At some point during the 53rd episode of the Twisted Nether Blogcast, Mike Schramm said something which just Stuck in my head.

He was talking about the new patch at the time(3.2) and said that it wasn’t his favorite patch to the game.

Well, what WAS his favorite patch? So it got me thinking, what is/was MY favorite patch?

I started playing WoW just after 1.9 hit, so nothing before that can really count right? Patch 1.10 brought weather and “end destination flight points” but I hadn’t really had much time to get used to the way things had been before that, so that one doesn’t really do it for me, though those things were really cool.

1.11 was Naxx. I was level 46? I didn’t care about Naxx. Though the Scourge invasion was pretty neat. It gets a point for that. even though I was too low to REALLY participate.

1.12 Cross realm BG’s… whoopie… I don’t PVP. NEXT.

2.0.3 Burning Crusade. Tree Form. Lifebloom. Oh this patch gets TONS of points. Do I even have to go into it. But, as an Expansion/Patch, does it count? We’ll see.

2.1.0 The Black Temple. Epic Flight Form. Skettis, Ogri’la… Ok. this may be edging out 2.0 a bit. I love everything about this patch!

2.2 Voice Chat. meh. I’ve still never used it.

2.3 ZA. Guild Banks. Dustwalow Marsh improvements. Leveling made easier from 20-60. Yeah this one’s up there too,. Who didn’t LOVE ZA? Guild banks have been a huge help to every guild I’ve been in. Leveling made easy? Yeah I took advantage of that fact and leveled up like 4 alts who are now deleted.

2.4 Sunwell. MrT. SSO Dailies. Meh. I still haven’t set foot in either of those instances, though SSO Dailies are still my favorite quests of all time.

3.0  Rash of the Itch King! Again, it’s an Expansion. shouldn’t count. But Northrend. Arthas. Achievements. Barber Shop. Stormwind Harbor… Pretty big!

3.1 Ulduar! The first Raid I was ready for the DAY it was released. I loved it. I feel very proud that I finished Ulduar before 3.2 came out. At least in 10-person mode. Argent Tournament. I like these Dailies as well. Not as much as SSO, but I did get my Crusader title.

3.2 Call of the Crusade. Again. Ready to enter that raid the day it released. I haven’t done the 5-man yet… So yeahhhh…

I guess the votes are in. If I had to choose just one, My favorite Content patch which was not a Major Expansion would have to be 2.3. ZA, guild banks, Leveling Made Easy. It’s just made of awesome.

So, I ask you constant reader, what was your favorite patch? Comments are open.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Or, rather, I slay you!

As always, Click for Full Screenshot.

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had taken 6 of my friends into Ony’s lair and destroyed her. Well, Now I get to do the same with 9 or 24 of my friends, and have it actually be somewhat of a challenge.

I can’t wait to see the new version of the fight and I expect it to be a fun PUG raid to do in my off time, which seems to be all the time now that I’ve given up my raider title, and started playing Maerdred again as well as keeping Maerrakech going. I can’t wait to get an Unemployed group in there and see how we do against the bad girl herself. And then again, I can’t wait to get Maerdred to 80 and get in there with Drew and the gang. Hopefully I’ll get my moose ears. I can’t wait!

Popularity: 1% [?]

This year I’m actually interested in playing the game during Brewfest. Which is awesome! Last year I kind of let much of it slip by because I didn’t really care for Achievements at the time and well, it was a chore. This year though, I want my Mount! So, yesterday when I logged on Maerrakech, I saw a strange thing. I’m standing at the south bank in Dal, and the two commoners who were Pirates when I logged out the night before were now dressed in Brewfest garb! One of them had a quest sending me to Orgrimmar for Brewfest, so I took it and Off I went!

I grabbed the quests I could, and well, Here, I’ll let Aurik show you what to do. He has a nice guide to the 2009 Brewfest Achievements. All the while Guild members were logging in and starting up themselves. Once we had 5 we hit Coren Direbrew and I got a nice little trinket, as you can see in the sidebar (Ancient Pickled Egg in case I take it off). It was fun. He took us by surprise and when Braj decided to Hunter Tank it didn’t go well, but we got him down in all 4 of our attempts (our 5th had already summoned in another group). Neither of the mounts dropped, but it was still fun.  Once I got the achievements I could, I logged over to Maerdred and started fresh with him.

Not many people in that guild so it was a little tougher to get Direbrew done, but soon enough we had 4 of us online and we grabbed a mage from LFG and in we went. Maerdred was 74 at the time, and therefore could not take the Direbrew quest, but did participate in killing him for the Achievement. But after hitting 75 last night, I should be able to get the quest  now.

Just for a quick reference, the Drunken Stupor achievement… Run off the Scryer’s elevator and land on the ground next to the bridge. Works like a charm, as long as you’re full on health to begin with. I did it on a mount to make sure I got the right distance.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I got a very nice IM today from a great friend who was so glad I’m playing Maerdred again so she can ask me questions about healing, since she just picked up resto as her Dual Spec. So when I asked her what she had questions about, her response was “Spell rotation mainly.”

‘Cast the spell that is needed.’

I got called a smartass. So I asked her if I could make it a Blog Post instead of sending her 500 IM’s with all this information. So here we are. Resto Druid Spell Rotation. The Short and easy answer is, There isn’t one. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. The spells I cast differ based upon what I am healing. Who I am healing, and who else is healing. Since I can’t really control the last one, let’s concentrate on the other two. Am I healing a 5-person instance, a 10-person raid, a 25-person raid? Am I healing the tank(s), am I healing the raid, am I healing everything?

Let’s assume Pre-raid gear. No Tier Pieces, therefore no Tier Bonuses. I’ll assume Glyphs of Innervate, Swiftmend and Lifebloom/Rejuv/Regrowth/Nourish Pick your poison. Let’s also assume that this is just how I do things, and obviously not the only way to go, so if you do it differently go ahead and post your advice without flames. I know I’m probably a noob and forgot something.

5-mans. I hit the tank with Lifebloom x1, Regrowth, Lifebloom x1, Rejuv, Lifebloom X1 to get all hots on the Tank. I’ll then toss a WG because the raid’s probably taken some splash damage in that amount of time. Though this depends on how much damage the tank is taking. If the boss has a huge initial hit, I may start with Regrowth timed to hit just as the tank gets hit by the boss. Refresh Regrowth before it drops off to take advantage of the Glyph. If there’s group AOE damage(there’s always Group AOE Damage) Wild Growth is your friend along with any of your other spells based on how much damage there is and how predictable it is.

It’s really a feel thing from that point. All of a Druid’s spells are good for this, but you have to choose what to use based upon mana consumption, time constraints and overhealing considerations. I’m not going to cast Healing Touch on a mage that got 1k Splash Damage while the tank’s HoTs are falling off. It’s a silly choice.

Now for 10′s, Tank healing is pretty much the same. But I may go with the Nourish Glyph and add that into my rotation when all the Hots are running for the extra boost if the tank needs the heals, which he may… So My initial “rotation” would look something like LB, RG, LB, RJ, LB, WG, Nourish. then just refresh HoTs as needed and Nourish when you need the helper. Also don’t forget Swiftmend which rocks with the glyph. And Nature’s Swiftness/HT is a great Oh Shit! button. On fights like Patchwerk, I’d probably get in 3 Nourishes before refreshing a hot then Nourish, then another Hot…

10′s raid healing, couple ways to do it. WG+Rejuv Spam, WG+Nourish Spam, WG+Lifebloom spam… I generally use Rejuv for raid healing, but that’s with the T8 4pc. Before that, I generally didn’t raid heal much. But when I did I’d go with Lifebloom single application and Nourish spam. Nourish is a fast spell and it heals for a pretty good clip.You could also use Regrowth here based on the HOT that it adds to the mix. I generally went by how much health the person had lost and how much damage is still coming in. If it was a single hit, forget the hot. If it’s constant small amounts of damage, use the Hot… Though that should be common sense.

25′s Tank healing… Well. Do everything I’ve stated above. Nourish is your friend. Make sure you get that glyph and hope for the T7 Nourish bonus ASAP. If you’ve moved beyond T7 and have the T8 bonus why is your raid having you heal the tank? Tank heal and Rejuv everyone else you can.

25′s Raid heal? Rejuv everyone. Regrowth big hits. Wild Growth often. You probably have enough mana and GCD’s to Triple Bloom the Tank too.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I remember my first night at summer camp when I was a kid. One of the older kids in our cabin asked us all to play this game, Never ever have I ever. I have never heard of it, but went along with it because, heck it sounded fun. If you’ve never played it, or heard of it, pretty much all you do is tell one thing about yourself that you had never done. and the rest of the people in the group who had done that thing all stand up and one of them stays standing to tell the next thing. It’s an interesting getting to know you kind of game.

I figured, Why not make that idea into a WoW post? So, what have I never done in this game that most people have? Things that I may want to do, things that I should want to do, or things that I should have done in the first place. So, here goes with my list of things I have never done within the game.

Never ever have I ever…

finished a full BRD run, either with a character of appropriate level or above. I’ve come close. And I’ve done most of the quests, but I don’t recall ever actually killing each and every one of the 22 bosses in that place.

Never ever have I ever…

participated in the Fishing Extravaganza. Since level 58 on Maerdred I’ve been an avid Fisherman, but I’ve never set off to STV to participate in the Fishing Extravaganza for myself. I helped guard a guildie a few times when she was trying to get whatever the big reward for that thing is, but I never actually fished in it for me.

Never ever have I ever…

Set foot into the Magister’s Terrace. I know, I never went. I was a druid healer. I heard horror stories about it and at the time it was fresh and new, I was less than happy with my ability to heal a 5-man. Raids were easier to heal than 5-mans, because I only had to focus on one tank, not 5 people.

Never ever have I ever…

Killed Ragnaros. Gotta get on that. I hear he’s coming back in Cataclysm. RD got really close, but I don’t think we, as a guild ever got him down. TBC fever set in about a week before we were ready and then we couldn’t get people to log in for raids.

Never ever have I ever…

Taken down any of the opposing faction’s leaders. I’ve not been a part of a single raid on an alliance or horde city in which the purpose was to kill the leader. RD spent a few hours one night outside the gates of Orgrimmar, but that wasn’t killing Thrall. I’d love to get into one of those raids.

I could go on and on, but I won’t.

Tell me, loyal reader, what on my list have you done? What have you never done? I’d love to hear from you.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The other night(like a month and a half ago), after a wipefest which saw us not down Thorim or Freya the discussion in Vent turned to our weaknesses and strengths. While the main weakness has seemed to be slow reaction times from DPS, Healers and Tanks alike, our strengths have been a few strong players in a few spots. Most of whom are not around this week. While listing our strongest healers by name, I was mentioned by our Raid Leader along with a Paladin and a Priest.

I have got to say that when it comes down to things like that, I feel that I always blend into the background and tend to not feel that my contributions stand out as much as they actually do. I’ve felt that way about just about every aspect of my life for as long as I can remember. It’s not new with WoW and Raiding.

When I was an officer in Raging Daisies and Kohrruption it was different. I felt that having the Officer title It thrust my performance out there to the fore. I felt that I had to shine and therefore when I did, I never expected praise for it. As an officer I felt that I was supposed to be the best at my job. Now as a grunt in Unemployed, I’m just another guy. I just blend in with the crowd and do my thing. Well, apparently not. I’m one of “our strongest healers”. That felt great to hear.

When we’re raiding I tend to look at what my assignment is, and see how I can do that and more. I never want to just do the bear minimum. I fell that to do just what was asked of me, is not doing all that was asked of me. I always take any assignment and infer that I’m supposed to also do more when possible. “Maer, heal the two tanks” Ok. I’ll heal the two tanks. But I’ll also heal the silly DK who pulls agro, I’ll also heal the Hunter who didn’t notice that he was standing in stuff. I know other people are assigned to those people, and my Regrowth isn’t going to snipe that heal from them, but it may help to be a buffer to keep them alive longer.

Going above and beyond becomes difficult however, when my healing assignment is “everythinglol” <3 Pilz!

Man I miss raiding, but life in general feels so much better now that I'm not stuck at my desk 5 nights a week. Maybe I'll try to sigh up for next Tuesday and see if I'm needed.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I look at the subject of that title, and in context of the date on which it is being published, and I realize one thing. Americans must seem like self absorbed idiots. We latch on to one attack on our soil. One attack on innocent life within our country and choose to use it to remember that life is precious. We post news stories and blogs about it, and we feel good about ourselves for doing so, while across the world hundreds of thousands die for no reason to violence and terrorism. We must seem to the rest of the world as self centered as ever right about now.

You know what? If they think of us that way, then I am fine with it. They are allowed to think, and say what they want about us. That’s what I’ve learned by living here. People have the right to believe what they want. They have the right to say what they feel. They have the right to shout it at the top of their lungs with the world watching on TV and the President of the country 50 feet away. People have that right, and it’s that right which scares people like those who crashed those four planes 8 years ago into our buildings and that field in Pennsylvania. They are afraid of our freedom, because freedom is contagious. Freedom grows. The subjugated see that there is something better, and they unite and they free themselves. There’s a long history of that in this country, and all across the world. The people in power over those huddled masses are afraid of our freedom, because they see their power dwindling if an American brand of freedom somehow seeps into their society. They fear their loss of power, so they attack us.

So, people can think what they want. They can curse us for not holding a candlelight vigil for each and every member of their society that has fallen to terrorism and violence. They can deride us for being so self centered as to band together as a country – even if it is just for one day – and remember the lives of those who we lost in New York and Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon on that horrible day eight years ago.

They can say what they want. I’ll listen and dismiss it, because I know the truth. That day, the worst day that most of us can remember, brought out the best in all of us. I choose to remember that. I don’t dwell on the sadness of death or the horror of the attack. I dwell on the good that happened in the aftermath.

You see, I work for a Medical company which makes devices which are used in surgery. The type of devices which were used in many surgeries during the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. This company got a call from the hospitals at Ground Zero the day after the attacks which said that they were running out of drains on hand, and they needed about 200 more.

Within 2 hours of that call, the CEO of this company was in his Chevy Suburban with 40 cases of Chest Drains, driving them personally to New York City to donate them to the cause.

Things like that are what I remember. People thinking of the other guy. In the medical field, our job is saving lives, and I’d like to think that many lives were saved because My boss got in his car and did the right thing that day. I’d like to think that the lessons we learned that day were not lessons of fear, or lessons of terror. I’d like to think we learned lessons in compassion and heroism.

I know that’s what I learned. And that’s why I will never forget.

Popularity: 1% [?]

As accomplished as I feel I am within this world, I still pale in comparison to those who have come before me.

Take my namesake for example. Maerdred was active years ago and he helped rid the world of some world class Baddies! He helped to Kill Hakkar, he cleared out most of the Molten Core (which I have never even seen) He killed the likes of Kael’thas and Lady Vashj. He’s considered to be the Hand of A’dal for Elune’s sake! He fought Archimonde valiantly! He roasted Teron Gorefiend on a spit.

Sure, he never /spat at Illidan, and never saw Kil’Jaeden, but look at those other achievements! This guy was EPIC. I wasn’t even a Druid yet when he did most of that. I started my training just after Gorefiend went down. Sure, I had a good run. I killed Prince Malchezar a few times. Hydross once or twice. Gruul was no match for me, nor was Magtheridon. But, Archimonde? nope. Illidan? Not even close! I only killed Lady Vashj and Kael’thas when I out-leveled them by 10.

Hakkar? I was 20 levels above him before I ever saw him killed. Maerdred participated in a guild-first kill of that one when he was level 58! 58!!! Do you know how epic that is? I’ve done so little compared to him. I need to catch up!

I’ve already started. The other day, I took six of my friends into Onyxia’s cave and we destroyed her. I later pulled each and every whelp just for fun. -50 DKP for me!

So, my plan is to get a group of people together and see if we can romp through AQ20, AQ40, MC, BWL? Is there an attunement for that one still? I want to see if I can 2-man Kara, Want to kill Illidan and Kil’jaeden also. I want to see what it’s like.

I also need to go in and finish off some of the lesser baddies. I’ve never seen the inside of Maraudon, Uldaman, DM, Scholo… I’ve never finished off ZF, or ST. BRD UBRS, LBRS. I know I can solo all of those. I just haven’t done it. So, that’s another part of my plan. I want to get that done before anything happens to these places like what I hear is going on with Onyxia.

Soon, I’ll be almost as epic as that Night Elf, or maybe even more so. He’s never killed Yogg-Saron, now has he?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Last night I went out and purchased the Warcraft 3 Battle Chest. I had played it at a friend’s years ago, and had some fun with it, but I figured with the current state of WoW, and y current state in the game (ie. I don’t wanna play for 5 hours a night every night anymore, like I had been) I’d go out and play something different but also teach myself about how we got to where we are.

So there it is. I installed it and started playing. Thrall and Garrosh were running away from the Humans Internment camp, and Medivh told them to go to Kalimdor.
Then along comes Prince Arthas… What a prat! Seriously. He thinks WAY too much of himself, and feels he’s got a ton to prove to everyone. Once he finds out how the plague is being spread he does what he thinks is right, rather than what everyone else around him thinks is right… Dumbass.

Well, I got to the part of the game which coincides with the CoT:CoS instance of WoW. And um… I had to stop playing. I’m not sure if I can do it. I mean, I know what happens. Can I lead this man down his path of doom? Can I actively turn him? Is it within my power to do such a thing?

Yeahhhh! Tonight I go back, and Stratholme is going to BURN! You can all thank me for your wonderful Wrath of the Lich King Expansion… without me at the helm, Arthas would probably be dead, rather than leading the Scourge.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Onyxia’s gonna Deep Breath moar!

Popularity: 1% [?]