Recruiting isn't what I'd call a fun past time. Ever since server transfers exploded on the scene, it's not unusual for our guild's officers to spend 30 min to an hour per day scanning the WoW Guild Recruitment forums (Alliance and Horde flavors). With summer hitting, no major content in the immediate future, and what I'd like to call the 3rd Year Burnout affecting players, recruitment is more important than ever to keep a guild's progress going.

There are a lot of options out there to find people LFG, but the WoW Guild Recruitment forums continue to be the largest source of potential class replacements. They're not perfect, though. For one, you'll spend more time trying to find the class you're looking for than actually posting replies to viable recruits. And with the speed at which new posts are made (20 minutes after you post, you're on page 5), it can be extremely daunting trying to keep up with them all.

Join me after the jump to learn how WoW Lemmings has changed all that.

Continue reading Dive right into recruiting with WoW Lemmings

Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Guilds, Raiding, Classes, Interviews

Dive right into recruiting with WoW Lemmings originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. That above is the fun product of Wordle. I creatively call it "WoW WWS Healing". Click on it to give it a spin of your own.

So, if you've just randomly stumbled upon this multi-part saga on WWS meets healing, here's a lovely link to get you caught up. For the rest of you operating with mere short term memory lapses, this link right here will transport you to the example WWS we've been mulling about. But more on that after the jump.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers Part 4

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers Part 4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. A lot of times when I'm sifting through data on WWS, I feel like I need Sherlock Holmes' hat and magnifying glass. Today is no exception.

If you're just joining the series for the first time, here's a link to get you caught up. The rest of you should recall that we left things on the cusp of actually going through WWS. Today we will rectify that and get into the nuts and bolts of WWS healing analysis. See you healing sleuths after the break!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Analyzing you healers Part 3

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Analyzing you healers Part 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. Interweb friends, I am sorry I've been MIA so long. It was an accident, I swear! I have missed you. /sniff

Last time, creatively called Part 1, we went over healing analysis philosophy and all the tools you'll need to be sure you're seeing the whole picture. This time? My little whelps, we are going to start in on the big one: WWS healorz style. Grab a snack and join me after the break as I cover exactly what you should have in your grubby little hands before even pretending to know what's going on in WWS.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers Part 2

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers Part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. Holyrizz, a Dwarf Holy Priest on Thrall, sent in this screenie of RoS. You know the best part? The tiny mage peeking out from under all of the raidframes. Click on it for a bigger version.

Doing the assignments is the glamorous and most visually apparent part of being a healing lead. Every boss fight you dish out tasks with a hefty side of sage advice like "If it's on the floor, stand in it no more." and my favorite "Ok, one more time with feeling." after some rather nasty wipage. The healers look to you for guidance and the ability to use each class to their fullest potential.

Well, in order to do that last part, you need to be serious about the real purpose of you position: setting the bar for performance expectations and helping every healer reach or exceed them. This isn't an easy task by any means, but it's definitely something that needs to be done to maintain the well-oiled machine that is your healer group.

In this series, I'm going over how to analyze your healing team, including various tools and techniques, plus how to relay that information back in a way that motivates a healer to change. Note that I didn't say it'll motivate them to like you and bake you cookies. If that's what you're going for, you need to switch to Guild Nice Person and save yourself the heartache.

Today I'm going to talk about my philosophy when it comes to analyzing classes you haven't played, plus what you need in place to perform a solid, thorough critique of you healers.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers Part 1

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Raiding, Guides, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers Part 1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. People sure can be pushy when it comes to drops. Hands off, ladies. That Netherweave is mine!

Today I share with you one of my deepest secrets. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't lay awake at night, seething about the unfairness of raiding drops. Oh, sure, there's always that elusive piece that has a 0.0002% drop rate that every healer wants. Those are pie in the sky dreams of healing uberness. No, that's not what I mean.

I'm talking about the regular gear that's supposed to be dropping at semi-predictable intervals every week. Most bosses have a fairly limited loot table, and in the raiding world, most of that centers around the tier token system. You are supposed to have a 1 in 3 chance of seeing your token on any given kill. But what if that goes horribly wrong? And worse, what if it starts hurting progression?

Join me after the jump for a tale of woe and angst, plus what Blizzard has been doing to unintentionally fix the situation (sorta).

Continue reading Raid Rx: Are tier token drops fair?

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Are tier token drops fair? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. As you can see above, Kevin is just about done with the second floor of his farm house!

I realize a number of you are most likely new to the Hello Kitty Online (HKO) world. While the package may seem sickly sweet to those transferring over from playing Undead, the belf in me seems to be able to accept that everyone must wear a bow. I raid in pink and purple, after all. I've also come to appreciate the impact this game is going to have on the raiding community at large. And that's what I want to share with you today.

Join me after the break for details around how raiding in HKO is an improvement in the right direction for MMORPG raiding!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Raiding in Sanrio

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Fan stuff, Raiding, Leveling, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Raiding in Sanrio originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. I need a T-Shirt that says "I came, I saw, I forgot to stand inside the circle and got locked out of the Kale Fight." /bonk

So some of my diehard fans (hi mom!) might notice that this week I've deviated from my normal Tuesday posting to bring you all the latest healer gossip... err... tips from the newest 25-man raid scene. My goal is to do a compilation of all the major raiding changes reported since the patch went live. After that I'll get into the things I learned the hard way last night on Kalecgos. Join me after the break!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Raiding meets Patch 2.4

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Add-Ons, Raiding, Bosses, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Raiding meets Patch 2.4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. If you take a looksee at the picture to the right, you'll notice something staggering: +3206 Healing. I've enlarged the number for your viewing pleasure, covering over the 0 Hit Rating in the process.

Yes, gear has a lot to do with such a high +healing number, but lest we forget the impact of consumables. Behind the scenes, our lovely shammy model is sporting the latest in elixir and food chompables, namely [Elixir of Healing Power], [Elixir of Draenic Wisdom], and what I'm guessing to be [Golden Fish Sticks].

And that's what I'm here to talk about today... Healing Consumables: How they work, what they do, and when you should be using them. All of that and maybe a bit more can be found behind the break.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Consumed

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Raiding, Buffs, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Consumed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. I had planned to finish the title with "Not by the hair on this Dwarf's chinny chin chin!!" but I've been foiled by the T5 hood. Sad.

Many moons ago, I covered what a healing lead needed to get their 25-man off the ground and into mob-infested content. Today I'd like to look at the other side of the coin - what it takes to get into a 25-man raiding guild as a healer.

There are two common paths into 25-man raiding. The first is bum a ride with your Karazhan groups to Gruul, Mags and onward into infamy. This is pretty ideal since everyone you're playing with is continually at the same level of progression, like gear and raid faction rep. You should also have some experience playing with your fellow healers, at least in pairs.

The second way to get into 25-man raids is to transfer guilds, typically because your current one has been unable to progress for whatever reason. This isn't always an easy process, especially since guilds can be as picky as they choose and it's up to you to make a good impression. Since this is probably the most difficult way to get into 25-mans, I'm going to cover what you need to do to be successful at getting your foot in the door from entry to end-game guilds. Right after the break, that is!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Little guild, little guild... Let me in!

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Alchemy, Tailoring, Enchanting, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Jewelcrafting, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Little guild, little guild... Let me in! originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more

What do you do for WoW Insider?
I write the weekly Raid Rx column every Tuesday and filled in on Ready Check for a bit. Occasionally you'll see me put up a post about something I've come across or make a guest appearance on another column, but between work and WoW, Raid Rx is plenty for me.

What's your main right now?
I play Valyre, Blood Elf Holy Paladin, queen of lewts and all things pink and purple. Currently I'm my guild's healing lead, webmaster, recruitment officer, and general avoider of MH. Someday our Priests and Locks will have spent enough of their DKP for me to get the T6 shoulders. Until then, I drool on those that have them.

Continue reading About the Bloggers: Marcie Knox

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Interviews, About the Bloggers

About the Bloggers: Marcie Knox originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. Sometimes healing can be a bit too serious, imo. Sure, it's your life or death, but come on... Let me have some fun, too.

"But the meters..." has long been the cry of dps who just aggro pulled a cleaving mob over top half the raid, the reason trash mobs are running loose, and why someone just died from a rather nasty curse. But the love of being numero uno isn't confined to those that pew pew. Not by a long shot.

Raid healers are often stereotyped as some sort of self-sacrificing pacifist whose sole goal in life is to help others, sometimes at their own peril. They're like raid moms who make sure the crazed damage dealers have remembered their lunches and that the brutish tanks have their shoes tied. And the raid absolutely cannot take a step forward unless every single person is buffed. Leave off one Fort and the world will end as we know it.

Blah! While the rest of the raid runs from damage, we face it head-on. Everything a boss dishes out, we return and then some. We also make the hard calls, like who has a higher healing priority and who should have known better. And at the end of the day we'll check to see how we did. Today I'm here to tell you how to ensure your place at the top, one beaten down dps'er at a time.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Topping the meters

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, Cheats, How-tos, Humor, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Topping the meters originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. Btw, Kil'jaeden says hi! Ok, maybe not...

This is like the song that never ends. It goes on and on my friends. Who knew there was so much to say about casting faster? I swear this is the last week of it. I'll find something... anything... else to talk about next week. Just stick it out. You can do it!

For a bit of a recap, Part 1 explained how you can reduce casting lag, the first step in getting your heals to land faster. If you haven't read the details, please take the time to do so before you hit up Part 2, the fundamentals of haste. This section covers what haste is, the typical reasons someone would want it, and a breakdown of the common haste healing items as they compare to regular healing gear.

This week I'm going to finish the series with an in-depth look at the remaining haste gear by class, including what's available now and what's coming up in Patch 2.4.

Continue reading Raid Rx: I feel the need... the need for speed Part 3

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Raiding, Guides, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: I feel the need... the need for speed Part 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual,

It never fails. Every time I say something about raiding, I get comments about how people miss the old 40-mans, how the 10-man to 25-man transition doesn't even make mathematical sense, or even how everything should just be 5-mans. (Is that even technically a raid?) So today we're going to chat a bit about raid size and what it really means.

Continue reading Ready Check: Super (raid) size me!

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, Ready Check (Raiding)

Ready Check: Super (raid) size me! originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you.

The last time we parted ways, you had been left with some casting lag reduction homework. This was the first step in pumping up your healing per second (HPS) with little in the way of capital cost. Today we're going to cover spell haste.

I have a ton to say, per normal, so I'm gonna hide all the healorz juiciness behind the jump. You'll prolly want to go and get a snack. You're going to need provisions to make it through, methinks. I'll wait here until you get back, np.

Continue reading Raid Rx: I feel the need... the need for speed Part 2

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: I feel the need... the need for speed Part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The name of the game in raiding is learning what makes a boss tick and using it against them. Since the beginning of PvE there have been people kind enough to figure out the fights and let the rest of us know what to do. You can find strat guides all over the interwebs, including sites like Bosskillers and WoWWiki, plus more.

And while those are great resources that we've used time and time again to defeat our foes, the wall after wall of text has been hard to digest for some of our TLDR (Too Long Didn't Read) members. What if there was an easier and more entertaining way?

Enter Akaineko (Bazlek) and Scorpio_Angel (Zhain) on WoW Ladies and their illustrated boss strats for Leotheras, Lady Vash (Phases 1, 2, and 3), and just out yesterday... dun dun DUN: Illidan 1, 2, and 3. I made Zhain pinky swear that someday they'll do Kael as well.

Now, before you go ripping into their strat guides, be aware there are some language and adult concepts contained therein. These may not be ideal bedtime stories for your 3 yr old, kk?

But they're seriously killer guides and the commentary/art takes learning boss strats to a whole new level.

[Thanks to Jaxson_Bateman for pointing out the additional Illidan parts!]

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, How-tos, Fan stuff, Walkthroughs, Humor, Raiding, Bosses, Guides, Fan art

Illustrated boss strats FTW! originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Kara or BT, everyone can get in on the action and down them some bosses. Sometimes I forget that WoW is set in a Medieval time period, so here's a little of that flavor...

So it's about 5 minutes until raid invites shoot out to the masses. You're sitting there, stacks of flasks and food in-bag, durability at 100%, waiting by the meeting stone until you have raid buddies to summon. You worked all day yesterday to gather the enchanting mats for your new weapon and are itching to try it out on something more than dailies. You're amped. You're stoked. You're ready to roll.

The clock ticks to raid invite time. You wait for the invite window to pop up. The guildie next to you starts firing up a summoning portal. People start populating the area around you. Still nothing. Over your class channel, the call goes out to see if anyone needs anything from the first 3 bosses. Well, crap. You don't. Things aren't looking good, and your status is confirmed when the radi leader puts out the notice to whisper so-and-so to get on the standby list.

What did you do wrong? How can you ensure a raid spot in the future? You may not like the answers.

Continue reading Ready Check: Thou hath no raid spot

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Guides, Classes, Ready Check (Raiding)

Ready Check: Thou hath no raid spot originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, with Patch 2.4, the Purists are getting an upgrade to the default Raid UI. Rislyn says "The Raid UI now can display the range of players relative to you. The option to enable this is in the Party & Raid section of the UI Options." Now, this functionality has been available via RaidRangeAid V2 for a long time now, but personally I never understood why it wasn't built in to begin with. I mean, my spells always know who's close enough, so why not my frames?

Besides the Purists, I think this will mostly benefit the raid's dps and tanks since most don't need a super powerful Raid UI to just check who's dead. I can see this helping the raid leads see at a glance who's at the start point after a wipe before rolling out the ready check. Mages could use the default UI to decurse since it already handles debuff indication. And I'm not talking about just PvE raids. I can see this helping in BG's, too.

From a healing standpoint, I don't see much change. If you're already using the default UI, then you'll have the added bonus of beig more effective. If you're using one of a number of Raid UI addons, you're not going to give up the functionality and style of those for the default. I think a lot more than range would be needed before you start to see healing converts.

What kind of addon player are you? Will this change make you go back to the default Raid UI or were you using it already?

[Thanks to Tam.Zed for the tip!]

Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Add-Ons, Raiding, Battlegrounds

Purists rejoice! originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. I prefer to remember Tom Cruise as he was in Top Gun, crooked smile and no couch jumping.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on reaching your full casting potential. Today we're going to cover how to get around inherent casting latency and next week I'll assault you with so much info on how haste rating affects healing, you'll come back here to hide.

First I'm going to give you a bit of background, so grab your blankie and settle in for a story of mystery and intrigue. Once upon a time, all of the Elitist Jerks healers prayed to the god of stopcasting. Me, being in SSC at the time, figured if all the cool kids were doing it, why not lemming along, too? So I did me some research.

Continue reading Raid Rx: I feel the need... the need for speed Part 1

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Add-Ons, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: I feel the need... the need for speed Part 1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Kara or BT, everyone can get in on the action and down them some bosses. Sadly this week, Hong his stuck clearing trash in SSC. It's bad news when the little fishes come back, trust me.

There are a number of things that drive people to raid. Character improvement is one aspect, but for most raiders that I've run across, it's all about seeing content. These are the explorer/achievers who see bosses not as just a challenge, but as a stepping stone to where even more reclusive mobs and areas exist.

In the past, raids experienced pretty linear difficulty levels as they plowed through instances. You could skip ahead some if you stumbled across a particularly nasty boss (/wave C'thun), but you pretty much just worked down the list of baddies since each one got slightly harder. Even in Naxx where you had four different hallways of death to pick from, and the attunement wasn't dependent whatsoever on previous content you've completed, the progressive levels of boss difficulty kept you on the straight and narrow. You didn't have a chance killing the Instructor if you weren't skilled and geared well enough, no matter how much the Argent Dawn loved you.

Continue reading Ready Check: Progression

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, Bosses, Ready Check (Raiding)

Ready Check: Progression originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enter Grumpycoder with their WoW PaperIdol. While they may not offer a rl figurine, they are the first to provide (that I know of) portrait and full body pictures that auto-update the look of your character as your Armory equipment changes.

What this means is you'll be able to not only keep up with every alt you've accumulated over the years, you can now show them off in their current state of progression. No more WoW blogs with outdated character picts and no more forum avatars that look like you just hit level 5. Feel free to proclaim out into the interwebs what lewts you got last night, safe in the knowledge that without lifting a finger, everyone can see exactly how bad they clash with your Beguiler Robes.

We'll be giving WoW PaperIdol a test drive after the jump!

Continue reading Get Grumpy, Faster and cheaper than Figure Prints!

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Alts, Fan art

Get Grumpy, Faster and cheaper than Figure Prints! originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. When a search for "Alar" (meaning winged) puts this car in your lap, how can you resist? Srsly. The front end even looks like a phoenix. Now this is the legendary mount I want for Love is in the Air... muhahaha

This week's post is a bit different in that I actually got... dun dun DUN... An email! With a question and everything! I know. I'm surprised as you are. I was starting to think my fancy WoW Insider email was broken. Or sending all my fan mail to John over at Shifting Perspectives. You just can't trust ferals.

So after basking in the glow of having something addressed to me, I got to work on a response. In the interest of fostering good raid healing practices, I present you with an Al'ar Tale of Woe after the break.

Continue reading Raid Rx: I has Al'ar, now wut?

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Bosses, Guides, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: I has Al'ar, now wut? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Kara or BT, everyone can get in on the action and down them some bosses. Hong is still recovering from a vicious rabid koala attack, so you'll have to put up with me this week. We both feel sorry for you.

When you're in a raiding guild there is a natural attrition that happens at a slow but constant pace. A mage here will have to start classes, a priest there gets transferred to night shift. Your best rogue suddenly isn't feeling the game anymore and wants to take a break. A couple of friends decide that a more casual guild is better for them... I could spend all day listing the reasons why people take off and leave you hanging.

If you're on a high population server with a good chunk of your faction representin' in raid instances, then the normal course of action is to hit up your realm forums with a post containing who you're looking for and what your guild is like. You bump it every couple of days and wait for people to contact you. You can also spread the word over the guild recruitment channel or even have your guildmates ask around.

But what if you're not on that kind of server? What if you're on a medium population server where the closest guild progressing in your faction is a whole tier behind you?

Continue reading Ready Check: Is Transfering the solution?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Raiding, Ready Check (Raiding)

Ready Check: Is Transfering the solution? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So I did the free sign-up, posted my introduction, and cruised around, looking at the content. I found some really great articles about how to track down who links to your site, some advice on how to get more readers, and even how to make a cool FavIcon. As soon as I can figure out what I can squeeze into a 16px by 16px space, I'm all over that. I also found out that there were other people from my server writing about all kinds of things. It's been a great experience so far.

You don't need to be a blogger to visit, either. Anyone can access their Introductions forum and not only get a long list of blogs ripe for the reading, you can also find out a bit more about some of your favorite WoW players. And if you're thinking about starting to write up your game experiences, they have good info for all the common blogging systems.

May your blog be long and fruitful!

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, News items

Blog Azeroth originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you're out in Eastern Plaguelands, merily working on your 1078th Plague Bat so Tirion can get his jollies by standing next to a hero, and suddenly your screen fills with light tan wings. You try to run, but it's too late. It's not like you can see where you're going anyways, with giant Chiroptera butt in your face. You've just been Dustwing'd.

And once you hit Outlands, it seems like there's a giant baddy around every corner. Fel Reavers roam, looking for... spare parts? Lost love? I don't know, but it was pretty obvious that I should stay away when all I could see were his hubcaps. I also give wide berth to rare striders (ok, all striders because I can't tell the difference) in Zangermarsh, dragons in about 100 different zones, and anything that looks even mildly "elitish" in stature.

It's not just the bad guys that are getting in on the sizing action, either. Those enough with the good fortune of travelling to Mount Hyjal get to see the new and improved Jaina and Thrall. I can't tell you how many jokes exploded in Vent when we first saw them. Yep, that's me next to Jaina in the picture at the top. And no, I didn't have Noggenfogger on. She's really that huge now.

So who's your favorite giant mob? Do you still suffer from weekly "ZOMG NOOO..." nightmares from EPL like me?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, NPCs

Size does matter originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Over on WoW Ladies, a few players have reported that after downloading the patch yesterday afternoon, they couldn't play WoW at all. Either they couldn't connect or would get fatal errors. After contacting Blizz customer service, they were instructed to reinstall the entire game. Since then a hotfix has been issued that seems to have corrected the problem.

Did you experience any patch bugs or has it been smooth sailing?

Filed under: Patches, Bugs, News items

Patch 2.3.3 glitches originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. See that up there? That's Grid. Honest. No, really. The names have been blanked out to protect the wicked.

Ok. Stop the QQ'ing right there. I know WoW Insider has covered Grid before and mentioned it last week, and even I've talked about it in passing. What's the difference now? I'm covering nitty gritty, the stuff you need to know to make your raiding life easier. We're talking a full-body assault on one of the most popular healer raid frame addons out there. And it's our secret, kk? 'Cause the Addon Spotlight people will prolly kill me if they caught wind of it. If there's no article next week, you know someone ratted me out.

Grid has long been worshipped as the ultimate compact raid frame, a place where all of the information you need to know about your raid is provided in a single display. In fact, Grid's raid frame so small only those with binoculars strapped to their head and serious affection for tiny squares have been able to use Grid right out of the box. For those that have neither, they tend throw in the towel at the first sign of the configuration menu. And that is what I intend to stop. Put your textiles back on their racks and prepare to become a... /insert dramatic music... MASTER OF GRID!

Continue reading Raid Rx: Unkicking butt (a Grid story)

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Walkthroughs, Add-Ons, Raiding, Bosses, Buffs, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Unkicking butt (a Grid story) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. Zomg, my banner has already been replaced by the Sunwell! /cry If you missed it, I give you an uber Raid Rx picture of the same theme. Who says healers aren't tough?

Waaay back when dinos first started populating Un'goro Crater, raid healers had many methods of seeing whose liquid excrement would travel farther. Amongst these, the universal and most prized of those contests was Overhealing (OH). The less you overhealed, the less mana you were wasting and the supposedly better you were at healing. If you recall my Mana Conserve reference last week (how could you not?), people devoted time creating addons to eliminate wasted heals and these mods quickly became required by guilds everywhere.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Overhealing ftw?

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Overhealing ftw? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Wednesday World of WarCrafts features a recipe or craft that teaches you how to make own real life version of in-game recipes and items. This week I am posing as Maureen, who's out sick. Hope you get better soon!

The previous articles have done a great job providing nourishment, refreshment, and personal hygiene for all of the WoW players out there. But what about their real life pets? ...What? You know, those things close to the floor that look at you with big eyes, begging for your attention. "Just one more BG." you tell them. As a noob hunter with 1 cat in game and 2 of them fighting for lap space irl, this week I give you Kibler's Bits!

Kibler's Bits
1 Buzzard Meat, Boneless
1/8 cup Kitty Crunchies
1/8 cup of Canned Pumpkin
6 inch by 6 inch Waxed Paper

Mix the Buzzard Meat, Kitty Crunchies, and Canned Pumpkin in a small bowl. Place mixture in the center of the Waxed Paper. Use one side of the Waxed Paper to cover and then proceed to roll it up. Twist the ends. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm (not frozen). Cut in half to serve. Makes 2 tasty treats.

Substitutions: If you're all out of buzzard, chicken nuggets or meatless chick'n nuggets work great. Those kitties on special diets won't know the difference if weight-loss or anti-hairball cat food is mixed in.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Cooking, Items, How-tos, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Buffs, World of WarCrafts

World of WarCrafts: Kibler's Bits originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. In the spirit of pigeons, the picture to the right reminded me of the old adage "It's more efficient to rez you."

There are 9 classes that can dps, but only 4 that can heal. Warrior bandage sets don't count, sorry! While the raid damage doers are all about "providing massive quantities of steady and sustained DPS", you can often go it alone for the most part, assuming you know your place on the threat meter. Healers, on the other hand, have to work together as a team from the first pull to the last. Why? Because dps's damage stacks, while healing can cancel each other out. Gone are the days of Mana Conserve. /sniff sniff

Compounding the issue is most healers have only played their class into end game content. If you were crazy like me and rerolled a second healer when your guild was already on Morogrim, more power to you! But if you say anything that starts with "Back when my other healer ran <insert Pre-BC raid>..." then you prolly got my Mana Conserve reference, but your actual raiding experience of the current class design is low at best. Instead you're stuck reading the EJ forums and other references for classes you don't play. See Anonymous39857? That's me trying to read up on Resto Shamans.

So what does that all mean? You have 7 people with 4 different classes that have to work together while only ever played one class at their current content level. They might have the book smarts of what's going on around them, but no shoes that can be walked in. (Swapping chars is baaad for you and the raid, plus you'll go to Blizz jail.) Lots of commenters for my previous posts have offered their opinions on which class should be doing what and on whom. With all the interest in this particular subject, I wanted to put together something concise.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Pigeon-holing healers

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Pigeon-holing healers originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Sunday, Eliah or Elizabeth will bring you their thoughts on the Priest class with Spiritual Guidance. Whether it's keeping your fellow players alive or melting their faces, you can read about it here! One of the first things you'll notice is I'm neither Eliah or Elizabeth. My name doesn't even begin with "E". It's probably not even be Sunday, either. Crazy? Yep, but that's how we roll.

It's been quite the year for Priests, just like most other classes. About this time last January, the big ol' Burning Crusade expansion rolled out, essentially taking WoW's most loved clothies (ok, maybe just mine) and turning them on their ears. Been a while since you thought about BC: The Early Months? Let's take a stroll down memory lane...

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: Mind Vision of 2007

Filed under: Priest, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance

Spiritual Guidance: Mind Vision of 2007 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. If you're tuning in from last week, you'll see I doubled the amount I was going to cover about paladin healing. Pictures are worth 1k words, you know. Enjoy!

Being an avid WoW Insider reader and a Raid RX loyalist, you've been working hard to get ready for your first 25-man raid. You have your pre-raid check list done. Seven healers including yourself are ready to heal and be healed. This week I'm going to cover the final step in getting your behiny mixed up in some 25-man raid healing action: Healing Assignments. Or, as I like to call it: "This is where I control your raid life. Those cookies better be in the mail!"

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing assignments

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Bosses, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Healing assignments originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. Last week I promised

So anyways... You have 25-people chomping at the bit to see more than just Karahzan/ZA. W00t! But from a healing standpoint, who do you invite and how many? I'm here to help.

Basic Raid Design
You have 25 slots. About 6-8 of them will be healers, which is roughly the same ratio that you had in Karahzan and even old school 40-mans, if you can remember back that far. The rest of the raid will be a couple of tanks, some off-tanks, and loads of dps. On average, you'll have 7 healers, so that's going to be my basis.

The key to Burning Crusade raiding is variety. Straight off, you're going to need one of each of the healing classes like I've said before. No joke. If you are missing a class, you're missing their utility. Yes, of course you can fake it for a while, but trust me - you will hit trick fights where each class becomes the critical one. /cough Hydross /end cough Start recruiting now to fill any gaps.

Well, that's easy. Slap 4 people in raid slots and you're 57.1% done. The real question becomes what to do with the remaining 3 slots? Well, I'm not just here to look pretty in a pink skirt. Let's examine each healing class and what balance you should aim for.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Basic healer raid design

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Buffs, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Basic healer raid design originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So with one of the major gift giving holidays just around the corner, I've been working on ideas for WoW-themed presents for the lot of them. And I'm certainly not the only one. The folks over at Warcraft Chicks have been compiling a list of inexpensive to legendary items you can buy or make for your loved ones. There are also a lot of posts over on WoW Ladies about gift ideas. Likewise, Grumble N' Autumnn has compiled a list of in-game toys.

At this point, though, there's less than a week before Christmas. Yikes! So in the interest of time, I'm going to put together one giant list of WoW-related holiday gift ideas and where you can get them.

Continue reading WoW gifts? I has em!

Filed under: Items, Tips, How-tos, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Screenshots, Fan art

WoW gifts? I has em! originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More often than not, when your guild is about to work on a new boss, everyone reads the same strat covering the same information. There are handy diagrams, complete with colored ovals for where the masses are to stand, run, or more often, die. If you're lucky, you'll get a paragraph at the end that says something like "Healers: Keep the raid alive. Watch for spike damage on the tanks." Not always useful...

My goal with this column is to explore what it is to be part of a 25-man raid healing team and tips to be successful at it. Much of what I'll cover will be from a healing lead's perspective, but the more everyone knows about the healing big picture, the better. I'm going to discuss what I have found through experience, so if you have Illidan questions, please give me couple of months (or more, silly holidays!) and I'll get back to you.

Transitioning to 25-Man Raiding
Being my first post, I figured the best place to start is at the beginning. You have finished off most if not all of Karahzan. ZA looks cool, but you're just not that into trolls or wooden armor. (If you've already beaten it, +50DKP!) Plus, at least 24 other people you know are chomping at the bit to down them some High King Maulgar. So what do you need to do to make that happen? Here are some basics to get you started:

Continue reading Raid Rx: Transitioning to 25-man raiding

Filed under: Tips, How-tos, Add-Ons, Raiding, Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Transitioning to 25-man raiding originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, some of the tedium has been taken out of addon writing with the help of Microsoft. What?? Yep, you read that right. Microsoft loves WoW, too. Using CodePlex, their open-source project site, they have helped create an Addon Studio for WoW based on the Visual Studio package. The download contains everything you need to create addons, so don't worry if you aren't the owner of Visual Studio already.

So what does this mean exactly? The project team has converted the addon writing process from text and code to drag and drop. You get the look and feel of common programs like Visual Basic but with the command structure of WoW. By having the process be graphic, you just pick and choose what you want from the list.

Specifically, Addon Studio will provide an interface that allows addon creators to build in familiar surroundings. You'll also have the ability to auto-generate items like the table of contents or lua events. Error checking for FrameXML and Lua parsing also helps to speed the addon process up. Likewise, they have included Ace2 templates so you can still tap into one of the most commonly used addon libraries and updater systems.

Long-term, this should open up addon creation to those that enjoy dablling with programing, but don't have the time or skill to build them without a bit more structure. And that can only be a good thing.

[Thanks, Jason!]

Filed under: Tips, How-tos, Odds and ends, News items, Add-Ons

AddOn Studio for WoW originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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