Did your guild just down Madness of Deathwing on normal? Are you finding yourself looking at the Morchok/Kohcrom twins in the face on heroic and scratching your head a bit? Have you been working on heroic modes for a while, but are new to the ways of the enhancement shaman and are looking for a few tips? Murgleglrgl and baby murlocs on top? Well, I have just the post for you!
At the time of writing this guide, it is the first week in which the 20% Dragon Soul nerf has been active. Provided your group has decent gear and at least an inkling of coordination, everything up until heroic Warmaster Blackhorn is (or should be) an absolute cakewalk. If you are the raid's swing healer, like myself, everything should be more or less two-healable now (provided your main spec healers are semi geared and on their A-game), which means you get to rock the sexy numbers on the DPS charts instead of the HPS charts. Yay!
Here are a few tips and tricks for the first two fights to do just that: rock the charts. By rock the charts I mean live and put out a few shiny numbers along the way.
This video above is from when Dragon Soul received its first nerf (I believe anyways), which was a whopping 5%. As you can see I'm on the Morchok side, which out of the two twins is definitely the more active side. You can also see that I'm crystal soaking, which means a TON of movement for me. Not a big deal, really.
Morchok's side is thus for crystal soaking: stomp, crystal, stomp, crystal, etc until the Black Blood phase, then stomp, crystal, stomp, crystal etc until either another Black Blood phase happens or the boss dies, whichever happens first.
Kohcrom's side is more of a stomp, stomp, crystal, stomp, stomp rotation, if memory serves. Much less movement, much more of a snoozefest!
Can an enhancement shaman soak stomps? My answer to this question is: probably. I believe that soaking is still better left up to shadow priests and rogues, or even a boomkin/plate dps if your (10 man) composition is missing one or both of those classes/specs, but now with the nerfs you should be able to safely soak stomps as enhancement. This is provided that you and your healers are semi geared though, and your healers are on the ball with topping you off prior to a stomp. I'd highly recommend trying to soak on Kohcrom's side first, as that is the easier side to heal. I'd also definitely recommend utilizing a rotation of Shamanistic Rage and Stoneclaw Totem (glyphed Stoneclaw, that is) to help out on reducing your damage taken. Bottom line: test it out and see if you and your healers can handle it. Upside to soaking stomps though? You don't need to run around like a loony toon to soak crystals. Soak one or the other, as trying to swing both could potentially have some not so desired consequences (see: death).
If you'd like a more in depth help guide to this encounter, please take a look at my original heroic Morchok guide. The information found there is still valid, but don't bother swapping out the Windfury glyph for the Feral Spirit glyph unless your healers tend to fall reeeeally behind, and only if you're saving them as a healing cooldown for some odd reason. The standard Prime glyphing of Lava Lash, Windfury Weapon, and Stormstrike should be more than sufficient for this encounter.
Loots:
Seal of Primordial Shadow - A ring that has a chance to drop off of Morchok, Zon'ozz, Yor'sahj, Hagara, and Warmaster Blackhorn. Best in slot item.
Vial of Shadows - A trinket that has a chance to drop off of Morchok, Zon'ozz, Yor'sahj, Hagara, and Warmaster Blackhorn. Best in slot item, though heroic Matrix Restabilizer is a contender for this trinket slot. Better for your feral dps/rogues/hunters, but still a sexy trinket for us. If you have a Matrix, consider passing the Vial off to those other classes until they all have it.
Sporebeard Gauntlets - If for some reason you can't get your mits on the heroic tier gloves, these are your next best bet. They're better than the normal mode tier gloves, but not quite as good as the heroic tier gloves. BiS for hunters, second BiS for us.
Heroic Yor'sahj ain't no big thang if your group knows what's up. If you need an overall strategy how-to guide, head on over to this Icy-Veins over view. I am going to assume though that you are already at least semi-familiar with the encounter.
Spec Changes: None (Standard 10/31/0 spec)
Glyph Changes:
If you're sitting on the boss - Prime: Remove Windfury and use Flame Shock (25 man only)
If you're moving to oozes - Prime: Remove Windfury and use Flame Shock (25 man only)
If you're sitting on the boss - Major: Remove Ghost Wolf and use Chain Lightning
If you're moving to oozes - Major: Remove Stoneclaw and use Chain Lightning (assuming your healers are good and you're not getting pounded on too hard by the adds).
Some of these glyph changes are highly dependent on your group composition, the raid's general dps output (if there's a lot of high AoE dps output in your raid, Flame Shock and Chain Lightning may not be worth the swap; I know it really isn't for my 10 man group because everything dies so quickly), and the capability of your healers (for the last suggestion).
Totem Changes: None, kind of.
If you're in a 25 man, swapping out Searing Totem for Magma Totem during a double black phase (yellow ooze + black ooze = nom AoE damage potential for you!) could very well yield a dps increase. This again is dependent on how high your raid AoE is though. If the adds die quickly and there's no overlap between the first set of adds and the second, you may be better off with sticking with good ol' derpy Searing Totem.
Totem twisting between your usual earth totem (Strength of Earth or Stoneskin, whichever your raid needs, if any) and the glyphed Stoneclaw totem can be handy for those moment when it's a purple + black phase and the adds are beating the crap out of you.
Should I stay or should I swap? No one likes to have to switch between adds. However, unless your group is somehow lacking a rogue or a kitty druid, chances are pretty good that you'll have to switch over to the oozes. Personally, I'm almost always having to swap to the oozes (though with the recent nerfs I may no longer need to do this), while someone else (generally a hunter, the rogue, or when we were two tanking it, the tank who currently did not have the boss) works on the mana void, if it's up.
AoE, how do I do it? During black phases, you should never physically swap to the little crazy elephant-looking dude adds. Keep your focus on the boss and use your AoE rotation from there. What's the optimal way to AoE as enhance? Well, let me tell you.
Flame Shock (keep FS as high on the duration as possible, for the FSs that are spread will take on the duration of the parent FS; the FS glyph makes this a bit easier to deal with, but was only really necessary for me to glyph back when I was running 25s. Never spread a FS with less than 10 seconds on it, if possible. The standard FS/ES/FS/ES rotation *should* in theory be sufficient, but watch it just in case.)
Lava Lash when there are four or more adds within a 12 yard radius
Unleash Elements
Fire Nova
Chain Lightning as soon and as often as possible
Stormstrike and Earth Shock as fillers
Unleash Elements will not be up for every Nova that you do, but it will "super power" your Nova when you are able to use it. Also, I tend to hold my Maelstrom stacks as we're going into the black phase, likewise with Lava Lash, unless I'm sure that it will be up in time for when the adds finally arrive to the boss. Timing is everything when it comes to properly AoEing, and that timing is all the more crucial when you're running with a well geared and capable group that can AoE the crap out of crap reeeeally quickly.
Loots:
Leggings of the Corrupted Protector - Our tier pants. BiS, super sexy. You may raid pantless out of game, but don't pass these bad boys up in game! Turn this token in to purchase your Spiritwalker's Legguards.
Seal of Primordial Shadow - A ring that has a chance to drop off of Morchok, Zon'ozz, Yor'sahj, Hagara, and Warmaster Blackhorn. Best in slot item.
Vial of Shadows - A
trinket that has a chance to drop off of Morchok, Zon'ozz, Yor'sahj,
Hagara, and Warmaster Blackhorn. Best in slot item, though heroic Matrix Restabilizer
is a contender for this trinket slot. Better for your feral
dps/rogues/hunters, but still a sexy trinket for us. If you have a
Matrix, consider passing the Vial off to those other classes until they
all have it.
Moving forward: Besides Morchok, at this point every encounter up until Ship should be one tank, two healable for a team of 10. The only encounter that *might* still require three healers would be Zon'ozz, but with the newly instated 20% nerf our team was able to two heal that encounter with few mishaps (mmm, gotta love ball bugs). After healing some of those heroic fights for so long, the transition back into dps is a bit of a disorienting one. If you're dpsing as enhancement for the first time, don't lose heart! It will take a few pulls to really get into the groove of a some of those fights, as it does with any role.
While I've written a giant wall of text already, the best advice I can ever give is this: Know your rotation, know your tool kit, know the encounter. The rest just takes practice in order to put the pieces together properly.
Never let your axes go dull or your wolves go hungry.
Showing posts with label Videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Videos. Show all posts
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Moar work? Okie dokie...
Right, I have a blog and whatnot that I've been neglecting, don't I?
I assure you all that I have not fallen off of the face of the planet as far as blogging is concerned, I have not forgotten about Heroic Dragon Soul enhancement guides (to be coming very soon I hope, with video), nor have I completely dropped the leveling guide.
The truth is, I've been incredibly busy within WoW itself. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, I'm sure you are aware of how much I've been raiding, both with my home server guild and with Twitterland Raiding. I'm also now in the MoP beta (Sazzination on Lost Isles, Alliance), but unfortunately I haven't had a ton of time to do any testing. Though, I have had time to start up a TLR guild on beta called Twitterland Raiding, which all of you beta goers are more than welcome to join!
On top of raiding like a fiend, I've been doing a LOT of video recording and editing. Some of which I'd like to showcase now. Feel free to subscribe to either channel, or just watch Twitter/the Facebook pages for when new videos are posted. Or don't, I'm fine with that too! : )
Twitterland Raiding <---Youtube Channel
SerenitySaz <---Youtube Channel
^ Still very excited about that one. H-Spine is HELL. Heroic Madness should be taken down this week and a video for it should be up by next week.
^ A not so sketchy version of Path and I duoing Kael'thas in Tempest Keep. With both of us in Dragon Soul gear we should be able to easily solo this guy, but we keep running together because it's our thing. Still no Ashes Al'ar, qq.
I'm really hoping that once some of the progression dust settles with my guild and Heroic Dragon Soul that I'll be on a somewhat calmer schedule, though we're still farming Heroic Firelands for legendary pieces for our boomkin and mounts from Heroic Ragnaros (there's a video for that too!) for our members, that I'll be able to have a bit more time for the MoP beta and for blogging.
Until that time comes though, please feel free to bug me on Twitter or come hang out with myself and the other fine Twitterland Raiding folks in one of our many cross-realm raids (Battle Tags, are you here yet?!), or come hang out in the beta if/once you have your invites!
Stay sexy, my friends.
I assure you all that I have not fallen off of the face of the planet as far as blogging is concerned, I have not forgotten about Heroic Dragon Soul enhancement guides (to be coming very soon I hope, with video), nor have I completely dropped the leveling guide.
The truth is, I've been incredibly busy within WoW itself. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, I'm sure you are aware of how much I've been raiding, both with my home server guild and with Twitterland Raiding. I'm also now in the MoP beta (Sazzination on Lost Isles, Alliance), but unfortunately I haven't had a ton of time to do any testing. Though, I have had time to start up a TLR guild on beta called Twitterland Raiding, which all of you beta goers are more than welcome to join!
On top of raiding like a fiend, I've been doing a LOT of video recording and editing. Some of which I'd like to showcase now. Feel free to subscribe to either channel, or just watch Twitter/the Facebook pages for when new videos are posted. Or don't, I'm fine with that too! : )
Twitterland Raiding <---Youtube Channel
SerenitySaz <---Youtube Channel
^ Still very excited about that one. H-Spine is HELL. Heroic Madness should be taken down this week and a video for it should be up by next week.
^ A not so sketchy version of Path and I duoing Kael'thas in Tempest Keep. With both of us in Dragon Soul gear we should be able to easily solo this guy, but we keep running together because it's our thing. Still no Ashes Al'ar, qq.
I'm really hoping that once some of the progression dust settles with my guild and Heroic Dragon Soul that I'll be on a somewhat calmer schedule, though we're still farming Heroic Firelands for legendary pieces for our boomkin and mounts from Heroic Ragnaros (there's a video for that too!) for our members, that I'll be able to have a bit more time for the MoP beta and for blogging.
Until that time comes though, please feel free to bug me on Twitter or come hang out with myself and the other fine Twitterland Raiding folks in one of our many cross-realm raids (Battle Tags, are you here yet?!), or come hang out in the beta if/once you have your invites!
Stay sexy, my friends.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Updates!
Once again two weeks have somehow flown by despite my being bored out of my gourde due to lack of internet time. Thankfully I've managed to keep myself semi-busy with a small list of WoW-related projects. Here's a quick run down of what I've been up to!
---
First up we have articles. The first of several that I've been working on is posted below this particular post. How to Become a Raider is actually a three part article and I wrote it with a friend of mine in mind. Parts two and three of this particular guide will probably be up either tomorrow or the day after.
I have five total articles/guides in the works right now, though only three are "completed" at this point in time. I hope to have these all reformatted (I highly recommend to NOT use Notepad if you ever plan on transferring something to a different medium...it's not a happy time) with links active in the next few days.
Now, keep in mind that I have been working on these articles sans an internet connection or access to WoW post 4.0.1. If there are any mistakes or information I've missed, please say something! I'd like these buggers to be as useful and accurate as possible, and sadly I'm well aware of the fact that I'll miff something up along the lines due to my currently patchy online access.
---
Next on our list of fun things that Saz has been working on is my video! Prior to leaving this last time I managed to transfer all of my old screen shots from my external hard drive over to my laptop (hey, if WoW can't fit, may as well stuff this shell with pictures right?!) and uh, let's just say that I have a few. 17,438 at the last count actually, with only a few duplicates. Honestly there would probably be a few more, but thanks to several viruses and one melted hard drive the number was lowered a bit!
Anyways, I wanted to do something with those screen shots, so I kind of did a memorial video. Despite a few minor formatting issues, I'm rather fond of it. You can go check out Reflection over on my Youtube page.
---
The Jenesee Project - I've been doing some minor work on the Jenesee story line, but for now this project is basically halted thanks to 4.0.1. I'll explain why in a bit. Regardless of this project's temporary delay, I've been doing some much needed character development and will be doing some research during my stay.
---
Milly Bays - No idea where this project currently stands. Possibly more on this later.
---
The OA Project - Still on the edge of the recycle bin due to computer issues. This five part project may never see completion, especially since the original idea behind it needs to be completed before December 7th...I don't see this happening unless some sort of miracle happens. Sad day batman...sad day indeed.
---
Mmm, that's it project-wise I think. So, this whole issue with me having to postpone or even think about tossing some projects out...simply put, my laptop and computer luck sucks. No lies. OA is postponed thanks to a blown CPU that isn't replaceable, Jenesee is postponed due to the fact that my laptop only has a 40g hard drive and thanks to 4.0.1 WoW no longer fits no matter how much I strip out of my machine (hence why I had been using Notebook to write my articles in instead of Microsoft Word, which would make things 10x easier. I had completely stripped out Microsoft Office in hopes to make a bit more room, but in the end it simply wasn't enough). It's rather frustrating to be held back by silly things like CPUs and hard drive space, but I'm resourceful, even if I am a bit tapped out at the moment. Much like how low fps has actually helped me in a weird way become a better player in WoW, I'm sure these set backs will somehow shape me into some more clever beast in the future : P
So yes, for now my in game experience is limited and there's unfortunately no time frame as to when I'll make my return to Azeroth. As I said earlier, if you have anything to add or correct to any of my guides, please say something. Thanks to my wonky circumstances I'm certain to miss a few large key points no matter how many times I reread these things or how much digging I do.
I <3 feedback.
I suppose that's all for the moment. More to come after I've slept a bit!
---
First up we have articles. The first of several that I've been working on is posted below this particular post. How to Become a Raider is actually a three part article and I wrote it with a friend of mine in mind. Parts two and three of this particular guide will probably be up either tomorrow or the day after.
I have five total articles/guides in the works right now, though only three are "completed" at this point in time. I hope to have these all reformatted (I highly recommend to NOT use Notepad if you ever plan on transferring something to a different medium...it's not a happy time) with links active in the next few days.
Now, keep in mind that I have been working on these articles sans an internet connection or access to WoW post 4.0.1. If there are any mistakes or information I've missed, please say something! I'd like these buggers to be as useful and accurate as possible, and sadly I'm well aware of the fact that I'll miff something up along the lines due to my currently patchy online access.
---
Next on our list of fun things that Saz has been working on is my video! Prior to leaving this last time I managed to transfer all of my old screen shots from my external hard drive over to my laptop (hey, if WoW can't fit, may as well stuff this shell with pictures right?!) and uh, let's just say that I have a few. 17,438 at the last count actually, with only a few duplicates. Honestly there would probably be a few more, but thanks to several viruses and one melted hard drive the number was lowered a bit!
Anyways, I wanted to do something with those screen shots, so I kind of did a memorial video. Despite a few minor formatting issues, I'm rather fond of it. You can go check out Reflection over on my Youtube page.
---
The Jenesee Project - I've been doing some minor work on the Jenesee story line, but for now this project is basically halted thanks to 4.0.1. I'll explain why in a bit. Regardless of this project's temporary delay, I've been doing some much needed character development and will be doing some research during my stay.
---
Milly Bays - No idea where this project currently stands. Possibly more on this later.
---
The OA Project - Still on the edge of the recycle bin due to computer issues. This five part project may never see completion, especially since the original idea behind it needs to be completed before December 7th...I don't see this happening unless some sort of miracle happens. Sad day batman...sad day indeed.
---
Mmm, that's it project-wise I think. So, this whole issue with me having to postpone or even think about tossing some projects out...simply put, my laptop and computer luck sucks. No lies. OA is postponed thanks to a blown CPU that isn't replaceable, Jenesee is postponed due to the fact that my laptop only has a 40g hard drive and thanks to 4.0.1 WoW no longer fits no matter how much I strip out of my machine (hence why I had been using Notebook to write my articles in instead of Microsoft Word, which would make things 10x easier. I had completely stripped out Microsoft Office in hopes to make a bit more room, but in the end it simply wasn't enough). It's rather frustrating to be held back by silly things like CPUs and hard drive space, but I'm resourceful, even if I am a bit tapped out at the moment. Much like how low fps has actually helped me in a weird way become a better player in WoW, I'm sure these set backs will somehow shape me into some more clever beast in the future : P
So yes, for now my in game experience is limited and there's unfortunately no time frame as to when I'll make my return to Azeroth. As I said earlier, if you have anything to add or correct to any of my guides, please say something. Thanks to my wonky circumstances I'm certain to miss a few large key points no matter how many times I reread these things or how much digging I do.
I <3 feedback.
I suppose that's all for the moment. More to come after I've slept a bit!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Videos
G4's The MMO Report kind of made me giggle a bit. It's also the MMO Report that I've been waiting on for months now about Cataclysm's release date, but of course I've known for quite a few days now thanks to WoWInsider. I'm kind of enticed by Star Wars: Old Republic despite the fact that I've never been a huge Star Wars fan...perhaps I'll give it a go eventually, just to shake things up a bit.
I saw this video a while back on some of the zone and graphic changes happening in WoW. I'd also recommend checking out Reznik's other videos. He seems to do a lot of, erm, exploiting (which I do not recommend doing), so if you've ever been curious about how GM Island really looks, or what it's like in the unfinished version of the Emerald Dream, take a look at this guy's profile.
Lately I've been listening to a lot of WoW based music. By WoW based I mean that this music is written and/or performed by actual factual WoW players. Some specialize in parodies, some do original works. While I've been a fan of Gigi and Nyhm for quite some time now, lately I've really been getting into Abandonation and especially Sharm. Check these guys out. If you enjoy WoW related media, these folks shouldn't disappoint!
Eventually I'd really like to get into machinima. What is machinima? Well, it's more or less you taking WoW (it's scenery, characters, etc) and turning it into a video. This video may be a music video, or it may have a story base to it much like a normal movie would. There are many talented machinima artists out there, but my current favorite is Quix0tica. Definitely have a look at her work if you're at all interested in WoW machinima.
For a full list of my current youtube favorites, head over here. I'm always looking for new inspiration, so if you have anyone new for me to check out, let me know! And yes, that is my youtube page...hopefully sometime in the next few months it'll contain videos that aren't just favorites, but actually made by me.
Project Update
- Milly has a voice, and it's cute! Hopefully she'll be making her official debut in the next month or so.
- Jenesee didn't get any work done on her today, and possibly won't see any further progress tomorrow either. Updates on her may need to wait a few weeks, depending on how long I'm offline for.
- That's it for right this second. The list may look short, but it's keeping me busy! I'm rather excited about these two projects, and I can't wait to see them develop and see the finished products.
That's all for now!
I saw this video a while back on some of the zone and graphic changes happening in WoW. I'd also recommend checking out Reznik's other videos. He seems to do a lot of, erm, exploiting (which I do not recommend doing), so if you've ever been curious about how GM Island really looks, or what it's like in the unfinished version of the Emerald Dream, take a look at this guy's profile.
Lately I've been listening to a lot of WoW based music. By WoW based I mean that this music is written and/or performed by actual factual WoW players. Some specialize in parodies, some do original works. While I've been a fan of Gigi and Nyhm for quite some time now, lately I've really been getting into Abandonation and especially Sharm. Check these guys out. If you enjoy WoW related media, these folks shouldn't disappoint!
Eventually I'd really like to get into machinima. What is machinima? Well, it's more or less you taking WoW (it's scenery, characters, etc) and turning it into a video. This video may be a music video, or it may have a story base to it much like a normal movie would. There are many talented machinima artists out there, but my current favorite is Quix0tica. Definitely have a look at her work if you're at all interested in WoW machinima.
For a full list of my current youtube favorites, head over here. I'm always looking for new inspiration, so if you have anyone new for me to check out, let me know! And yes, that is my youtube page...hopefully sometime in the next few months it'll contain videos that aren't just favorites, but actually made by me.
Project Update
- Milly has a voice, and it's cute! Hopefully she'll be making her official debut in the next month or so.
- Jenesee didn't get any work done on her today, and possibly won't see any further progress tomorrow either. Updates on her may need to wait a few weeks, depending on how long I'm offline for.
- That's it for right this second. The list may look short, but it's keeping me busy! I'm rather excited about these two projects, and I can't wait to see them develop and see the finished products.
That's all for now!
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