There are plenty of pre-raid gear lists floating around for healers of all stripes, but since I put together this list for my guild I figured I'd share it with you. There are a bunch of helms available, but if you're looking to raid, I hope you'll consider a helm with a meta. The bonuses from the meta gems are just huge, especially at these starting gear levels.
I've only seen one head enchant, available from Hyjal revered. The standard healing meta gem from Wrath does not have a Cata equivalent, so our needs will be changing. I've seen three options that are PVE-centric. Kurn's got a meta gem list here, but I cherry-picked these three from the list as the one that will probably win for PVE.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=52296
http://www.wowhead.com/item=52297
http://www.wowhead.com/item=52292
Paladin
Paladin BiS has a list here, but I only see two options with a meta. Got 2,200 justice points? Otherwise be prepared to spend lots of time in Heroic SFK. http://bis.vilepickle.com/slot-head.php
Shaman
Resto Shaman Flow put together a pre-raid loot list. There are 3 (4 if you're an engineer) options with meta sockets. http://www.restoshamanflow.com/2010/11/19/resto-shaman-cataclysm-pre-raid-loot-list/
Druid
Lissana at Restokin has a boomkin/resto pre-raid gear list here. All three helms have metas. http://www.restokin.com/caster-druid-85-pre-raid-gear/
Priest
World of Matticus has a Quick Priest Gear list. Three helms with metas. http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2010/12/05/priest-quick-gear-guide-for-holy-and-discipline-at-85/
Showing posts with label discipline priest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discipline priest. Show all posts
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Healbot, Unashamed
I usually get smart remarks for using Healbot from some of the healers in my guild. I love Grid as much as the next enthusiast, but this weekend I switched my last character who used Grid (my priest) to Healbot.
Since I've been doing a 25ICC alt-run every week and switching between my druid and priest to round out the healing comp, I've noticed that my druid and paladin get several more frames per second than my priest. Considering at best I get 7 FPS in a 25-man, losing 5 means I am running at 2. That's not really what I consider playable.
I switched to back to Healbot, which is my Very First Healing Addon(tm). On my priest, it's a bit of nostalgia because I suddenly feel like I should be back in Slave Pens or Kara, twitching fearfully in my hybrid disc/holy spec and blues. It didn't take much time to get back into the swing of things, in fact, I was quite surprised how little I had to do to get healing. It was a most pleasant experience.
Why I'm not ashamed of my Healbot
1. Healbot doesn't hog. Of all the healing addons/raid frames, HB bogs my computer down the least. If you're having troubles, you'll probably want to experiment with several setups to find the best, but don't discount Healbot as it doesn't take much effort to run.
2. Healbot plays nicely. Healbot shows you incoming heals from other addons, assuming that healer has a mod, too.
3. Healbot submits to your creativity. I choose to leave my frames looking much like they did back in BC, but that doesn't mean yours have to look that bad! Healbot has updated quite a bit, with lots of options: what you can show, what you can hide, how big you want it, skins you can use, and what colors you can adjust.
4. Healbot knows. I never told it to track my Beacon or Sacred Shield or even Hand of Sacrifice, or count down over the icon when it's almost expired so I know I have 5-10 seconds to refresh. I never asked for tank cooldowns, lucky charms, or encounter specific debuffs, but I have them. Healbot understands my druid, too, showing all my hots and how long they have left.
This weekend I came into an exciting discovery. Healbot knows priests, too! It tracks Power Infusion, Pain Suppression, Guardian Spirit, Inspiration, and Prayer of Mending. The Power Word: Shield indicator is two icons rolled into one - when there's a little plus sign on the corner of your bubble, that's the Weakened Soul still active on the target. When the shield is absorbed, Healbot shows the Weakened Soul debuff, and counts down when it's almost over. That is Improved Happiness for me, it's a way to plan out my bubbling and be ready for new shields on the folks who need them the most.
Other addons can do that too, but I didn't have to beg for it, because...
5. Healbot stands alone. When Healbot is updated (mine lets me know upon login, which is great because I often don't update unless something breaks), there's only one addon to download and I don't have to worry about one plugin causing problems with one another.
I think no matter what addon you use, it's important to understand how our UIs can either get in the way or facilitate healing. Addons can solve (or cause) problems by creative use of space on a small monitor, calling attention to things we might otherwise forget we have, or distract us from more important things in an encounter.
Last week in raiding, my paladin cast 3,601 direct heals. It would have been possible without an addon, I'm sure, but with the sheer amount of activity required by healers, I wouldn't find it fun without a helpful interface to press my buttons in. Whether it be standard UI or healing addon, we all use a healing interface to interact with the game world. Mine is Healbot.
Since I've been doing a 25ICC alt-run every week and switching between my druid and priest to round out the healing comp, I've noticed that my druid and paladin get several more frames per second than my priest. Considering at best I get 7 FPS in a 25-man, losing 5 means I am running at 2. That's not really what I consider playable.
I switched to back to Healbot, which is my Very First Healing Addon(tm). On my priest, it's a bit of nostalgia because I suddenly feel like I should be back in Slave Pens or Kara, twitching fearfully in my hybrid disc/holy spec and blues. It didn't take much time to get back into the swing of things, in fact, I was quite surprised how little I had to do to get healing. It was a most pleasant experience.
Why I'm not ashamed of my Healbot
1. Healbot doesn't hog. Of all the healing addons/raid frames, HB bogs my computer down the least. If you're having troubles, you'll probably want to experiment with several setups to find the best, but don't discount Healbot as it doesn't take much effort to run.
2. Healbot plays nicely. Healbot shows you incoming heals from other addons, assuming that healer has a mod, too.
3. Healbot submits to your creativity. I choose to leave my frames looking much like they did back in BC, but that doesn't mean yours have to look that bad! Healbot has updated quite a bit, with lots of options: what you can show, what you can hide, how big you want it, skins you can use, and what colors you can adjust.
4. Healbot knows. I never told it to track my Beacon or Sacred Shield or even Hand of Sacrifice, or count down over the icon when it's almost expired so I know I have 5-10 seconds to refresh. I never asked for tank cooldowns, lucky charms, or encounter specific debuffs, but I have them. Healbot understands my druid, too, showing all my hots and how long they have left.
This weekend I came into an exciting discovery. Healbot knows priests, too! It tracks Power Infusion, Pain Suppression, Guardian Spirit, Inspiration, and Prayer of Mending. The Power Word: Shield indicator is two icons rolled into one - when there's a little plus sign on the corner of your bubble, that's the Weakened Soul still active on the target. When the shield is absorbed, Healbot shows the Weakened Soul debuff, and counts down when it's almost over. That is Improved Happiness for me, it's a way to plan out my bubbling and be ready for new shields on the folks who need them the most.
Other addons can do that too, but I didn't have to beg for it, because...
5. Healbot stands alone. When Healbot is updated (mine lets me know upon login, which is great because I often don't update unless something breaks), there's only one addon to download and I don't have to worry about one plugin causing problems with one another.
I think no matter what addon you use, it's important to understand how our UIs can either get in the way or facilitate healing. Addons can solve (or cause) problems by creative use of space on a small monitor, calling attention to things we might otherwise forget we have, or distract us from more important things in an encounter.
Last week in raiding, my paladin cast 3,601 direct heals. It would have been possible without an addon, I'm sure, but with the sheer amount of activity required by healers, I wouldn't find it fun without a helpful interface to press my buttons in. Whether it be standard UI or healing addon, we all use a healing interface to interact with the game world. Mine is Healbot.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Confessions of a Haste-Snob
The pre-expansion lull is here and with summer coming, we're recruiting like mad. I've been looking at apps of all kinds and I'm surprised by the interesting things that can be learned from one or two ganders at the armory.
The first thing I look at when I'm looking at a healer app is their haste. That one little (or big) number tells me a lot about how much research a player has done about their character (and is the first clue among many that you know your gearing).
That's not to say I have extremely high requirements or I expect ridiculous levels of gear. My guild is casual, we're still a few bosses away from Kingslayer, so I am realistic. However, I don't equate 'casual' to 'I don't have to understand how haste affects my healing'.
With that in mind, the haste cap for the healing classes (provided with research from some of my favorite bloggers)...
Discipline Priests. Thanks to borrowed time and bubble spam, haste stops being great earlier for disc than most other healers. Penance Priest suggests 150 for a bubble bot with ideal raid buffs. I'd be willing to forgive a bit more (raid comps are often less than perfect) but a haste-gearing (especially -gemming) disco is a red flag to me if that player is serious about 25s.
Holy Priests. After several days of research I have to say I'm still clueless as to what haste "cap" is for holy priests. With lots of instant casts, cooldowns, and serendipity, I understand that haste is valued much lower than other stats for holy priest. Bobturkey has the math in his 3.3 gearing series.
Resto Druids. Restoration Druid has a chart detailing the amounts of haste needed with all levels of raiding and talents spent on haste-goodness (with 775 being the catchall number). Suffice it to say, a resto druid with less than 500 haste is a red flag for me. If that seems steep, I think that less than 700 haste either indicates low overall gear OR prioritizing too much critical strike rating.
Resto Shamans. Since raid healing shamans are supposed to stack haste with their haste cap being a lofty 1269, I look pretty closely at haste for Shamans. Less than 800 is a red flag that gems or itemization aren't in order. Like paladins, I'm looking for enough yellow gems to blot out the sun. Tank healing shamans are another beast, but I have yet to run into one.
Holy Paladins. Ah, this one is tricky. I have almost 1000 haste now. I've admitted I'm a haste snob, and I would really try not to label someone a failadin just because I'm picky about my upgrades. But seriously. If you're a holy paladin and you want to raid, get 700 haste if you don't have it. 676 haste is haste cap for FoL with proper raid buffs, but you can keep stacking haste to get faster and faster Holy Lights - more haste is always better for a HL spammer. But Enlynn, you're wearing cloth and mail!
Yes, yes I am. I'm a haste-snob. The amount of haste on your gear says a lot about how much you read up on your spec. That's not to say that more is always better, considering that there is too much for some classes and not enough for certain others. But I'm not kidding: the first stat I look at is haste. I can make a snap judgment from that one number that will be confirmed by the rest of a character's armory.
The first thing I look at when I'm looking at a healer app is their haste. That one little (or big) number tells me a lot about how much research a player has done about their character (and is the first clue among many that you know your gearing).
That's not to say I have extremely high requirements or I expect ridiculous levels of gear. My guild is casual, we're still a few bosses away from Kingslayer, so I am realistic. However, I don't equate 'casual' to 'I don't have to understand how haste affects my healing'.
With that in mind, the haste cap for the healing classes (provided with research from some of my favorite bloggers)...
Discipline Priests. Thanks to borrowed time and bubble spam, haste stops being great earlier for disc than most other healers. Penance Priest suggests 150 for a bubble bot with ideal raid buffs. I'd be willing to forgive a bit more (raid comps are often less than perfect) but a haste-gearing (especially -gemming) disco is a red flag to me if that player is serious about 25s.
Holy Priests. After several days of research I have to say I'm still clueless as to what haste "cap" is for holy priests. With lots of instant casts, cooldowns, and serendipity, I understand that haste is valued much lower than other stats for holy priest. Bobturkey has the math in his 3.3 gearing series.
Resto Druids. Restoration Druid has a chart detailing the amounts of haste needed with all levels of raiding and talents spent on haste-goodness (with 775 being the catchall number). Suffice it to say, a resto druid with less than 500 haste is a red flag for me. If that seems steep, I think that less than 700 haste either indicates low overall gear OR prioritizing too much critical strike rating.
Resto Shamans. Since raid healing shamans are supposed to stack haste with their haste cap being a lofty 1269, I look pretty closely at haste for Shamans. Less than 800 is a red flag that gems or itemization aren't in order. Like paladins, I'm looking for enough yellow gems to blot out the sun. Tank healing shamans are another beast, but I have yet to run into one.
Holy Paladins. Ah, this one is tricky. I have almost 1000 haste now. I've admitted I'm a haste snob, and I would really try not to label someone a failadin just because I'm picky about my upgrades. But seriously. If you're a holy paladin and you want to raid, get 700 haste if you don't have it. 676 haste is haste cap for FoL with proper raid buffs, but you can keep stacking haste to get faster and faster Holy Lights - more haste is always better for a HL spammer. But Enlynn, you're wearing cloth and mail!
Yes, yes I am. I'm a haste-snob. The amount of haste on your gear says a lot about how much you read up on your spec. That's not to say that more is always better, considering that there is too much for some classes and not enough for certain others. But I'm not kidding: the first stat I look at is haste. I can make a snap judgment from that one number that will be confirmed by the rest of a character's armory.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
my other bubbler
I have been doing a random splash of things lately. I'm still raiding ICC10... we've gotten Sindragosa to almost 10%, and we took out the Blood Wing last week. It's bizarre that we waited so long to do it; my progression was Rotface, Festergut, Valithria, then Professor Putricide, but we finally swung by the Princes and Queen. Princes we two-shot, and Queen we didn't spend more than a few attempts on before we got the achievement. My guild is having the same problems many others face: calling raids to attendance, players quitting or disappearing, and being lucky to get down the farm bosses each week. It's been rough. Before I was conscripted to Healing Harpy, we raided with lots of healers. Now we are running less because we just don't have them on the roster. We're making it work on the nights we get into the raid.
Codi at Moar HPS and Larisa from The Pink Pigtail Inn have some thoughts on the state of the game, and and they say it better than I can.
healing sparkles - penance and divine aegis are so beautiful and shiny.
I b
rushed off my priest after months of being my enchanting slave, and gave her the noble mission of roflstomping Horde. I did my very first arena last night: we ran 42 matches and won 22 of them on our priest/lock Chronic Pwnitis.Resto druids/anything make me sad to fight against, almost enough to make me consider switching to my thick-skinned tree ("for research"). I feel as though perhaps it's something I am doing wrong that druids annihilate us. If we can't burst down the druid's partner in the first ten seconds, the match will last long enough for me to start burning cooldowns again. It will be long and painful, because we will run around until I'm finally forced OOM and then we lose.
I tried staying mana-conservative, but I can't outlast a druid. I tried aggressively mana burning and dispelling hots, but I merely emptied my blue bar. Helplessly I watch those branches wave and dance towards victory.
I was surprised by the variety of skill we ran into. Some losses were taken, hard, by opponents who outplayed us. Some of them outgeared us (I ran into priests with 6,000 mana more than I had). Some of our wins weren't 'earned': I saw players who went matches without using powerful abilities or communicating target-switches. I ran into melee I could kite, giggling at how frustrating I must have been to them, and I watched myself die faster than I could trinket from a rogue or a warrior.
I retired my priest sometime in 3.1, so my gear is a smattering of ilevel 200-213's, but I do have four set Gladiator bonus and almost 900 resilience. I'm not terribly ashamed, since at one point it was pretty nice gear. I am using a different spec than ever before: I went without Inner Focus (which I haven't missed), and I replaced the glyph of Flash Heal (by the gods, I almost called it Flash of Light!) with Glyph of Pain Suppression.
I have to confess, though, how often I don't need Pain Suppression while stunned. I have found that my partner gets focused more often than I do, so I'm buffing him with lots of sparkles. I am still learning, however, and it's possible that if we move into more brackets I'll love glyphed PS. My playstyle leans strongly on the defensive side, I'm still not sure when to mana burn and when to spam dispel without leaving myself wide open. Who knows, maybe I'll figure out when it's right for me to burst, too!
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