Poptarts

Just kidding, but it got your attention... maybe ;)

Today we're gonna talk about raid preparation. As a raider, there's three phases to learning new bosses. You have, 1) Preparation, 2) Execution, 3) Acquisition. We're gonna look at preparation.

Preparation is an important aspect in raiding, and everyone goes about it in their own way. Some look at guides, some watch videos... and some don't do it at all. Personally, I use a combination of guides and my own notepad notes in order to properly prepare for a new boss fight.

Now, I only usually do this for heroics. I'm going to be doing a Madness of Deathwing one, so it will be a bit more structured and informative than my usual ones, due to me already knowing the fight. Here it goes:



Kill Order P1 ----
1) Blistering Tentacles (Platform 3&4)
2) Hemo Bloods (As assassination aoe with DW targeted/As Sub don't do anything teehee)
3) Glowing red tentacle (Save SDance/Vanish/ColdB/Vendetaa for this so maximum uptime)
4) Deathwing Tentacle (Use SDance on CD unless Cataclysm timer coming up then save no more than 20 seconds/Same for Vanish)
5) Elemntium Bolt (Only swap if on ground then it;s #1 PRIO!!!!!! :()


Kill Order P2---
1) Small tentacles (Use Dream if Strapnel)
2) Big adds (Combat cleave nice here, sub can burst them np)
3) Deathwing head (Stay on deathwing if Ange/Scythe say usually 2nd set adds around 8%)


Shadowstep Yay-Nay / Backstab Yay-Nay ---- (Try to shadowstep mobs that are useable on when you can use it close to SDANCE or VANISH CD)
1) DW tentacle - Nay / Yay
2) Glowing Red Tentacle - Nay / Yay
3) Blistering Tentacles - ?(Assuming Nay) / Yay
4) Blistering Bloods - Yay / Yay
5) Elemntium Bolt - Yay / Yay
6) Little Tentacles - Yay / Yay
7) Big adds - Yay / Yay
8) Deathwing Head Nay / Yay

Mechanics to Feint -
1) Bolt Impact
2) Ground slam from glowy tentacle (maybe)
3) Blistering Tentacle aoe
4) DW random AOE
5) Strapnel (Most likely not)



What doooooo?
1) Stab tentacle
2) Move to other tentacle
3) Stab Tentacle
4) If bolt land (kill)/ Move to other platform
5) Stab tentacle
6) move other tentacle
7) stab tentacle
8) If bolt land (kill)/ move to other platform
9) Stab tentacle
10) Move other tentacle
11) Stab tentacle
12) Kill blistering tentacles
13) Move platform
14) Stab
15) Kill other tentacle
16) Group up for bolt impact
17) Kill bolt
18) Stab tentacle
19) Kill blistering tentacles
20) Hop platform
21) Stab Deathwing
22) Kill adds
23) Kill deathwing
24) Loot useless loot (for me)

Most important note - Never shadowstep non shadow-step moves or you diiiie.


So there you have it. This is basically what my notepad looks like on any given fight. Note that it's completely rogue based, and more tuned towards Sub spec. This is not to be used by ranged for kill order. But basically, preparation is very important, and it helps for you to know almost exactly what you'll be doing before you even get to the fight. Good luck!

P.S : Sorry for the spelling/grammar mistakes, but I wanted it to be as authenticate as possible.

/guffaw

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Healers!!

Sooo, I downloaded TF2 this week, and I've already logged 8 hours :3. I wanted to play a spy/scout combo, but in order to unlock the tutorials for some classes (spy), you have to first complete the tutorials for some of the other classes. Well, I was impatient, so I decided to play a medic instead after a bunch of fail spy games. It's great, I'm not a detriment to a team, because every team needs a medic, and I can almost always do good on the scoreboard. It got me to wondering though.. what kind of people play the healer classes in video games? Let's take a look at healers in a PVP aspect in the 3 games I play.


WoW Resto Druid: I'm using Resto Druid because it's the only healer I've ever played. Resto Druids possess many tools in their arsenal. They have hots, which are very effective for the run and gun aspect of PVP. Standing still and casting can most of the time get you killed if your opponents are semi-competent. A resto druid can also maintain healing on multiple targets at a time with their hots. They also have a couple forms of CC in the ways of roots and cyclone. The really good ones can even go bear form and bash for an extra stun. Resto druids also have a couple DoT's they can put up, in order to add some pressure. All in all, Resto druids are really balanced in terms of damage/healing/cc, and can be very versatile.

LoL Support: Supports in League of Legend are not all healers, but I'm going to group them together for the sake of this post. Let's talk about Soraka, cause she's my favorite :D. Now while Soraka only has 4 abilities, she almost as much versatility as a resto druid. Soraka has a silence/mana return ability, which is very good for CC. Silence is one of the most powerful CC's in LoL, because it prevents 90% of ability and summoners spells from being used. She also has a damage ability/debuff that deals damage to everyone in a short radius around her, and increases the amount of magic damage they take, and is pretty spammable. She has two heals, one moderately strong and an average cooldown, and the other large aoe on a long cooldown. All in all, she's very strong.

TF2 Medic: The medic in TF2 also has some characteristics of a resto druid. The medic posses 3 weapons, a gun that damages enemies, and gun that heals allies, and a meele weapon that damages enemies. Now, the medic doesn't have any CC, per se, but he does have 2 ways of dealing damage, as well as healing. He also posses the ability to charge a meter, which when full can be activated to make him and his heal target invulnerable and deal bonus damage for a short time.


Now, what do all these have in common? Well they all posses damage and healing in some way or form. They all have the ability to support their teammates, and enhance their play styles. What does this say about the people who play them? Well, the people who play healers are almost always team players. They are willing to sacrifice the guts and the glory or being the top contributor in kills for being the person that allows that top kill person to be at the top. Healers also have to be able to keep a calm mind. Smart teams will instantly target and attempt to focus down the healer. If you choose to be a healer, you will die a lot, and you have to be able to accept it and move on. If you do well enough, your team will keep you alive no matter what. Basically, healers are awesome.


/guffaw


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Hi

So it's most definitely been a while since I last posted. (Almost 11 months). In that time life has been pretty hectic. So far in that time I've:

• Graduated from highschool, with a GPA of 89.73 (0.27 short of being an honor graduate.. Not bad for someone who didn't study much :P)
• Started college (First semester is over, and the second semester will be held off until I figure out just exactly what I want to do in life)
• Entered a relationship with someone who I thought was, "The One"
• Subsequently exited that relationship 9 months later
• Main swapped to a rogue (no more pew pew, but now I can stab stab ;D)
  
• Taken a break from WoW, and came back in full force
• Had a birthday, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
  
• Taken to spamming raid chat with kirby's giving away free waffles, #<(^_^<)
  

Either way, I've been busy, but now I'm going to try and put forth the effort to keep this updated! I'll be posting about all kinds of thing, raging from Rogue raiding, to hunter pvp (maybe), to LoL, to even some TF2. Hopefully you guys can stay occupied!

/guffaw

-Bus