A new plan

I finally took the plunge and put my druid into a progression based raiding guild. I feel guilty on multiple levels. I was first asked to tank with my druid for these guys almost six months ago, during a rough time with her first guild, the one she raided with in TBC, and I was working on my shaman and had almost totally given up on doing anything with the druid. I should have joined them then. But, I didn't. So we move on.

I'm healing with the druid, and I had what I thought was the best assignment for my first night raiding with them. Simple raid heals. It was great. But their raids are full of 2 disc priests, a holy priest, and some holy shamans. Needless to say my hots are too slow to tick! So I showed myself pretty shabby on the numbers when I wasn't dying due to unfamiliarity with the fights.

Vezax wasn't that surprising. I had done my homework. But everything I heard/read was that 3 stacks was pretty decent to have the green goo, get some mana back, etc. But nothing was happening. Then when I hit 5 stacks I hit a lag spike for some unknown reason and my jump out of the goo was slow and next thing I know I'm dead. Soooo frustrating. I'm not the type that's gonna jump in right away with my excuses. Lag spikes are random and I'm not sure what caused the problem there. It pisses me off as much as it makes me feel guilty for failing my job to stay alive. So, I feel like slime.

I think I'm really an anticipatory healer. I like to know the kind of damage that should be coming in because I'm really good at meeting those needs. But sudden spikes of unexpected damage tend to show me at a disadvantage. So with a new guild I'm struggling to learn how these tanks take damage. And their strategies are a bit different from the other guilds I've managed to run this content with on my other toons.

So, just, ugh. I need to learn more on how to maximize druid raid heals. And I really need that idol. As much as I love getting mana back from Lifebloom the GCD vs the healing it spits out seems not a good balance, and I much prefer Rejuvenation. /headdesk

Hit Bitch

Damn you, Blizzard, for creating party-only buffs!

If you don't play a shaman, or a select few other classes (maybe?), or try to compose a raid, you may not be aware that Blizzard did NOT make all buffs raid wide. But it is true.

Healing Stream totem, for a glyphed shaman, can pack a pretty heavy punch of healing when used appropriately (18-25%). So at times I have to nag my raid leaders to move me around in the raid, or at the very least remind them that my totem, which I am dropping, will only serve those in my party. If they're ranged and/or not taking much damage that may be a lot of wasted healing opportunity.

Mana Tide totem is party only, and can be extremely helpful for mana users, I especially like to keep healers in the party for that one. Sometimes they are spread out pretty far but if I am going to drop it I run to the one with the lowest mana or the inability to regen it (sorry druids with an available innervate lose out!).

Tremor totem. Ah the reason shamans are loved against the Cat Lady!

But then there is heroic presence. Oh how I loathe heroic presence (as a healer; I freaking love it as enhancement). For some reason draenai are on a shortage in my raids. And I hate asking my raid leaders to balance more_healing vs hit_capping_dps, but since my focus in a raid is healing, that's where I'm going to put my support.

I've always viewed getting hit capped as a standard part of dps raiding. On my shaman and shadowpriest (my only dps toons) I've set up my outfits to account for both situations to the best of my ability. I understand hit rating is a pain to get sometimes, and that keeping hit capped can severely limit gear choices and dps capabilities. But when healing is my goal, I'm going to fight to make sure my skills, every one of them, is used to the best it can be.

So, I don't like being dps' hit bitch. And having the same conversations over it every week in raids kinda drives me nuts.