Thursday, January 21, 2010

Tale Sixty One: After Arthas

The Shared Topic at Blog Azeroth this week is: Now what?

Well, not exactly that but what happens to you and your character after the Lich King has been defeated.

This is an interesting question for me. Mr. Littlebark has said more than once that once the Lich King is defeated, that’s it for him. He’s been playing WoW since the beginning and this is “the end of the story for him”.

For Littlebark… I don’t know. When I read the Shared Topic, the RP’er in me came out and this is what I wrote down:

The armor fell.

She stared at Frostmourne, then at Prince Arthas as what little life was left in him gave out. The throne was deadly quiet and in that moment, echoes of the past floated into her head. So many dead, lost and tortured. A great weight from her shoulders was lifted and she sunk to her knees, crying out in victory.

“Praise Elune!” cried Littlebark, sending a quick prayer of thanks to the Gods.

Helmets, swords and cheering erupted. They crowded around the body, some going as far as spitting on it.

Sadness washed over Littlebark, seeing the broken body of an ambitious prince. No respect for his noble deeds when his evil ones overshadowed his good soul. A young man who tried to save his Kingdom made a mistake… and this is how it ended for him.

The druids –Night Elves and Tauren alike- set up camp to the side. They came in all shape and forms, quiet forms in the group. Their silence echoed their feelings: a victory at a great cost.

The gates opened up, causing everyone to turn around quickly and ready to fight for their lives.

Instead, the forces of the Horde and Alliance alike flooded the room. Littlebark could not take her eyes off Jaina Proudmoore, who was weeping silently into her hands.

She crossed the room silently, handing the Lady a handerchief. Jaina grabbed it slowly, offering a weak smile.

Littlebark looked at the floor, frowning slightly, “sometimes I wonder what good it is to be a healer, if I can’t heal the wounds that hurt the most.”

Jaina’s warm hand clasped Littlebark’s, “Marisannah-“

“Littlebark,” she interrupted quickly, a blush crossing her face, “please.”

A stronger smile graced Jaina’s face, “Littlebark… this pain is deep. But it needs its own medicine to heal.”

“I…I lost my best friend and lover to the Scourge. I’m just sorry that you had to go through it too.”

“I didn’t loose him to the Scourge,” Jaina said quickly.

With her eyes on Arthas, Littlebark breathed, “I beg your pardon, my Lady… but that sure looks like it to me.”

*** **** **** ****

I see Littlebark going back to a little house in the forest near Darnassus. Settling down for a little bit.

But once she feels the first earthquake made by Deathwing, she’ll be back in town, reporting for duty.


~LB

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tale Sixty: Blogging Me-Me

I realize that I never made a resolution’s list or anything of the type. In fact, I think I barely acknowledged the fact that we rang in 2010 at The Tree Unleashed.

I’m not a fan of resolutions, just because when I break them, I mope for about 2 weeks. But I do like this blogger me-me that I think will help me put my thoughts into perspective. I found it over at
The Tree of Life.

1. How long have you been blogging? What made you start? Who inspired you?
I started my first tale in June of ’09. I’m still a sprouting in the forest, or so it seems. Unlike many bloggers out there, I wasn’t inspired by Phaelia (Resto4Life). In fact, I had never heard of her until I stumbled on her blog after she’d stopped blogging. What got me started on blogging was a blog by the name of A Tale of Two Druids (who has stopped blogging as well). She had wonderful posts of gear and such, and it inspired me to attempt blogging.

2. About how many hours a week would you estimate you spend on your blog?
Honestly, it feels like 24/7. I don’t post much, but in my USB stick, I have a ton of posts that may or may not get posted. I spend a lot of my time researching, reading and learning about my class, and the only reason that more educational posts don’t end up here is because I am rubbish at math and feel like I’m not qualified to write posts like that.

3. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing?
Throughout my Jr. High (Middle School) years, I was part of a Spanish/French/English (now you know my culture!) Youth Newspaper; the highlight of this getting to interview Cirque du Soleil when they were in my hometown. Once I graduated from Jr. High, I was a part of a city wide Youth Newspaper and got to interview several bands and such. Now, I’m a closet writer. I write stories that I’m sure will never get published.

4. Talk about how you come up with blog topics. Where do you get your ideas? What or who inspires you? Where and/or how do your brainstorming?
My ideas and posts come mostly from experiences in the game, or other blogs. I don’t really get inspired by a single thing, just a bunch of little ideas that get written down. I do most of my pre-writing, editing and brainstorming at work, and when I get home, I do my second edit, adding in hyperlinks and publish.

5. Do you have any blogging rules or guidelines you follow? Is there anything you will not blog about?
No rules or guidelines. I think there was only one post that I was nervous posting, which was the one where I respectfully disagreed over everyone’s negativity over the Blizzard Store selling the virtual pets. I’ve written about the girl gamer issues in WoW. I’ve written about Healbot vs Grid vs Vuhdo. I think the only other thing I can blog about that can stir up controversy is ……?

6. Do you have any sort of a publishing schedule in terms of day of week or topic? Where do you do your writing?
No. I found out that if I put a schedule for myself, I tend not to keep it. I write and publish as my mood sees fit. Sometimes I feel like researching and such, other times, it doesn’t feel write. I try –not sure if I succeed- to at least publish one post a week. Again, I do most of my blogging from work.

7. How many drafts of potential blog posts do you have right now? In what medium do you draft your posts? How often do you completely scratch or delete drafts or blog post ideas?
I have 4-6 posts right now that may or may not get published, for whatever reason. I draft my posts in Word before I transfer them to the Blogger platform. I have never deleted a blog –no matter how much I hate how I’ve written it. I find that I might hate it now, but I might be able to say it better later on.

8. If you had to leave your blog in your will to another blogger, who would you choose? To ask this in a slightly less morbid way, are there other blogs that you feel are similar to yours in content, style, or voice?
I’m still new to the blogging world… but I’d have to say that
Averna or Caliban would have to take over in the fun/wow adventures posts and Keeva or Lissanna for the druid serious posts (though those two are SO much serious than I could ever be).

9. Has anything surprised you since you started blogging?
Yes. That I’ve actually stuck with it and love it! That I’m part of a big blogging community that at least 80% of the WoW players (that don’t blog) don’t know about.

10. What are your goals or plans for your blog going forward? Any specific goals or plans for your blog in 2010?
I am hoping that for my birthday, Mr. Littlebark will get my hints and buy me my own hosted site. Other than that, I’m hoping to write more Druid related posts.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Tale Fifty Nine: Failing at Healing?

No, not quite failing. But I am beating myself over the fact that a pally is beating me at healing.

Now, I know that shammies chain heal spam and pallies Holy Light Spam.

So where does that leave me? At the bottom of the recount meters and with the most Overhealing done.

It's frustrating in the sense that this pally just started raiding with us (it's Mr. Littlebark's pally, sinking his toes into some raiding again) and he's already beating me. This also used to happen with his shammy (but then again, I can never beat shammies.)

So, it got me thinking. Am I doing something wrong? I'm rocking the Revitalize Spec (18/0/53) instead of the Living seed, since our pally tanks were having mana problems and my Living Seed ended up being an overheal anyways.

At the moment, my current stats are as follows:
Bonus Healing: 2148
Crit Rating: 17.12%

Haste Rating: 513
Mana Regen: 789


I feel like my spell power is much too low, my haste rating is still a work in progress, and for some reason my crit is really low.

Anyways, this post is more of a "speaking to myself" kind of post. I was hoping maybe putting it on paper might help me spot out the problem.

Or maybe I am over analyzing this, which wouldn't be something new.

Anyways, they say that two heads is better than one. Then I imagine that whoever sees this, and spots the problem head is better than just my head.

Thoughts and maybe suggestions are appreciated. I feel like I'm not giving 100% to my guild and I really hate that feeling.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Tale Fifty Eight: When LFG picks up the worst of the worst.


I've had a wonderful experience with the LFG Tool. It's been great and fun. However last night was just... oh god. I'll let the images speak for themselves.























Moral of the story: why the hell would you sign up as a tank when you're clearly RET SPEC? Also, we had a DK that d/c'ed at the start (his name is Raithor... who had SP on his wrist, no gems in his sockets, no enchant, nada.)
On a side note, I've been tanking the lower level dungeons on Artaius-my baby druid. I would like to remind everyone: please let the tank pull, especially if your tank is a druid or a warrior. We need rage to attack, and we can't get rage unless a mob is hitting on us.
Have a safe and happy weekend!



Thursday, January 7, 2010

Tale Fifty Seven: How to Lady Bitchwhisper. Um. Deathwhisper. (10)

How to: Lady Deathwhisperpicture source: MMO Champion

Lady Deathwhisper is the second boss in the lower spire. She’s very much like Kel'Thuzad in Naxxaramas or Novos the Summoner in Drak’Tharon Keep in the sense that she protects herself with a shield before she becomes attackable. To get her to drop her shield, your DPS must drain her mana (by attacking her. So you can go ahead and take off that Viper Sting, hunter.)

Every 30 seconds, 3 adds come out from the left or right side of the room. From the right, it will always be 2 Adherents and 1 Fanatic. The left will be 2 Fanatics, and 1 Adherent.

Adherents can only be attacked by melee (that do not use magic) DPS.
Fanatics can be attacked by magic casters.

Every so often, she
empowers an add. It will pump out AoE damage. Wild Growth and Rejuv as necessary.

Also, because –you know- there’s not enough damage going already, she randomly throws out
shadowbolts at people. They hit for around 9k. I find that putting a Rejuv on them works.

She has an ability called
Death and Decay. It’s the green (instead of a DK’s normal red one) and it hurts. Wild Growth the group and get out ASAP.

If you can dispel curses (which, if you’re a druid, you can), dispel.

Oh. By the way? That’s just phase one.

Phase two is much easier. After she almost runs out of mana (I believe its 3mill), she breaks out of her shield and starts to attack. Our tanks place her off the altar as we found that if they tank her up there, it’s easy to go out of the healer’s line of sight.

Your DPS has to worry about interrupting her annoying
Frostbolts and getting out of the Death and Decay.

Ghosts (called Vengeful Shade) rise up every so often. If they’re chasing you, then run away from them! If they touch you, they cast
Vengeful Blast. It hurts you and anyone around you. And if its just your bad luck, you could get a Death and Decay dropped on top of you. And because she’s such a bitch, she might also decide to Frostbolt at that exact moment. And it’s the only Frostbolt that night that the DPS didn’t interrupt.

SPLAT.
All this time, your tanks will be getting a debuff called Touch of Insignificance. No way to dispel it, so burn the boss down fast!
Useful Loot for a Resto Druid:

Tale Fifty Six: How to Lord Morrowgar (10)

How To: Lord Morrowgar (10) picture source: Mmo-Champion


Lord Morrowgar is the first boss in the Lower Spire located in the raid Icecrown Citadel.

We split our three healers into three sections (Left, Middle, Right). Whichever side you’re on, you are responsible for healing people in your range (duh, right?) Lord Morrowgar does a
Saber Lash that will eat the tank unless both tanks are stacked on each other. Keep your HoTs on them rolling.

Every so often, he will grab either a healer or a DPS and plant them on a
Bone Spike. This does around 9k damage and it only keeps dropping so again, HoTs and a quick Nourish if it gets to low.

He will throw a blue fire called
Coldflame. Get out of it ASAP. Throw a Rejuv on whoever it goes towards incase they stand in it or there’s lag issue.

And last and not least, he does a
Bone Storm. Keep Barkskin up and GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM! Wild Growth + scattering Rejuvs on the raid is a good idea.

Rinse and Repeat!


Loot Useful for Resto Druids:
Sliver of Pure Ice
Cord of Patronizing Practitioner