RP Post: Amavrya, pt. 2

A week.

That was how long she’d been waiting in Ironforge after the job in Darkshire fell through.  No word.  Mav didn’t like worrying – everything was off.  She hadn’t worked even messenger jobs in nearly that long, which she knew would cost her in reputation more than money.

Not to mention she’d been stuck with a hyperactive snow leopard for that long.  The innkeeper was ready to send both of them packing at this point, but a bit of smooth talking on Mav’s part had secured their housing for a little while longer at least.

At the moment, she was sitting on the railing outside the leatherworking shop, absently watching the goings-on below her.

She barely heard Lexa growl, then felt a tug on her sleeve.  She swatted at whomever it was, hearing a tiny “oof” from behind her.

“Hrmph, well, that was quite unnecessary,” said a small voice.

Mav turned to look behind her, spotting a blue-haired gnome getting to her feet.  Before she could react, there was a letter on the railing beside her and the gnome took off quickly towards where she had come from.  The letter was well-weathered, hastily written and nearly unreadable, but she knew it was Mikos’ – an apology for leaving her behind, but no explanation. At the bottom, someone else had written that he’d last been seen five days ago.

She jumped down from her perch, Lexa not far behind as she ran toward the flightmaster. People don’t just disappear, she thought, panic settling in, right? Not paying attention, she tripped over her feet.  She got up, handing over some money to the flightmaster.  ”Menethil Harbor,” she said.  Lexa trundled up to her and looked at her almost sadly.  ”I promise I’ll come back to get you.”  The cat simply nuzzled the girl’s hand.  Mav sighed – there had to be some way to not leave her behind.

“Miss, are you going?”

“N-no, I’ll find another way.”  She knelt down in front of the big cat.  ”Think you can be a riding kitty for awhile…at least until we find your stupid owner.”  Lexa flopped down and rolled over, batting at the night elf’s hair.  ”I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”

******

Their original intent when they were done in Darkshire was to go to the Badlands.  There was a Reclaimers dig site that they were supposed to have provided security and support to, so she headed there first.   Knowing her friend, that was what made the most sense.

What she saw when she got there made her slightly ill.  People whom she had worked for and with during her time in SI:7 were there, going through the campsites and areas that were being worked on.  She waved Lexa off , then moved slowly toward the activity, trying to stay hidden as best she could.

The site had been torn apart – the normal organized chaos that would be expected was now a haphazard mess of personal belongings, artifacts and equipment.  She inched closer, coming to a stop at the edge.

She had been so focused on the goings-on in front of her that she missed the footsteps coming up from behind her.  ”Shadowrunner, right?”, she heard a man’s voice say.  Pausing a second too long, she made an attempt to backhand him, but he caught her arm a few inches away.  ”Nice try.”  Mav took advantage of the opportunity, kicking him in the side.  She scrambled back and cocked her head to the side, a smirk crossing her face when she saw who it was.

“Long time, no see, Barrett.  How ya been?”  Barrett got up and took a step toward her.  She held up a finger silently, asking him to wait. He charged at her, finding himself flat on his back, staring dazed at the sky.

Mav came over, sitting down next to him, leaning back and resting an elbow on his chest.  By now, she had unsheathed one of her swords and was holding it casually in front of his face, occasionally letting it drop a little too close.  ”I told you to wait.  You’ve always been impatient.  That might get you in trouble someday, y’know?”  She glanced down at him, then looked back toward the site to see if anyone was heading their way.  ”So, what’s going on here?  Need money or just bored?”

“Wouldn’t you love to know?”  Barrett made a grab for the sword’s hilt.  When Mav tried to swat his hand away, he caught her arm and forced her off of him.  The weapon fell off to the side.  ”Not so tough now, are ya?”  He grinned wickedly at her. “Nothin’ to say for yourself now?”

“Get off of me, damnit!”

“Doesn’t sound like much fun to me, and you haven’t told me why you’re here yet, either, ” Barrett said, easing his hold slightly.  ”Give me a good enough reason and I might let you go.”

Mav sighed inwardly, angry at herself for what she was about to do.  ”Looking for a friend.  He went missing a bit ago.”

Barrett nodded, knowing who she was talking about.  He let go of her wrists and pushed himself to his feet.  The confusion was clear on the night elf’s face.  ”Get up.”  When she didn’t comply, he grabbed her by the arm, pulling her roughly to her feet.  ”Turn around and go home.  I can’t guarantee anything if you’re running around sticking your nose in where you shouldn’t.”

“So, he’s okay?”  Barrett started to head back toward the site.  ”At least tell me he’s still alive?!”  She saw him nod slightly, then continue to walk away.  Mav leaned down, picking up her sword, eyes never leaving him.  Once he was out of sight, she turned around and started off in the opposite direction.  For the second time, she didn’t hear movement coming toward her; this time, all she felt was a sharp pain at the back of her neck and then nothing.

Barrett and another man, this one older, stood over her.  The newcomer nudged her, making sure she didn’t stir, then looked at Barrett.

“Take her somewhere – if I see her again before we need her, she’ll be buried right along with that friend of hers.”

Barrett nodded silently, picking up Mav and hoisting her over his shoulder.  Once his boss was out of earshot, he whispered, “I’m sorry,” before carrying her over to one of the carriages they’d brought, laying her down in it, then getting on the horse and heading off for the nearest town.

TBC…

RP Post: Amavrya

Don’t get yourself into any trouble. Go to Dalaran and stay put until I come back. That was what her cousin had told her before she left for Northrend. There was plenty of gold and supplies for a few months at the very least, possibly much longer if it had been entrusted to one a bit older and more responsible.

Instead, the much younger rogue was minding things. And the idea if being stuck in a floating city on a continent infested with Scourge who were making things barely tolerable was highly unappealing. Sure, she could always find work there – someone who got results with no questions asked was a valuable commodity. All she asked for was her pay – not unreasonable in the grand scheme of things. She just wasn’t keen on the idea of having to spend her time around so many magic users. Some tended to be more hazardous than rogues.

“Mav, you up yet?” Amavrya rubbed her eyes, yawning – they’d been out late the evening before, drinking away most of a recent job’s pay. “Hey, c’mon now, y’bum. It’s gettin’ on in the day!”

“Bloody pushy dwarf,” she muttered. “Hold your horses, will ya? A lady needs time to get decent.”

Mikos scoffed, shaking his head. “Yer hardly a lady! Hurry it up.”. He scuffed his boot on the ground, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. The young snow leopard next to him rolled around lazily in the mud, dirtying her fur.

Mav looked outside, making a face at the rain. She grabbed her belongings off a nearby chair, careful not to hit herself with the weapons on her belt that she couldn’t be bothered to put on yet.  The cloak, however, went on before she stepped out of the door. “Alright, let’s go, impatient one,” she said mockingly, slinging her pack over her shoulder.

“Yer not even ready. Sakes, girl, keep goin’ ’round less than ready and yer wont t’get yerself hurt. I can’t always be around, y’know?”

The night elf dropped her pack unceremoniously on the ground, cinching her belt around her waist. “Happy now? Lexa, no! Get offa me, ya stupid cat! Call her off, Mikos!”. The young cat had decided it was a prime moment to pounce, and was pinning the girl down, trying to paw the tie holding her hair back out.

Mikos’ hearty laughter subsided to a chuckle as he motioned for Lexa to come back over to his side. He watched the grumbling girl get to her feet, twisting her hair back to its former place. “Sorry, kiddo,” he said, coughing to hide a laugh.

“Can’t you keep her on a leash or somethin’”. Mav straightened and brushed off her clothes. “She always does that to me.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cat move toward her, crouched low to the ground. Mav turned to look at her, narrowing her eyes. Lexa cocked her head, trilling playfully at the rogue before rolling over on her back, paws up and swiping at the air. Mav glanced over at Mikos, a wry look on her face. “Really? This is your ferocious pet?”

“Y’see anything around for her t’be chasin’?” Mikos snapped his fingers and Lexa rolled over, shaking herself off before sitting back down by her master’s side. “She does her job when she has ta.” He bent down and grabbed Amavrya’s pack off the ground, tossing it at her. “Now can we get goin’?”

“Alright, alright…,” The two went over to the stable master, who had their mounts ready and was patiently waiting for them.

“I dunno why we have to go to Darkshire anyway,” Mikos muttered.

“I got a good lead on a job there. Don’t complain or else you won’t get paid.”

“Didn’t yer cousin leave you enough money?”

“Yeah, doesn’t mean I can’t work though.”

“Y’ve got a point, I s’pose. Let’s use the birds instead, then…get done faster.” He shook his head as his companion dashed off toward the flightmaster, Lexa giving chase all the way. He was used to the Shadowrunner girls’ antics since he had “adopted” them some thirty years ago.

The druid, Lanatha, was the more mild-mannered of the two, despite having her moments. She had spent a lot of her time trying to keep her overly curious cousin out of trouble.

Amavrya, however, had spent a good deal of time with the Sentinels, working in the Ghostlands until she had finally seen enough friends fall after repeated attacks by the blood elves and returned home. She spent some time in SI.7′s ranks, disliking the work, but saying little about what she was doing.

That life had changed her into a more responsible person for a while, before she started taking freelance work again.

Mikos never asked what she had done or whom she had done it for, feeling safer in not doing so.

“You were the one in such a hurry to get movin’ and now you’re over there dragging your heels.” Mikos glanced up, seeing Mav shuffling around impatiently. He paused for a moment

“G’on ahead, lass. I forgot somethin’. I’ll meet ya in Ironforge after I do what I need ta.” He headed back toward town at a faster clip than was normal for him.

“Hey! Where are you going?!” Mav heard Lexa growl as she got up and started off after him. He waved her off and she sat back down. “Mikos! You can’t leave this thing with me! MIKOS!! Come back here, you stupid little dwarf!”

As soon as she started to go after him, Lexa pounced on her and she found herself face down in the mud. She glanced up at where Mikos had been and saw nothing. She put her head down on her arm, muttering something in Darnassian. After a moment, she rolled over, cleaning off her face as best she could.

Okay, fine, she thought. If that’s what he wants to do. She looked up at Lexa and shrugged a bit. The big cat pawed at her hand gently. “So, I’m stuck with you for now. C’mon, fuzzy.”

TBC…

RP Post: Into the Halls

There was an unsettling silence in one part of the Ashen Verdict’s camp, crackling flames from campfires and whispers were the only real sounds. A few people were shuffling around, tending to injuries, making food, whatever they could to stay busy.

There was no activity from one of the far off tents. Its occupant was inside, sitting on the floor next to one of the cots, head resting on her knees. She didn’t care that her armor was covered in dirt, blood, and whatever else was mixed in. Her hair and face were slightly cleaner, hastily done using the snow that was all around them.

What happened hours ago, going into the Frozen Halls, they didn’t expect. It was only supposed to be a reconnaissance mission for Seven. But the Lich King was prepared for them and they paid the price for not being prepared and not expecting to be attacked.

She heard footsteps outside, recognizing them as Lanatha’s; she knew through trial and failure that knowing the difference in your friends and enemies’ movements was one of the most valuable things one could know, and it only came with time and experience. She leaned down, grabbing the hilt of one of Dominic’s daggers, her fingers tightening around it just enough to keep hold of it. While it was light enough, she had little strength to do much harm with it.

The night elf poke her head in, looking slightly less weary than her companion. “Rhyane, I -”

“Don’t. Don’t say it, don’t fucking think it, understand?” She couldn’t stomach hearing “I’m sorry” anymore. Lana started to speak again, only to find herself flat on her back outside the tent, her head hitting the frozen ground hard. She looked up, vision cloudy, but able to see the young woman standing over her. Cyerra had hold of her arm lightly, but enough to stop any further violence for the moment. “What part of ‘don’t’ didn’t y’get, huh?”

Lana sat up slowly and scooted back, unfazed by being yelled at. If this was what the paladin had to do, she would deal with it. She knew that even if those close to someone had been taken away long ago, the trauma never really went away. And when the same person brought more pain by taking another soul…she could see the damage but never comprehend it. She’d witnessed everything firsthand this time. Even the Plaguelands were more tolerable than Icecrown.

“Alright, I’ll go.” The druid got up, brushing snow and dirt off her pants and quietly went back to her tent. She saw more people slowly making themselves at “home” as best they could. Further down, the injured were being tended to. She saw the few still bodies nearby who had also fallen and lowered her head.

Rhyane went back inside, grabbing the heavier cloak she’d been using for travelling lately, then went to where her gryphon was patiently waiting. The creature gently nugded his mistress’ hand, earning a soft pat on the head and a small smile. She needed to get out of the camp, though she’d been told to stay close;  having been injured and more than likely re-injured during their run in with the Lich King made the other medics at the camp nervous. However, stubborness was controlling her and no one could blame her for wanting to stay away from this place for awhile.

She didn’t go far, just enough to where the Citadel was out of sight. While she’d admit it was an impressive structure, just knowing what happened inside sickened her. All those spirits held captive for so long – she didn’t blame them for their actions. Being kept from their final rest and in some form of hell would drive any soul to violence.

She was just glad Dominic would not be subject to that particular fate.

It was the Scourge that had overwhelmed them; they had almost escaped from the Halls of Reflection, coming up against wave after wave of undead creations. She had tried to sacrifice herself first, but she had been a second too late.

One of the others who had been with them had kept her from getting to him until they had made it back to the Skybreaker and it was safe to venture in the short distance. Even then, she was still held back from going near, her cries of protest falling on deaf ears. At some point, she’d given up, sitting off to the side and watching silently.

She kept replaying things in her mind, and now that she was alone, she let grief overtake her, body shaking as she sobbed. Before, she just thought he was dead; now he was truly gone.

A few hours passed before she returned to the camp, cold and exhausted. She saw her sister’s gryphon amongst the others, angering at the thought of putting one of her two remaining family on any kind of danger. She let out a frustrated sigh and went back over to her tent.

“You need to go back home, ‘lonia’,” Rhy said, tossing her cloak off to the side.

“I figured you could use a friendly face.”. The priest stood up, pacing a bit, moving as quickly as her own injured body would allow. “And Eryia was asking about you. Told me to come make sure you were okay. I can’t say no to my niece.”

“This is one time you should’ve,” Rhy said, sitting down. “She’s six. The occasional ‘no’ won’t harm her.”  She met Ilonia’s gaze, a weary look on her face. “Just go home. Please. I don’t ask much of you; listen to me this once.”

Despite circumstances, Ilonia cracked a smile. “My sister being level-headed? Never thought I’d live to see the day.”

“It happens. I wouldn’t mention it-that’s how rumors start.”

“So, are you coming home?”

Rhy gestured around to the disorganized chaos that was now just her dwelling. Nothing wad packed; in fact, she noticed that what armor wasn’t being worn at the moment had been cleaned and somewhat repaired. “Leaving now would…it would look bad on my part.”

The priestess smiled sadly, nodding. “Thats what I thought you’d say. I’ll be off then and tell Ery you’ll be home soon.” She went over and embraced her sister tightly, so much that both women winced. “Be safe.”

Thoughts on the Pally Class Preview.

My first thought on the whole thing regarding all the class changes – no, I’m not going to get all uppity about changes I don’t like. These are subject-to-change previews, and there will be the class balancing post-release.  So, with that…

New Paladin Spells

Blinding Shield (level 81): Causes damage and blinds all nearby targets. This effect might end up only damaging those facing the paladin’s shield, in a manner similar to Eadric the Pure’s ability Radiance in Trial of the Champion. The Holy tree will have a talent to increase the damage and critical strike chance, while the Protection tree will have a talent to make this spell instant cast. 2-second base cast time. Requires a shield.

This is nice, and I’m saying that even in regard to PvP (healing and being able to blind anyone running up to get you out of the way? Handy.).  I can see a lot of uses for this – holy pallies to stop mobs from doing much damage to mobs coming up to say hi to them, prot, possibly a way to keep mobs in the Consecrate area so melee dps can come play, too.  My wonder is if it’ll be just a straight blind (where the mobs could move around in a limited area) or a blind/stun like Radiance (where you’re blinded and just stay put until the duration’s up).  Like I said – nice either way, but final judgement will come after I see it in practice.

Healing Hands (level 83): Healing Hands is a new healing spell. The paladin radiates heals from him or herself, almost like a Healing Stream Totem. It has a short range, but a long enough duration that the paladin can cast other heals while Healing Hands remains active. 15-second cooldown. 6-second duration.

I want a HoT, Blizz. I don’t want to be a fucking totem. Make it more like Tranquility, then I may not bitch. For now, TOTEM. DO NOT FUCKING WANT.

Guardian of Ancient Kings (level 85): Summons a temporary guardian that looks like a winged creature of light armed with a sword. The visual is similar to that of the Resurrection spell used by the paladin in Warcraft III. The guardian has a different effect depending on the talent spec of the paladin. For Holy paladins, the guardian heals the most wounded ally in the area. For Protection paladins, the guardian absorbs some incoming damage. For Retribution paladins, it damages an enemy, similar to the death knight Gargoyle or the Nibelung staff. 3-minute cooldown. 30-second duration (this might vary depending on which guardian appears).

I’m not sure on this. It kind of reminds me of this, sans the chicken-shit bubblehearther it summons and with an actual purpose.  Could be good for those “oh shit” situs where you don’t want to use LoH, but we shall see.

Next you will find a list of some of the paladin spell and ability changes, followed by our intentions for improving each talent tree for the release of Cataclysm. There will be further changes, but those revealed below should offer some insight into our goals.

Wait – Blizz has goals for pallies? Wut?

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

• Crusader Strike will be a core ability for all paladins, gained at level 1. We think the paladin leveling experience is hurt by not having an instant attack. Retribution will be getting a new talent in its place that either modifies Crusader Strike or replaces it completely.

Okay, fair enough. Anyone who’s leveled a pally (done it twice here) knows how boring it is until you start getting fun stuff later on. This will be a good change.

• Cleanse is being rebalanced to work with the new dispel system. It will dispel defensive magic (debuffs on friendly targets), diseases, and poisons.

I didn’t say it when the original announcement was made on this, but PLEASE don’t make me talent into being able to dispel one particular thing. Also, it may be something to consider to dropping the level requirement down into the 20′s instead of making us wait ’til 42.

• Blessing of Might will provide the benefit of Wisdom as well. If you have two paladins in your group, one will do Kings on everyone and the other will do Might on everyone. There should be much less need, and ideally no need, to provide specific buffs to specific classes.

Good, no more fighting over who does what Blessing. My question – does this mean BoW is gone and what about BoSanc?

• Holy Shock will be a core healing spell available to all paladins.

No. That’s it, just no.

New Talents and Talent Changes

• We want to ease off the defensive capabilities of Retribution and Holy paladins slightly. We think the powerful paladin defenses have been one of the things holding Retribution paladins back, especially in Arenas. One change we’re considering is lowering Divine Shield’s duration by a couple of seconds. Having said that, Retribution does pretty well in Battlegrounds, and Battlegrounds will be a much bigger focus in Cataclysm since they can provide the best PvP rewards. Furthermore, the healing environment of Cataclysm is going to be different such that a paladin may not be able to fully heal themselves during the duration of Divine Shield to begin with, so this may not be a problem.

This is another wait-and-see. Once we know how they’re going to change the healing environment, people can give better opinions. The ret stuff…well, I don’t play ret much and all I see is Arena/PvP/BGs which I also don’t partake in, so…*blink blink*.

• We feel Retribution paladins need one more mechanic which involves some risk of the player pushing the wrong button, making the rotation a bit less forgiving. In addition, we want to add to this spec more PvP utility. Right now the successes of the Retribution paladin in PvP seem to be reduced to either doing decent burst damage, or just being good at staying alive.

PvP again *yawn*.

• We want to increase the duration of Sacred Shield to 30 minutes and keep the limit to one target. The intention is that the paladin can use it on their main healing target. That said, we would like to improve the Holy paladin toolbox and niche so that they don’t feel quite like the obvious choice for tank healing while perceived as a weak group healer.

Ahem. We aren’t “weak” group healers. I can raid heal just fine. Would I like another means of helping me do it? Absolutely. Will I get it? I doubt it. Beacon was a god-send in Wrath because I didn’t have to pay 100% attention to my tank 100% of the time. On the Saurfang fight, it’s priceless for keeping Marked players up. But FFS, give me something that isn’t tied to another spell (the HoT proc off of SS, for example). The Sacred Shield change is also a good one. I’d like to see the duration of Beacon get bumped up (two minutes, maybe, nothing like SS), so if there’s a moment where mana is an issue, I won’t be trying to decide between re-Beaconing and throwing out a heal.

• We want to add to the Holy tree a nice big heal to correspond with Greater Heal. Flash of Light remains the expensive, fast heal and Holy Light is the go-to heal that has average efficiency and throughput. Beacon of Light will be changed to work with Flash of Light. We like the ability, but want paladins to use it intelligently and not be constantly healing for twice as much.

Guess what, Blizz – your good holy pallies already use the limited tools they have intelligently. We do know when to FoL-heal someone, and we know when to HL-heal. We do have moments where we are going to be healing for way more than we need, maybe because we know someone’s going to take a big hit before the heal goes off, or maybe because splash heals are beneficial at the time. It just all depends on the situation.  That said, I wouldn’t complain if Beacon transferred full FoL heals and only a percentage of HL heals to the Beaconed target.

• Holy paladins will use spirit as their mana regeneration stat.

*gag*

• Protection paladins need a different rotation between single-target and multi-target tanking. Likewise, we’re looking to add the necessity to use an additional cooldown in each rotation.

Okay, this could be interesting. Not enough details to really say more than that now, though.

• Holy Shield will no longer have charges. It will be designed to improve block chance while active, and will continue to provide a small amount of damage and threat.

\o/ But, will it have the same duration, or go longer? Again, WTB more details.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Holy

• Healing
• Meditation
• Critical Healing Effect

Meditation: This is the spirit-to-mana conversion that the priest, druid, and shaman healers also share.

*gag*Spirit*gag*

Critical Healing Effect: When the paladin gets a crit on a heal, it will heal for more.

And that’s different from now how exactly? *scratches head*

Protection

• Damage Reduction
• Vengeance
• Block Amount

Vengeance: This is the damage-received-to-attack-power conversion that all tanks share.

Soooo…get hit more, more AP = more threat since one means of our threat gen is reactive?

Block Amount: We want to keep the kit of the paladin as a tank who blocks a lot. So by contrast, the warrior tank will sometimes get critical blocks, but the paladin will absorb more damage with normal blocks.

More damage blocks only hurt us in regards to mana regen via Spiritual Attunement. Less taken, less healing done, less mana regen (’cause Divine Plea isn’t the be all end all sometimes).

Retribution

• Melee Damage
• Melee Critical Damage
• Holy Damage

Holy Damage: Any attack that does Holy damage will have its damage increased.

This is the way it *should* have been all along.

That’s my take on things, even my limited rambling on the prot stuff. Ret looks like they’re really trying to work it for PvP, which seems to be a trend in the changes. I don’t like seeing talents or specs reworked on a part of the game where players are less focused (yes, I know a lot of people do casual PvP, and for some, it’s their whole game, but it’s still the minority), but one side of the fence is always going to be bitching about it no matter what.

Hopefully, we’ll get more info on all the classes soon, especially as beta gets closer.

RP Post: New Orders

The sun was already well on its way to setting when Rhyane finally woke up, voices and clattering of dishes rousing her from a dreamless sleep. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious or asleep, but something told her it had been longer than more than a few hours. Laying there, she stared up at the rafters, the candlelight doing little to aid her in looking around.

Rolling over slowly to get out of bed, she got a start as her bare feet hit something soft and…breathing. She pulled them back onto the bed, letting out a yelp of pain as she did so too quickly. Whatever was on the floor woke up at the sudden noise and use as a rug, and the startled paladin saw a pair of eyes open and look at her sleepily, blinking a few times at her.

“You humans have odd ways of waking others, you know?” the figure said, moving back enough so that Rhyane could see the druid in front of her, who had now shifted into her humanoid form. “And, I would think that someone from Lordaeron high society would have better manners.” Lanatha heard the young woman scoff – she’d been told stories of when the kingdom still existed; this one was more comfortable roughhousing with the boys than doing anything a girl in her position would. Very much unlike her sister, who was far more reserved and demure. “Don’t worry…I am only here at the request of an old friend.”

Realization hit Rhyane and she nodded slightly, straightening herself. “Dominic’s mentioned you. ‘while ago, if mem’ry serves.” She cringed a bit; exhaustion and pain always tended to bring out her accent, no matter how long it’d been since she had trained herself to talk ‘properly’. “I’m sorry for that,” she said, gesturing to the floor. The druid shrugged absently.

“I’ve had worse done to me. The scourge are much less forgiving than an absent-minded human.”

Another scoff, this time because of the druid’s contradiction, but she understood quite well. She’d been on the receiving end of many attacks, very few of which ending without some form of injury.

“Dominic’s downstairs waiting for you.” Rhyane merely nodded, brushing her hair out of her face again, watching in silence as the night elf headed out the door. A couple steps out, she heard the footsteps stop, then, “I’ll tell him to come up.”

“Thank you,” she replied, her tone now barely audible. She carefully maneuvered herself back to lean up against the headboard, body screaming in protest of even the slightest motion. Taking a deep breath, she tried to relax, closing her eyes while she waited. It wasn’t a long wait. “I’m not asleep.”

“I know that.” Dominic came over and sat down lightly on the edge of the bed, taking notice of Rhy immediately opening her eyes and looking him over. He shook his head and chuckled quietly, “You don’t stop, do you?”

“What?”

“Studying people.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me.” Rhy narrowed her eyes and sat up, leaning closer to him. She caught him by the chin when he looked away. “Just tell me what’s going on. Please. Whatever it is, it…”

“We got the word to start heading for Icecrown Citadel a few hours ago.” Dominic met her eyes willingly now. He saw the tears threatening to come and pulled her to him as she let emotion overtake her. The loss from so many years ago that she had never properly grieved for…both of their families. “Your father told me that he was most proud of you a long time ago. No one thought you would make it through your studies or training because you were reckless. When you did…”

Rhy pushed herself back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She started to say something else, pausing. “When do we have to leave?” she asked instead, immediately starting to plan their departure in her mind.

“First light. You’re in no shape to -” He was taken off guard by being pulled down on the bed next to his former lover. “Rhyannon…” She pressed a finger lightly against his lips.

“I know. I just need you to stay here.”  She laid back down, facing away from him, and hearing a frustrated sigh.  The rift caused by him leaving years ago would never really be gone, and the fact that there were a lot of things still left to be said kept them from moving forward.  All things to be solved at the right time.

If they made it.

TBC…

(Note: I’m hoping to get the older parts out of the gibberish-filled Text File of Doom this week sometime, re-edited, and reposted, along with getting the next part posted. *crosses fingers*)

Negative Reinforcement

We’ve all been in groups where, if there’s a wipe, someone immediately looks to the healer to place blame.  Generally, that “someone” is the tank, but if a DPS is the first to bite it, they’ll start in on the healer first.  Most of the time, us healy types can shrug it off pretty well, but going into groups where this happens and knowing that it’s *not* our fault (at least not completely)…well, after a while, it takes it’s toll.

As healers, we have a lot to watch: health bars, our mana bar, Omen, what the other players are doing, what the boss/mobs are doing, the area around us to make sure we’re not the ones standing in the bad stuff, etc.  Now, you might think that, no, we don’t need to watch all that, but if it means that the group doesn’t wipe because of a member running off to go loot/herb/mine somewhere and accidentally pulling a mob, then, of course we do. (And if you’re that person who does stuff like that, just quit it.)

With the LFD tool, a lot of the groups I’ve been in brute force their way through instances (with the exception of H-Halls of Reflection, since that one likes to repeatedly bash you over the head and tell you you suck, no matter how well-geared you are).  This means that the tank will pull multiple packs of mobs at a time, and when they’re dead, the tank will race off ahead.

Normally, not a big deal.  On my raid-geared pally and semi-raid geared druid, not so bad.  On my not so well-geared pally who I warn the group at the start isn’t geared the best yet, could be potentially bad.

Overall, she’s done fairly well – most groups don’t care how she’s geared as long as we make it to the end.  But when mistakes are made and wipes happen, she’s the instant target.  This happened in a H-Pit of Saron earlier this week – tank ran ahead (out of range of me), grabbed two packs (the skellies and the necromancer types), and died.  Now, what else happened?

• Three party members were cursed. The mage in the group couldn’t be bothered to decurse. Seriously, folks, if you play a mage or a druid that is not a bear, take a GCD or two and use an ability that, yes, you do actually have. Don’t look to your pally or priest to do it – we can’t! No, we don’t like making you have to stop generating pretty numbers, but a dead party member makes things go that much slower.
• We got some additional mobs pulled over by AoE…it was accidental, it happens.
• Life Tap happy warlock – my Holy Shock will heal through maybe two, but LTing yourself under half health? You’re on your own for the remainder of that. (Not surprisingly, he died first.)

When we got back in, the tank insisted he was in range. I knew quite well he wasn’t – the box on Grid gets greyed out, and the spells on my main action bar goes red when my target goes out of range.

Then came the comments about the gear Ali has – 3 piece T9, some ToC5 stuff, and a mix of vendor/crafted items. It’s better than what Rhyane had when she started and about the same as Lanatha.  I warned them upfront about my gear, and it didn’t matter then.  I’ve gotten the majority of my healing gear on my own, same with my newer tanking gear. Anyone who knows me knows that I very rarely ask for help – I know people have better things to do with their time than get Ali geared.

Back to the point, though, I decided to cut my losses at that point. I apologized and said they should find a better geared healer, then left.  I haven’t been back in an instance since then on any of my characters, nor do I intend to for a while.

Does it bother me? Yes. I want to get better gear, but not at the cost of my enjoyment of the game.  It’s already been taken down some to where I don’t play much on Icecrown anymore.

I may be a big proponent of skill meaning more than gear, but hearing people harp on players who aren’t up to their standards has had a bad impact.  Even the best geared players will still mess up – tanks will get too far ahead (yes, it’s happened in other groups…I’ve even seen a guildmate do it), DPS will get stupid and pull aggro, healers will misclick and heal the wrong person at the wrong time or accidentally pull something – we’re human, it happens.

And if you wipe, stop and consider that the next time you go to place blame on just one person in the group.  Slow down, know when to start attacking then stay on target, be situationally aware.  Also remember that you were gearing up at one point in time, too. Have a little patience and keep the negative comments to yourself.

I Think I Broke It…

Erm, yeah, I did kinda break it…back in October.  I was getting ready to fly home from PA and decided I wanted to do a quick post.  I logged on on my adopted brother’s computer and noticed a parse error.  ”No problem,” I thought, “I’ll fix it when I get home later.”

Well, I exported my DB in the wrong format and my posts are now a lovely mess of posts and random characters that I’m trying to sort out.  My about page is back up (shush, it’s a start) and hopefully I can work on the rest.

What happened to my domain?  I’ve ended up in a very bad place financially, so it’s going by the wayside until I get on my feet again, which I hope will be soon.  When you’ve been out of work for two months and had no luck on finding a job, it’s very disheartening, but I’m trying.

Anyway, that’s it for now!

~Lesa/Deelah

Healy-Qs

So, there I was, struggling for something to post, and I find this over at Miss Medicina, and I figure, what the heck? (Not to mention a bunch of other healers are doing it, so…) 

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer? Eeep, primary? That would be Rhyane, my holy paladin (who moonlights as a retadin, but don’t tell anyone).  I also have my newest capped girl, Lanatha, who is a part-time resto druid.

What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans) During the week, it’s heroics. Saturday nights are when my guild raids primarily and we currently stick to ten-man content (working through Ulduar right now).

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why? Bacon…I mean, Beacon of Light. Before the 3.2 change, it was a little nicer splash healing those in range, but since then it’s given me more freedom to spot raid heal and not have to worry about my tank getting smooshed by a boss.

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why? Divine Favor.  Where most pallies may have their “oh crap” button as Lay on Hands, this is mine.  It’s reserved for when one of my DPS happens to pull aggro, which they’re smart enough not to do on a regular basis.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why? The fact that, while people still say it, we’re not necessarily a single target healing class anymore.  Beacon means I have the ability to focus on both tanks and can take over if my other healer needs to focus elsewhere for a few.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why? The fact that I have to plant to heal and my only HoT is tied into another ability.  I’ve learned to work around the first one as best I can, but I don’t like suddenly forcing 90% of my healing onto my other healer for the few seconds I need to move, stop, and start casting again.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you? I can raid heal, but I prefer being stuck with the tanks overall.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why? Priests, priests, priests!  Don’t get me wrong, I play nicely with the other two classes, but my healing partner is a priest.  Since the player behind her has gotten her to 80 and geared up, we’ve learned to play off each other quite well.  It’s very easy for either of us to switch targets on the fly if we see that there’s a need to and can generally anticipate what the other is going to do.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why? Honestly, I’d have to say shammies.  We don’t have a resto shammy in our raids (we have two 80 shaman though – one’s an enhancement shammy who’s one of the top DPS and the other’s an alt of our MT), so while I know their abilities, I’m not sure how to heal around them.  (Yes, all you resto shammies out there – I know you love your Chain Heal, but I get flustered when I see it hit the target I’m healing/getting ready to heal.)

What is your worst habit as a healer? Dropping a Holy Light when I really only needed to do a Flash of Light.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing? Outside of guild runs, it’s the standard “hey, heal so and so”.  And if said person gets healed the second after you opened your mouth, chances are I was way ahead of ya there, Skippy.  (DPS who say this or tell me how to play my class are first in line to die when I “forget” how to heal suddenly.)  I trust you to do your job tanking or DPSing; trust me to keep people standing.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing? Overall, yes.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer? If nearly everyone’s alive at the end of a boss fight (gnomes, unless they’re tanking, can be sacrificed).  I can’t focus solely on meters – I’m a holy pally, I overheal by nature.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class? That we can’t raid heal.  Beacon the tank, start healing the raid – sorted.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn? That, yes, you can take a second out to use a Judgement on the tank/raid’s main target. Judgements of the Pure and the mana regen from Seal/Judgement of Wisdom are you and your raid’s friends – the mana users will love you for it especially.  Also, if things aren’t too hairy and you trust your other healer to be on their game, take a few swipes on the target – Seal of Wisdom procs quite a bit and a few hits will get you a decent amount of mana back.

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)? Overhealing’s consistent (again, that’s the life of a pally), but my healing overall depends on the fight.  If the tanks don’t take a lot of damage, I’m not doing a lot of healing except spot heals.

Haste or Crit and why? Crit more than haste…Infusion of Light procs off crit Holy Shocks, and in some fights (*cough*Loatheb*cough*) it’s absolutely necessary.

What healing class do you feel you understand least? Resto shammies…I tend to have the *blink blink* reaction when the shammies in guild start talking shop over vent.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing? No macros, but Grid for raid frames and Clique to heal/beacon/cleanse.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why? I try to balance, but the two I tend to focus on are mp5 and crit.

Hiding Out

Okay,  cheating a bit on the first NaNo blog post, but seeing as how this was a night were I was goofing around during a round of Horseman summons, it had to be done:

We Remember You, Too…

…and those mountains – helluva lot of fun to B.A.S.E. jump off of,  just so you know.

We knocked some sense back into Thorim…payback for all the “go here, do this” stuff in Storm Peaks, maybe?  It was not only a one-shot, but our first keeper kill.  Honestly, I was just glad we’d made it that far with me playing no where near close to 100%.

The goal for this week: take out Assembly of Iron.  Yes, you three bastards heard me – you all gon’ die.  So there.

(Oh, yeah, there’s my crappy updated UI…sorry for it being there.   I swore I hit Alt+Z.  Oh well.)