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Blessing of Kings

World of Warcraft from a Paladin's Perspective


Heroic PuGsYesterday
Lots of people seem to be have horror stories of doing instances with Pickup Groups. Maybe it's just Skywall, but--knock on wood--I haven't had any real issues with Heroic PuGs. I complain about things, but they're really minor irritations. So far, Heroic PuGs for me have pretty much been veni, vidi, vici.

The only interesting PuG happened a few weeks ago in Heroic Violet Hold while I was Ret. We wiped once on the Voidwalker boss. The second time, three of us died on the Voidwalker boss, but the last two killed it. Unfortunately, we ran back and zoned in, not realizing that you can't do that. So that attempt ended in a wipe.

The third time through, we start it up, and are on wave two when the boomkin announces, "Sorry guys, I don't think this group can do this" and hearths out. We're all like, "What the ... couldn't he have said something before we started!" So we four-man the waves and kill the Voidwalker easily. Thankfully we have a warlock, so at wave 10 we summon a DPS warrior to come help and we finish the instance cleanly.

So I dunno about Horror-story PuGs. On Skywall at least, Heroic PuGs are pretty good.





Ask Coriel: Crafted PvP Holy GearJanuary 4
Murpheus asks:
I was wondering if you could tell me why you think all the blue a and purple crafted "pvp" plate I see on the AH has no INT. Even the mace has no INT. All the other crafted plate has Strength and Stamina ,but Holy Pally's only get stamina yes it does have spell power , but still. In Battlegrounds noone can/wants to kill me so eventually I run out of mana, am I doing this all wrong? do I not need a mana pool?
I think we're all confused by the crafted Holy gear. I don't think anyone is wearing it. From what I hear, most people are just going with PvE gear until they have enough honor and/or arena points to pick up the first actual PvP set (Savage Gladiator's Redemption), as that set is much better itemized.

It's especially confusing because the mail Stormhide gear is pretty decent.



Third Year MarkDecember 31 2008
It's been about three years since I started writing this blog.

I think I'm a lot happier with WoW than I was last year. I've sort of made peace with the whole specialization issue. It's not ideal, but it's okay. It helps a lot that Protection and Retribution are very viable. Going Holy is closer to an actual choice, rather than being forced into it. Have to give Blizzard props for making that happen.

The biggest difference between now and previous years is that I am unguilded. To be honest, it's sort of nice not being in a guild. You log on, and do whatever you feel like. As well, there's something to be said for experiencing content in the proper order. I did every single quest before starting heroics. I haven't done any raids yet. But that means that I don't outgear the content yet. It's kind of nice, seeing a blue drop and realizing it's an upgrade for me rather than pure disenchant fodder. I just got to Revered rep with Wyrmrest today, and picked up multiple upgrades.

It's been really pleasant to have been able to go through the content in order, to consume it at leisure and not be rushed, rather than skipping all over the place. However, I'm coming to the end of what you can do solo and I do miss the experience of working on harder content with a team that sticks together.

I think I'm going to take a vacation from WoW for a few weeks before ju







More Thoughts On HealingDecember 30 2008
  • Why am I always the first one at the instance? Why does it always seem to be the DPS who need summons?
  • Why do DPS players think that that sub-1500 DPS is acceptable?
  • Also, if you aren't over 2K, STFU about damage meters .
  • If I have to run back, you should be running back too. Ressing lazy people after a wipe is a waste of time. Parallel execution, not serial.
  • Please maintain Line-Of-Sight to the healer. Don't hide behind pillars. There's nothing more heart-stopping than seeing a player take a chunk of damage, going to heal them, and seeing an "Unable to cast" message.
  • You know, DPS players really infuriate me when I heal.
  • There's something about the duration of Beacon and Seals that bugs me. I have no problems keeping Sacred Shield up, but I struggle with Beacon and Seals. I think the time--1 to 2 minutes--is short enough that it has to be refreshed in-combat, but long enough that it falls outside my immediate horizon and thus I lose track of it.
  • I'm still mulling over gemming Intellect vs Crit. The math generally points to Intellect, but it really depends on hitting Divine Plea every cooldown. While Crit doesn't require extra effort on my part, and is not that far behind.
  • There was a real lack of blue plate gloves for both Ret and Holy. There isn't a single blue plate glove quest reward for Holy and only one for Ret. I wonder why gloves were overlooked. I'm very slowly working on my Frenzyhear
When Did Healing Become So Hard?December 27 2008
I bit the bullet and respecced to Holy today. I very quickly got into a Heroic Utgarde Keep run. My immediate thought:

"Wow, when did healing become so hard?"

Maybe I've just gotten used to face-rolling my way through instances as DPS, or maybe I'm just undergeared and out of practice, but it feels like paladin healing has gotten a lot more complex.

The following is my thought process throughout the instance:

Begin Stream of Consciousness.

Okay, I have to keep up Beacon of Light, Sacred Shield and a Seal. I've pretty much abandoned Flash of Light and am mainly using Holy Light. Nothing else seemed to keep up with the tank's damage intake. Does Sacred Shield even do anything? You know, Sacred Shield is a lot more expensive than I remembered. Why is the tank's health not going up? Oh, Beacon fell off again! I'm supposed to Judge to do something or the other, but I can't stop spamming Holy Light.

Who thought an AoE silence/interrupt on the final boss of Utgarde Keep was a good idea? Why did the DPSer who does 2K+ DPS just take a 24K Smash? Couldn't you have Smashed one of the other two who are doing less than 1K DPS? Let's try Holy Shock. Yeah, that really did a lot. Back to Holy Light. Sweet, sweet Holy Light. Why are there axes attacking me? Where are you, AoE heal! Oh I see, Beacon fell off yet again. Divine Plea, thank the Light!

End Stream of Consciousness.

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