Sang Grail

We had another strong week in ICC as we breezed through the first 4 encounters and finished with our first Rotface kill. We didn’t have time to try Festergut, but we are making our first attempt tonight. Here are the bosses we downed. For those who haven’t yet gotten much experience on these bosses, refer to the Video section of this site for tutorials to help you learn the fights.

• Lord Marrowgar
• Lady Deathwhisper
• Gunship battle
• Deathbringer Saurfang
• Rotface

Check out the World of Logs for details.

Continue reading for more information like raid attendance and loot drops.
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Miss Medicina’s Circle of Healing started many months ago, but I thought I’d join in the fun and fill out the questionnaire. Sang Grail members, if you would like to answer the same questions, just let me know and I’ll post the template on the forums for you to fill out and I’ll add it to this site.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

Daffnae - Holy Priest

What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

10 and 25 man raids

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?

Divine Hymn - When things start to go bad it so refreshing to sit back for six seconds, hit one key and watch the health bars fill up again. I combine this with Inner Focus to be able to enjoy this “mana free”.

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

Holy Nova is the obvious answer. Second is probably Binding Heal, which is my acknowledged weakness. I, too often, forget I have this wonderful spell that would solve a lot of my problems when I’m taking damage at the same time as my target.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?

I think our biggest strength is our wide variety of spell choices, especially our options for healing on the move.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?

Single-target, quick heals. I get really jealous of Penance when I need to heal someone quickly, especially if it’s some kind of raid buff that will bring someone down fast if not attended to immediately. This keeps me from maintaining my “Shadow Daff” offspec for very long. I eventually end up switching my offspec back to Discipline to be able to help in those situations.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?

Raid healing or “Clean-up Duty” to fill in wherever healing is needed. Back in the Kara days (granted those were 10 man raids) we never assigned healing. We simply healed everyone and anyone who needed heals. I suppose this is really raid healing, but depending on the strength of the other healers, I may end up focusing on tanks or possibly the raid. It really just depends on the group and the fight.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

Druids - they fascinate me. I don’t understand their healing, but they seem to walk into the group and top the healing charts.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?

Druids - for the same reason I like healing with them. They fascinate me and I don’t understand them.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

When a loose mob goes to a hunter (that I am capable of keeping alive) and then they feign death only to have the mob kill me.

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

For the content that I am involved with, I have no problem keeping up. In some cases, I think a Discipline priest comes in handy, so I switch, but only because we run with 3 holy priests.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

World of Logs - I love this tool! I’m a math person at heart, so I think I spend more time in the logs after the fights than I do in the actual raids. I am always trying to learn more about my class and figure out how to be more effective as a healer. I like to review my information and the other healers as well. It’s great when running with other priests that I respect. I love to see which spells they favor and in which situations. I also love the Deaths overview. I always want to know if there was more I could have done to save someone.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

I think people sometimes think priest healing (or healing in general) is simple … “why didn’t you heal me?”. We have lots of spells to choose from and we are generally dealing with lots of things at once. If we could, we would keep everyone alive, but sometimes we make choices (and I admit they aren’t always the right choices) and someone dies.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

Which spell to cast and when. It’s not a simple rotation. I think it starts to become instinct (ok, I think that contradicts the meaning of instinct). To be an effective healer, it has to involve more than Greater Heal / Flash Heal.

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)?

I’m usually in the top 3 healers in recount, and we are usually pretty even. There is definitely a lot of over-healing, especially on easy fights. I tend to get bored and heal even when I don’t need to. (Luckily it doesn’t register the heals I try to do even once I’m dead…it’s just so hard to stop trying to save people)

Haste or Crit and why?

Both. I love to over-think everything, but I’ve chosen to to not bother with this. Mostly because I’m in need of gear in general (we aren’t good enough to be picky about our gear yet) and it seems to serve me well to keep them balanced. I do get curious if I’d see a huge jump in my healing if I stacked haste instead, but I’m scared that I’d just run out of mana faster.

What healing class do you feel you understand least?

Druids

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

I am addicted to Clique and Grid. I especially like GridStatusRaidDebuff that allows me to easily see who needs special healing in raids.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

Mostly balanced. I used to use my Dragon’s Eye gems for spellpower to stack that a little, but I’m starting to make that more balanced as well. As I watch my mana pool grow, I’m starting to enjoy that more than seeing high bonus healing.

I’ve decided to start devoting a little more of my time to the Web site. Last week when I was researching the Saurfang fight mechanics on the web, I found some great priest blogs. I had seen some of these before, but I had never spent the time more than just whatever post was returned in my search query.

The site that got me initially interested was OMG Priest and Exanna’s interview with Miss Medicina. This led me to Miss Medicina and it started to get crazy after that.

Now I’ve gone and joined a guild formed by Miss Medicina for bloggers. I consider myself mostly a reader, but it is inspiring me to take better care of our Web site and start writing about my priest interests more. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving Sang Grail. The guild is a meeting place for bloggers and blog readers. I have a level 2 priest on that server (also named Daffnae - I can’t give up the name, and heaven forbid I play something other than a priest). I thought I’d give it a try. It’s funny, though, that I’ve gone right back to being shy Daffnae like when I first started playing. It’s good sometimes to be outside our comfort zone, I think. I know most of you can’t imagine me being shy and quiet.

That’s all for now. I just wanted to warn the Sang Grail readers that I’m going to try to post to the Web site more - hopefully with more content than just our raiding progress and other raiding information. I might also get ambitious and try out a new look.

And don’t worry, I’ll get the Rotface screen shot up soon!

On Monday we had our second 25 man run with Guardians of the Legacy (GOTL). Our Target was Trial of the Grand Crusader (TOGC / TOC). There are a couple of things that are very exciting about teaming up with GOTL and the two runs we’ve done so far.

• We can get more people included in raids each week.
• We like the people. Daff and Duck are personal friends with Leighya and have met many of the others through him.
• With regard to TOC and Ony, there is still a lot of useful gear for players. Nothing was D/E’d.
• Everyone seems to be having fun!

In our short run in TOC on Monday 3/1, we attempted the following bosses:

• Northrend Beasts - down on second try
• Lord Jaraxxus - down on first try
• Faction Champions - 2 attempts

Check out the World of Logs for details.

Continue reading for more information like raid attendance, loot drops and video tutorials.
(continue reading…)

We had another strong week in ICC as we breezed through the first 3 encounters. Saurfang continues to be a tough fight for us and with the time we had remaining in the evening, we couldn’t quite get over the hump to get him down (but we had him really close). Here are the bosses we downed. For those who haven’t yet gotten much experience on these bosses, I’m including video tutorials to help you learn the fights.

• Lord Marrowgar
• Lady Deathwhisper
• Gunship battle
• Deathbringer Saurfang - attmepted

Check out the World of Logs for details.

Continue reading for more information like raid attendance, loot drops and video tutorials.
(continue reading…)

Ok. Usually once the updates for a patch are out its pretty much said and done. Well this time the notes keep changing and more interesting stuff comes up. This will be a short post as I will only cover any new changes.

• Battleground Mark conversion images are up on wow.com. Mounts are 50K a piece. Other gear is also listed.
• Cosmetic Overcloaks - Have a cloak that looks like you pulled up your grandma’s rug and threw it over your shoulder? Now represent your faction and possibly your race with the stylish new overcloaks.
• Celestial Dragon pet - like the olympic dragon but made of stars….oooooh…aaaahhh
• Celestial Steed - hopefully a nice starry horse (no pics as of yet)
• Pet Bombling and Lil’ Smoky are no longer BOP…Engineers…you just got a cashcow
• A few more FP’s have been added

This patch looks like its going to be fun.

There is also a datamined image of a 2-seater rocket…dare i hope…flying mounts with passengers??

As always, all info has come from wow.com and mmo-champion

Have a demonically good time

Xan

Some aspects of the Saurfang fight are not very well documented. I spent time trying to research how he gains Blood Power and then compared the information to what I was seeing in the logs. Just as I thought I was figuring it out, I realized that the numbers were NOT adding up. So, I continued my quest for knowledge and finally found a couple of posts in the WOW forums that confirmed there were changes in Patch 3.3.2 that were not included in the patch notes.

Items to note:

• Damage absorbed from priest shields no longer prevents Saurfang from gaining Blood Power.
• Ticks from the Mark of the Fallen Champion no longer generates Blood Power.
• The amount of Blood Power gained from the different abilities has be updated. It is not specifically documented anywhere, but it looks like each ability provides 1 Blood Power in 10 man and possibly 2 in 25 man.
• There is a frenzy at 25% of Saurfang’s health. This isn’t a recent change, but something I had not personally understood. This may be the best time for heroism to prevent us from stalling. As his speed increases during the frenzy, the heals from Rune of Blood may increase and it will get harder to keep up with making progress on his health. The speed increase will also make it harder to keep the players with the marks alive as this damage will increase.

The following abilities generate Blood Power:

• Saurfang’s melee swings on a target (Tank) with the Rune of Blood debuff. This is controlled by having the tanks taunt off the tank currently inflicted with the debuff. While the priest shields will not control the Blood Power with this ability, the absorbs will still lessen the healing resulting from a successful hit.
• Blood Nova, which is cast randomly on a range player and will hit any other targets within 12 yards of the player. This can not be prevented; however, if we spread out more we can make it so only one person is hit per cast. NOTE: if there are less than 4 players at range, it will start to hit melee. This would be bad as it would likely hit all melee at once.
• Boiling Blood, which is cast randomly on any player and will tick five times on that player. This can not be controlled.
• Melee swing from the Blood Beasts. This is often controlled by kiting the mobs. Our general strategy is to kite one and burn the first one down quickly.

Continue reading see information specific to our recent logs and to see the link and quotes from the WOW forums.
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It has been a while since I found a patch worth posting on, but 3.3.3 and those that follow will definately be world enders.

Patch 3.3.3 went up on the PTR about a week ago and the notes are full of changes and adjustments getting made before the whole world blows up.

*Random battleground system for you PvPers out there. It is planned on working like the random dungeon finder with bonus honor if you win the battleground. Also in the PvP realm, Honor marks are going the way of the dodo. Items that previously require the marks will be adjusted to the new honor and/or rating system. I dont have anyone on the ptr so im not sure of new prices on anything.

*Culling of Stratholme - we can skip the pleasantries and get to massacreing those infected villagers even faster because we can now skip the initial dialogue in this instance. Sadly…Arthas is still as overbearing as always.

*Class changes - As always i dont get into the specific class changes, I leave all the theorycrafting to you guys. There are a few buff and nerfs all around but the big notice is the buff to DK tanking.

*Frozo the Renowned - No it’s not Bozo the clown’s iligetimate child from the drunken night in Miami. Frozo will be helping you clear out your banks by exchanging that giant stack of Frozen Orbs for things that are more usefull.  Included in his wares are Crusader and Runed orbs, All the Eternal elements, Frost Lotus and a nice “left out in the snowstorm wet” mount for our Tailors - a Frosty Flying Carpet

*Mechanostriders get buffed with….wait…seriously?!?….ok…they have a new sound *shrug*

*Profession changes - woe to the moneymaker (there are a ton of changes here)

• Recipies with runed orbs have had their mats reduced
• Monsterbelly Appetite daily fishing quest no longer wants you to go to the Great Sea….just walk to VH and fish in the moat.
• Inscription - recipies that needed 2 inks only need one …aparently you have learned to write shorthand
• Mining - Titansteel is off cooldown…watch the price drop like a riding mount off the Dalaran landing area.
• Tailoring - Glacial bag - now on a 7 day cooldown…but Moonshroud, Ebonweave and Spellweave are off cooldown.

*The auction house is getting revamped with a lot of options that were available in Auctionlite and Auctioneer - Mass stack listing and right clicking to make auctions

*Random Dungeons - the Deserter Buff has been upped to 30 min from 15 and is no longer a debuff. Vote kicks will now allow you to give a reason to the others in the group for why you initiate a kick.  Finally the most interesting part of this one….Holiday bosses will no longer be sitting waiting for us in the regular instance. You will have to use the RDF to que up for the holiday dungeon and you will get a loot bag that might drop the rare items…generic drops will still drop off the boss.

Other than that, random UI changes and edits.

OK…I have to note it and will not delve too much into it until more info is dropped. Patch 3.3.5 HAS been announced. We will be getting another raid under Wyrmrest Temple. Halion the Twilight Destroyer and his lackeys Baltharus the Warborn, General Zarithrian and Saviana Ragefire.

For a final note…It has come to my attention that I must do something that does not sit well with me. All gnomes are getting an eviction notice. You must begin to pack you belongings and prepare to be punted into another place of residence. Failure to comply with this notice will alert the dwarven counsel that you are more than willing to be bound, gagged and used for the annual ice crown winter games as a curling stone. All gnome humor aside, quests and achievements have been datamined that point towards the gnomes using all the windex they can find and finally reclaiming their confusing city.

Its beginning to look like the end of the world as we know it rocks.

We made great progress this week in ICC (10 man):

• We had killed Marrowgar earlier in the week.
• We one-shotted Lady Deathwhisper last night (only the 2nd time we have tried her on 10 man).
• We one-shotted the Gunship battle.
• And the big accomplishment of the night was getting Saurfang down. It took us several tries, but we adjusted our strategy and got him down.

Check out the World of Logs for details.

Continue reading for more information like raid attendance and loot drops.
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We had a great nigh in Icecrown Citadel Friday night. We one-shotted the following fights:

• Lord Marrowgar
• Lady Deathwhisper
• Gunship Battle

On Saturday we made several unsuccessful attempts at Saurfang. We made a lot of progress on our strategy. The key things to work on is the kiting of the Blood Beasts to make sure they die without hitting anyone.

The logs this weekend’s runs can be found here:

• Friday 1/30 - World Of Logs
• Saturday 1/31 - World of Logs

Continue to view more information like raid attendance and loot drops.
(continue reading…)