Saturday, November 24, 2012

The Journey of One Thousand Miles Pt. 3 - Professions

I have a confession: I agonize over professions.

Maybe it's the sheer amount of time I've spent grinding away at professions for optimal endgame buffs due to inconsequential changes in a class (epic gems at the end of Cataclysm? JC becomes LAME. Thanks, Blizz), or maybe it's the fact that I love the micro-ding for each additional profession point. It's a game of frequent small rewards... I love crafting.

But let's say you're a brand new Citizen of Azeroth, just peeking out of the racial starting area, and suddenly, there are these guys trying to teach you PROFESSIONS. What are professions? What do they do? Why is one better than another?

These are all excellent questions. Let's answer them after the jump.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Citizens of Azeroth - Zenhawk

Welcome to the first installment of Citizens of Azeroth! This is going to be a regular series where I interview some of the real-world citizens of Azeroth. Players just like you and I; playing for the love of the game.

I'm pleased to start this series by interviewing my long time friend and former Guildie, Zenhawk of the guild <Achievement> on Mannoroth-US.

Join us after the jump for a conversation with one of your fellow Citizens of Azeroth!

Friday, November 16, 2012

The Journey of One Thousand Miles Pt. 2 - Classes

The last installment of "The Journey of One Thousand Miles" talked about evaluating gear based upon quality, and talked about some of the issues you may run into in the starting area (limited bag space, what to sell, what to keep, what is Soulbound/BOE, etc).

In this portion, we'll be discussing classes and gear. Most experienced players have encountered the frustration of the new player Needing every piece of gear that he can... A Retribution Paladin needing those leather +Spirit gloves that your Druid Healer would just LOVE to have, for example.

Some players say "who cares? It's random dungeon gear, and you'll replace it in an hour or two anyway."

I think the underlying issue here is that the player Needing on all that gear may not know what he SHOULD be needing on, and this kind of behavior may continue into the heroic and raiding tiers, where upgrades are random and rare, and getting that perfect drop may take a substantial amount of time to farm.

Let's talk Classes, Specs and what gear you need after the jump.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Disable [Soothing Mist] Camera Tracking

Listen, Mistweavers both young and old (and also Priests, Mages, and various other assorted casters). Tzufit over at Tree Heals Go Woosh posted a simple fix to toggle channeled spell camera tracking. It's definitely worth a few moments to head over to her blog and check it out!

http://treehealsgowoosh.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/stop-your-camera-from-turing-during-soothing-mists/

Initiate of Mistweaving

The young Mistweaver is not so young anymore. Though he is far from the end of his journey to Mistweaving Mastery, he is now officially halfway to 90 (that's 45 if anyone's counting)!

So with a new toolkit of spells such as:

Teachings of the Monastary
Surging Mist
Enveloping Mist
Renewing Mist

The young Monk ventured into the mid-tier Old World dungeon of Dire Maul... And was fortunate to find a great group (Paladin Tank, Elemental Shaman, Frost Mage, Retribution Paladin, and the Mistweaving Monk).

My current insights on mid-tier Mistweaver healing after the jump.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Healers IRL

I want to take a moment and shed some light on a wonderful opportunity for gamers to make the world a better place. Lissanna over at Restokin has revealed herself to be a Healer in real life as well as in-game:

"Today, my research lab at Penn State has started a crowdfunding project, as part of the Scifund Challenge along with many other researchers from a wide variety of science backgrounds. Crowdfunding is something many video gamers should be familiar with, as it has been pretty heavily adopted by the video game industry. With how difficult it is to secure grant funding for science research, I decided that a unique approach to creating interventions should be accompanied by a unique approach to funding, as well.
My science crowdfunding project uses the Rockethub platform, where we ask for donations from you, in exchange for some exciting rewards related to my autism research and video games! At the end of our crowdfunding initiative, the money goes to my University and is earmarked for our lab to use to fund our autism intervention research. Please take some time to visit our Rockethub page to learn more about the specifics of my autism research project. Please also spread the word and tell your friends and family! Thank you for your support!"
In addition to being a great resource for Druid healing and Moonkin shennanigans, Restokin is a great WoW blog in general, and well worth your time as a Citizen of Azeroth.

Please take some time and, if you can, donate to this worthy cause!

http://www.restokin.com/2012/11/the-positive-side-of-video-games/comment-page-1/

Sunday, November 11, 2012

The Journey of One Thousand Miles Pt. 1 - Items

Everyone in the World of Warcraft, at one point, rolled their first character and found themselves surrounded by a new world, new people, and a daunting amount of new information. "The Journey of One Thousand Miles" series is directed to those new players, with some quick tips on making their way on Azeroth.

The first 15 levels go much faster now than ever before, with almost all of the starting areas renovated by the Cataclysm, and the "Old World" questing streamlined significantly. Still, there are some things that experienced players take for granted that can help smooth the leveling experience significantly.

Take the first steps with me, after the jump.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Acolyte of Mistweaving

Well, it's been two days and 34 levels as a neophyte Mistweaver, and I've made the following observations.

1. A monk in full heirlooms levels INSANELY fast. Monks get a daily quest at the Kun-lai Summit monastary that grants a +50% bonus to experience for two hours. Though I haven't number crunched it, it appears to be cumulative with all other experience bonuses (heirlooms, Rested XP, Adventurer's Journals, etc.)

2. Mistweavers have a relatively small direct healing toolkit until the 30s. The majority of your healing is done through Eminence. Eminence is granted by the Mistweaver stance Stance of the Wise Serpent. If Eminence isn't enough, you also have Soothing Mists, a channeled heal that is usually more than enough to top up a wounded target in a few seconds.

3. Being able to heal through DPS is invaluable for soloing. The Mistweaver is amazingly self-sustaining when it comes to both health and mana. You can maintain a lot of questing momentum with virtually no downtime.

I've only had one instance provide any issues so far and that was Stormwind Stockades, and only in Randolph Moloch's room, if the tank pulls the whole room. Soothing Mist just wasn't enough to keep up a Bear or a Monk tank. The Bear threw a fit, but the Monk just agreed to pull more carefully, and we completed the Stocks very quickly after that.

Out of the Mists

In the wake of the Cataclysm...
The fires have been quenched...
The citizens of Azeroth wipe the dust and blood from their eyes and rebuild.

The Seas calm their roiling boil...
The wind has ceased its wailing, the mists calm and part...
And out of the mists can be seen the shining, wise eyes of a new people.

Pandaria has come back to the stage of Azeroth, and with it, its newest denizens, the Pandaren. And among the Pandaren, comes a new teaching, a new philosophy; a new way to protect, and fight, and most importantly, a new way to heal the wounded of the world.