An Ending is Only a New Beginning.

Last week, I pulled my last character out of ‘Order of Malorne’.  For now, I’m adrift on Moon Guard, not quite sure where to go next.

I started to type up my issues with the Order.  But, really?  What’s the point.  I had grown away from OoM, and OoM had grown away from me.  We just weren’t a good fit anymore, and that type of thing happens.

It sucks, and it’s frustrating, but it does happen.  I’m not upset with anyone in the Order, and I wish them nothing but success and all the awesome RP that they want.

I am concerned that a few of my friends there may be upset with me, and I will be circling back around to them to make sure they’re ok.

I am not quite sure where to go next on Moon Guard.  One Character is in ‘Shadow Dancers’.  Another is in ‘Salvation’, though I may pull her from ‘Salvation’ soon (just may not be a good fit).

Not quite sure whether to continue to focus on Moon Guard, or not.  When I roll my Monk – I keep going back and forth about which server to do it on.  I can’t do it on both – it’s getting kind of silly to have pretty much duplicate characters on TB and MG.  One Mage, or one Priest should be enough, you know?

Setting Pen to Paper.

One of the things hovering at the top of my to-do list is to go through my network-attached-storage drive and sort and file all the documents there.  It won’t be an easy task.  When it comes to little chunks of information, I can be quite the pat-rack.  Last time I looked at it, I had snippets of code and text files with cryptic numbers and such dating back into the nineties.

My archives for my RP backstory notes are even worse.  Poor Glithander has little snippets written about him in Word, in OpenOffice – there are a few text files – there are geneology notes and outlines in an old ActionOutline (back when ActionOutline was free…).  And that’s just in one folder.  Now multiply that.

Why is this popping up near the top of the flotsam and jetsam that make up my mind now?  Probably because I’ve been really into roleplaying the last couple of days.  I haven’t really done any yet, mind you – but I’ve been stretching out those muscles – remembering where I left the characters (IC’ly) and what they’ve been up to since then.

Thus far, it’s been a pretty productive (and creative) couple of days.  In the, what, year… year and half… since I last RP’d on Glithander, I figure that he’s been busy sitting in a Theramore jail for piracy.  I was looking at taking the story there anyway, so why not.  Why was he in jail?  Well, figuring that out is part of the fun, right?

Kely has always been a problem child for me.  She’s young – but really, when your race is immortal – what does that mean?  Age is kinda useless, right?  I mean, seriously – she has an older brother, and using real-life as an example, he would have been born about 6000 BC.  That’s prior to any of the modern civilizations (Egypt, Babylon, China, you name it.)  That’s a heck of a difference in age.  But, probably not uncommon when you start talking about taking millenia to grow up.

Still, as a human, it can be hard to force your mind around that kind of concept.   Personally, I figure they don’t even keep track.  You’re either a kid, a young adult (until you prove otherwise) then just an adult.  Who cares how long it takes?

Amerya hasn’t gotten that much attention, to be honest.  But there, there wasn’t that much outstanding from her story.  She had pretty much settled down in Darnassus and was happy there.  She had her family, and had come to grips with that drama… we were definitely in the ‘waiting for the next crisis’ mode with her.

So yes, I’d like to try to get a coherent document written about them.  Get all the bits and pieces sorted out and in one place.  I think that they deserve it – especially Glithander.  There is a lot about what he’s already been through (ICly) that I really need to get down before it is completely lost.

Which leads me to a question, dear reader – I’ve set up ‘About…’ sections for each of them, with what I’m using as their current RSP description in-game.  I’d like to write up a backstory/biography – but how much information should I include there?  There are some things about Glithander, for example, that not even he knows (ICly) yet, although I’ve had to plot them out in my head.  Would it be right to give it away here – or should I follow the RSP guidelines and keep it to ‘publicly’ available information?

Truly Random Bits…

Looking Back on Healing…

I was just doing some reading, and found an old post I made right after the first instance that Kely healed on (Culling of Stratholme, in case you are curious).  In it, I state…

So, what did I learn on my first run out?

Lesson One: While I have to watch the entire party – I really, really need to pay attention to the Tank and to myself.  I did a good job on watching the tank – did a bad job watching myself.  Kat won’t be there next time to keep me topped off – and if I die, then the tank dies.

Lesson Two: If you’re going to spam something, then spam Lifebloom and Rejuv; not Regrowth.  I started the run with lots and lots of Regrowth and Nurture… that really didn’t work out too well, and I ended up having to play catch up far too often.  There is a time and a place for regrowth, but not as the primary heal spell.  Once I started to get the hang of the spells I started using Lifebloom and Healing Touch a lot more, with Regrowth thrown in just to HoT up the Tank if he started to take some serious damage.

Lesson Three: With a party, Wild Growth is my friend.  Seriously.  Once we were past the second boss I started to keep the tank targeted, and between Lifeblooms and Rejuv, I’d hit the party with a Wild Growth.  Kept everyone topped off, and I didn’t have to CTRL-TAB through targets to do so.

Lesson Four: Don’t blow ‘Nature’s Swiftness’ on Trash.  Not unless you’ve got at least three minutes until the next boss.

Lesson Five: Druids are not Mages.  Druids do not have Evocate or Mana Biscuits.  I need to purchase some good Mana food before runs, and I need a really good stack of Runic Mana pots.  That said, I only actually ran out of Mana once during the run, and I was able to Pot and keep healing.

So, looking back after months of raid healing, what do I have to add or change?

Lesson One: Well, Duh.

Lesson Two: Lifebloom is nice, but if you’re going to spam anything then Rejuv and Nurture.  Between the Rejuv trinkets, and Idols, and Glyphs – it only makes sense to make that one of your primary spells.  During heavy damage fights, Nurture is your friend.  Otherwise, sure – I’ll still stand by that.

Lesson Three: Yes! Yes! Yes!  I LOVE ‘Wild Growth’.  Once I hit Rejuv, I’m usually following up with ‘Wild Growth’ and just ignoring the ‘That Spell Is Not Ready Yet’ message.  I usually cast it on the tank and it’ll pick up the Melee DPS for you.  After Rejuv, easily my favorite healing spell.

Lesson Four: It doesn’t matter.  Blow ‘Nature’s Swiftness’ every time it is up, if you like.  Honestly, I don’t use it much because I’m not a Healing Touch healer.  In my opinion, while it is a big heal, it is just too mana intensive to be effective.  But, if I were a Healing Touch druid, I’d still blow it every time it was up.  The spell simply doesn’t do you any good just sitting there, and if you wait until you’re backed into a corner to use it then it is probably already too late.

Lesson Five: Druids still are not mages.  We don’t run out of mana nearly as quickly.  Mana Regen for druids, as Shanaria told me some time ago, is highly dependent on your gear.  If you have good gear, you won’t run out of mana – it’s that simple.  And if you do, there is always Innervate.

Hunters are OP

Ok.  Low Level hunters, with a new kitty, are OP.  My little horde hunter just hit 10, and went and tamed one of the Lynx near Silvermoon.  Oh my god.  I do NOT remember being a low level hunter being this easy.  I never pull aggro from my cat, and – if I’m lucky – I’m getting like three shots off before the mob is dead.

Seriously.  It’s that easy now.  So far, at level 12, she has died once – and that was because I made a wrong turn and end up pull like four groups at once.

On Role Playing

I’ve updated Ame, Kely and Glith’s descriptions here (over on the ‘About Me’ section).  I’ll be adding more on their backgrounds later.  I’ve also got a good background written up for my horde hunter – I may wait until Cataclysm to roll another Alliance RP toon – and when I do it’ll be a Nelf Mage.

Yes, I love Elves.  Even my lone human – Amerya – can (IC’ly) speak Darnassan**, studied Kaldorei lore, moved to Darnassus and fell hard for a Night Elf.  No, she didn’t have an easy time of it – Mages really aren’t trusted at all in Darnassus – but she didn’t care.

Anyway, I’ll post when I have more up to read.

** I really wish Blizz would let you purchase into speaking other languages in your faction (or heck, out of your faction – it’d be nice to shout back at the damn horde that keep yelling in Dalaran).  They could do it as a ‘Language’ Trainer.  In game I end up having to use Lore to fake it, or having whomever is playing an elf whisper me what they just said in [Darnassan] so I can make sure she reacts properly.  Frustrating.