Duct Tape and a Prayer - Latest Comments

Re: In defense of the mount changes

Zusterke — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:59:04 -0000

Good point. There is a very consistent story line up till about level 20. Beyond that there is a pretty high 'go look for a job yourself' message in the followups though there tends to be a preferred area to get to 30. I hadn't thought about that aspect yet.

Re: In defense of the mount changes

Tsark — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:09:09 -0000

As the other commenters wrote - this would be pretty awesome, if there actually was some sort of quest pre-requisite to the mounts. Otherwise, the mount is basically the reward for slaying gorillas (or wolves, or scorpids, or...). Don't get me wrong though - I think it's a good change, but mostly from a gameplay perspective. For it to make sense from a lore perspective, you would have to tie it into too many quest pre-reqs, and Blizz won't do that, because they like the flexibility to level as people prefer.

Re: In defense of the mount changes

Jess — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:23:48 -0000

I, uh... I killed, like, 50 gorillas in Stranglethorn Vale, then I got me a bonypony.

POWER TO THE FORSAKENnn-ah!

Re: In defense of the mount changes

Psynister — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:26:35 -0000

Since I only understood about 30% of that, I bow to your nerdiness.

A job well done...I think. ;)

Re: Blizzcon Etiquette

Zusterke — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:33:48 -0000

Nice one! :)

Re: How to do it right

Mairyn — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:29:03 -0000

This is great; I do wish more people would do this. I used to be one of those players that didn't have a clue; then a fellow player took the time to take me aside and explain to me what I was doing wrong, why it was wrong and how I could learn to do better. Him taking the time to do this has improved my enjoyment of playing WOW immeasureably, and, I am sure, improved the experience of everyone I have grouped with since.

Re: Blizzcon Etiquette

Xamien — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:33:05 -0000

This is amazing. I approve

Re: A brief reminder on comments

Rilgon Arcsinh — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:36:05 -0000

I'm right but you're still awesome.

wait...

Re: Best in Slot - Holy Priest

Chris Anthony — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:58:40 -0000

Sure enough. It's on my handwritten list but I forgot to type it in. Not that it matters anymore; this list is obsolete anyway.

Re: Best in Slot - Holy Priest

Hmm — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:51:50 -0000

You forgot cloak?

Re: A brief reminder on comments

AllianceGirl — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:42:14 -0000

The dickweed bug must be going around. I've definitely had my share of trolls/flamers this week that had their rude comments tossed into the abyss. It amazes me that people take the time to comment with such garbage and expect that it's going to either a) end up on approved on your site or b) start some sort of flame war with you where they get to nerd rage and flex their e-peens. *eyeroll*

Anyway, I really like your blog. I hope the negative comments stop soon. :)

Re: Step away from the meters

Branwyn — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:42:29 -0000

EXCELLENT post.

Re: Panlinkticon 5/21/09: The Late Late Late Show

Blessing — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:06:38 -0000

Thank you for the link! It's always great to hear someone enjoys what you are writing and you help me expand my reading list. There were a few in there I wasn't reading yet!

Re: Panlinkticon 5/21/09: The Late Late Late Show

Rilgon Arcsinh — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:54:55 -0000

On the contrary - I don't think it makes me heal "better" - that is an art that requires actual practical experience and learning to accomplish - but I'm pretty sure it'll make me heal faster. :)

Re: Panlinkticon 5/21/09: The Late Late Late Show

Chris Anthony — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:08:57 -0000

I didn't realize that I didn't have you in my feed list! You're added now. :)

Re: Panlinkticon 5/21/09: The Late Late Late Show

Veneretio — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:42:07 -0000

I always like these link posts. It's a great way to expand my RSS reader or to bring attention to something that I initially hadn't took the time to read that already is in my RSS reader. As to me, I'm talking about Hodir on my blog atm in relation to Warriors solo tanking him and all the fun stuff that goes with that.

Re: Step away from the meters

Demori — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:26:54 -0000

True, if bosses are dying and players are not, it's easy to say the entire raid is doing well and everyone is performing. But unfortunately, you cannot trust that all 25 people are performing at the best that their class and gear allows them to.

EG: If a boss requires 3k dps minimum to down him before he enrages/explodes/starts breaking wind, I can have 15 people churning out 3.1k dps and a single person doing 1.5k dps and down him easily. Sure, boss dies easily and everyone gets loot. But is the 1.5k dpser doing as well as he needs to be? I don't want to wait till we get to a boss where everyone needs to do 3k dps to win to start noticing the flawed player.

This applies to heals too. Sure, everyone lives, boss dies, but when 5 healers are working hard pressing emergency buttons every available CD because the last healer is suffering from cerebral palsy so everyone survives, I want to be able to identify that problem BEFORE the raid wipes because of it. There's no other tool that can help a raid leader in that. Used correctly, it's also all that's needed.

What I'm saying is, use meters in moderation and view the numbers from the correct perspective, taking into account class, spec and situation. If you're a healer, you should know - all fights are situational for healers. Some healers produce better numbers than others on some fights. Also, dedicated tank healers probably will display less numbers than raid healers overall. Therefore, meters cannot tell that A is better than B in healing, and never should be used that way. What I can do with the meters, however, is look at the meters, keep in mind the situation and class limitations and identify healers who are hindering the raid and causing stress for the rest.

In the hands of a raid leader who is aware of every class's ability and every fight's circumstance, meters are a good gauge of performance. Sure, it cannot show the rogue using expose armor or the ret paladin using lay on hands and bubbles to save others, but assuming they're good, their numbers still shouldn't drop to atrocious levels. Once again, I believe meters can be used within reason. No one should use it as a ranking system to determine who's a better player. But one shouldn't disregard the information it tells us too. It can save your next fight from becoming a wipe.

Incidentally, I dislike carrying under-performers in my raid ^^

Re: Step away from the meters

Demori — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:41:02 -0000

That's the best attitude a raider can have, Aarens. If only every other raider wasn't too obsessed with the meters to spend 1 gcd go dispel or lay a debuff on the boss.

Just wondering, though, do you have a warrior tank in your raid? Cos if you do...

They'll hate you for preventing them from using sunder armor on the boss ><

Re: Step away from the meters

Leigh — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:28:36 -0000

You can modify recount to show the damage absorbed from PW:S and Divine Aegis. Take a look at: http://www.wowhead.com/?for...

Just take the code in the code box and copy it into the relevant file in your latest version of Recount. Read some of the comments as well so you can marginally tweak the values so that whole numbers display, otherwise you get lot's of decimal places. This mod works for you and for you only. It presumes that you have 3/3 Divine Aegis and the Glyph of PW:S (a fair assumption for a raiding disc priest). It uses that as the basis to calculate the "healing" that PW:S and Divine Aegis does. As recount has now way of showing absorption it just lumps it in with the healing. It presumes that the entire shield is absorbed, which again is a very fair assumption if you are assigned to MT healing in which case the shields should be absorbed the whole time. The net result? We shoot up in the healing meters but only in ours....others in the raid will not see what we are seeing. It is good to link it and show them that you are actually doing your job and if absorption was counted as healing we take a massive leap up the meters. 250K extra "healing" from absorbed shields is a massive leap to take.

Re: Why We Shield

Chris Anthony — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:34:21 -0000

Ha, of course you're right. I just moused over the talent in Wowhead's talent sheet - forgot to account for multiple points in it. :) Corrected in the post!

Re: Why We Shield

Zietha — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:25:36 -0000

Great post. I have been playing disc pve since patch 3.1 and is now enjoying a new side of the game.

You are abit off on Rapture, the one you mention is rank 1 aka 1 talentpoint - it is a 2.5% gain which only can occur every 12 sec for 3 talentpoints.
http://www.wowhead.com/?spe...

Re: Step away from the meters

Arrens — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:44:29 -0000

Agree completely, EJ.

Take, for example, my rogue. When in a raid (and the tank is either a bear or a DK, which is normally the case in most raids I attend), I have a tendency to gimp my personal DPS by applying Expose Armor on the mob. That's 5 combo points I could have used for a 7.5-8k critical Eviscerate. Instead, over time, this debuff on the boss will allow everyone else that's smacking him about the head to down him that much faster. It's not about my personal damage done to the mob so much as it is about us being able to progress further in the raid.

If we win, we get purple loot. If not, we have hefty repair bills to cover. Personally, I'll set my ego aside for a chance at moving forward and not having to pay that 7-10g death bill, something too few people seem to understand.

Re: Step away from the meters

Zusterke — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:46:51 -0000

Hm, singling out a player after a wipe is basically stating:
"That itchy feeling you get in your stomach from wiping... vent it out on this player!"
Doing that is wrong. Doing that based on meters is wrong and stupid.

But ignoring the individual performance of players is a luxury an officer can not afford. The goal is to make a team, not to have 10 lice on an elephant. That means it is the individual responsibility of every player to give their best contribution to the team and it is the leader's responsibility to check if they:
1) contribute their best
2) need help improving their best
Note that this is more a coaching role, and coaching is done as much outside the raid as it is during the raid. During the raid you need to work as a team, and to single out players is to break down the team. But outside the raid, singling out is unavoidable and should not be avoided. There simply are players that can't make it on their own. Identifying them isn't an easy task and meters may not be the best indicators... but they help.

Re: Step away from the meters

Lelanna — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:13:26 -0000

There are addons now that can estimate absorbs. There's one for recount and another separate one. Problem solved. Turns out our disc priest really WAS bad. No more excuses, haha!

Re: Is this the best you can come up with?

Zusterke — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:30:20 -0000

Well I think it's quite funny :-)
For the record: I have yet to use your search function... I just read and comment the blog!

Still, some of these terms feel quite odd. Perhaps they are bot-searches?