Cata Dungeons Are Meh…

Quick, what’s your favorite dungeon in Cataclysm?

Got it?

Now, why?

For me this is not an easy question, and I feel this is why I just haven’t been into Cataclysm all that much.  We’re 5 months in now and I have 3 level 85 toons.  Considering how quickly you can level up there really is no excuse why I still have so many hanging at 80 or 81.  Even my 85s don’t have all exalted reps.  I just really have not been into this expansion as a whole.  I was thinking about why, and one of the things I really spent lots of time on at max level in past expansions was dungeons.  I never got into raiding too much, sure I’ve had a few stretches, but they usually last less than a few months.  Or I’d just fill in as I could.

Okay, quick, what was your favorite BC dungeon?  Now, what was your favorite LK dungeon?

For me those questions are much easier to answer.  I can quickly come up with my favorite dungeons and on which characters and why.  I’ll share that with you now and try to explain that while things are fresh and new in Cataclysm, I’m really just not finding what made it exciting in the past.

If I had to pick a favorite dungeon in Cataclysm, I pretty much come up empty.  There really isn’t a single dungeon that I am “excited” to see the login screen for.  I think Throne of Tides is the closest one because I like the way it looks.  Under the sea adventure at least makes the dungeon entertaining to look at.  The fights are pretty straight forward, and if needed, my Warlock has proven he can solo the 3rd phase of the final boss.    Though I wouldn’t say I love Throne of Tides, it’s more so the one I dislike the least.

In LK there were several that I really liked.  ToC was the first that comes to mind.  I don’t know why, it was really fun though, and “Look up in the rafters…” never gets old.  There was just something really fun about that place.  It was short, the fights changed based on the champions you got and jousting.  Violet Hold was also another favorite, I think because the pace was kept for you and again the variable bosses kept a little bit of excitement in the dungeon.  This is also why I liked CoS too.  Besides seeing draenei turn into nasty looking balding humans, this instance also provided a little bit of variability with spawn points and having a timer was fun too–and I like the drama of the CoT instances, those have always been cool because they go back in time.  I keep hoping we see Dornaa in one of them though–there has to be a reason they attack her during Children’s week…  Lastly, I was probably one of the few, but I liked Old Kingdom.  The final fight in there was very fun and kinda felt a little like PvP for me.  I always enjoyed it and don’t think I ever died during the insanity phase.

In BC, my favorite dungeons were actually some of the more challenging ones at times.  I REALLY liked Botanica and I don’t know why–I think the extra herbs and the fact that on Elgar I got to use MC to give the casters that 120 spell power buff.  That was awesome.  I also liked Steamvaults though that one wasn’t always pretty, and of course Magister’s Terrace.  I also liked Shadow Labs for the same reason I liked Old Kingdom, fighting your fellow party members is hilarious and everyone is all “I’m so sorry!!” during that second boss in Shadow Labs.  That made for some really good times. 

I can’t exactly say why it is I don’t find the new Cataclysm dungeons exciting…perhaps it’s a matter of why they are where they are.  Just why do I care about the Tolvir again?  At least I knew why I was fighting the Hellfire orcs, the naga in Underbog, and the nerubian in Azjul-Nerub.  I guess I just don’t know why I’m fighting anyone in the Cata dungeons except maybe the naga again and the guys in Grim Batol/BRC.  The rest are just… there?  Of course I could be missing lore since I never did finish up Uldum. 

Okay, long post is getting really long.  But I thought about this today and why I really have been neglecting my level 85s and current content for things like running Shadow Labs again or the hundreds of other “Oh Shiny!” things that I come across.  Cataclysm looked awesome and I was really excited about the world changes and what not.  Perhaps that’s it too, perhaps I feel I have so much to see that I don’t want to miss anything and therefore would much rather look at what I know and how it changed compared to the new things that aren’t really keeping me entertained.  I just can’t figure it out, but after this post, I can confirm that Cata dungeons just don’t excite me like dungeons did in LK and BC.

Level 23 and More Healing

By the time I get home tonight, our guild will be level 23.  That means the daily guild XP cap will be lifted and we can start our charge to level 25 and hopefully make the server first for guild level 25!  Having raid nights coming up with successful groups will really help our XP climb and climb!  I have also been encouraging everyone to make sure they are grouping up for heroics or normal dungeons or guild PvP.  We’ll see if we can make it!

I would be so proud of the guild and also pretty impressed if we can do it!  I know I’m going to try and group up as much as possible and when not just work on leveling those 80+ toons since they bring in mucho XP. 

I healed on Elgar again last night.  Normal.  We did Halls of Origination and Bocat came with me as shadow priest.  She did really well!  This was the instance that wrecked healing for me, but this time, it was MUCH better.  I’ve been really working out the kinks on Disc spec and figuring out when to use what.  It plays much more like how my Divine Spirit/Holy Spec played in Burning Crusade, so I’m digging up those old memories and staring at my Greater Heal cast bar.  

There were a few pulls where CC would have really helped, the tank was down pretty low a few times, but some big Gheal crits pulled him up fast.  Thank goodness for those less than 50% crit talents!

All in all it went really well!  I managed to do much better on the final boss and I got some nice new boots with spirit on them.  The more the merrier!  Mana isn’t as much of an issue as it was before, so that is good.  Feeling much more confident, I’ll have enough Justice Points to upgrade the robes soon, and I’ll run some heroics as DPS to try to maybe get some off-set healing stuff.  That will help.  It’s amazing how healing again makes me enjoy the game so much more. 

That’s all the new for now, feeling good about healing and ready to kick Guild XP to the max!

Drain Life

Sometimes all you need is a warlock.  Sometimes you need more.

I had this awesome post written about The Balance of Nature and how WoW sometimes bugs me because the laws of nature aren’t really being followed, the biologist in me is sometimes really bothered by these things when I play the game.  But I’ll post on that later, WordPress ate most of my awesome post.

Anyways, back to the real quick story about how sometimes you only need a warlock!  I’ve been doing heroics on my Warlock and it’s been going okay, I’m still mostly in the same gear, I think I got maybe 2 upgrades–no cloth ever.  But that’s okay, the points are worth it.  So last night it was Throne of Tides.  Good, I’ve been there, no trouble, we’ll be fine.  And it was pretty smooth, adds were CC’d appropriately, DPS was fine, good times.  But we get to the final battle and we’re in phase 2 killing the suppressors and there are blood beast things and for whatever reason the tank dies, then the healer, and we down the last suppressor going into final burn phase with just me and the hunter.  I pop demon form and immolation aura to burn the final blood beasts and they die quickly, then pew pew on the boss.  The hunter dies because we have no healer, so I DoT and drain life on our way to victory.  It was awesome.  Someone said that Neptulon was going to die, maybe he did, but we still completed the instance, got our prizes and left.  Now granted, that’s the slow way to do it and I’ve never used drain life so much before, but it was awesome.

And that was my fun adventure for the evening!  I also dinged out two more levels on the rogue who has been questing in Blasted Lands and is now 57.  I might finish out the zone before heading to Outlands, we’ll see.  I might also do some PvP once I hit 58 and get Cloak of Shadows.  Now I just have to figure out how to stunlock people like those sneaky-sneaks always did to me!

Happy Wednesday!

Broken Pt. 2

First off, thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement on healing from my previous post. 

I think I figured out a big chunk of why this is shaking me up so much.  I’ve always thought I was okay at DPS and tanking, I could get the job done, I wouldn’t top meters in a 10 man, but would usually do pretty well or in a 5-man I could hit pretty good DPS.  Tanking usually went well, making sure there weren’t lose mobs, moving appropriately, etc.  The reason Cataclysm healing has upset me so much is that if there was one thing I always felt good at in the game it was healing.

If I had to think of all the best moments in the game, the moments where I felt like my playing really made the difference, or just those awesome clutch moments where I pulled through, they all happened on my priest, while healing.  Those were the moments I loved, the reason I loved healing, I liked all those times where things went slightly bad but I pulled through.  But now I feel scared and completely incapable of making it through a normal dungeon in Cataclysm.  The one character I really felt solid on now feels completely awful and insecure.  All confidence in my healing abilities has been shaken.

I think this is why I’m taking this first Cataclysm dungeon so hard.  The one thing I felt good at in the game is now the thing I feel worst at.  I know that eventually I’ll give it another try again.  But for now, Elgar leaves me feeling a bit…lost.

Again, thanks for all the kind words of encouragement.  I’ll get back on the bike and try to learn to ride again, but for me, this was a pretty hard fall, so I’m going to need some time to lick my wounds.

Broken

Last night I did something for the first time since the release of Cataclysm.  I healed a dungeon.  No not a heroic, Elgar doesn’t even qualify yet.  But he does qualify for all the normal dungeons, so I tossed myself in queue and thought, what the heck.  I asked in guild if anyone wanted to come to a normal, but no dice.  So I went it alone.

I got a great group, they were a guild group, 4 people, and I explained that I haven’t healed any instances in Cataclysm yet and please let me know if there is anything I should do or anything I need to know about the fights.  They went slow, were very patient with me, used CC.  All good things.  But…

It was horrible.

I was going near OOM on most trash pulls (oh this was Halls of Origination) but I had read this was sorta typical for most healers, so I wasn’t too concerned.  We get to the first boss.  Chaos.  People are out of range, I can’t find them even, I am panicking to keep everyone alive, my heals seem so trivial to their 105 to 145k health pools.  I’m trying to work in smite to keep my heals larger and get back mana, but there isn’t time.  I’m using Inner Focus every 45 seconds…it’s just chaos.  The tank dies.  I keep mashing buttons and somehow between the two hunters pets we tank and kill him. 

I am less than encouraged at this time.  I didn’t even let a tank die the first time I did ToC 5-man on heroic.  Clearly things have changed.  I try to remember this, but I feel literally sick to my stomach as I’m rezzing the tank.  I want to cry and barf.  I make some comments into guild chat and soon people are telling me that disc priests are broken, it’s not just bubble people anymore.  And I do realize this already, and I think I’m doing the right things, but all my heals cost so much mana and heal for SO little.  But basically it’s a resounding, disc is broken or you need high gear to play it.  Great.

We continue on, it’s horrible.  By the end of the instance (we killed everything – there are optional bosses??) my recount is showing that there have been 20 deaths, 6 of which are the tank.  I was literally barfy.  I wanted to delete Elgar (don’t worry, I didn’t, I won’t really do it).  Someone suggests that I try holy, but unfortunately disc wasn’t the only think broken last night.  My spirit and confidence in healing was also broken.  I literally sat there stunned in my chair, ready to barf, and possibly my hands physically shaking.

Is this what healing has become?  Or is it just that disc really is that broken?  Either way, I couldn’t believe it.  Something I used to love so much has now become something that I never want to do again.  And I sat there thinking that Elgar’s endgame experience is going to be transmuting, fishing up Mr. Pinchy, farming up herbs, and digging up artifacts.  Hardly what I expected. 

I logged over to Rossini to DE a staff Elgar won.  I like Rossini, but he’s not Elgar.  No one is Elgar.  I logged out and looked at the loading screen.  I know Elgar still has some gear improvements, but this was a normal dungeon.  Normal.  And it was so horrible.  I looked at him.  How is it that my favorite character has now become a placeholder on the log-in screen?  I truly am broken. 

I guess the one positive thing about the night is this:  I know what NOT to dual spec the shaman, paladin, and druid as…heals.