape up as the weeks go on. I think there are only 2-3 weeks left in the initial qualifier.
So, well, that's what's been going on with me. :) I'm still around, just really busy offline and on, it seems.
I hope Season 5 is treating you all well!
-Dreamspirit
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Flawless Victors in 5v5s
- New Team Peak of 2056 (!)
- Peak of #7 on Tich
- Peak of #17 on BG9 (I'm the #2 Primary Line-up Moonkin in 5s on BG9!)
- Peak of #257 Globally
- Last night we went 15-0 and earned "Hot Hot Hot Streak!" (10 consecutive wins in a row above 2k rating), which gave us shiny new titles. :D I'm so proud of how we've come together!
To celebrate, I called the night early and we headed somewhere more scenic ...
We're on a Boat! (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU)
http://www.dreamspirit-studios.com/images/WereonaBoat01.jpg
There will be a video to follow in the next week or so. >_>
So incredibly rewarding leading this team. :) People are so great with keeping me updated on their schedules so we can make sure to get in two solid nights' worth per week. ;_; I LOVE YOU GUYS!
BTW: The tournament realms will be coming up in a few weeks and I'll be over there, I suspect. There is an armored murloc pet to be had (!!!) so he must thusly be obtained!
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/arena/tournament/index.xml
(I'm on a BOAT!)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Solid Week
Had a nice "Day 2" of 5v5s this week. Very solid. I think we peaked at around 2036 or something (#7 on Tich and #19 or so on BG9)? I have a lot more I want to ramble about but I'm tired as heck and likely have this headache because I stayed up far later than I'd planned reading up on forums about upcoming changes and content. Woooo!
Here's to hoping I can wrangle people into 3s this week. >_> I've been missing them quite a lot.
I also need to record more Arena action, oops! So easy to forget in the rush of things to do.
*collapse*
Here's to hoping I can wrangle people into 3s this week. >_> I've been missing them quite a lot.
I also need to record more Arena action, oops! So easy to forget in the rush of things to do.
*collapse*
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
5v5s Progress
Took a Break from 2s and 3s to focus on 5s last week. We peaked at around 2004 (#20 in BG9, #7 on Tich), and ended the week at #26 on BG9. It was one hell of a fight.
Next week I'll be resuming 2s with a new partner and playing as Feral, and will seeing how far up there we can get, and in 3s I think I'll be settling into Resto. Meaning I am playing 3 different specs in 3 different brackets. I'm in hybrid heaven. :)
Trying to schedule everything is a lot more creative than I thought. >_>
Friday, January 30, 2009
Photoage and Spec-Listing
I took a quick screenshot so I can better document things for myself. The 5v5s is on the first page of Tichondrius, :) Sadly, I didn't catch a shot when we were at our peak last night (1906 or 1916 I think?), but this is close. ^_^
I also put a listing of my 4 Primary PvP Specs at the Bottom of Q5 Here.
Still waiting on the render of the new video, arg! it's been compiling for an hour and a half now and I have 3v3s soon, nuuuu!
I also put a listing of my 4 Primary PvP Specs at the Bottom of Q5 Here.
Still waiting on the render of the new video, arg! it's been compiling for an hour and a half now and I have 3v3s soon, nuuuu!
Juggling Arenas
It seems like I've been trying to cram a lot in before I head out of town for the weekend, but it's gone well so far. I scheduled 5s for yesterday (which went well), 3s tonight, and more 5s on Monday. This probably means I won't have time to run 2s this week, but ah well: there's always next week!
Last night went really well. Aside from a momentary personality conflict between teammates (which happens now and then on all teams, especially driven ones), everything went well on the whole. We didn't end at our peak for the night (I think we pushed ourselves too hard, which I will be more careful about in the future, and is part of the reason why tonight is a "light 3s night."
At our Peak, our humble 5v5s on its second week, hit #35 on all of US-Bloodlust (BG9), and #10 on US-Tichondrius, with an 87-17 Win / Loss Ratio (84%), which is ~incredibly~ impressive, and I am so very proud of my teammates. :) I honestly wasn't expecting us to do so well, but I remembered to turn on FRAPs for a few matches and decided it was high time to put together a video. I probably spent a bit too much time on it today, but it was a nice bit of stress-therapy, and I'm hoping to render it and hopefully upload it before 3s tonight. If not, I'll have to compile it after. I know my partners probably have some amazing saves on their end, but it's damned hard to show that sort of thing from my end, so instead I tried to explain what we were doing as a whole and what I, more specifically, was doing throughout the matches. I can't hit every note, but I did try to hit quite a few.
More to follow. :)
Last night went really well. Aside from a momentary personality conflict between teammates (which happens now and then on all teams, especially driven ones), everything went well on the whole. We didn't end at our peak for the night (I think we pushed ourselves too hard, which I will be more careful about in the future, and is part of the reason why tonight is a "light 3s night."
At our Peak, our humble 5v5s on its second week, hit #35 on all of US-Bloodlust (BG9), and #10 on US-Tichondrius, with an 87-17 Win / Loss Ratio (84%), which is ~incredibly~ impressive, and I am so very proud of my teammates. :) I honestly wasn't expecting us to do so well, but I remembered to turn on FRAPs for a few matches and decided it was high time to put together a video. I probably spent a bit too much time on it today, but it was a nice bit of stress-therapy, and I'm hoping to render it and hopefully upload it before 3s tonight. If not, I'll have to compile it after. I know my partners probably have some amazing saves on their end, but it's damned hard to show that sort of thing from my end, so instead I tried to explain what we were doing as a whole and what I, more specifically, was doing throughout the matches. I can't hit every note, but I did try to hit quite a few.
More to follow. :)
Thursday, January 29, 2009
An Epic "Evo Raid"
Someone from Evolution posted this as "this reminds me of an Evo raid."
Good story. :)
http://elitistjerks.com/blogs/deenogger/169-suprised_tank.html
Last night we had our own moment of "WTF" during a raid, namely, during Phase 2 of Malygos-25, you know, the phase where Malygos is flying around watching his Mages "pewpew" us from hover discs while we all run around dodging deep breaths in bubbles?
Yeah, during that phase, Malygos randomly decided to join the fight.
Yeah, you heard me right.
http://www.dreamspirit-studios.com/images/WoWScrnShot_012809_205802.jpg
Even Perc's expert kiting couldn't save us.
http://www.dreamspirit-studios.com/images/WoWScrnShot_012809_205842.jpg
Good times. :) I still say it was Malygos foiling our 6-minute attempt. ;)
Good story. :)
http://elitistjerks.com/blogs/deenogger/169-suprised_tank.html
Last night we had our own moment of "WTF" during a raid, namely, during Phase 2 of Malygos-25, you know, the phase where Malygos is flying around watching his Mages "pewpew" us from hover discs while we all run around dodging deep breaths in bubbles?
Yeah, during that phase, Malygos randomly decided to join the fight.
Yeah, you heard me right.
http://www.dreamspirit-studios.com/images/WoWScrnShot_012809_205802.jpg
Even Perc's expert kiting couldn't save us.
http://www.dreamspirit-studios.com/images/WoWScrnShot_012809_205842.jpg
Good times. :) I still say it was Malygos foiling our 6-minute attempt. ;)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Huzzah!
Huzzah! :D
Hopefully we can keep up the pace and keep on trucking. :)
1.) We're in the top 100, yay!
2.) PR is fucked up like whoa.
3.) WHY IS MY PR LOWER THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S NO MATTER WHAT AHHHHH!?
4.) <3
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
5v5s, FigurePrint, and Such
Yesterday was the first day I managed to wrangle together a team for Season 5. I really hadn't done 5s since Season 4, since it seems they are tricky to not only find, but to find ones that are stable, skilled, and high on communication. One of the few I tried earlier this season was just some Mage inviting and knocking people off the team as he pleased (I'm sorry, but if I play 40+ games on a team in a week, I expect others to be kind and let me get points for the week on that team, but I digress... if people are going to be silly and boot you once just because, don't give them a second chance).
But honestly: I've been missing 5s a lot. 3s and 5s are some of my favorite brackets because of the skill and coordination it involves from everyone, and because it's not a juggle of rock, paper, scissors like 2s.
Making 5s happen however.... is another feat. Even one of my more solid 5s had issues in Season 3 since all five of us were in different guilds, with different raiding schedules, leading us into the whole "well, so and so will be 2 hours late, should we cancel or use a backup?" This, in turn, meant that most weeks we had 3-4 of the same folks, and then a few revolving spots, which simply isn't good for coordinated play. :-/
Part of the reason I came to Tich, however, was to be more active/competitive in 3s and 5s. Due to my own enjoyment of raiding, however, I've ended up with PvE oriented guilds (once again >_>), but with a few players in our ranks that really do love PvP, so I've been gravitating towards playing with them. I'm not sure how much "competitive" play is possible, but I'm hopeful. :)
3s this week went well, as I said, and yesterday I tried to wrangle together a 5s team, based around two things, mostly: 1.) People in the guild whose classes seemed to mesh/seemed skilled/seemed geared or trying to gear, and 2.) I wanted to play a DPS role in 5s. It seems at this point 2s could go either way, 3s I am a healer, and 5s, well, I wanted to find a way to try to make it work.
The comp I created was thus:
1.) Unholy/Frost DK
2.) Survival Hunter
3.) Holy Paladin
4.) Resto Shaman
5.) Heavy Balance Druid (me)
The thought being that with no Rogue or Mage, That I would need to be a mix of Range DPS/CC/Emergency Healing. It's certainly not a "cookie cutter" mix, and I haven't seen anyone else running it, but I figured it was worth a try, and if nothing else, since we're all from the same guild, hopefully we can get some more regular playtime in (and maybe use the 5s for points/rating for some that are lacking other teams).
Instead, we went 37 and 6, straight up to 1775 before the servers came down for maintenance, putting us at -exactly- #100 on all of BG9. :) I really wonder what that would have been if we weren't getting +2 to +5 per game won.... (The 3v3s calced at #168).
Oh, and we all got "Hot Streak" on our final game of the night! *laughs*
I am REALLY pleased with how things went. I was really proud of my teammates and I pulling off some really smooth 2345 and cold switches, and I really didn't feel even for our loses that we were out comped, we just were out played/out RNGed. That gives me a lot of hope that we will continue to improve and push on, which makes me excited as hell. It'd been awhile since I was the one making calls in 5s (my old competitive 5s was notorious for having two "alpha dog" male personalities that often clashed which lead to arguing between them >_>). It was all awesome to see people listening and assisting, peeling, CCing, switching, the whole deal. It just felt really, really incredibly solid for a first night, so I guess I might end up FRAPsing some 5s as well this week if I remember. :) Organized chaos can be so much -fun- with great comrades.
I am just pleased as punch to be playing all 3 specs in my brackets! Particularly for 3s and 5s I wanted to be in two separate roles, and I think one of my strengths is being a Hybrid, and playing as such, so Balance is -perfect- for me for 5s due to its situational versitility (and I can be more aware of calling switches, peril, etc.). Making calls as a healer is a lot more difficult in my own experience in 5s since it is so fast-paced. I am just even more thrilled the comp I formed and personalities therein seemed to work so well. Huzzah!
Happy day. :)
I also got my FigurePrint in the mail of Dreamspirit yesterday, in her Full Season 3 glory! I will have to take some photos later, but it turned out really well. That will always be a special season for me because it was the first time I hit 2k+ (and as such, was one of only 4 druids on Proudmoore with "shoulders").
Back to work!
But honestly: I've been missing 5s a lot. 3s and 5s are some of my favorite brackets because of the skill and coordination it involves from everyone, and because it's not a juggle of rock, paper, scissors like 2s.
Making 5s happen however.... is another feat. Even one of my more solid 5s had issues in Season 3 since all five of us were in different guilds, with different raiding schedules, leading us into the whole "well, so and so will be 2 hours late, should we cancel or use a backup?" This, in turn, meant that most weeks we had 3-4 of the same folks, and then a few revolving spots, which simply isn't good for coordinated play. :-/
Part of the reason I came to Tich, however, was to be more active/competitive in 3s and 5s. Due to my own enjoyment of raiding, however, I've ended up with PvE oriented guilds (once again >_>), but with a few players in our ranks that really do love PvP, so I've been gravitating towards playing with them. I'm not sure how much "competitive" play is possible, but I'm hopeful. :)
3s this week went well, as I said, and yesterday I tried to wrangle together a 5s team, based around two things, mostly: 1.) People in the guild whose classes seemed to mesh/seemed skilled/seemed geared or trying to gear, and 2.) I wanted to play a DPS role in 5s. It seems at this point 2s could go either way, 3s I am a healer, and 5s, well, I wanted to find a way to try to make it work.
The comp I created was thus:
1.) Unholy/Frost DK
2.) Survival Hunter
3.) Holy Paladin
4.) Resto Shaman
5.) Heavy Balance Druid (me)
The thought being that with no Rogue or Mage, That I would need to be a mix of Range DPS/CC/Emergency Healing. It's certainly not a "cookie cutter" mix, and I haven't seen anyone else running it, but I figured it was worth a try, and if nothing else, since we're all from the same guild, hopefully we can get some more regular playtime in (and maybe use the 5s for points/rating for some that are lacking other teams).
Instead, we went 37 and 6, straight up to 1775 before the servers came down for maintenance, putting us at -exactly- #100 on all of BG9. :) I really wonder what that would have been if we weren't getting +2 to +5 per game won.... (The 3v3s calced at #168).
Oh, and we all got "Hot Streak" on our final game of the night! *laughs*
I am REALLY pleased with how things went. I was really proud of my teammates and I pulling off some really smooth 2345 and cold switches, and I really didn't feel even for our loses that we were out comped, we just were out played/out RNGed. That gives me a lot of hope that we will continue to improve and push on, which makes me excited as hell. It'd been awhile since I was the one making calls in 5s (my old competitive 5s was notorious for having two "alpha dog" male personalities that often clashed which lead to arguing between them >_>). It was all awesome to see people listening and assisting, peeling, CCing, switching, the whole deal. It just felt really, really incredibly solid for a first night, so I guess I might end up FRAPsing some 5s as well this week if I remember. :) Organized chaos can be so much -fun- with great comrades.
I am just pleased as punch to be playing all 3 specs in my brackets! Particularly for 3s and 5s I wanted to be in two separate roles, and I think one of my strengths is being a Hybrid, and playing as such, so Balance is -perfect- for me for 5s due to its situational versitility (and I can be more aware of calling switches, peril, etc.). Making calls as a healer is a lot more difficult in my own experience in 5s since it is so fast-paced. I am just even more thrilled the comp I formed and personalities therein seemed to work so well. Huzzah!
Happy day. :)
I also got my FigurePrint in the mail of Dreamspirit yesterday, in her Full Season 3 glory! I will have to take some photos later, but it turned out really well. That will always be a special season for me because it was the first time I hit 2k+ (and as such, was one of only 4 druids on Proudmoore with "shoulders").
Back to work!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Post - 3.0.8
Well, the last week has certainly been a busy one. I think I was one of the few PvPers I know that opted out of "taking advantage" of the Arena-Bug that suddenly skyrocketed some teams to inordinately high numbers just because, well, I didn't see a point. Something in the match was obviously broken, and 1600s teams suddenly being at 2800s? .... No.
A lot "broken" here and there with the patch as well. A friendly hunter FDing, will sometimes drop my target (@$&@$), which reminds me of the old days of WoW when this was how it was in Season 1 and part of Season 2. Shadowmeld seems to not be "working" either, with a sort of built-in lag preventing Shadowmeld --> Swift Flight Form, and a lack of dropping combat in some PvE Encounters and Bosses as well, not to mention a sudden lack of PvP use. :-/ With the right timing, I could feign off an incoming cast, or read as "immune" to a single enemy player spell if I cast Shadowmeld at the right moment during their cast, but.... no more. I don't even know what direction this is headed: if it's a nerf, or a glitch, but it certainly does make my racial poor at the moment.
This week's Arena, when I finally -did- run it over the weekend was a polite mixed-bag. Twos were solid, and then we made the mistake of playing too long (read: into the wee morning hours), and tanking our rating. There's always next week, though. Moreover I'm still iffy about the new system, which basically is not a "zero sum" calculation. Mostly we were winning say, 5-7 points for a win, and the losing team was losing about 4-6 on average. To some extent this gives people that throw themselves into Arena a little pat on the back because you have to steadily chug along to move up, and the slip-ups aren't as soul-crushing (27-29 point losses can HURT), but it still takes a darn lot longer to go anywhere.
Sunday-Night threes, at least, went a lot better and more than made up for 2s. I think I've tried ever spec imaginable and every playstyle to boot to make an awkward mixing of DK+Druid+Hunter work competitively, to little avail. We just didn't have the synergy. Luckily, with the last patch, our hunter went from 2xBM+Readiness to a nice Survival build, allowing for better switches, peels, CC, etc., that I felt it might be worth a go on my part to try a Heavy Resto (16/0/55) build and play it "old School." ;)
At the end of the night, some 53 games later, we went 37-16, bringing us up to be ranking number #163 of 35,000+ teams on BG9. Not bad at all. :)
I honestly hadn't had much luck in 3s this season as a Heavy Resto build in part because I am still subject to a fast gib, and I really, really need solid peels since I don't have the "outs" of other healing classes at the moment. I ran with around 800ish Resil, and a Hybrid Balance and Resto set for the extra +50 Resil (collecting all those damn sets comes in handy sometimes!), and tried to be really vocal about both when I needed help, and to also be aware of not putting myself too close to the "Action." Sometimes that "one" extra Cyclone just isn't worth getting into Intercept Range of that watchful Warrior. ;)
On the whole though: we made it work. Heavy hotting, and incredibly heavy direct heals (<3 Nourish) helped. Which makes me really excited for next week.
While I think the Mage "buff" was a step in the wrong direction, and that Rogues still need a little nerf for PvP, generally, most every fight felt potentially winnable against most comps last night. PMR was probably the trickiest, but we still won a few.
The note that was a weird touch of sadness/joy was the entire lack of Druids. In about 120+ games of threes in the last 3 weeks, I've seen about 3 Moonkin, about 5 Ferals, one Resto/Feral Hybrid, and -0- Heavy Resto Druids. :-/ It felt good to almost "represent" what can feel like a struggling breed, but I have high hopes things will even out a bit more as Paladin healing dominance is addressed. I can assure you, even the Rets feel more in "line" with things, and that changes are heading in the right direction.
Still: Happy Monday. :)
A lot "broken" here and there with the patch as well. A friendly hunter FDing, will sometimes drop my target (@$&@$), which reminds me of the old days of WoW when this was how it was in Season 1 and part of Season 2. Shadowmeld seems to not be "working" either, with a sort of built-in lag preventing Shadowmeld --> Swift Flight Form, and a lack of dropping combat in some PvE Encounters and Bosses as well, not to mention a sudden lack of PvP use. :-/ With the right timing, I could feign off an incoming cast, or read as "immune" to a single enemy player spell if I cast Shadowmeld at the right moment during their cast, but.... no more. I don't even know what direction this is headed: if it's a nerf, or a glitch, but it certainly does make my racial poor at the moment.
This week's Arena, when I finally -did- run it over the weekend was a polite mixed-bag. Twos were solid, and then we made the mistake of playing too long (read: into the wee morning hours), and tanking our rating. There's always next week, though. Moreover I'm still iffy about the new system, which basically is not a "zero sum" calculation. Mostly we were winning say, 5-7 points for a win, and the losing team was losing about 4-6 on average. To some extent this gives people that throw themselves into Arena a little pat on the back because you have to steadily chug along to move up, and the slip-ups aren't as soul-crushing (27-29 point losses can HURT), but it still takes a darn lot longer to go anywhere.
Sunday-Night threes, at least, went a lot better and more than made up for 2s. I think I've tried ever spec imaginable and every playstyle to boot to make an awkward mixing of DK+Druid+Hunter work competitively, to little avail. We just didn't have the synergy. Luckily, with the last patch, our hunter went from 2xBM+Readiness to a nice Survival build, allowing for better switches, peels, CC, etc., that I felt it might be worth a go on my part to try a Heavy Resto (16/0/55) build and play it "old School." ;)
At the end of the night, some 53 games later, we went 37-16, bringing us up to be ranking number #163 of 35,000+ teams on BG9. Not bad at all. :)
I honestly hadn't had much luck in 3s this season as a Heavy Resto build in part because I am still subject to a fast gib, and I really, really need solid peels since I don't have the "outs" of other healing classes at the moment. I ran with around 800ish Resil, and a Hybrid Balance and Resto set for the extra +50 Resil (collecting all those damn sets comes in handy sometimes!), and tried to be really vocal about both when I needed help, and to also be aware of not putting myself too close to the "Action." Sometimes that "one" extra Cyclone just isn't worth getting into Intercept Range of that watchful Warrior. ;)
On the whole though: we made it work. Heavy hotting, and incredibly heavy direct heals (<3 Nourish) helped. Which makes me really excited for next week.
While I think the Mage "buff" was a step in the wrong direction, and that Rogues still need a little nerf for PvP, generally, most every fight felt potentially winnable against most comps last night. PMR was probably the trickiest, but we still won a few.
The note that was a weird touch of sadness/joy was the entire lack of Druids. In about 120+ games of threes in the last 3 weeks, I've seen about 3 Moonkin, about 5 Ferals, one Resto/Feral Hybrid, and -0- Heavy Resto Druids. :-/ It felt good to almost "represent" what can feel like a struggling breed, but I have high hopes things will even out a bit more as Paladin healing dominance is addressed. I can assure you, even the Rets feel more in "line" with things, and that changes are heading in the right direction.
Still: Happy Monday. :)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
3.0.8 Bugs
With WG on the fritz, Arenas all over the place, and weird bugs like the much hated "friendly Hunter FDed and it dropped my target on him," I'm really hoping some hotfixes and rollbacks happen soon. Until then I should probably record some duels/world/BG PvP.
In a random gripe: one of My HDDs seems to have failed. It wasn't life-critical stuff, but it was one of the larger storage drives where I put my "minor-moderate importance" files. Which just so happened to include a lot of raw FRAPs matches from Season 4 through the beginning of Season 5. ;_; Nothing worth crying over, certainly, but that means the 2-2.1k+ matches of Boomkin+Rogue and Feral+Rogue are lost to the wind, especially since those two particular rogues have retired. :-/ It's sad when great comrades retire, even moreso when there seems to be a shortage of skilled players of a particular class (that aren't already tied to other partners).
I keep hoping one of them will come back, and I was hoping to at least put up some Feral or Boomkin footage since I have hardly any up on YouTube, but it seems as if it's not to be. Ah well. I miss those matches. :-/ After the endurance matches of S3, those were a nice change.
In a random gripe: one of My HDDs seems to have failed. It wasn't life-critical stuff, but it was one of the larger storage drives where I put my "minor-moderate importance" files. Which just so happened to include a lot of raw FRAPs matches from Season 4 through the beginning of Season 5. ;_; Nothing worth crying over, certainly, but that means the 2-2.1k+ matches of Boomkin+Rogue and Feral+Rogue are lost to the wind, especially since those two particular rogues have retired. :-/ It's sad when great comrades retire, even moreso when there seems to be a shortage of skilled players of a particular class (that aren't already tied to other partners).
I keep hoping one of them will come back, and I was hoping to at least put up some Feral or Boomkin footage since I have hardly any up on YouTube, but it seems as if it's not to be. Ah well. I miss those matches. :-/ After the endurance matches of S3, those were a nice change.
Breaking News: Arenas disabled [Updated]
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
INC: Massive Post of Druid
So, my first character in WoW, way back, was a Druid. I would like to think I speak "druid" and have been with the class along the way through it's many, many PvE and PvP eras.
I was there in Vanilla WoW when no one REALLY played as anything other than Resto since Ferals and Balance both were terrible trees that did only 70% of the damage of pure DPS classes, and who would want either when you'd rather have a Mage or some such of CC. I was there when all we did was lean on Healing Touch Spam in 40-Man raids and Innervate other healers (hopefully not tanks by accident, since at that point the spell could be wasted on those without mana-pools, but I digress).
I was there for the massive Tarren Mill outdoor PvP action, when in order to get credit for an Honor Kill, I had to do damage to opponents ("Hello, Moonfire!"), and there for when WSG was introduced and week-long AV's, Lieutenants and all, were the norm.
I was there for when Bear Tanks suddenly were worth something at the beginning of TBC, and then were nerf-batted HARD. When Arena was fascinatingly new (First Gladiator Antlers on Proudmoore, gogo!), and incredibly, INCREDIBLY confusing and overwhelming since I had very little idea how any classes other than Druids functioned. But at least Armory was there to let me know I was on the right track (albeit, a clumsy one).
I played my heart out in PvP Feral, and then made a transition to PvP Resto. And with so very, very many lessons learned along the way, when I sit here and find myself pondering Season 5, I suppose I am still less concerned than a lot of Druids out there right now.
This is why.
Before TBC had premiered, yes, there was PvP, but in no way shape or form did I consider the game to have a clear FOCUS that that was an integral aspect of it. But when TBC came out, suddenly Blizzard wanted to make PvP more "balanced" (and competitive: Arena is part of MLG and other sponsored events now), especially in small groups.
Coming from a game still struggling to "balance" PvE (remember when only Horde got shaman and Alliance got Paladins?), I honestly think Blizzard did a pretty decent job right out of the gate, and as the seasons drew on, was able to roll with the punches and most importantly: adapt with players.
How I played at the beginning of Season 1 or 3 was no how I played at the end of Season 4. It went from "OMG KILL THAT GUY BEFORE ONE OF US DIES!" to a more skilled and coordinated "dance" of not only communication an coordination, but a heightened awareness of not only other classes (and their strengths and weaknesses alone and with comrades), but being more aware of other player's personal weaknesses and being able to adapt to them.
Along the way, here is some of what went on (and some of it is outdated, but you mght find it useful):
- I became much more mana-conscious, and by the middle of Season 3, was heavily into downranking. If I saw a Priest, Shaman, or Paladin removing my spells very insistantly, I would downrank my hots, roots, Farie Fire, Moonfire, ANYTHING, so that they had to spend more mana removing my buffs or debuffs than I did putting them on, leading me, over time, to "win" the mana battle.
- I learned to "mask" my spells with other spells (ie: if I wanted to root someone, I'd also put up Moonfire and Farie Fire so there was only a 1 in 3 chance they would dispell my root the first try, assuming it didn't resist)
- I learned to coordinate interrupts a lot better with my partners, and play more aggressively. You have the upper hand if you have the upper hand.
- I learned to manipulate other players to move where I wanted them to move and avoid being baited myself.
- I learned to drink early and often.
- I learned to time my own CDs around enemy CDs. If you can guess what will happen in the next 5 seconds and anticipate it, you are a step ahead of things.
- I learned to feign casts so that Kick, Pummel, even CS casts were "wasted" on me.
- I learned to use abilities like Bash and Pounce on the back of people to avoid unnecessary Dodges/Parrys
I rolled with the punches on repeated Druid nerfs (4 piece set bonus change, Cyclone range change, etc.) and overall just kept learning and adapting in ALL of my specs, even when Resto seemed to be dominating 2s and 3s in the higher brackets.
And I learned I'm, still, always learning. :)
Bringing me to now.
Yes: Right now heavy Resto builds do not do well in 2s and 3s, generally. Right now, the era of burst and lots of Paladins, Rogues, and Death Knights is upon us, but if there's anything I've learned, is that this is a game of adapting, and just as all of us are adpating right now, I believe further balance (no pun intended ;) ) is in our future. I firmly believe that Blizzard is watching what is going on and will be "tweaking" things across the board to help players and make the game more strategic.
My biggest evidence of this is the slow removal of random-proc stuns. Mace stun, Blackout, and with 3.0.8, even Starfall's Celestial Focus: all being weeded out. There are now DRs on silences and many stuns, as well as enchantments and meta-gems to guard players against particularly troublesome stats. What does this mean? Less RNGy, more "If you want to stun, you need to click and use an ability and be responsible for it's outcome." I approve of this. I approve of the timers on Arena games to soon be capped at 45 minutes (I have endured multiple 2:30+ hour games in Season 3 and Season 4 and am SO over that).
There are more options for hybrid playstyles, more options for group compositions, more fine-tuning overall, and as much as it really is still a burst-fest, the expansion has only bee nout two months, and PvP gear has only been out a month and I can already see a difference in the brackets.
Resilience is starting to make a difference. Perhaps not fast enough, but during 3.0.1 and 3.0.2, I remember matches where combat lasted only six seconds. I remember Season 5 openning and matches lasting about 30 seconds in part because of a ton of Ret Pallies and Arcane Mages and Rogues (QQ), but also because of the Pv gear "burst."
But now? Even now I am seeing a LOT more Healer + DPS teams, and matches averaging 4-8 minutes, which tells me that things are on the right track.
Are things perfect now? No. All three of our trees are underpowered in 2s and 3s. Underpowered, however, does not mean "unviable," or "ABANDON SHIP!" it just means that things are shifting all around and we Druids will have to do what we do best: Adapt. To new partners, new compositions, new strategies and abilities.
For me, the recent "adaptation" I've tried is a Feral/Resto build (0/34/37 I think) for 2s with a Death Knight. It's a bit wonky, and who-knows if it is something that I will stick with, but I've been enjoying the incredible survivability benefits, and I'll be honest: Feral Charge.
When Blizzard moved Feral Charge deeper into Feral, it was to discourage the playstyle that seemed to dominate part of Season 3 and 4. The problem, however, is that they gave us little to compensate in the Resto tree.
Sure, we have more healing, and more bonus armor if we are a tree (which is less than that of bear form), and certainly we are not subject to "perma-snare" in that form, but there is one huge, overwhelming problem that it's being addressed: Trees have no heavy offensive abilities. We can't Cyclone, can't Root, can't Feral Charge, Bash... anything in Tree Form The most we have is Abolish Poison and Remove Curse, which I can hardly consider "heavily offensive." So all it is, is a healing mana-battle, and having Living Seed and Wild Growth doesn't make up for that tree's shortcomings (in my humble opinion).
Heavy Feral has some nice interrupts and options, as well as a fantastic 51 point talent. I wish we had a Mortal Strike, but I suppose we can't have it all. :)
Heavy Balance is a bit better off, with Typhoon as an interrupt, alongside root and Cyclone that are castable in Moonkin form, but "Pure" Resto... not so much. And since it's survivability is fairly low at the moment (compared to say a Pally or Disc Priest), I do wonder what options they wil give us in the future, but I remain, as ever, hopeful.
In the meantime, however, if you guys are getting frustrated with Heavy Resto play, I'd encourage you to try out the Feral/Resto spec I mentioned, even just for fun/BG play. You will find you survive a lot longer if you spend time "bearing it up," and you have a lot of increased survivability and survivability options that are useable when silenced or somesuch. It doesn't make it "THE" spec for Season 5, but until folks get a bit more resilience and things are shuffled out across the board, it might be helpful to live a bit longer, and as such: have more fun in BGs and such, as getting instagibbed isn't fun at all.
I have faith things will get better in time. :) Keep adapting, and know you're not alone.
I was there in Vanilla WoW when no one REALLY played as anything other than Resto since Ferals and Balance both were terrible trees that did only 70% of the damage of pure DPS classes, and who would want either when you'd rather have a Mage or some such of CC. I was there when all we did was lean on Healing Touch Spam in 40-Man raids and Innervate other healers (hopefully not tanks by accident, since at that point the spell could be wasted on those without mana-pools, but I digress).
I was there for the massive Tarren Mill outdoor PvP action, when in order to get credit for an Honor Kill, I had to do damage to opponents ("Hello, Moonfire!"), and there for when WSG was introduced and week-long AV's, Lieutenants and all, were the norm.
I was there for when Bear Tanks suddenly were worth something at the beginning of TBC, and then were nerf-batted HARD. When Arena was fascinatingly new (First Gladiator Antlers on Proudmoore, gogo!), and incredibly, INCREDIBLY confusing and overwhelming since I had very little idea how any classes other than Druids functioned. But at least Armory was there to let me know I was on the right track (albeit, a clumsy one).
I played my heart out in PvP Feral, and then made a transition to PvP Resto. And with so very, very many lessons learned along the way, when I sit here and find myself pondering Season 5, I suppose I am still less concerned than a lot of Druids out there right now.
This is why.
Before TBC had premiered, yes, there was PvP, but in no way shape or form did I consider the game to have a clear FOCUS that that was an integral aspect of it. But when TBC came out, suddenly Blizzard wanted to make PvP more "balanced" (and competitive: Arena is part of MLG and other sponsored events now), especially in small groups.
Coming from a game still struggling to "balance" PvE (remember when only Horde got shaman and Alliance got Paladins?), I honestly think Blizzard did a pretty decent job right out of the gate, and as the seasons drew on, was able to roll with the punches and most importantly: adapt with players.
How I played at the beginning of Season 1 or 3 was no how I played at the end of Season 4. It went from "OMG KILL THAT GUY BEFORE ONE OF US DIES!" to a more skilled and coordinated "dance" of not only communication an coordination, but a heightened awareness of not only other classes (and their strengths and weaknesses alone and with comrades), but being more aware of other player's personal weaknesses and being able to adapt to them.
Along the way, here is some of what went on (and some of it is outdated, but you mght find it useful):
- I became much more mana-conscious, and by the middle of Season 3, was heavily into downranking. If I saw a Priest, Shaman, or Paladin removing my spells very insistantly, I would downrank my hots, roots, Farie Fire, Moonfire, ANYTHING, so that they had to spend more mana removing my buffs or debuffs than I did putting them on, leading me, over time, to "win" the mana battle.
- I learned to "mask" my spells with other spells (ie: if I wanted to root someone, I'd also put up Moonfire and Farie Fire so there was only a 1 in 3 chance they would dispell my root the first try, assuming it didn't resist)
- I learned to coordinate interrupts a lot better with my partners, and play more aggressively. You have the upper hand if you have the upper hand.
- I learned to manipulate other players to move where I wanted them to move and avoid being baited myself.
- I learned to drink early and often.
- I learned to time my own CDs around enemy CDs. If you can guess what will happen in the next 5 seconds and anticipate it, you are a step ahead of things.
- I learned to feign casts so that Kick, Pummel, even CS casts were "wasted" on me.
- I learned to use abilities like Bash and Pounce on the back of people to avoid unnecessary Dodges/Parrys
I rolled with the punches on repeated Druid nerfs (4 piece set bonus change, Cyclone range change, etc.) and overall just kept learning and adapting in ALL of my specs, even when Resto seemed to be dominating 2s and 3s in the higher brackets.
And I learned I'm, still, always learning. :)
Bringing me to now.
Yes: Right now heavy Resto builds do not do well in 2s and 3s, generally. Right now, the era of burst and lots of Paladins, Rogues, and Death Knights is upon us, but if there's anything I've learned, is that this is a game of adapting, and just as all of us are adpating right now, I believe further balance (no pun intended ;) ) is in our future. I firmly believe that Blizzard is watching what is going on and will be "tweaking" things across the board to help players and make the game more strategic.
My biggest evidence of this is the slow removal of random-proc stuns. Mace stun, Blackout, and with 3.0.8, even Starfall's Celestial Focus: all being weeded out. There are now DRs on silences and many stuns, as well as enchantments and meta-gems to guard players against particularly troublesome stats. What does this mean? Less RNGy, more "If you want to stun, you need to click and use an ability and be responsible for it's outcome." I approve of this. I approve of the timers on Arena games to soon be capped at 45 minutes (I have endured multiple 2:30+ hour games in Season 3 and Season 4 and am SO over that).
There are more options for hybrid playstyles, more options for group compositions, more fine-tuning overall, and as much as it really is still a burst-fest, the expansion has only bee nout two months, and PvP gear has only been out a month and I can already see a difference in the brackets.
Resilience is starting to make a difference. Perhaps not fast enough, but during 3.0.1 and 3.0.2, I remember matches where combat lasted only six seconds. I remember Season 5 openning and matches lasting about 30 seconds in part because of a ton of Ret Pallies and Arcane Mages and Rogues (QQ), but also because of the Pv gear "burst."
But now? Even now I am seeing a LOT more Healer + DPS teams, and matches averaging 4-8 minutes, which tells me that things are on the right track.
Are things perfect now? No. All three of our trees are underpowered in 2s and 3s. Underpowered, however, does not mean "unviable," or "ABANDON SHIP!" it just means that things are shifting all around and we Druids will have to do what we do best: Adapt. To new partners, new compositions, new strategies and abilities.
For me, the recent "adaptation" I've tried is a Feral/Resto build (0/34/37 I think) for 2s with a Death Knight. It's a bit wonky, and who-knows if it is something that I will stick with, but I've been enjoying the incredible survivability benefits, and I'll be honest: Feral Charge.
When Blizzard moved Feral Charge deeper into Feral, it was to discourage the playstyle that seemed to dominate part of Season 3 and 4. The problem, however, is that they gave us little to compensate in the Resto tree.
Sure, we have more healing, and more bonus armor if we are a tree (which is less than that of bear form), and certainly we are not subject to "perma-snare" in that form, but there is one huge, overwhelming problem that it's being addressed: Trees have no heavy offensive abilities. We can't Cyclone, can't Root, can't Feral Charge, Bash... anything in Tree Form The most we have is Abolish Poison and Remove Curse, which I can hardly consider "heavily offensive." So all it is, is a healing mana-battle, and having Living Seed and Wild Growth doesn't make up for that tree's shortcomings (in my humble opinion).
Heavy Feral has some nice interrupts and options, as well as a fantastic 51 point talent. I wish we had a Mortal Strike, but I suppose we can't have it all. :)
Heavy Balance is a bit better off, with Typhoon as an interrupt, alongside root and Cyclone that are castable in Moonkin form, but "Pure" Resto... not so much. And since it's survivability is fairly low at the moment (compared to say a Pally or Disc Priest), I do wonder what options they wil give us in the future, but I remain, as ever, hopeful.
In the meantime, however, if you guys are getting frustrated with Heavy Resto play, I'd encourage you to try out the Feral/Resto spec I mentioned, even just for fun/BG play. You will find you survive a lot longer if you spend time "bearing it up," and you have a lot of increased survivability and survivability options that are useable when silenced or somesuch. It doesn't make it "THE" spec for Season 5, but until folks get a bit more resilience and things are shuffled out across the board, it might be helpful to live a bit longer, and as such: have more fun in BGs and such, as getting instagibbed isn't fun at all.
I have faith things will get better in time. :) Keep adapting, and know you're not alone.
Druids in Twos
It's SO weird seeing so very few druids in twos (understandably, at the moment). Last night when I ran 13 games I only came across one other druid, and he/she was a geared Feral. Other than that.... not a whisper in the wind.
I can understand that things are a lot more difficult than they were during some of Season 3/4 depending what comps people were playing, and against who but... wow. :-/ I hope people don't give up, just because the environment is so harsh right now.
I can understand that things are a lot more difficult than they were during some of Season 3/4 depending what comps people were playing, and against who but... wow. :-/ I hope people don't give up, just because the environment is so harsh right now.
Woo, Productivity!
Completed some updates and decided to put together a short little video for YouTube pointing folks here (hopefully) while I am still waiting on Patch 3.0.8 maintenance to complete. I am -so- excited for servers to be up!
Monday, January 19, 2009
3.0.8 Patch Note Musings
More than a handful of stuff up there, but these in particular bring joy to my heart:
Re: Paladin Changes:
Last I looked, 91/100 of the top 2v2 teams on BG9 had at least one pally. That is.... a bit excessive. I am hoping this broadens the playing field a bit, particularly in twos and threes. It's a touch easier to work around them in threes, I've found, but twos... well... it can still be fairly painful. It seems like I can "cope" best against them with my Feral/Resto build.
Here's to hoping the patch lands tomorrow!
-Dreamspirit
Re: Paladin Changes:
- Avenging Wrath: Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Avenging Wrath cannot be used within 30 seconds of each other anymore. Forbearance removed from Avenging Wrath.
- Divine Protection: The penalty has been removed.
- Divine Shield: The penalty has been changed so that all damage done is reduced by 50% in place of an attack speed penalty.
Last I looked, 91/100 of the top 2v2 teams on BG9 had at least one pally. That is.... a bit excessive. I am hoping this broadens the playing field a bit, particularly in twos and threes. It's a touch easier to work around them in threes, I've found, but twos... well... it can still be fairly painful. It seems like I can "cope" best against them with my Feral/Resto build.
Here's to hoping the patch lands tomorrow!
-Dreamspirit
Tichondrius Druid Event(s)
I finally bit the bullet!
Hello!
I am going to give it a go at hosting a Druid Event for Tichondrius in the spirit of those that take place yearly on the Boulderfist-US realm.
(You can view some of Boulderfist's at: World of Warcraft - Druid Event 2008 Part 1 of 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZslZK_Brbw ).
I've run all-druid BGs, World PvP, Kara's, and even 10 and 25-man raid content for fun, and I would like to step it up a notch and have some fun with the other druids of Tichondrius. :)
If you are interested, feel free to drop me a comment here or in game (on Tichondrius), and I will add you to the "list."
There will be three primary raid "days":
1.) Raid Day One: will involve Classic content (which you do not need Flight form or Epic Flight for for). (Minimum Level 10 Required)
2.) Raid Day Two: will be Outland/Northrend based, some of which will require Flight form, and other parts will require Cold Weather Flight and Epic Flight form. (Minimum level 68 required for the first part, level 77+ for the second).
3.) Raid Day Three: will be Druid BG Domination. :) (Level 80 required, have your PvP gear handy!).
These events will be a month or so out, and I will give everyone one week notice when and where they are going to take place (via the in-game mail and calendar), and spread the word!
Side: Alliance
Class: Druids only, please. :)
When: TBA
Where: TBA
In the time leading up to it I am going to try to run some smaller-scale content (and put together an invitational video for YouTube), so if you are interested in that sort of thing as well, just let me know. :)
I hope to hear from you!
-Dreamspirit
P.S.:
You can see my other videos up on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dreamspirit
I will be recording the events and crafting videos with the footage as well.
Hello!
I am going to give it a go at hosting a Druid Event for Tichondrius in the spirit of those that take place yearly on the Boulderfist-US realm.
(You can view some of Boulderfist's at: World of Warcraft - Druid Event 2008 Part 1 of 2 : http://www.youtub
I've run all-druid BGs, World PvP, Kara's, and even 10 and 25-man raid content for fun, and I would like to step it up a notch and have some fun with the other druids of Tichondrius. :)
If you are interested, feel free to drop me a comment here or in game (on Tichondrius), and I will add you to the "list."
There will be three primary raid "days":
1.) Raid Day One: will involve Classic content (which you do not need Flight form or Epic Flight for for). (Minimum Level 10 Required)
2.) Raid Day Two: will be Outland/Northrend based, some of which will require Flight form, and other parts will require Cold Weather Flight and Epic Flight form. (Minimum level 68 required for the first part, level 77+ for the second).
3.) Raid Day Three: will be Druid BG Domination. :) (Level 80 required, have your PvP gear handy!).
These events will be a month or so out, and I will give everyone one week notice when and where they are going to take place (via the in-game mail and calendar), and spread the word!
Side: Alliance
Class: Druids only, please. :)
When: TBA
Where: TBA
In the time leading up to it I am going to try to run some smaller-scale content (and put together an invitational video for YouTube), so if you are interested in that sort of thing as well, just let me know. :)
I hope to hear from you!
-Dreamspirit
P.S.:
You can see my other videos up on YouTube at:
http://www.yo
I will be recording the events and crafting videos with the footage as well.
Of Blogs and YouTube
I figured that it was time to see if a WoW Blog might be for me, so I figured I'd give it a shot. :) I haven't used Blogspot before, but it seems as good as any as a place to start. (It will also be nice to have a separate "nook" for my WoW/Druidy/PvP stuff ;) ).
I'm still trying to figure out if I want to set up a forum, but I'm concerned about spam and moderation, so this seemed like a step in the right direction.
In the last few months YouTube has pulled a number of my videos for music copyright infringement (and thankfully after some email exchanges I have been able to get them put back up, but muted, alas), so I've been spending a ton of time behind the scenes trying to back up information.
When the first video was pulled, I was understandably a bit upset, but what really got me was that all the comments, all my replies, were wiped (for what ended up being about 4 months, and what I thought would be permanantly). For someone like me, that takes so much time to respond to each and every reply (though it might take awhile... >_>), that was a big slap in the face, but I'm thankful I was able to resolve the situation enough that those videos (though muted), and their corresponding comments and replies were put back up.
After several of those near-misses, I started saving the information therein for posterity, and I also worked to upload the full-fledged videos to FileFront for both download and streaming. it took quite a lot longer than I would have liked (and time is a touch hard to come by for me at the moment outside of RL, social activities, work, art, writing, WoW/Raiding, WoW/PvP, etc..., WoW-socializing....), but at least it's a step in the right direction.
I really do enjoy helping people, and I can only hope folks can bear with me as I try to get up to speed and juggle so much. :) It's kind of crazy getting 20-40 messages a day and falling behind, but as long as people are patient, it's all worth it. :)
-Dreamspirit
I'm still trying to figure out if I want to set up a forum, but I'm concerned about spam and moderation, so this seemed like a step in the right direction.
In the last few months YouTube has pulled a number of my videos for music copyright infringement (and thankfully after some email exchanges I have been able to get them put back up, but muted, alas), so I've been spending a ton of time behind the scenes trying to back up information.
When the first video was pulled, I was understandably a bit upset, but what really got me was that all the comments, all my replies, were wiped (for what ended up being about 4 months, and what I thought would be permanantly). For someone like me, that takes so much time to respond to each and every reply (though it might take awhile... >_>), that was a big slap in the face, but I'm thankful I was able to resolve the situation enough that those videos (though muted), and their corresponding comments and replies were put back up.
After several of those near-misses, I started saving the information therein for posterity, and I also worked to upload the full-fledged videos to FileFront for both download and streaming. it took quite a lot longer than I would have liked (and time is a touch hard to come by for me at the moment outside of RL, social activities, work, art, writing, WoW/Raiding, WoW/PvP, etc..., WoW-socializing....), but at least it's a step in the right direction.
I really do enjoy helping people, and I can only hope folks can bear with me as I try to get up to speed and juggle so much. :) It's kind of crazy getting 20-40 messages a day and falling behind, but as long as people are patient, it's all worth it. :)
-Dreamspirit
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