Healing (part deux)

So I did more healing. I actually, honest to god, healed a real instance.

I healed Halls of Reflection. Sure it was regular, and sure the tank was my normal ICC 10 offtank, but I healed it without anyone dying.

I mean, for me, right now, its "stare at grid". I just look at that little box and when some gets hurt, I hit 1 (Flash of Light). If someone needs heals right now I hit 3 (Holy Shock). Sure, I used Sacred Shield and Beacon of Light in HoR.

But I didn't use any of my cooldowns.

I want to be able to use my CDs. I know they do special things, but I haven't felt the need. Maybe I should run H-HoR.

That would be a good idea.

Negative Stats

My druid, Erthu, is a bear tank and currently has equipped Shriveled Heart as his neck piece. The ZF only special green neckalce that gives -5 str, spirit and +13 stam. The stam is what makes it for him. (Not talking about the Shriveled Heart from H-HoR)*.

Anyways, I was thinking that negative stats would be interesting. Perhaps make some plate tanking gear with negative int and armor pen but with more than standard amounts of dodge, stam or str. The int would effect paladins and the arp would hurt warriors and DKs.

I'm not sure how else it could be fairly balanced or if at all it is a good idea, but I liked the concept and think more should be done with it.

*Also- if you know of any other two items that have the same exact name, but different stats, lemme know. I'm interested.

Puggerific!

Sometimes you have good pugs, sometimes you have awful pugs.

Some pugs are rote, some you actually do well....actually, scratch the second part.

Sometimes your tank can't and your healer is oom.

But there are stories that can be taken from these, stories and lessons.

In Utgarde Pinnacle, whenever we get to Gortok Palehoof, who has for trash mobs in front of him who are spawned in a random order (Furlborg, Worgen, Rhino, Jormungar (sp?)) I always shout out which one I expect to spawn first.

In Halls of Stone I pull to Krystallus without Divine Plea dropping off me. It lasts for 15 seconds. Then again it restarts every time I get hit and as a tank, well, I get hit a lot.

Then there are the less fun runs.

I'm in Heroic Halls of Reflection, easily the hardest five man in the game, possibly harder than Sarth, Naxx and the first few bosses in VoA. The priest (healer) asks that we don't use the LoS method where we hide in corners to pull the mobs. This is because he NEEDS to shackle one of them. Otherwise the tank will die. I was tanking and I have successfully tanked it before without any CC. I tell him this. He then argues that the LoS method will make him less able to heal because we'll be out of LoS of him. Note: we won't be. But he's the healer so I agree with him. Then the warrior goes AFK. In the middle of the fight. This being the first part of H-HoR, the mobs will keep on spawning. He's gone for three waves. At that point I ask if we should kick him. The healer says "He's my friend, if he goes, I go." Without the extra dps he would be offering, we would have a very hard time on the boss. In fact, we wiped.

Whoops...

So I missed my (self imposed) deadline by an hour and a half. So you know what that means? You get two (thats right TWO) whole posts from me today. One know and another at 11:30 tomorrow night when I realize that I'm gonna forget it again. Since I don't really think about topics that much in advance this is all spontaneous, and consequently of limited quality.

The new ICC 5 mans are a fun and good way to gear up, provided you already have decent gear. H-FoS and H-PoS can both be done with one dps being carried, H-HoR however, require excellent gearing from all members present. When 3.3 came out, before using the Dungeon Finder System, I tried to tank H-HoR on Alenena. I failed. Repeatedly. Part of it was the dps, they would open up with full AoE instantly and pull aggro off me, causing the healer to focus on someone who needs more heals. At that point I was in naxx/uld gear and had about 28k hp. Since then I've picked up four pieces of t9 and my AiL (Average Item Level) went from 203 to 221. When I tried H-HoR again, we managed the entire instance without wiping. So be sure to gear up.

Some tips (primarily for warlocks and paladins)

1. In Forge of Souls, against Brohnjam, I have found it better to just nuke the boss and ignore the Corrupted Soul Fragments. When I have focused on them, Brohnjam has not gone down.
2. Fighting the Devourer of Souls: run around. If you have are a warlock, toss down your teleport. The teleport allows you to dodge Wail of Souls, the Unleashed Souls and Well of Souls.
3. In Pit of Saron, when fighting Garfrost, Pallys can cleanse themselves (or others) of the debuff. If you are tanking and have enough threat, you may want to consider tossing a couple cleanses on yourself if you are going for the achievement. Not only will it make it easier for your healer, but you won't have to worry about running and hiding behind the saronite rocks he throws. As a warlock you can use your teleport to great effect here, placing it on the stairs at the beginning of the battle and then popping out of LoS when you need to remove the debuff (not positive the stairs are safe).
4. In Halls of Reflection, when fighting the trash before Falric and Marwyn paladin tanks can cast Flash of Light on themselves if they want to try LoS pulling. It gathers significant aggro while allowing you to stay out of sight so that the mobs enter the corner of death and blindness.
5. Finally, when you fight the Lich King and you do not take advantage of the exploit* if a paladin or DK dies, they can return to the instance and run past the Lich King. DKs will need to pop Anti-Magic Shield and Pallys will have to throw away their use of bubble, but it allows your dps to return to the fight.

*The exploit consists of running to the ledge to the side of the cliff, waiting for the Lich King to pass and then following him. It trivializes the entire event and while it allows you to get the achievement fairly easily, its not the best plan.