Long time, no haiku

Time is the enemy of all bloggers. Time's demands have kept me from this blog for too long. Unfortunately time has kept me away from Cataclysm as well. I have been playing some Starcraft though, and I'd like to get back into blogging.

Therefore, I've started a new blog where I can post brief bits on Starcraft and Warcraft. It's Rhymecraft, at rhymecraft.blogspot.com. There I will post about the 'crafts in haiku, limerick, and who knows what else. Hey, it's a weird idea, but we play the hands we're dealt!

To celebrate, here are two pieces of poetry:

In Cata our talents have doubled
And we got our big Barrier bubble
And we got Leap of Faith
So when danger is grave
We can yank our raidmates out of trouble!

I was so excited to see Power Word: Barrier added to the game. And I wasn't expecting Leap of Faith, but it was a really clever idea and I think a potent tool.

Chakra healing state:
Better healing on command?
Holyform at last!

Oh Blizzard, you finally added Holyform. You shouldn't have! It only took 6 years! Oh well, we can forgive you, we are priests after all. Now, let's talk about Discform...

Disc tips: Festergut

Time for more tips! We are skipping right to the Plagueworks for today's tips, because I haven't been rotated in to see Deathbringer Saurfang since his buff-and-nerf cycle, so I can't comment on the recent changes and how they affect us Disc priests. Besides, what is a lone orc against the might of the Alliance?! Amiright?

Sooo... Festergut!

THE TIPS

The first tip is on how to tell Festergut apart from Rotface. They use the same (hideous) model and their rooms are the same, and both of them cast spells like Gaseous Pungent Stinky Gastric Blight Bloat, so it can be hard to distinguish them! What I did is realize the Plagueworks bosses are in alphabetical order from left to right: Festergut, Putricide, Rotface. And in my opinion it's best to start with #1 alphabetically, since although Festergut has steep requirements for DPS and survivability, it's technically the easiest fight by far.

So Festergut is a cyclical fight. It wobbles between one extreme, Raid Damage to Make a Tree Druid Flail for Joy, and the other extreme, Tank-Crushing Damage to Make a Paladin Cry. When there is a lot of orange blight on the ground, there is raid damage going around, and everyone needs heals. Shamans and Trees will be going nuts here, but you can help out with shields, PoM's, maybe a Divine Hymn if it gets ugly.

Periodically Festergut inhales some blight, which reduces the raid damage, but supersizes the damage he (it?) does to the main tank. When Festergut inhales three times (you can tell because the floor will be blue again instead of orange (also your main tank may start whimpering)), the damage is particularly insane. At this juncture, you should be in full-tank-spam-heal mode. Shield-Penance-Gheal cycles are recommended. Even if you are assigned as a raid healer, there is no raid damage during this time, so you should help on the tank. Divine Aegis and Inspiration insurance for the win!

The other main mechanic is the gas spores. Ranged players need to spread out overall, to avoid Vile Gas. But when Festergut launches gas spores, they need to collapse to share the debuff. Luckily for me, our guild has all the healers stack on the MT so we can heal uninterrupted, but your guild may have you at range, moving around to coordinate the debuff. Follow their lead; trust me that this is one strain of cooties that you DO want. Unless you enjoy eating the AOE he does after inhaling three times!

The fight repeats from there, with Festergut starting his inhale-cycle over each time. It's not a hard fight to heal, it just has sort of a "minutes of boredom followed by seconds of sheer terror" vibe. The only other mechanic is a tank swap (ICC is basically the Land of Required Tank Swap Mechanics. Blizzard could save developer time by just calling all these spells Yes You Need To Swap Tanks Again). But because of the nature of this one, offtank agro may be high, so you may want to be careful with Pain Suppression.

POWER INFUSION TIME

Festergut has a very short enrage timer, necessitating strong DPS as well as strong tank survivability. It's sort of Patchwerk meets the Hokey Pokey for DPS players. All this means for us is, PI early and often, except for when Heroism is up.

BONUS STRATEGY HAIKU

Festergut's strong, sure,
but what role can this guy play
in the Lich King's plan?

I mean seriously, is this pile of flesh and rejected abomination brains really part of the master "Take Over Azeroth" plan? Or is it just Putricide's side project/spare parts repository? And if so, why are we bothering to dispatch it?? Oh, right, the epixxx. Silly me!

Disc tips: Lady Deathwhisper

With Marrowgar down, next up on any raider's dance card is the somewhat chatty boss, Lady Deathwhisper! So here is #2 in what I hope to make a series on ICC bosses, featuring tips for Disc priests.

THE TIPS

Deathwhisper is a two-phase boss, of the front-loaded variety (This means phase 2 is easy, so that it may still be completed if your DPS die to completely avoidable damage, and/or your healers have a coronary trying to heal DPS who are dying to completely avoidable damage).

Getting past phase 1 relies upon the tanks being able to pick up the adds, while the DPS burn down adds in the right order. Unfortunately you can't help with that, but you can make sure your assigned tank(s) stay vertical. I recommend keeping your tank in sight: make sure you stay in range and in LoS (note the stairs in the room). If your guild brings all the adds together by the boss, this is easier, but there are still steps and pillars to watch out for.

Also try to be aware if a Deformed Fanatic is activated. If one is, it may be worth it to use Pain Suppression, or at least a Shield-Penance-GHeal cycle or two. Deformed Fanatics are usually kited but if they get too close, your shields could save the day.

As for the DPS, you can help them too. Configure your UI to display people standing in the Death and Decay, and those who have agro. Shielding both can add a nice safety margin to DPS who are already watching add spawns. You can further help by dropping a few DoTs on Deathwhisper in between trash waves if you like.

Finally, watch out for mind controlled players, as they may get healer agro. If targetted, use Fade instead of Psychic Scream: the radius on the fear may also send adds fleeing, and this tends to make tanks cranky. Alternatively you can DPS down the mind controlled players; this tends to result in hilarity, but not generally success.

Once phase 2 hits, it's more of the same: heal tanks, don't stand in the fire. However, be sure to watch where you're standing. Vengeful Spirits will spawn from the dead adds, and if they reach you they can hit for 20k!

POWER INFUSION TIME

The time to cast PI is early and often. Cast it on the players assigned to burn down the boss's shield: since they won't switch targets, they'll get the most use out of it. If your guild burns Heroism early, cast it right after, otherwise cast it on the top boss-killer DPS on cooldown.

BONUS STRATEGY HAIKU

Heal tanks, shield raiders
And if you get mind controlled
Try to kill a mage

Deathwhisper is not a hard fight to heal... most of the learning curve is dealing with the adds. But some good ol' Disc-elbow-grease can make it easier on everyone to handle!

Disc tips: Lord Marrowgar

I thought I'd start posting tips for Disc priests in Icecrown Citadel. Let's start with Lord Bonesaw Marrowgar himself! Marrowgar is a basic fight, and the healing requirements are pretty bare-bones (pun intended). But for each of his abilities there's something you can do to maximize your survival.

THE TIPS

His Saber Lash is the first thing to deal with. Normally there will be healers on each tank. You can help them all by shielding each tank as often as you can - the shields will definitely get consumed. If there is another Disc priest in the raid, tell him that you have no idea how those Weakened Souls got there, maybe his spellbook is leaking? Another, less obvious trick is to use Prayer of Mending on cooldown here. With the splashed damage, it will be a big part of your tank healing.

The Bone Spike Graveyard is the other major spike damage (pun intended). I strongly recommend configuring your UI or AddOns so that you can clearly see the debuff this puts on targets, so you can immediately shield them, even if you're on tank duty. This will give other healers time to acquire those who need healing. You can also toss a Penance or Renew their way as needed.

There are also Lightning Tendrils to deal with. I can't wait to see these one-shot people in heroic mode, but for now they're not too bad. A Chain Heal or PoM splash will usually help people survive them. If you try to heal all the people standing in the fire, your mana pool will go bone-dry. (pun intended) (ok I'll stop)

Finally, everyone's favorite whirlwind, BONESTORM!!! What I like to do here is a little tactic called "Shield Spam Panic." I'll let you deduce the subtleties of it but just try to toss out shields (and PoM again) as needed. Although if people spread out to too wide a radius to heal, it won't be very humerus. (who was I kidding)

POWER INFUSION TIME

The best time to cast PI is right after a Bone Spike Graveyard ends. If you do it during or before a graveyard, it may be wasted if the DPS is re-acquiring targets. If you do it right after a BONESTORM!!! (threat wipe), the DPS may get drunk with power and pull agro. This may cause hilarity but not generally success.

BONUS STRATEGY HAIKU

Saber Lash hurts bad
So don't help "tank" Marrowgar
And you won't get boned

So there's Marrowgar. The "tricks" I've posted here are not exactly rocket surgery, but hey he's the first boss. I hope to post more on the following bosses. Till then!

Patch 3.2 haiku

Trial of the Champ trash
Wall of Text crits you to death
Wake me when it's done

Champion's Trial runs:
Easier to heal when you
Unequip your lance

Penance cooldown nerf:
"That spell is not yet ready"
Want my two secs back

Razorscale: graceful swan or lame duck?

Razorscale, skybound
Now she descends gracefully
To melt our faces

Dark Rune adds pop up
Like gophers on a golf course
Let's play Whack-A-Mole!

The difference between Holy and Discipline

Holy:

If you should perish,
You'll be reborn, phoenix-like:
Guardian Spirit

Discipline:

If you're hurting bad,
I'll say, "Suck it up and deal."
That's Pain Suppression

A rep to remember

The Sons of Hodir
Giants in the snow, with names
Unpronounceable

Thrusting Hodir's Spear?
Blowing Hodir's Horn? Really?
Who's this Hodir perv?

Do these silly quests
Or buy Ulduar Relics...
Cha-ching! Exalted!

Farewell Hodir's Sons
Hope to see you again soon!
(When my shoulders drop)

Twice shy... for now

Bad pugs, like sponges,
Soak up all my healing spells,
And my will to live

The tank has full health
Yet the DPS is dead
Let the tank tank please

Enlightened, we flee
Never to pug that again
'til we need more rep

Addition to my last post

I forgot to add a haiku to my last post :)

They gave all fear ward
Desperate prayer, chastise...
Those jealous non-dwarves!

Also, haiku!

I'll post haiku too
As many as the snowflakes
or Gnomes in Ironforge

This is my belief:
DPS is a science
But healing, an art

Priest from Ironforge
Who's never short on healing
Is that a Dwarf joke