The Daily Blues

Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler's latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we'll keep you informed.
Several of you pointed out yesterday that the blue quotes were showing up outside of the normal iPhone / iPod Touch page width. This problem should now be corrected.
Several of you pointed out yesterday that the blue quotes were showing up outside of the normal iPhone / iPod Touch page width. This problem should now be corrected.
Ghostcrawler
Ghostcrawler has been known to say he doesn't like his quotes being taken out of context, but in this case, how could I resist?Now on to the real stuff...
But the stress is why it's fun!
Here is the best advice I can give someone who feels overwhelmed. Your job isn't to keep everyone at 100%. Your job is to keep anyone from hitting 0%. If someone's hurt, but stable, then they may not need your attention right away. You're the medic, so you need to practice triage. There will be enough breaks to get those folks who aren't at 100% back up there at some point.
This is the part where focusing on unit frames to the exclusion of all else can get you in trouble. As you start to really learn the fights, you tend to get a feeling for when the damage is coming. If the boss is going to do a big AE pulse soon, then try and get everyone up quickly. If the hunter pulled aggro and got hit, but has since feigned, then she's probably okay for a bit.
Here is the best advice I can give someone who feels overwhelmed. Your job isn't to keep everyone at 100%. Your job is to keep anyone from hitting 0%. If someone's hurt, but stable, then they may not need your attention right away. You're the medic, so you need to practice triage. There will be enough breaks to get those folks who aren't at 100% back up there at some point.
This is the part where focusing on unit frames to the exclusion of all else can get you in trouble. As you start to really learn the fights, you tend to get a feeling for when the damage is coming. If the boss is going to do a big AE pulse soon, then try and get everyone up quickly. If the hunter pulled aggro and got hit, but has since feigned, then she's probably okay for a bit.
You put 5 points in Icy Talons. While fighting (and applying Frost Fever), you swing 20% faster. If you have talented Windfury Totem on you, you swing a total of 40% faster.
You now put a 6th point in Improved Icy Talons as well. You have a passive personal 25% haste at all times. When you engage in combat and apply Frost Fever, you now have 45% melee haste. If you have Windfury also, you still only have 45% haste since Windfury and Improved Icy Talons are exclusive.
This is basically a 20% haste buff to any DK who has Icy Talons and Improved Icy Talons.
You now put a 6th point in Improved Icy Talons as well. You have a passive personal 25% haste at all times. When you engage in combat and apply Frost Fever, you now have 45% melee haste. If you have Windfury also, you still only have 45% haste since Windfury and Improved Icy Talons are exclusive.
This is basically a 20% haste buff to any DK who has Icy Talons and Improved Icy Talons.
Yeah, as I said in another thread just now, I think the paladin is an outlier. It's okay for healers to have things they are slightly better at or slightly worse at, but the paladin is too firmly cemented into the role of MT healer. We don't want building a raid to be "Okay, grab a paladin and another healer." It should be "Grab 2 healers, preferably different ones." This doesn't mean paladin nerfs are incoming, because some of the problem is the nature of healing right now (huge constant swings, unlimited mana, much spamming, little coordination), and the other half of that is making sure a paladin on raid heal duty didn't feel gimped.
I think Holy and Disc work together okay. Disc and Disc definitely collide, but it's not the worst thing in the world to be asked to bring 2 of the 5 healers. As Holy, I would generally leave the shielding to the Disc priest, but if dude was going to die, then you did your job and the Disc priest was just too slow. I wouldn't worry about PoM collision. More PoMs tend to just provide more healing.
Now in general I wish there was a little more coordination among healers, but the current damage model we have just doesn't really allow it. I remember when tanking Molten Core, that the priest would say over vent "Big heal coming on the OT!" as he powered up a Greater Heal. You don't have that luxury these days. One of our designers was watching an old Illidan video recently and remarked how everyone was at 50% for so much of the fight. Now days someone is at 100%, will hit 100% in the next couple of GCDs, or will be dead. In that environment, you'd get "Big --" out of your mouth before it would be too late. Players need more health and heals have to be a little more expensive.
Now in general I wish there was a little more coordination among healers, but the current damage model we have just doesn't really allow it. I remember when tanking Molten Core, that the priest would say over vent "Big heal coming on the OT!" as he powered up a Greater Heal. You don't have that luxury these days. One of our designers was watching an old Illidan video recently and remarked how everyone was at 50% for so much of the fight. Now days someone is at 100%, will hit 100% in the next couple of GCDs, or will be dead. In that environment, you'd get "Big --" out of your mouth before it would be too late. Players need more health and heals have to be a little more expensive.
Stay tuned to WoW.com for Dawn Moore's extended analysis of the priest and healing discussion Ghostcrawler has been having with the community.
Other
New Player Realms
Normal/PvE: Vek'nilash
PvP: Haomarush
Free Character Moves (FCM)
The free Character Moves below are available until the end of March 2nd. To use a free Character Move, please login to your Account Management and select Character Move, or click on the following link:
https://www.wow-europe.com/character/character-move.html
Please note: FCMs are opened based on realm population tracking and analysis and not by request. If you're looking for a specific Character Move (from realm A to realm B), you are in most cases better off using Paid Character Transfer, or you could end up waiting for a very long time.
PvP Realms
From: Burning Legion, Grim Batol, Kazzak, Outland, Sylvanas, Ragnaros
To: Executus, Genjuros
Alliance only:
From: Frostmane, Neptulon, Ravencrest
To: Boulderfist, Dentarg, Emeriss, Laughing Skull, Spinebreaker
Horde only:
From: Al'Akir, Magtheridon, Stormscale
To: Trollbane
RP Realms
From: Argent Dawn
To: Darkmoon Faire, Earthen Ring, Moonglade, Steamwheedle Cartel, The Sha'tar
PvP to PvE Realm Conversion FCM
The free Character Moves below are available until March 10th:
From: Vek'nilash
To: Haomarush, Trollbane, Zenedar
For more information on this Realm Conversion, please check this link:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12304662580
Paid Character Transfers (PCT)
All English realms follow the regular PCT rules, found here.
Normal/PvE: Vek'nilash
PvP: Haomarush
Free Character Moves (FCM)
The free Character Moves below are available until the end of March 2nd. To use a free Character Move, please login to your Account Management and select Character Move, or click on the following link:
https://www.wow-europe.com/character/character-move.html
Please note: FCMs are opened based on realm population tracking and analysis and not by request. If you're looking for a specific Character Move (from realm A to realm B), you are in most cases better off using Paid Character Transfer, or you could end up waiting for a very long time.
PvP Realms
From: Burning Legion, Grim Batol, Kazzak, Outland, Sylvanas, Ragnaros
To: Executus, Genjuros
Alliance only:
From: Frostmane, Neptulon, Ravencrest
To: Boulderfist, Dentarg, Emeriss, Laughing Skull, Spinebreaker
Horde only:
From: Al'Akir, Magtheridon, Stormscale
To: Trollbane
RP Realms
From: Argent Dawn
To: Darkmoon Faire, Earthen Ring, Moonglade, Steamwheedle Cartel, The Sha'tar
PvP to PvE Realm Conversion FCM
The free Character Moves below are available until March 10th:
From: Vek'nilash
To: Haomarush, Trollbane, Zenedar
For more information on this Realm Conversion, please check this link:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12304662580
Paid Character Transfers (PCT)
All English realms follow the regular PCT rules, found here.
G'tath found himself sitting on the tram from Ironforge to Stormwind. With no memory of how he got there, he looked around and checked to see if he was ok. Then he noticed it. There was a letter strapped onto his right arm. He carefully unstrapped it, and began to read???.
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12606771331&sid=1
----
If you have any in-game events you'd like to bring to the Community's attention, please be sure to post up the details of the event in the Events and Fan Creations forum: http://forums.wow-europe.com/board.html?forumId=110221&sid=1
- When you are reading this, you are probably on the deeprun tram on the way to Stormwind, with little memory of how you got there. For this, I apologise, but something had to be done.
I have come across evidence that the horde are planning a very large assault on the Human city of Stormwind. An assault so big that if Varian is not warned, the element of surprise might actually lead to Horde victory. Unfortunately, I find myself confined inside a magically sealed chamber, deep inside the icy peaks of Northrend. I was lured into this prison by the cunning Mr Bigglesworth???
But enough about that. Time is short, and you are the Alliance's last hope. Make haste to Stormwind, and deliver this letter to the Human king. I have magically encased this letter with the full details of my warning, and once he touches the parchment it will reveal itself.
Now go – Take this letter and go!
- Menduk Makai
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12606771331&sid=1
----
If you have any in-game events you'd like to bring to the Community's attention, please be sure to post up the details of the event in the Events and Fan Creations forum: http://forums.wow-europe.com/board.html?forumId=110221&sid=1
I'm still questing and picking up quests like this on my alts. I like having a variety of options available to me when leveling, so it's easy to run a few quests when you're not ready (or have time) to group, grab the dungeon quests then head in to the Dungeon Finder tool. If I'm not in the mood for that, I know I can hop into the Battlegrounds for a bit. It's fun but also keeps me humble when it comes to what I still need to work on with my characters. ;)
Filed under: The Daily Blues






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zalvi24 Feb 25th 2010 11:31PM
There are no plans to allow such as service, currently.
we will get it................................................ eventually.
see what i did there?.......................................seriously.
iammurlocftw Feb 26th 2010 7:22AM
Well they do have it in SWG. I'd assume they'd do what SWG did which is if you change from one class to other that does what you do, you get to keep your level, but say in WoW if you changed from tank/dps to heal/dps or from pure dps to tank/dps or heal/dps then you get de leveled so people don't just pick the "easiest" class to level with. That said, SWG also makes it free the first time and a huge cost after that, so I'd assume it'd be free and then another of those 20-30k gold sinks
Hivetyrant Feb 25th 2010 11:43PM
I like that GC is concerend with the current healing model and wants it more like it was back in the old day (bigger health pools, but more expensive heals and therefor proper healing management) it would be nice to go back to how it used to be (actually having to think about healing rather than having pretty much everything on CD)
To me, it was the constant calculating and thinking that made healing fun, but having returned to raiding after a looong hiatus, it really just seems to be "Get better gear->cast everything not on CD for big green numbers and hope the tank/raid doesn't get one hit"
Muse Feb 26th 2010 3:01AM
He definitely plays a healer. He's posted just a few too many posts with insight into healer mindset and strategy that you don't get by just reading about it or listening to someone talking. Now, we don't know exactly what class, but the old outline for how a holy paladin should handle Loken back when Loken was on WoW's #1 deadliest mob list.... yeah. That's what my money's on.
Ozzard Feb 26th 2010 3:11AM
Dr. Street "has a lot of experience" running a tree, from a previous blue post (yesterday, I think). I'd be very surprised if it was the only thing he played, though!
Alexander Feb 26th 2010 4:13AM
I saw him commenting deeply on priests once in the past few days. So I'm pretty sure he plays priest.
Gundehar Feb 26th 2010 4:49AM
Just to confirm, he went on extensively about priest Disc/Holy healing from a personal perspective (i.e., "this is how I play mine"): http://www.wow.com/2010/02/24/the-daily-blues/.
Thought I recall seeing him say something about having a shaman as well, but I don't remember where I saw that one.
Hollow Leviathan Feb 26th 2010 5:09AM
He recently commented on priests with insight, but admitted that he mostly heals on a druid.
Argojax Feb 25th 2010 11:50PM
I think taken out of context GC's response to the Amp/Damp question could be misleading. The OP ended with a question like, "So, GC, can we get them raid-wide and hour-long?" I'm fairly certain that's what he was responding No to, not that they don't make sense (though they don't really).
Shrike Feb 26th 2010 12:20AM
He clarified in the thread, saying that his "No" was in response to the subject line of the thread, not in response to the buff request.
brian Feb 26th 2010 12:49AM
He made a second post later, clarifying that the "No" was to making sense, not the request.
Listerofsmeg Feb 26th 2010 12:12AM
"Does the Mage's Amplify / Dampen magic make sense as it exists in game?
No"
Lol always wondered about abplify/dampen magic. its never ever needed, asked for or invited to the damn cool kids party
nieboh Feb 26th 2010 4:54PM
Sometimes when I'm out on my own somewhere killing mobs for dailies or whatnot I remember I have that spell (dampen magic) and cast it. I mean, maybe I'll come across a caster and they'll do a little less damage to me before they die. But it only lasts 10 minutes and my arcane intellect and molten armor last half an hour...so it usually ends up being on me for 10 minutes out of 30. Or I forget about it again and don't bother. It's such a doozy of a mediocre spell.
Frank Feb 26th 2010 1:11AM
/agreed
glad to hear that GC thinks amplify/dampen doesn't make sense. i've never even bothered to learn amplify, and i don't run into much need for dampen. the tooltip is just written in a confusing manner. i hope they fix it.
Imnick Feb 26th 2010 6:20AM
Only use I've ever found for them is Saurfang and casting it on people who won't notice when I'm about to duel them, or casting dampen on myself when I'm dueling another mage or caster because I can't heal anyway.
Jafari Feb 26th 2010 12:30PM
I use Amp magic sometimes on tanks when I know there is a boss fight with only physical damage (Patchwerk, for example). 200+ extra healing spellpower is noticable. Never really use dampen magic in PvE though.
What I would like, though, is a way for the casting mage to remove it. I always feel a little embarrased when after a fight I have to whisper the tank to dispell my Amp magic "buff."
Zhiva Feb 26th 2010 1:39AM
Will there be a race change service?
There are no plans to allow such as service, currently.
Will there be a character re-customisation service?
There are no plans to allow such as service, currently.
CM Feb 26th 2010 2:36AM
Race changes and faction changes are basically cosmetic...class changes are a completely different thing. Allowing class transfers would be a disaster.
Marky Feb 26th 2010 5:32AM
@CM, maybe we could just have class transfers for DKs and Hunters?
Gahad Feb 26th 2010 2:21PM
@CM How about a class change feature where you become level 1, lose all your weapon and riding skills, and all your quest history, and are instantly teleported back to your starting zone (cinematic and all)?
You keep your achievements, faction rep, flightpaths, trade skills, gear (99% of which is now vendor trash) and currencies.
Sure, you'll level up quickly - but not much more quickly than someone who'd rolled a completely new character with heirlooms, or someone's mate who's never played before and joined on recruit-a-friend.
I've played my character - one character - for five years. I think class change (done right) makes much more sense than race change or faction change ever did. And if I could take my level 80 Tauren Hunter, and convert him to a level 1 Tauren Paladin in Cataclysm, I'd be happy to level up again. I just don't want to lose everything my character is and has done in order to get that.