The question on my mind today is simple.

Why do we raid?

Personaly, I raid to experience the content and to prove to myself that I can do it. I Raid to spend time with my guild and friends. I raid to further the story of the game. I raid to gear up so that I can continue to further the story.

My assumption is that most people will have  a similar answer, but I hope that some people have very varied answers. I want to see what the followers of Treebound dot net have to say on this subject. I want to know if people raid, and if not, why not? If so, why?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Over the Thanksgiving holiday Blizzard was selling copies of the game for $5 each, with the Battle Chest selling for $10. I took advantage of this offer and picked up a Battle Chest and a copy of Wrath for a total of $15. This past weekend I finally had time to set up my second account and look into a Dual-Boxing, Recruit-A-Friend solution. My efforts into the Dual-Boxing will be chronicled here over the next coupe of months, hopefully with a post every week about the setup or playstyle.

For this first post I’m just going to keep it simple and point out that I have started a team of two Gnome Mages on my home server of Elune(US).

Phredo and Jahmbo have gone through a bit of the Gnome starting area and so far are having a great time defeating everything in their way. The only thing I’m currently having issue with is knowing when Jahmbo has Arcane Missiles up. I’ve noticed that they don’t proc every time Phredo’s proc, so that’s taking some getting used to, but other than that the set up has been fairly simple and straightforward.

I started the project with a trial version of Keyclone, which didn’t really do it for me, so I moved on to IS Boxer, which I think works better for my personal preferences. I am sure that if you’re planning to Dual-Box taking my advice as a gold standard would be foolish.

The forums over at dual-boxing.com were awesome, and I got everything set up without having to ask anyone for help beyond what I found there on the page. They’re very helpful and informative. I am sure that if I do come up against something that I cannot find help with there, I’m sure to get a few responses if I pose the question. So far though, all of my questions have already been asked by others and answered. Gee I love a forum with a robust search feature.

For my next post, I’ll be talking about the setup process with IS Boxer, which was easy to do by following their simple guides.

Popularity: 3% [?]

When the Cataclysm hit and the changes to our spells and mechanics were brought about, there was an uproar in the Druid Community. There was a fear that Druids would become mini Priests. There was a fear that our HoTs were being nerfed to the ground and we’d no longer have our Ugly Brown Tree Form to run around in.

Druids were told that our style of hitting Rejuv on everyone was going to go away and some people got very worried. We were told that keeping the entire group at 100% health was not going to work. We got worried. We know our style and have been using it for a while. How ever will we change?

A week after Cataclysm hit my guild decided to go into ICC to farm shards for a Legendary. Our DK needs 15 more and we figured we could roll through the content and get some drops.

We were wrong. Damage came in too fast and healers went out of Mana way too quickly. DPSers were no longer hit capped. Bosses went down very slowly. We wiped 3 times on Heroic Bonestorm Guy(yes my brain has forgotten his name and am too lazy to look it up). We figured out really fast that our new gear and new spells weren’t going to do too well in old content until we got better new gear.

We then split up and went and did some 5-mans. In the first two 5-mans I did I went OOM on every pull. I spammed Rejuv like an idiot. I didn’t react to the damage correctly. I didn’t change how I healed based upon how the spells were working. We didn’t wipe, but I didn’t do too well.

Last night, 4 of us formed a group and wound up hitting Halls of Origination for my first time in there. I took what I had learned and I took advice I had read on the forums and in blog posts and I rolled Lifebloom on the tank. I hit Regrowth on someone only when Clearcasting was up. I refreshed LB with Nourish or Healing touch only if the tank needed the extra healing. I wove Wild growth through the group and rarely dipped below 50% mana. The times I did dip below were AOE moments where I was struggling to keep up with the damage, But all in all, the new style of healing is very good at keeping people alive, and keeping this healer in the Blue with Mana.

The new healing style is FAR less twitchy than healing has been in the past. It used to be, “see damage, pop rejuv.” It is now, “see damage, assess the situation, and make an educated decision as to whether or not the target will take more damage or if the next tick of WG will do enough for him.” I have fully embraced the less twitchy healing experience. I like the concept of thinking before I act. I like the concept of smart healing making my Mana last. I like the concept that if I mess up, it actually matters now. In Wrath, I could spam nourish on the raid and keep people topped off and everything would be great. I’d never lose mana at all.

Now if I did that I’d be OOM in 30 seconds and it’d be a wipe. I like having to be responsible about what I do. I like having to think. It makes me feel like it matters more.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I have never put much stock in what my character looks like. My mains have always Been Druids so I never really had to care. “Yay, I look like Diseased Broccoli 99% of the time.”

Well, with 4.0.3 and Cataclysm, that all changed. I can only look like Diseased Broccoli for 30 seconds at a time, and then it’s only if I have a special glyph. Otherwise I will look like a Purple Tree-Orc-Of-Death for 30 seconds at a time, and I’ll look just like everyone else the rest of the time. Not a big deal. I don’t really care what I look like, right? Wrong. Apparently I do care. Recently I was having a conversation on Twitter with @dechion and @brajana and I completely balked at the idea of changing Maerdred to a Worgen.

Maerdred will always be a Night Elf with the specific look that he has. I recently went to the Barber Shop and changed his hair to finally get the Shave and a Haircut Achievement. It lasted 15 seconds. I Didn’t even leave Stormwind’s Barber Shop. I just sat back down in that chair and changed him right back. It seems that 5 years with Maerdred looking one way has ingrained into my head that this is just how he looks. The idea of changing him just seems foreign.

I’ve created other characters, they have all looked like Maerdred. One of whom was a Death Knight who’s back story was going to be that he had previously been Maerdred, but had been killed in action, and turned onto a DK by Arthas. The RP didn’t last and neither did the character. I made a new Maerdred for the Single Abstract Noun guild, he looks exactly like Maerdred too. Now that I think of it, I guess I have been pretty attached to Maerdred’s look, I just didn’t think about it.

Now that I spend some time pondering the looks of my characters I realize that I have a few specific looks that I stick with for most of the races. Gnomes are either Female with Pink Pigtails, or Male and look like mad scientists. Night Elves all generall look like Maerdred. Tauren are Jet black with mean looking faces…

If I have multiple characters of one race, they pretty much all look alike. I must be a creature of habit. I take a look I like and stick with it. I’ve tried changing it up, but those characters never really seem to last.

What about you? Do you associate a specific look with your characters? Are you in the Barber shop weekly changing things? Would you ever race-change your main? Let me know what you think in the comments. It’d be interesting to see how others feel about this topic.

Popularity: 4% [?]

…sniffle.

Yup. I got home from a short 4-day vacation Sunday night, slightly sick. I spent Monday in bed, and Tuesday with my head seemingly underwater.

I left work and bought my CE, and got home and instaled it, and then passed out.

OK. I didn’t pass out. I made a new Worgen Druid, but didn’t log into him. I logged on Maerdred, Finished the Storm Peaks Questing Achievement, Trained Flying, flew to the boat and took it to Stormwind.

Then I logged out.

Tonight I may actually log in. Seeing how fast people are doing so, I may hit 85 Saturday or so.

I may not. I hope to be one of the first 25 in my guild to do it. What a goal!

I hope your first night went better than mine.

Popularity: 4% [?]

This guide has not been updated for 4.1 yet. There are no items from the new 5-mans in this guide.

With all new expansions there comes a need for new gear. This time around it’s no different. For the Restoration Druid who is going to be interested in gearing up once level 85 hits, there are some simple guidelines when it comes time to look at gear. This is a very rudimentary listing. For more info, take a look at Lissanna’s Guide. Cel over at The Face Tanking Academy also has a list of resto gear that is worth checking out.

Int is king. Spirit is good too, but Int more.

Haste is important. There’s no real haste “cap” anymore, but there is a level of haste which we want to get to, for pre-raid, that number is right around 7.2% from gear. Remember, Lissanna stated it well, you don’t want to gimp your Spirit just to stack Haste.

Crit can be important. Hots crit now, so crit is right up there with haste.

Mastery is important if you’re a tank healer most likely more-so than Crit. Not so important for a raid healer.

Anything else is pretty much a wasted stat point.

I’d suggest that if you are interested in raiding that you do take some time to gear up in heroics before you just go out there in your leveling gear. The level 85 Heroics are sure to drop some great gear for starting out in raids. Lets take a look at the gear I think will be helpful for you. There are multiple choices for each slot, as usual, and I am not here to tell you which is your BIS. That’s all up to your other gear and your play style. I’m just here to give you a quick reference for your own uses.

Without further ado, here is my list of Pre-raid level 85 gear, in no particular order. If you find any mistakes here, let me know. I set this up very fast using Beta loot.

Head:
Helm of Reorigination: HoO Quest Reward: Doing it the Hard Way
Cluster of Stars: 2200 Justice Points
Cowl of Rebellion: Vanessa Vancleef: Deadmines (H)
Willowy Crown:  Ascendant Lord Obsidius: Blackrock Caverns (H)

Chest:
Robes of the Loving Ursine: Defias Overseer: Deadmines (H)
Wrap of the Fallen City: The Fall of Neferset City: Uldum
Cursed Skardyn Vest: General Umbriss: Grim Batol (N)
Cursed Skardyn Vest: General Umbriss: Grim Batol (H)
Robes of Forgetfulness: 2200 Justice Points

Legs:
Leggings of the Lost Child: Wayward Child: The Stonecore
Leggings of the Path: Siamat: Lost City of the Tol’vir (N)
Blazewing’s Furious Kilt:
Leggings of Clutching Roots: Revered: The Earthen Ring
Leggings of Late Blooms: 2200 Justice Points
Leggings of the Path: Siamat: The Lost City of the Tol’vir (H)

Shoulder:
Mantle of Bestilled Winds: Altarius: Vortex Pinnacle (N)
Mantle of Wild Feathers: Honored: Wildhammer Clan
Mantle of Bestilled Winds: Altarius: Vortex Pinnacle (H)
Somber Shawl: 1650 Justice Points

Hands:
Deep Delving Gloves: Slabhide: The Stonecore (N)
Gloves of Baleflame: Closing a Dark Chapter: Grim Batol
Aessina-Blessed Gloves: Revered: Guardians of Hyjal
Blessed Hands of Elune: 1650 Justice Points
Deep Delving Gloves: Slabhide: The Stonecore (H)
Gloves of the Uplifted Cup: Baron Silverlaine: Shadowfang Keep (H)

Wrists:
Oasis Bracers: The Lost City of the Tol’vir: Zone Drop (N)
Armbands of Change: Corla, Herald of Twilight: Blackrock Caverns (H)
Oasis Bracers: Zone Drop: The Lost City of the Tol’vir (H)

Waist:
Underworld Cord: Earthrager Ptah: Halls of Origination (N)
Thatch Eave Vines: 1650 Justice Points
Underworld Cord :Earthrager Ptah: Halls of Origination (H)

Feet:
Awakening Footfalls: Temple Guardian Anhuur: HoO (N)
Treads of Revelation: A Villain Unmasked: Stormwind City
Awakening Footfalls: Temple Guardian Anhuur: HoO (H)
Decapod Slippers: Mindbender Ghur’sha: Throne of the Tides (H)
Tarvus’s Poison-Scarred Boots:

Cloak:
Thousand Bandage Drape: Honored: Guardians of Hyjal
Azureborne Cloak: Drahga Shadowburner: Grim Batol (N)
Cloak of the Dryads: Honored: Guardians of Hyjal
Solar Wind Cloak: Rajh: HoO (N)
Azureborne Cloak: (H)
Cloak of Ancient Wisdom: Revered: The Earthen Ring
Periwinkle Cloak: Lady Naz’jar: Throne of the Tides (H)
Solar Wind Cloak: (H)
Springvale’s Cloak: Commander Springvale: Shadowfang Keep (H)

Neck:
Pendant of Elemental Balance: Honored: The Earthen Ring
Tauntka’s Necklace: High Prophet Barim: Lost City of the Tol’vir (N)
Acanthia’s Lost Pendant: Zone Drop: Blackrock Caverns (H)
Amulet of Tender Breath: Altairus: (H)
Celadon Pendant: 1250 Justice Points
Quicksilver Amulet: Karsh Steelbender: Blackrock Caverns (H)
Tauntka’s Necklace: High Prophet Barim: Lost City of the Tol’vir (H)

Rings:
Ammunae’s Blessing: Honored: Ramkahen
Band of Life Energy: Zone Drop: HoO (N)
Red Dragonheart Ring: Battle of Life and Death: Twilight Highlands
Veneficial Band: Lockmaw: Lost City of the Tol’vir (N)
Band of Life Energy: Ammunae: Halls of Origination (H)
Diamant’s Ring of Temperance: Revered: Therazane
Kibble: Beauty: Blackrock Caverns (H)
Ring of Frozen Rain: Asaad: The Vortex Pinnacle (H)
Ring of the Great Whale
Veneficial Band: Augh: Lost City of the Tol’vir (H)

Trinkets:
Rainsong: The Vortex Pinnacle (N)
Sea Star: Neptulon’s Cache: Throne of the Tides (N)
Tear of Blood: High Priestess Azil: The Stonecore (N)
Blood of Isiset: Isiset: HoO (N)
Tendrils of Burrowing Dark: Ozruk: The Stonecore (N)
Corrupted Egg Shell: Erudax: Grim Batol (N)
Gale of Shadows: Erudax: Grim Batol (N)
Witching Hourglass: Ascendant Lord Obsidius: Blackrock Caverns (N)
Blood of Isiset: Isiset: HoO (H)
Corrupted Egg Shell: Erudax: Grim Batol (H)
Gale of Shadows: Erudax: Grim Batol (H)
Rainsong: The Vortex Pinnacle (H)
Sea Star: Neptulon’s Cache: Throne of the Tides (H)
Tear of Blood: High Priestess Azil: The Stonecore (H)
Tendrils of Burrowing Dark: Ozruk: The Stonecore (H)
Witching Hourglass: Ascendant Lord Obsidius: Blackrock Caverns (H)

Main Hand:
Gurgthock’s Garish Gorebat: The Crucible of Carnage: The Twilight Terror!: Twilight Highlands
Scepter of Power: Setesh: Halls of Origination (N)
Elementium Hammer: Blacksmithing
Shimmering Morningstar: Revered: Baradin’s Wardens
Torturer’s Mercy: Rom’ogg Bonecrusher: Blackrock Caverns (N)
Biting Wind: Grand Vizier Ertan: The Vortex Pinnacle (N)
Biting Wind: Grand Vizier Ertan: The Vortex Pinnacle (H)
Scepter of Power: Setesh: Halls of Origination (H)
Torturer’s Mercy: Rom’ogg Bonecrusher: Blackrock Caverns (H)

Off-Hand:
Bone-Inlaid Sarcophagus Key
Book of Origination: Zone Drop: Halls of Origination (N/H)
Divine Companion: Inscription
Skyflight Beacon: Doing It Like a Dunwald: Twilight Highlands
Apple-Bent Bough: 950 Justice Points
Bioluminescent Lamp: Neptulon’s Cache: Throne of the Tides (N)
Prophet’s Scepter: High Priestess Azil: The Stonecore (N)
Bioluminescent Lamp: Neptulon’s Cache: Throne of the Tides (H)
Prophet’s Scepter: High Priestess Azil: The Stonecore (H)

Popularity: 100% [?]

Today marks 21 days until Cataclysm. That is 3 weeks until the level cap is lifted and we all get to start learning a whole new game again.

I don’t know how long you’ve been playing, but for me this is the third expansion. I stared about a year before Burning Crusade, and have Logged into the game at least once a week since. Most weeks it was probably closer to 7 days a week. So far the previous expansions were pretty good to me. I looked forward to both before they hit. In vanilla I was in a very late-blooming raiding guild who never had a chance to finish even AQ40 or MC. When TBC was about to hit we went through a bit of an upheaval and lost some players and gained some players. None of us really knew what we were getting into when the Expansion ended. We were a bit upset that we were unable to get people raiding for the last month. We went from almost clearing MC to barely being able to clear ZG again. It felt like the end of the world.

I left that guild about 6 months before Wrath hit and on a new character I joined a guild with some Cousins and their friends. We started out all barreling to 80 and by about June we had enough people at 80 for weekly Kara runs. We kept at it and when Wrath hit we were still running Kara and ZA and pugging Magtheridon, TK, SSC, and Hyjal. We didn’t really have a pre-expansion slump or anything. we just kept on going. I guess it was our casual nature that led to that. Nobody left to get into that other guild which could get them an Illidan kill. Nobody left to join that Sunwell guild. We were content having fun with each other, knowing that when Wrath came out, none of it would matter.

Now that Wrath is almost over, and I’m in my 5th guild of this expansion, a guild who is still struggling to finish the game, I can feel the pull. We have 3 weeks. I personally only have one week left of raiding and then the last two are all busy.

I have one last shot at Killing the Lich King. I have One last chance and I hate it. I am afraid it won’t happen.

Give me 9 competent people and let me go destroy the place. Let me get a title. Please. The concept of having to re-teach the fight every week because we only have 24 regulars on, since August, is killing me. Every week we have to re-learn the strat. People who know it are screwing up. Even I don’t perform 100% every pull. (I know right? Me? I’m like a God… how could that be?)

We’re right on the verge and someone stops paying attention to DMB and drops defile in the raid… Come on man! Move the timers so you can see them, and run out when it’s about to hit. It’s not that hard. Come on man! Standing in Defile? Come on man! Not Stunning a Valk? Come on man! LOS behind the Ice Block so you can’t heal the tank? (ok that last one was me)

The expansion is almost over and I’m afraid I won’t kill the Boss. I want to win the game. just let me win the game for once. Even if it is only for 3 weeks. Let me win the game. I have been sick of raiding for over a month. I’ve been ready to give it up, but that carrot still pulls. The Lich King… He’s tugging at me. He wants me to kill him. He wants it to be over. I can feel it. All it will take is one pull where nobody screws up. We can’t have one screwup. Not one. We’ve all had flawless attempts. Just not all 25 of us all at the same time. I know we can do it.

The preceding section of text was written yesterday afternoon on my lunch break. Had it been written today, it may look something like this:

This time around, with wrath almost over, I have finally been able to beat the game. Even though we’ve been through our trials and tribulations. We split from our old guild, and reformed. We took two steps backwards and had trouble even killing Sindy for about a month. Finally we got our feet back underneath us, and just as I was about to quit raiding for the rest of the expansion, we started going after the Lich King again.

Each week for the past few we’ve made progress up to The Lich King, but we always seemed to get stuck. People having lag issues or sound issues, or addon issues. We just couldn’t make a clean transition into phase 2. I don’t get it. We’d have people dying to the plague, we’d have people dying to infest, we’d have people running into orbs and getting punted. Once we did get into phase 2 we had poor Defile location. we had Valks not being killed. We just never had a fight where everyone was at 100%. Sure we all had our 100% attempts, but never all 25 of us at the same time. It didn’t help that we were teaching new people the Strat each week.

With my schedule and our focus on 25′s I haven’t been in ICC 10 for months. So I didn’t even have a 10-man kill. I can only see my Girlfriend on weekends, when the guild runs 10′s so I’ve been pretty much pushing for that 25-man kill. The Expansion is almost over and I’ve been afraid that I’d not kill the final boss. All I want is to finish the Expansion. With our issues in 25′s and my lack of 10′s It didn’t look like it was ever going to happen.

More of the same. Last night, 22 people signed up for our 25′s LK night… Gee thanks guys. I’m hosed. One more week. I have One final chance for a Lich King kill then I’m done. I’m not going to get it. That’s all there is to it. It’s not going to happen. Game over. FML.

Well, we may get some stragglers so we can make a few attempts. So we got the raid together and at 8:00 we did the City invasion stuff, Still didn’t have 25… We talked about it and decided that 10 of us would go in to try Lich King. 8 of us who hadn’t gotten the kill yet, and 2 who had. It’s possible that a couple people were on alts but had kills previously on mains.

We went in and gave it a few weird attempts. People dying to the plague, or getting punted by orbs, or enraging Shambling Horrors. We made a change and had me Soothe the enraged guys, while also healing the LK tank, and we got through phase 1 and 1.5 with no deaths, and then the tanks died one after another in transition. Not sure what that was all about. I had heals on them. Maybe my mouse had moved to a DPS and not the tank, while I was looking elsewhere.

Release, Fly back, Buff up, try again. Phase 1, Tank 2 dies to plague, I think. LK tank almost calls the wipe, but sticks with it. He pulls the Shambling Horror and tanks both of them and the Lich King. One dead, 3 minutes left on my Battle Rez. Crap Crap Crap. Keep trying guys. Kill the adds. Ok Push Phase 2. Awesome! 20 Seconds left on the Rez. Get in position. Valk! ok. I move out to rez the Tank. Defile! On me! Oh No. Rez has to wait. OK, Next Valk. Good job! Defile. Go Go! On me?? Shit! No rez again. Ok. keep going. Another Valk. Another Defile. Get that Rez. Oh crap. it’s on me again! Drop it. Then grab the tank. Got him! YES!

Move to the edge. Transition time. Alright Do this. Fight Fight Fight. Heal Heal Heal. Move Move Move. Heal Heal Heal. Move Move Move. Oh Crap! The tank died! Oh crap! We all died! Oh Shit! we won!!!!

Finally. I Finally finished the expansion. I killed the final boss. I Got the Title. I did what I had set out to do. Now we just have to do it on 25 this week. We got this. We have SO got this!

Popularity: 4% [?]

* Efflorescence’s healing effectiveness now diminishes for each player beyond 6 within the area. Now heals nearby friendly targets for 10/20/30% of the amount healed by your Swiftmend over 7 sec, down from 20/40/60%.

Reported by MMO-Champion

This sounds like a significant enough nerf to me. I’ve become a HUGE fan of the Efflorescence effect. these two changes sound like a huge nerf when taken at the same time. Though, I will admit that the spell is probably OP as it is before the nerf. I’ll hold judgment until I hear how Beta players react to the actual use of the spell post-nerf.

Popularity: 4% [?]

What better time to revamp my UI than right after a new patch when everything I know and love about my UI changes??? I know right!!!

Over the next few days I’ll be redoing my entire UI and removing addons which no longer work. I’m pretty excited about the project to be honest. I am fairly certain that I had a ton of addons which were all doing the same jobs so I’m going to get rid of them all and start fresh.

Before that happens though, I have to see what I really want to change and what I want to keep.

I know I’m keepnig the G13, but do I really need to change my UI to reflect that? Nah. Probably not. So what do I do? Dominos? Bartender? I’m used to Dominos, and it does seem to still work, but I hear Bartenter is pretty badass.

Do I stick with Pitbull or is there another frames mod out there that’s building momentum? What else could I replace? What else could I just completely drop? I don’t entirely know.

I’m hoping that hings like Autobar or Lunarsphere will start working soon, as I was in the process of deciding which to stick with.

We’ll see. I’ll post a “state of the UI” picture tonight if I remember. Otherwise it’ll start the next post.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Two posts in a week????

That’s right.

So. This post is about the new Privacy features of Blizzards RealID program. If you’re not aware, they just announced some changes to the program. You can read them by clicking that linky thing.

Basically, it’s Blizzard finally coming to the realization that people want options when it comes to their personal information getting out to people they do not know (Friend of a friend). I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s a little late, but at least they’re giving us options now.

The system isn’t perfect. I’d still like to see an “appear offline” option. Sometimes you just want to play an alt and decompress without “Hey can you tank ICC10 later?” or other such nonsense. Sometimes I just want to hop over to another server and roll a hunter just for the fun of it. Sometimes I want to do dailies on my alt without everyone asking when I’m going to log back in to heal a heroic.  Other ties I am glad to have people to talk to when I’m not on my guilded toon.

This is why I think options are good, and I think that would be a good option.

What do you think of the new options they’re giving us? Are you more likely to use Real ID than you were before? Are you less likely? Do you not really care at all?

Let me know in the comments.

Popularity: 3% [?]