Finally back! Sorry for the slow response, my PC died on me 2 days after I finished my last paper. Only got things up and running recently.
As I have said I trying to revamp the site and I’m pretty much doing most of the stuff myself. I’m writing my own Wordpress theme (that means new layout for non-geeks.) and looking through the articles. Its been ages since I did coding so development are somewhat slow and I apologize. I’m also going to review the site and update content, such as keeping the PvE guides up to date, writing new leveling guides and looking out for better articles written by others. I hope this site gets a new look and is able to offer more to readers.
I also want to thank you, the reader for your patience. I honestly haven’t been able to run this site as efficiently as I should, but you guys still pop in now and then to give me advice. Thank you.
If you have any ideas about the upcoming changes to the site, contact me or leave a comment.
Alright, let’s continue from where we left off, last post I introduced addons such as Grid, Power Auras and Ghost: Pulse.
I have used these addons and they have been an immense help to me. This time I’ll introduce 2 more addons I always use and cover other useful addons.
Today’s post will be more beneficial to the Holy paladin as the addons featured are more useful to them.
QUARTZ Quartz is a castbar mod that is able to track and compensate your latency/lag in your spell casting. If you’re a healer/caster and you don’t have it, you don’t know what you’re missing. Most WoW players are plagued by latency problems in game. (especially now, I haven’t been able to raid 25M, WTH man!?) Quartz is able to reduce the latency problem by correctly tracking your spell casting. It’s hard to explain, but you will understand once you installed it. Basically you can fire off your spell earlier than you think you need.
DECURSIVE Decursive is a debuff tracking/removal addon. Once installed, you will see another panel of small unitframes on your screen. Afflicted units will be shaded red and all you need to do is just click to dispel the debuff if you have means. So for a paladin raid members afflicted with magic effects, diseases and poisons will be shown red, but cursed raid members will not show for the paladin because he does not have the spell to dispel it. Instead druids will be able to the cursed members as red.
Unforunately I could not find a video for this addon, but scroll down in the addon page you will see screenshots of Decursive.
HEALBOT CONTINUED
I don’t use Healbot but it has been getting a lot of cheers and boos. It really simplifies the healing process so there’s one side singing its praises and another side saying it degrades healers and makes the game too easy.
It has nice features like tracking who’s healing who, which prevents overhealing, but it also would dull you alertness in the long run. And in raids awareness/alertness is a vital attribute for healers.
My thoughts, I would not recommend using this addon because this kinda automates healing. Where is the fun in that? But if you are really a healer in dire straits, by all means use it. For the Raid.
There’s pretty much I want to cover about addons. Of course there are plenty more addons out there for you to explore. Keep looking and try them out and see which one suits you.
Be careful though, some addon/mod takes up memory and might slow down your game.
Been away from WoW lately, busy preparing for exams. Most people have been waiting for 3.1 to be launched, so can’t find any news to write up on. Was checking through the guides and I realised I never done a proper post on addons, so here we go.
If you don’t already know, addons/mods are external programs in WoW that enhances gameplay and capability.
The addons I’ll be covering today will be mainly to improve your gameplay and capability in raids. You can look for other addons at either WoWInterface or Curse WoW Addons page.
How to use these addons are really simple, just make sure to read the information posted on the addon page, or the README note in the files.
POWER AURAS
A very powerful addon. Its purpose is to provide visual aid for your spells and buffs.
For example if you’re a Holy Paladin, a visual marker will appear for the duration of Judgement of the Pure after you cast it. A tanking paladin can configure it for Holy Shield so he knows he keeps the spell up. Say you got a Holy Shock crit, Infusion of Light procs, there will be a graphic on your screen when that effect is in duration.
It is a simple to use addon, after installing just type /powa to bring up the configuration window. Say you want to provide a visual aid for your trinkets, create a New Icon and insert the name of the buff. Play around with the settings and you have it. If you are not sure the video below is a tutorial on it.
GHOST: PULSE Ghost: Pulse is another visual aid addon. The difference is that it informs you of cooldowns. When spells finish their cooldown, a icon of that spell pulses on the screen to let you know the spell is up and ready.
Say you casted Holy Shock and after 6 seconds when it finishes its cooldown, a Holy Shock icon will pulse on your screen. Alternatively you can configure it to show what spell you are casting, shown in the video below.
GRID
A raidframe addon that can also work as a healing addon. If you’re a healer and you don’t use any raidframes addon but the default raidframes, this is a MUST HAVE. This will increase your healing capability TENFOLD.
Although small and compact, it is able to convey enough information for you to perform your duties efficiently. If you find it hard to understand GRID, it will come to you eventually, or you could configure it to be larger and more instructive.
In non-combat it doubles up as a raidframe, showing all members currently in your party or raid. I really like the fact it does not take up a lot of space. In combat each unit frame will display any loss of health, debuffs, if its in range of your spells and other information.
For instance, a raid member having aggro will have a small red square on the top left corner of his unit frame. Raid members out of range of your spells will have their unit frames transparent.
Ouch! So much for praying for more flexible, versatile (READ: AOE) heals. Instead the latest patch notes restricts our ability even more.
Sacred Shield: This effect cannot be cast on more than one friendly target at a time.
With Sacred Shield limited to only one target, a paladin healer’s capability is reduced. My method is usually to Beacon of Light and Sacred Shield the Main Tank and then cast Sacred Shield on another raid member, normally the target i’m assigned to heal or an offtank. This way damage mitigation is provided on both raid members and increased healing from the crit bonus of Sacred Shield. Heck if you’re adventurous you can cast it on several raid members. Sacred Shield was somewhat our answer to AoE healing, sure it didn’t heal but it provided protection which benefitted the raid.
Infusion of Light: Now increases the critical chance of your next Holy Light by 10/20% instead of reducing cast time. Moved to Tier 10.
Seasoned/geared paladin healers probably loathe this change. When you have the gear, critical chance isn’t an issue anymore. Geared holy paladins have nearly 40% or more critical chance, which is more than needed. The essential factor in raids is that your heals are reaching the tank in time. This is the reason Infusion of Light was so effective, it addressed one of the disadvantage of paladin healing, Casting.
Even if your Holy crits heal for 20000, it wouldn’t matter if the boss hits your tank 0.1 second before your heal reaches the tank. Infusion of Light was a emergency button for us paladins. Divine Favor, Holy Shock and then a Holy Light to save a tank from being killed.
It’s hard to balance PvP and PvE, that’s understandable. But it sucks when such changes happened.
Exorcism can now be used on all targets, but is now a guaranteed critical strike vs Undead and Demon type mobs.
Judgement of Light now procs off spells as well. (Previously only “attacks” would trigger this)
Talents
Purifying Power (Tier 6) now reduces the cooldown of your Exorcism and Holy Wrath spells by 17/33%. (Previously increased the critical strike chance of those spells by 10/20%)
Pure of Heart (Tier 5) now reduces Curse, Poison, and Disease effects by 15/30%. (Previously was 25/50% but did not include poisons)
Blessed Hands has been moved from Tier 5 to Tier 4 and now reduces the mana cost of Hand of Freedom, Hand of Sacrifice and Hand of Salvation by 15/30% and cooldowns by 10/20%.
Improved Concentration Aura’s (Tier 4) reduced silence/interrupt effect now works while any aura is active.
Protection
Skills
Shield of Righteousness now deals 130% of block value + 520 at the highest rank. It no longer causes a high amount of threat. (Previously increased damage by a set amount)
Blessing of Kings is now a baseline ability. Trainable at level 20.
Talents
Shield of the Templar (Tier 10) no longer increases the damage of your Holy Shield, Avenger’s Shield and Shield of Righteousness spells. Instead it gives your Avenger’s Shield a 33/66/100% chance to silence targets hit by it for 3 sec.
Judgements of the Just (Tier 10) now reduces the cooldown of your Hammer of Justice by 10 sec, increases the duration of your Seal of Justice effect by 0.5 sec, in addition to its previous effect.
Avenger’s Shield’s (Tier 9) damage has been increased across all ranks.
Guarded by the Light (Tier 9) now reduces spell damage taken by 3% and gives a 50% chance to refresh the duration of your Divine Plea when you hit an enemy. (Previously reduced the mana cost of your Holy Shield, Avenger’s Shield and Shield of Righteousness spells by 15%.)
Holy Shield’s (Tier 7) damage slightly increased across all ranks.
Ardent Defender (Tier 7) is now a 3 point talent, reducing damage taken by 10/20/30%. (Previously was a 5 point talent)
Sacred Duty (Tier 6) increases stamina by 4% now. (Previously was 3%)
One-Handed Weapon Specialization is now a 3 point talent, increasing damage done with 1 handers by 4/7/10%. (Previously was a 5 point talent)
Blessing of Sanctuary (Tier 5) now only grants 2% of maximum displayed mana when the target blocks, parries, or dodges a melee attack. (Previously granted 10 rage or 20 runic power or 2% max mana)
Divine Guardian (Tier 4) now has been changed to redirect damage “(up to a maximum of 150/300% of the Paladin’s health).” (Previously had no limit)
Improved Devotion Aura (Tier 4) now increases the amount healed on any target affected by any of your Auras by 2%. (Previously only worked with Devotion Aura active)
Improved Hammer of Justice (Tier 4) is now a 2 point talent, reducing the cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 10/20 sec. (Previously had a 3rd rank that reduced cooldown by 30 secs)
Retribution
Talents
Righteous Vengeance (Tier 10) is now a 3 point talent. When your Judgement and Divine Storm spells deal a critical strike, your target will take 10/20/30% additional damage over 8 sec. (Previously a 5 point talent)
Fanaticism (Tier 8 ) is now a 3 point talent and now increases the critical strike chance of all Judgements capable of a critical hit by 6/12/18% and reduces threat caused by all actions by 10/20/30% except when under the effects of Righteous Fury. (Previously a 5 point talent)
Improved Retribution Aura has been removed from the game.
Improved Retribution Aura’s effect has been merged into Sanctified Retribution (Tier 5).
Divine Purpose has been moved from Tier 5 to Tier 6.
Sorry for the slow update, haven’t been able to play due to school and work. Unable to raid 25-man instances isn’t helping either, disconnecting on every fight isn’t fun at all. And Blizzard doesn’t seem to be working on the problem…
I have taken a more relaxed playstyle to WoW. Considering the new changes has completely changed the game again. PvP/ Arena is somewhat unbalanced. It is nice that Retribution Paladins are now a viable class in PvP though.
Note I’m talking mostly on 2v2 and 3v3 arena.
BC Arena relied heavily on Resilence and Control mechanics such as stuns and slows. That’s where you got the Warlock DoTing you until you’re full of polka dots, Hunters/Mages kiting like you never learned how to walk and Rogues having their swords/maces deep in your arse they’re playing you like a puppet. BC Arena was a game of outlasting, outthinking and of course, outgearing.
WotLK Arena however, is a totally different story. In BC Arena you had a chance if you think right and things went your way. CC the DPS, DPS the Heal or DPS the DPS, CC the Heal that sort of thing.
WotLK arena, it’s down to who’s the most burst potential.
Arena Doors open.
Team 1 (A and B) sees Team 2(X and Y)
*SMASH!*
*SMACK!*
*BOOM!*
Either Team 1 picks off the remaining X(or Y) or Team 2 does the picking off. All over in less than half a minute.
I’m not whining bout losing alot or winning alot. In fact I stopped Arena after the first week I started Arena. I’m not a 3000 rated Gladiator ranting about how easy Arena is.
I’m emphasizing how PvP got completely overhauled in one night. Warlocks went from deadly PvP class to obsolete(Not that I’m crying over it), Druids went down the pecking order(F**KING HURRAY!).
I missed how I outthinked and outplay oppositions in Battlegrounds(1v1 scenarios), I missed how I thrashed players who thought Retribution paladins were easy kills, I missed how forming unconventional arena teams and still doing decently. PvP was a game of strategy, thinking fast in combat.
Now, it’s like d*ckslapping one another and the biggest one wins…
At least I’m bloody knocking down Healers in PvP now, not that bad, right?
Right?
Spent the better part of last few weeks healing in heroics and raids, I miss Retribution so much.
Initially I dismissed Sacred Shield as a crappy spell, but found it a very useful all-round spell. Before any pulls, Beacon of Light on your tank and cast Sacred Shield on both tank and a melee DPS that tends to get hit as well. Tank get hits, some damage reduction through Sacred Shield and your Flash of Light has a 50% chance to crit. Melee DPS gets hit, cast Flash of Light on him. With the shield up, tFlash of Light tends to crit more. Not only you heal the melee DPS but also the tank. Crit heals, Tank coverage and mana efficiency, awesome.
Retribution and Protection paladins can also use Sacred Shield as well, it should not be restricted to just for healing. Cast it on yourself and you can absorb some of the Seal of Blood feedback damage or reduce damage taken. Some people would say this would reduce mana gain through Spiritual Attunement, but the option to use Sacred Shield is there, you could use it to remove some burden off your healers.
Regarding Holy spec, I’m somewhat disappointed. Sure it works, but our healing arsenal are insufficient compared to other classes.
Regarding multiple heals, Priests have Prayer of Mending, Druids have Wild Growth and Shamans Chain Heal. Beacon of Light does not provide such healing to cover a whole party and that is our first weakness.
With the new talent tree, Keeping Beacon of Light up andJudging have become an important part in healing. The problem with this is that when the spell expires, you are going to be in deep shit.
I wiped a heroic when the Beacon of Light on the tank expired just as I cast a crit Holy Light on another party member. Tank did not receive the heal and dies. Another time the haste buff from Judgements of the Pure expired and I did not refresh it, my heals actually became slow to reach the tank. These talents, integral to our healing mechanism, are both beneficial and dangerous. These spells need to have a longer duration and also, when we are doing intense healing we are going to have problem refreshing the spells. This is our another weakness.
Hopefully there are more changes coming to fix these issues, but we are somewhat fine for now. Just keep an eye on those spells and be more alert.
Once again we’ll be touching on WotLK Pre-Raid gears, today let’s look at trinkets. Trinkets provide some support for these “OH-SHIT!” moments and such.
An example would be a tanking using Moroes’ Lucky Pocket Watch when he is about to go down and hopefully he gets topped up before the next strike mauls his face.
But of course Moroes’ Lucky Pocket Watch is so yesterday. Let’s look at what trinkets are available before you start hitting 10-man or 25-man raids.