Velen's Prophecy

Silvery moon, washed in blood,
Led astray into the night,
armed with the sword of broken Light.
Broken, then betrayed by one,
standing there bestride the sun.
At darkest hour, redemption comes,
in knightly lady sworn to blood.

Prophet Velen

Dreams and memories

A hesitant hand carefully holding a fragile ink tipped metal nub slowly crossed a blank page...

I remember nothing of the darkness. Nothing. I was called Sefalira and I danced, and sang, and drank. Everything was dust, and nothing mattered. I was empty and hollow and it's a miracle I didn't die. I'm not sure how I did not, other than the rest of those struggling to survive wouldn't dare to let one more elf perish to the evil that had all but destroyed them. It had destroyed me.

But eventually, the emptiness became less painful. One dawn I blinked my eyes open and realised I could see the clouds above me. The carpet of green beneath me, where I must have fallen the evening before, was better kept than my own appearance. And suddenly I cared.

But I was still lost. Merely going through the motions of cleaning myself, walking through the remains of the city and staring determinedly past the ghosts of family and friends that haunted me. My self exile within a lack of memory was gone, but I couldn't allow the fear to return.

The small leather bound journal closed, while green eyes closed and a dark head of chin-length hair bowed for a moment. Her shoulders moved with a deep breath. Opening the tome once more, graceful yet callused fingers continued...

Where faith dwells, hope is never lost, young blood elf. Gaze now, mortals - upon the HEART OF M'URU! Unblemished. Bathed by the light of Creation - just as it was at the Dawn. In time, the light and hope held within - will rebirth more than this mere fount of power... Mayhap, they will rebirth the soul of a nation.

Blessed ancestors! I feel it... so much love... so much grace... there are... no words... impossible to describe...

Salvation, young one. It waits for us all.

It was the rebirth of the Sunwell, and that magical voice speaking in my mind with an essence of Light so pure and true that cleared what remained of the numbness. I was still young for an elf, but time had indeed passed. Only hazy memories remained of the dark places where my brothers and sisters had born me to, providing safety and security and ensuring I did not grieve to death. So there in the grass and the sunlight of a new day, finally, I awoke. And the dream of nothing was gone.

The Light restored me as if I had never lost the glow of the Sunwell, the love of family and friends, the care and protection of kin.

Again she closed the book, carefully wrapping it in a waxy leaf covering and binding it with oiled string. Tucking it into a traveling pack with the meanest collection of survival and utility gear, she stood quickly, resettling her sword. Lifting two fingers to her lips, a piercing whistle was answered by a shrill bird sound followed by a heavily pounding pair of feet. An immense bird with a saddle paused at her side, its head twisting and turning as it peered around the edge of the forest where her rider had paused for a short break.

"Sefalir" her soft voice spoke quietly, and while the bird crooned in response, the Blood Elf tossed her head back and laughed shortly. "Let's go meet those at Tarren Mill waiting for us, ladybird. Time that more were introduced to Zalam-njordil." A small crooken smile graced her mouth when she dropped into a curtsy made strange in her costume. Blue-scaled armor rested on her thighs and shoulders, while heavier green armor made of turtle shells rested on her forearms and boots. It was such a mundane appearance, except from the glitter of her green glowing eyes, the sheen of infused Light upon her blade and the shield now tucked at her back.

Time to cheer

Love

I really love the twins fight. When I manage to stay alive.

Ego!

Sometimes I get myself an invite to my guild's ten man heroic team. We have a good set up, with 3 healers: my druid, @xparanormalityx's resto/elemental shaman, and a disc priest. Our tanks always included one paladin, the guild's MT, and then some trusted OTs.

Last night's was fantastic. Last week we got to Anub but just didn't have the dps needed to get into phase three. Well this week we went pretty smooth and started getting really smooth transitions into phase 3, but then the tanks would go splat. Our shaman heals the first 4 fights and dpses Anub so it was me and the disc priest healing.

Well, after the sixth wipe as we're confirming what is working and what isn't and trying to tweak it, I'm frustrated on vent with the pallyOTalt/boomkinmain telling me how to heal better and venting "A.M.G. you don't understand I cannot get you two tanks to full healing in phase 3. It's just not working." and I'm begging the ele shaman to help with some heals when the Disc priest pipes up "wait, what? We heal the tanks to full in phase 3?"

/facepalm

He's normally healed 25mans, and has always been third healer on the 10toc normal, so I guess it makes sense he just didn't have a clue that we want tanks to full health in phase 3.

So I fell out of my desk chair laughing til I cried and the hilarity. I was basically attempting to solo heal phase 3. And given the fact we got Anub to 300k health three times and 140k health another time, I was doing a damn good job! (warning: WoL gives him mega credit for all the bubbles he popped during phase 3, since he said that's mainly what he was doing, bubbling and renewing) Link to the combatlog

Ugh.

Assuming we all know our roles for given fights isn't a good thing. It doesn't hurt to go over the strats. As you can see.

More reason not to tank

Let's set the scene.

This week I was handed a very forceful, er, painful reminder of why I stopped tanking and that aside from heroics I should probably continue to avoid it. I tried to jump into a 25m pug for ToC that sort of fell apart and turned into two 10mans. They needed a tank. So instead of trying to get gear on my priest, I ended up bear tanking. Painful lessons, I tell you!

Aside from people not knowing fights and the problems that ensue from that, I realized that green goo is damn freaking hard to see when one is tanking Dreadmaw. Ugh! Needless to say, I had superb threat control, but went splat (sometimes before everyone else, sometimes not). Luckily I dodged getting saved, as I think my guild wants to do something different tonight with guild ten mans, a new development!

So, after that disaster I spent most of the week agonizing over bear upgrades which are few and far between. I hate fucking armor penetration. I don't want to play cat. I want to be a bear tank. I would give all the gold on my level 35alt (heh) for gdamn freaking TANK GEAR. In fact, the tier pieces piss me the fuck off with their green stats, while I stare longingly at the (2) and (4) bonuses. I ended up keeping my godforsaken trollwoven shoulders, with mental notes to upgrade belt for sure with crafted gear. Some day. When I'm rolling in crusader orbs and my main raiding gear has already been upgraded.

But, all this was really just lead in. Kalon has been my go-to druid-tank blogger since I stumbled across his blog. I throw his addy at would-be bears in every guild I've been in. It's good stuff.

Right now he's working on a series of posts to contradict, calm, or explain in depth some of the theory, worry, fear, and possibilities for bears in Icecrown.

Me, I'm a big yellow belly bear. I hate change. I grew roots and brownish leaves and went tree when I spent my entire TBC career swearing I'd never every NO NEVER heal because of the armor/stamina changes that happened when Wrath came out. Threw in the towel on tanking. Eventually I remembered how useful it is to have an offspec when the server seemed to suddenly swim in healers (not all good). Plus, it helps me and @xparanormalityx run the daily heroic on all our toons when we can heal/tank 2 of them together.

Why do these changes from "Chill of the Throne" terrify me? Let me tell you. I'm a versatile druid. I had the most fun in TBC in Zul Aman because I was required to use every single trick in my bag, constantly, on almost every boss fight. From battle rezes to innervates to add tanking to dpsing when the other tank had the boss. It was superb fun. But now there's this debuff.

For Icecrown Citadel, we are implementing a spell that will affect every enemy creature in the raid. The spell, called Chill of the Throne, will allow creatures to ignore 20% of the dodge chance of their melee targets. So if a raid's main tank had 30% dodge normally, in Icecrown Citadel they will effectively have 10%.

That blows. I started this by saying that I'm not a theorycrafter and I'm not a main-tank in a raiding guild. I tank heroics. So take all my thoughts with my limitations in mind, please.

I understand druids could tank naked. We don't need defense. Our only mitigation is dodge. Dodge and the silly crit bubbles we have now. Both of which hinge on agility. So, when it comes to bear tanking, primary stats are STAMINA, AGILITY, and then the green bonuses of MORE DODGE, EXPERTISE, HIT, ATTACK POWER, CRIT. That's how I would rank the green stats. Pretty simple compared to warrior tanks, pally tanks, deathknugget tanks. They get crap like Defense that actually does something, parry, block if you're not a DK, these other mitigation forces.

I see it like this. Druids need a lot of dodge because it's really our only mitigation. Stacking stamina is not mitigation, btw. Other tanks get the dodge inherent on their gear, but they also get those other mitigation stats.

Let's compare @xparanormalityx's prot paladin and my bear druid, shall we?

Armor:	24189 (61.36%)	Resilience:	0.00
Defense:	540 (-+5.60%)	Def Rating:	690 (+140)
Dodge %:	25.89	Dodge Rating:	561 (+12.40%)
Parry %:	18.38	Parry Rating:	188 (+4.15%)
Block %:	16.88	Block Rating:	103 (+6.28%)

Armor:	7324 (32.47%) 28127(64.87%)	Resilience:	0.00
Defense:	417 (-+0.68%)	Def Rating:	86 (+17)
Dodge %:	29.86 / 38.86	Dodge Rating:	285 (+6.30%)
Parry %:	0.00	Parry Rating:	0 (+0.00%)
Block %:	0.00	Block Rating:	0 (+0.00%)

(I had to edit this because the in game bear numbers were different)

prot pally stats vs. my druid's 40% dodge in bear form.

So, with "Chill of the Throne" my bear will drop to 20% dodge. Pyh's dodge will drop to 5% but he'll still have those other mitigation factors.

Armorylite is being a pain and not catching my druid's tank gear, so I'll update this soon once the changes happen.

Needless to say, I don't like having zero options to be a decent tank unless I do nothing but stack stamina. And this change will force druids to do that yet again, while as we geared up we were able to play with expertise, hit and arpen for threat generation.

I did say I was resistant to change, right? I like what Jacemora said.

All I know is I am glad I am not tanking anymore and I don’t have to worry about it

Nifty little meme

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer? Oh hell. Primary? Uhm. I can't pick. LheafZarixaanuValkure

What is your primary group healing environment? I'm a pugger and a raider. I find myself in 10s and 25s way more than heroics, though.

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why? My favorite healing spells are, in this order, Chain Heal, Rejuvenation, and Prayer of Mending. I don't think I picked the 2nd and 3rd just to be difficult, either!

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why? Big heals are just not done. No Healing Way. No Healing Touch. GOD FUCKING NO Greater Heal. Ever. It's not on my bars. Wtf does it do again?

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why? Used to be fast heals. I loved my shaman's haste. Then there was the great haste nerf in gear "upgrades". Bleh. Now, I heal more on my druid than any other. I love tree form and casting healing hots while moving. LOVE IT. Mobility. Win.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why? I'm a jack of all trades so I specialize in none. I am a weak healer. I will never claim "hey I can solo heal this ten man" I will cry and complain and beg for a 2nd healer, and if I don't know them, or I do know them, I may ask for a third. >_> Just sayin'

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you? I will hot people. Including tanks. I will avoid bad shit. You want a healer than lives and maximizes heals, I'll do it. I will not heal people through dumb mistakes, however. I suffer no god complex.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why? I really love my buddy @xparanormalityx we can 2 heal ten mans we didn't think was possible. He has a shaman/druid. I have a shaman/druid/priest. Any combination of us 2 is win.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why? Awesome holy pallys make me cry on all my toons. I will give them an assignment then grumble if they cause me to waste healing time.

What is your worst habit as a healer? Not healing. "I was breaking out the NPCs of ice tombs" = unhappy Hodir raid

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing? If I battle res you for the love of god pick a good time to pop up and say something so I can keep your ass alive.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing? Yep. I feel that because I heal with 3 different classes I really get a good feel for what I do best with them, so it bugs me less when I feel one doesn't do as well as a skill on another class type could.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer? Logs I take, recount, and if everyone lived.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class? I really don't want to tank heal. Really. Why must you make me?

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn? Numbers don't really matter. No, really.

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)? I could care less about overhealing. How often was I casting in comparison to other healers, and did I myself stay alive? I was healing a LOT of people.

Haste or Crit and why? I love crit on my disc priest and my druid. I love haste on my shaman.

What healing class do you feel you understand least? Holy pallys.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing? I use Grid, Quartz buff tracker on my target(s)/focus and surgetrack

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why? I'd say balance.