"I think you read too many blogs."

"I think you read too many blogs." - Yakra

Blogs.

Blogs.
Blogs.
Oh my God.
Blogs.
Let's read some blogs.
Let's write some blogs.
Let's link some blogs.
Let's flame some blogs.^†
Blogs.
Blogs.

Oh, my God, blogs.

Blogs.
Blogs.
This blog rules.
This blog sucked.^‡
This blog rules.
This blog sucks!
Blogs.
Blogs.
Blogs.
Oh, my God, blogs.
This blog rules.
This blog sucks.^￥
This blog's new.
This blog's gone!
I think you read too many blogs.
Shut up!
I think you read too many blogs.
Shut up!
I think you read too many blogs.
Shut up!
I think you read too many blogs.
Shut up!
Stupid feed.
Stupid feed.
Let's read some blogs.

Let's tweet.
This blog is over three years old.
This blog has over three hundred subscribers.
This blog has over three thousand 'ucking subscribers.
Let's link 'em!
Um... this topic is kinda old. I don't think anyone's gonna read it.
I mean, no one runs Kara anymore.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click, by the way Blizz,
*UCK YOU
*UCK YOU
*UCK YOU
*UCK YOU

This blog is mine, click.

Give me that list of blogs, click.

This feed is mine, click.

Click.

† This is not an invitation to flame Keeva's blog, but rather a reference to the comments posted on that article.

‡ I had to link to Averna's juicy post about Paladin Shmaladin!

￥No, I don't really think my husband's blog sucks, but I had his permission to pretend I did.

After much deliberation over the past month or so, I have decided to seriously cut back my blog reading list. At one point I was subscribed to over 45 blogs by resto druids; that doesn't include the non-resto druids. Sometimes, I would come home from work and spend over an hour reading/skimming blog posts. It was becoming more of a job than a hobby, but I kept it up because I wanted to be supportive of new blogs. I remember how hard it was to be starting out and how much readers and commenters meant. However, despite my attempts, I don't feel I have been that successful at being supportive. Here is what sealed the deal for me though: I was skipping reading my husband's blog to read blogs I felt I SHOULD read, even if I felt they weren't relevant to me. Not only was I taking time away that could be spent with Yakra PLAYING WoW, but I wasn't even giving him the time to read what he wrote.

I have a new plan: Quality over Quantity. The less blogs I read, the more closely I read the one's I DO read, and the more comments I make on those blogs. I am also more likely to follow their links to other blogs, because I don't feel like there are blogs I should be reading back in my feedreader. I'm trying to think of this not as "not being supportive" but as "being more supportive of some" and hoping that will branch out to other blogs.

The motivation and justification was the easy part. The means I am finding a little heart breaking. Every time I log into my feed reader I try to find one blog to unsubscribe to. This was easy at first: people who haven't posted in a while, people posting about other games. Then I moved on to blogs that weren't as relevant to me: blogs that never were about WoW but I thought I might like, blogs where they used to play a druid but now are posting technical articles about another class, blogs with lots of gold making guides. Now its starting to get really hard. My goal is to keep unsubscribing until everything is "read". That, I am hoping, will put me at a healthy balance where I can really read what is posted, make comments on posts, but still have room to add new blogs that really interest me.

How many blogs do you REALLY read? How many do you PRETEND to read? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the quality WoW blogs out there? How do you chose?

WoW Backwards is Still WoW

After I left LOKI I decided to flip my WoW experience on its head. The night after /gquitting I returned to the night elf starting areas to work on quests towards Loremaster. It reminded me of the reasons I fell in love with my druid in the first place: the sereneness, the artwork, the feeling that good would always conquer evil. It also felt very backwards. There was no endgame, next boss, better loot, harder achievement I was used to striving for. Instead of progress I was completing. Backwards, but still WoW and still enjoyable. Maybe I was backwards the whole time I was raiding and didn't even know it???

Thanks for you faith in me... Priestess of MY OWN RACE

Yakra joined me for Azuremyst quests. We had a blast making fun of all the nonsensical things the NPCs said, since they thought they were talking to Draenei but they were talking to an elf and a dwarf... We were reading every word of the quests (at least I was!) Very backwards from plowing through pieces of Northrend content for rep or rewards, since they were needed for raiding. Maybe questing backwards, but still WoW.

I started a guild! Mostly for me and Yakra and for the few lowbies who signed my charter who I don't have the heart to kick. Its called Low Key. Get it... 'cause I left LOKI... Okay, I think its kind of witty, but, yes, you are allowed to lol at me all you want. It is supposed to be funny, but it is also supposed to be pseudosymbolic of that backwards thing again. Its still "loh-kee", but instead of meaning Lords of Killing Innocents it means... Low Key. The tabard is the same icon as LOKI's, but the colors are backwards.

Hey Yak, Shouldn't we have killed this dude before raiding Ulduar?

I used to try to fit a little of the Real World in my Warcraft. Now I plan on putting Warcraft only where it comfortably fits into my World. Backwards? I don't think either of them are. However you play, as long as it makes you happy and you are enjoying yourself, that's WoW forward to you.

I want to thank you all for the support you showed when I wrote my last post practically pouring my heart out. I was really going out on a limb writing it. I am overwhelmed by the loving comments and this post by Beruthiel (who is going to give me a big head!) Even for those of you who didn't comment, 95% of you are still reading - so says Feedburner. Allison at WoW.com wrote about this recently, way down at the bottom of the first page:

"If you've been writing long enough that people get curious about who you are as a person, then stuff like [why your guild sucks, why your raid leader sucks, why your server sucks, why your life sucks] isn't actually going to send them elsewhere; it's a sort of privilege conferred on bloggers who have already earned an audience."

I don't know if I like the word 'earn' there, but the 'curious about who you are' and a 'privilege conferred' describes exactly how honored I feel to have you stick around.

Tell me again why I needed the leaves...

Many of you realized that I posted after 'things' between Yakra and I were on their way back up. I made my last post on Wednesday. The Tuesday before was when Yakra took me out to dinner. We talked a lot and decided he would leave LOKI too. I couldn't put that in my last post. For obvious reasons that was something he needed to announce to LOKI in his own time. But since then things have just been getting better and better. I know we made the right choice for us for right now. Here are some of the awesome moments of my last week:

• Yakra took me out on a Tuesday night. OMG thats a RAID night!
• Questing on our mains in noobie zones and in Icecrown. Yup, Icecrown still isn't done.
• Going for walks. Probably 4 or 5 in the last week.
• Going on a NINE MILE HIKE yesterday! It was so beautiful. There were pretty trees. I thought of all of you!!!
• Talking about buying a piece of land or starting a business instead of recruiting DPS.
• Yakra picked me up and spun me around while we were on this one walk and pretended he was going to throw me down a hill. I know its cheesy, but those moments had been missing.
• Watching anime.
• Doing some projects around the house we had been procrastinating on.
• Really good s... um... intimate moments. Yeah, lets call it that.
• Just talking and listening and loving.

I Less Than Three You

Lords of Killing Innocence

One week ago I left LOKI. I have been hurting really badly the last few days. Today is the first day I feel like I can breath. This is an explanation to my friends and guild who might need more explanation. And another reason why the petals have been dropping off this blog one by one. This is me coping with my feelings. This is for my husband, because while I know he is 'getting it' and that means a lot to me, I figure seeing it in writing and with music (because we have always picked songs so carefully) can only help. So why am I leaving the guild that I have been in for two years and that my husband is GM of?

(1) Disagreeing with some things about Yakra’s leadership style AND my feelings about those disagreements not being heard by him. If he had sat down and listened to my thoughts and feelings I think I would have been okay. But I didn’t have a husband to listen to my concerns about the guild anymore I just had a GM trying to justify their every action.

High Life – Count Crows: God Yakra, we became the worst kind of people and you knew it would take more than an apology to get us out of it all. All I wanted was for you to acknowledge how LOKI was changing us as people and to tell me it would be okay and to convince me that I should stay. Sorry for the random slideshow of the pretty girl and pets. It was the best sound quality YouTube had.

(2) Increased stress during raids due to Yakra’s louder venting outbursts. I don’t particularly blame him for this. Ulduar has been stressful and I’m sure people who play alone in a room yell and slam things on their desks when other people screw up. But I was constantly feeling yelled to and then he would get on vent and be calm and collected. Sometimes he would yell on vent also, which actually was better for me because then the person who was at fault got yelled at too and I wasn’t just the GM’s emotional punching bag.

Worth Dying For – Rise Against: Because it’s a fucking game guys. Is it worth the yelling and fighting and belittling? It’s made my husband mean. It’s made me mean. It’s made loved bloggers highly opinionated and commenters jerks. It’s given us time for guild drama and comments behind people’s backs. And It’s made boss kills feel like slaps in the face. I don’t want to be a hardcore raider anymore.

(3) Rumors of rumors of people in the guild who didn’t like me and people who had me on ignore. For me its enough for one person to not like me, I will just leave. I don’t know what I did to this person. I used to confide in them and they confided some pretty personal stuff in me and I really hoped for the best for them regarding that situation. It was exciting to think I had found a friend like that on WoW. But apparently the things they are saying are upsetting this other person enough that they feel they have to tell me and it is just tearing me apart. I would rather not know and think I still had a friend in this person.

(4) I finally /gquit when I went to Yakra again after a raid hoping he would understand my feelings about an issue. Instead he focused on a side issue slightly related to the one I had. He focused on justifying his actions, not on understanding my feelings. He then made a guild policy change related to the side issue/ This was a change he was adamantly against, so I asked him “What made your change your mind?”. “To get you off my case.” Wow. Just wow. You are going to make decisions for your guild to get your wife off your case because it is easier than listening to her. Do. Not. Want. /gquit.

Rest of My Life – Less Than Jake: LOKI was full of my best friends. Trust me, I felt like there was nothing else I could do. When things got worse not better, yeah, I questioned leaving. I was making a sandwich in the kitchen when I hit my all time low. The ending of this video where the couple looks like they are going to get back together but they don’t is how I felt until last night.

Things got worse before they got better. Yakra and I flipped between using sugar coated words to denying WoW existed and bodily standing between each other and doorways, screaming at the tops of our lungs. Not to mention every possible comment we could make to hurt each other. “Let me know when you ARE going to get over it.”

Stuff got so bad last night we reached a point where we could be blatantly open with each other. “I lied to you. I was on the phone with so-and-so.” We went out to dinner. Yakra made some decisions. He listened to my feelings, actually understood them and wasn’t trying to defend himself when he didn’t need defending from my feelings. He explained to me this thing I did (do?) that really hurts his feelings and I was able to sort out in my mind how it is possible for me to have a certain opinion about something and not use that opinion to hurt him.

Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated – Rise Against: We built our sandcastles on WoW. Really, what were we thinking? I don’t know if we will get another chance to leave raiding and start dreaming and hobbies anew. We have said a lot of shit to each other and to other people in the guild and its going to come back in our faces. It already is. But as long as I have you, Yakra, I know we will okay, right?

So how does leaving LOKI feel? It kills. It’s like a piece of me is dieing inside. I was in LOKI for two years and I don’t think I would have left for any reason other than thinking my marriage was in serious peril. LOKI totally made me who I am as a raider and WoW player. I would like to think I had some part in making LOKI what it is. The old GM only had good things to say. He was letting me reminisce about LOKIs ‘glory days’ last night and that meant a lot to me. So what are my plans for Aert right now? I might server transfer and will probably work on Loremaster. But it's not like anywhere but LOKI will ever be home.

The Impression That I Get - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: If I had a theme song for LOKI this would be it. Because what more can you ask for in a guild than not wanting to change a single thing for almost nine months? But if this is a test of choosing between my guild and my husband, I would like to think I am passing.

If I could offer you only one piece of advice: Think twice before letting your significant other be your Guild Master.

Power of Two – Indigo Girls: This one’s for Yakra, because I took him for better and I took him for worse and I’m not going to forget. It’s also our wedding song…

You Have Read it All Before...

Just not with my commentary! If you can't stand any more patch note commentary, read this instead! It is far more intelligent than what I am about to say.

Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead.

Icedragon captured my feelings: "Ahoy, Badge of Justice! I missed your complete failure! /facepalm"

Mana Regeneration: All items that provide "X mana per five seconds" have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%. And Replenishment: This buff now grants 1% of the target's maximum mana over 5 seconds instead of 0.25% per second.

Okay, Shamans really need the buff and replenish can handle that tiny winy nerf. But really. I just posted the mana trinkets. Are you going to make me crunch the numbers again? F*ck you Blizz. And yes, now we are going to want "shaman gear" when we need mana too. Why not just get rid of spirit all together?

Innervate: Duration reduced to 10 seconds, and cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.

This I like. I would love to share my innervates more. I won't have to hog it to myself anymore.

Lifebloom: The final heal that occurs when this spell blooms has been reduced by 20%

STOP NERFING LIFEBLOOM

In reality though... most of the bloom is overheal in PvE, so I don't think we are going to notice much... But leave the blooms be already.

Empowered Touch: Now also increases the amount of bonus healing effects for Nourish by 10/20%.

This I like A LOT. I'm glad they are doing something more useful with this talent. It will be very helpful for druids who like to Wild Growth then top off with Nourish (totally not my raid heal style.) But I personally am looking forward to buffing my FLASHNOURISHIMAPALLY tank healing spec.

Quest creatures and objects will now show on the player's world map.

Apparently I'm in Kindergarten and need my hand held when I cross the map. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let there be a way to turn it off so I still have to read the quests. I don't NOT have QuestHelper for moral reasons. (ie, I'm cool with people who do have it. I don't think they are committing some crime against humanity.) I just actually LIKE questing the way it was when I first started playing. So this change is great for people who like QuestHelper, just PLEASE let us be able to turn it on and off.

All stackable potions now stack to 20. And Potion Injectors now increase the amount gained by 25% when used by engineers. Quantity produced by recipes for Runic Healing and Mana Injectors has been increased.

Yakra is going to be pissed. To him this will be Yet-Another-Engineering-Nerf. He was pretty proud that he could make me Injectors that helped save me space, but he never uses them himself. I... really don't care. And if I was making them myself I would be ecstatic. I just know I'm going to get another of those "Blizz love collectible card games more than engineers" lectures from him.

Values on Northrend ring enchants increased.

Ooo... Nice!

Raw epic gems can be obtained via the following means: Purchased with Emblems of Heroism.

Also nice! I definitely have more badges than cash!

25-player raids will no longer be referred to as heroic versions of a raid, as there is a new distinction between normal and heroic modes for both 10 and 25-player versions of the Crusaders' Coliseum.

Then... what are we referring to them as...? 10 man and 25 mans? We sort of already do that, because, you know, HEROIC and HARD MODE sound REALLY similar.

Ominous Clouds in the Yogg-Saron encounter are now more vocal about touching players.

Thank God! Because I seem to be the only person (okay maybe there are one or two more) who speaks up when I spawn an add and I know I'm not the only one spawning them. No, I did not spawn 6 extra adds in one fight. I'm not all pro-tattle-tale mods, but if people don't know when they are doing it/don't have the guts to speak up... then it is needed.

Corrected a tooltip issue with Pandora's Plea

QQ Blizz It was supposed to be the other way around. The TOOLTIP is right. The trinket is not working as intended, right? RIGHT?! Its probably going to read 751 instead of 850...

Full Patch Notes

Mimiron Healing Guide with Healing Assignments

In my opinion, the best fights require multiple macros to assign healers and require healers to write their personal healing assignments on a sticky note for the night. I don't think there has been a fight like that since Illidan, although my favorite was Kael'. So needless to say, I was pretty excited about Mimiron. 

Some of you may know I am married to my Guild Master/Tank. Tonight we went out to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary and got talking about how awesome Mimiron is and decided we should write companion guides for the Mimiron fight: One for Tanking, One for Healing. It has been a fun get to know your husband/main tank experience, and yes, we are still on speaking terms. The Mimiron Tanking Strategy is hosted on Yakra's Blog, Mirror Shield. The Mimiron Healing Strategy is right here!

First an explanation on how the guide is laid out:

PHASE NUMBER

Things to do before the raid!

Suggested Healing Assignments:

Abilities/Adds to Deal With: (Short Version of Dealing) Damage Description

• Specifics and rational for dealing with those abilities/adds
• Resto druid specific tips will look like this

Mimiron Healing Guide with Healing Assignments

Pre-3.1.3 Nerf ~ Patch Release Date Yet Unknown

For the tanking companion to this guide, see Yakra's Mimiron Tanking Guide.

This strategy requires 2 tanks and 7-8 healers. We make up for the "loss" in DPS numbers by healing through abilities other sites recommend DPSing through or kiting. We found kiting added unnecessary risk to a fight that already hinged on personal responsibility and DPSing some adds added time to an already long fight. Some ideas you read here are not meant to be used in conjunction with other strategies. Mix and match at your own risk!

PHASE ONE

Add the debuff "Napalm Shell" to your raid frame mod of choice!

Healing Assignments:

Main Tank: 4 Healers

Raid/Napalm Shell: 3-4 Healers *May want to assign cardinal directions

Cooldown Rotation: 5 Cooldowns Assigned

Plasma Blast: (Tank/Cooldown Rotation) 30K unresistable spell damage per second, for 6 sec. 

• Plasma Blast requires a cooldown to heal through reliably and has a 3 second warning. You can expect 4-5 of them before Mimiron is pushed into P2.
  
• We recommend you prioritize/order your cooldown rotation as follows:

1. If you have to rotate tanks to use their cooldowns, do that first - less tank swaps is better. Acceptable tank cooldown's are: Shield Wall (Warriors), Divine Protection (Paladins), Barkskin + Survival Instincts (Druids), Vampiric Blood (Blood DKs), & Icebound Fortitude (DKs).
   
2. Next come Priest Saves. Pain Suppression and Guardian Spirit both work on their own.
   
3. Next come Paladin Saves. Divine Shield + Hand of Sacrifice + Divine Sacrifice (if they have it) together should do the trick. Divine Sacrifice should be used mid way through, to let other heals catch up.
   

• When Plasma Blast is being cast on the tank, all healers, including Raid Healers, should heal the Main Tank until it is certain the MT is stable. 
  
• Keep the tank fully HoT'ed. Pre-cast Healing Touch with the 3 sec warning. Spam nourish until its over. Try to save Nature's Swiftness and Swiftmend for Napalm Shells.

Napalm Shell:  (Heal Though It) 6K fire damage per sec for 8 sec.

• Make sure the debuff "Napalm Shell" is added to your raid frame.
  
• If someone gets Napalmed in range of you, heal them! If you are a Tank Healer, heal them at least until you know there are other healers in range. The raid is very spread out; there may only be two of you in range.
  
• Even if you are a Napalm Healer, when Plasma Blast is up, your first priority is to perform your part of the cooldown rotation and your second is to make sure the MT is stable. Only then should you return to Napalm Healing. 
  
• Try to save Nature's Swiftness and Swiftmend for these Napalm Shell's, because you may be one of two healers in range.

Shock Blast: (Run Away) A major concern for melee and tanks only. 

• Has a 3-4 second cast time - best for everyone if it is called out on vent.
• When Shock Blast is cast, melee has a greater chance of taking damage from mines as they run past/through them. Be prepared to toss some extra heals on them.
• Preemptivelly toss a Wild Growth on the melee when Shock Blast is called out. 

Proximity Mines: (Avoid) Explode for 15K fire damage in 3 yards upon contact. A minor concern for ranged/healers, and a major pain for melee. 

• Casters should avoid standing right at the edge of the initial ring of mines, in the event that Mimiron spreads them when not properly centered - as they may land under the caster, and Explode. The image shows the difference between an easily avoidable overlapping mine rings and mine clouds.
• Avoid standing anywhere near a bomb, as melee (especially tanks) running out from Shock Blasts may likely chose to run through a bomb or two, rather than take a Shock Blast. Shock Blasts are the only times anyone should need heals because of Mines.

TRANSITION FROM PHASE 1-2

• There is lots of time between phases one and two.
  
• Healers should quickly top off the raid, then regen mana.
  
• Mines will remain and can still kill careless players. After a period of time, they will explode on their own.
  
• Potion of Nightmares can be well utilized during a phase transition.

PHASE TWO

Turn off Project Textures! (Yes! Off!)

Consider Glyph of Wild Growth and Improved Tranquility

Healing Assignments:

1 Healer per Group 1-5

2-3 Spot Healers

Rapid Burst: (Heal Through It) 6 AOE bursts over 3 sec, 19-21K fire damage per burst; 100 yard radius. 

• Divide the raid into five groups based on parties. Mark one person in each group and have the group stick with their mark to assist AOE healing. Prayer of Healing and Tranquility require heal targets to be in the same group and in close proximity. Chain Heal, Wild Growth, and Prayer of Mending also benefit from the close proximity. Many strats suggest three groups, but five groups will reduce the number of people taking Rapid Burst at any one time, making it easier to heal through.
  
• Groups spread out 360 degrees around Mimiron. Stand on the white circle of light around him. Being close to other groups allows for cross healing by spot healers, but spreading out 360 degrees prevents too many people from taking Rapid Burst at once.
• Groups remain in place when they are being Rapid Bursted. This means Rapid burst must be healed through. Spot healers will generally be healing the current Rapid Burst targets. It is more efficient for DPS to stand there and take it than reposition every time they are bursted.
• Use Wild Growth whenever it is up, no matter what your assignment. 
• If you are assigned to heal a party, keep Rejuv. on everyone at all times (and Swiftmend ready). You should have enough GCD's to keep up 5 Rejuv's, WG every 6 sec, keep LB on most people, and move around.
• Use barkskin when your group is targeted. 
• If you have Imp. Tranq., plan on using it once on this phase. 

Heat Wave:(Heal Through It) 3K fire damage per sec to the entire raid

• Periodically cast on the entire raid
  
• The group and healing assignment set up to deal with Rapid Burst will deal with the damage from Heat Wave
  
• Use a Fire Resist Totem and glyphed Healing Steam Totems.
  
• You will be dealing with Rapid Burst and Heat Wave damage at the same times. 
  

P3Wx2 Laser Barrage: (Run Away) Meant to one-shot you; Technically 20K every 0.25 sec so you can live through it if only clipped briefly

• He casts "Spinning Up" 4 seconds before casting. Get out of in front of him. If you are in front of him, it is best to move counter-clockwise to avoid this. 
  
• He will then cast a beam of instant death, which can't be out ranged, but can be outrun - the further you are, however, the harder it is to out run it. The beam may seem to jerk counter-clockwise, but will then rotate clockwise while casting.
  
• The beam rotates a little less than 180 degrees. If you are inside the 180 degrees, stay ahead of the beam by running clockwise to avoid it. Once the beam passes, return to your starting spot/group/mark. If you are outside the 180 degrees, stay put.
  
• Heat Wave may be cast during P3Wx2. Rapid Burst will not be cast. 
  

Rocket Strike: (Run Away) Will one-shot you; 3 yard radius

• There is no cast bar or raid warning for this, but those watching the boss can see and announce on vent when a missile launches off his body, or a targeting circle appears.
  
• 3 sec before landing, a red targeting circle will appear where the rocket will fall. Anyone inside the targeting circle will die. You MUST move out of this circle. You only need to move 3 yards.
  
• Only you can prevent your own humiliating death to rockets. Do not get healer tunnel vision. Be aware of the huge red circle under your feet and the other members of your group scattering. 
  
• Turn OFF (yes I said OFF) Projected Textures in your user interface. You will still see targeting circles, but you will no longer see pesky Consecrates or Desecrations.       
  
• Rockets will not be launched while P3Wx2 is being cast. They will often be cast immediately after.
  
• Heat Wave, Rapid Burst, and Rockets can all happen at the same time. This is why we brought 8 healers...

TRANSITION FROM PHASE 2-3

• Again, there is a period of time between phases.
  
• Casters should allow their mana to regen.
  
• The raid should clump up on the add tank, and prepare to follow him around.

PHASE THREE

Turn on Free For All loot!

Healing Assignments:

Add Tank: 2-3 Healers

Head Tank: 1 Healer

Raid/Bomb Soaker: 3-4 Healers

Hand of Freedom Rotation: 2 - 3 Paladins

Assault Bots: (Tanked by the Add Tank)

• These are the main focus of the Add Tank. They spawn from orange beams.
  
• The Add Tank requires constant/chained Hand of Freedom to avoid being affected by Magnetic Field, which can lead to death.
  
• Melee DPS will be focusing Assault Bots and looting Magnetic Cores to ground the Head.
  
• Assault Bots one-shot non-tanks.

Junk Bots: (Tanked by the Add Tank) 

• These spawn from green beams and are picked up by the Add Tank, who is also picking up Assault Bots. Damage from Junk Bots is trivial.
  
• Ranged/Healers should group on the Add Tank, so that Junk Bots are hit by the Add Tanks AoE abilities.
  
• Shamans may prefer to have a Junk Bot on them, to proc water shield.
  
• Junk Bot raid damage is easily healed through. 
  

Aerial Command Unit: (Tanked by the Head Tank)

• The head should be tanked by a warlock or a hunter. It will attack whoever has the highest threat with Plasma Ball (15K fire damage; 2 sec cast time).
  
• One healer should be assigned to stay with the Head Tank, however, in phase 3, this healer may have time to help raid heal as well. This one healer must obviously be in range of the Head Tank, even though the rest of the raid will be grouping on the Add Tank. If you have a Junk Bot on you and cannot get to the Add Tank, be sure to call it out in vent. 
  
• All DPS will be focusing the Head, as possible.
  

Bomb Bots: (Soaked by the Bomb Soaker) 

• One tank stands under the Head, with no one around them. When a bomb bot drops down, they attack it. It Explodes for trivial damage (for a tank) (25K; 5 yard radius), and does not consume raid DPS.
  
• The Bomb Soaker can be healed by the raid healers. 

TRANSITION PHASE 3-4

• Adds will still be up and Tanks will need healing. Magnetic Cores and Heroism may be used to speed up the beginning of P4.
  

PHASE FOUR

Healing Assignments:

Main Tank: 2 Healers

Head Tank: 1 Healer

Raid Healers: 5 Healers *Also assigned cardinal directions

Things He Still Does:

• Bottom: Shock Blast
  
• Bottom: Proximity Mines
  
• Middle: P3Wx2 Laser Barrage
  
• Middle: Hand Pulse  (A renamed Rapid Burst)
  
• Middle: Rocket Strike (Two at Once)
  
• Head: Plasma Ball
  

Things He Does NOT Do:

• Bottom: Plasma Blast
  
• Bottom: Napalm Shell
  
• Middle: Heat Wave
  
• Head: Summon Adds

• The most dangerous/difficult part of this phase for the Main Tank, is when Mimiron does Laser Barrage. Leviathan's size makes positioning very difficult. In the event that Laser Barrage and Shock Blast overlap (or nearly overlap), use a Guardian Spirit, allowing the tank to eat the Shock Blast, rather then risk him moving while Laser Barrage is cast. Other than needing a Guardian Spirit ready, the Main Tank will take less damage in this phase than in P1.
• More raid healing will be needed because of Mines. Stay clear of Land Mines Clouds and be prepared to heal through the extra raid damage they cause. 
  
• The Head Tank healer will be less able to raid heal, due to regular repositioning to avoid P3Wx2.
  
• When one section of Mimiron's body is destroyed, there is a ten second window in which the other two sections must also die. At this point, healers should contribute as much DPS as they safely can. 
  
• Preferably, the head will be the first section to die, because melee cannot help DPS it. 
• Plan on using Tranqulity for the first or second time this phase. 
• There is damage everywhere, use WG whenever up.
• Be very cautious of battle rezzing. There is a lot going on. You can't die and your target can't die. Make sure someone else can cover you while battle rezzing. Even better - using a Nature's Swiftness BRez. 

~ Feedback welcome, however it will need to pass through Yakra before I can really make any major changes. Happy healing!

Reasons I Love My Husband?

Look up. See that gorgeous new banner?

Last night I made Yakra watch the Yu-Gi-Oh movie with me, which I had to pre-view for my students' Japanese Animation and Culture Club. Yeah... It was pretty lolbad. After we did some shots to recover our sanity, Yakra spent two hours with me sitting over his shoulder going "Move the tree a little to the left" making me that beautiful banner. That is true love!

Why the new banner? Well... I never was particularly happy with my old banner. I threw it together the first day I made the blog. I was going for the gritty natural feel with all my pictures back then, but that didn't last long. Sadly, the gritty banner stuck around. And then in a very short period of time both Bell (4 Haelz) and Keeva (Tree Bark Jacket) made adorable little thumbnails of my banner to place on their blogs. Next to all the other nicely polished thumbnails I felt like mine looked... generic... and like crap. So this might fix my problem for any future thumbnails!

Also, this will double as my guild forum sig and I used the new banner as an opportunity to widen the size of my blog's main body, something I have been wanting to do for a while. 

A Little History of Me, Aert, and Yakra

Guildies have been reminiscing on our forums about their WoW history, so I posted this there. It will mean more to people who know me IRL, or who know me or LOKI in WoW. There are some cute WoW meets IRL events if you wish to read, but other than that my story could be any WoW player's story.  

Yakra and I first played WoW on a friends account in his dorm room. I rolled a lock and killed a few wolves. Yakra played the most while I studied Organic Chem. On the way back to my house he proposed. I think all the happy proposal feelings mixed in with the WoW feelings and I was totally hooked. 

That summer Yak and I got our own accounts. I rolled a lock named Auroraglory, after my LARP character. He played a paladin. We leveled and planned a wedding that summer. The school year came and I stopped playing because it was the responsible thing to do.

Spring break came and Yak slept in a lot, so I rolled Aertimus on his account and leveled her a bit - she was going to be LOLKITTYDPS. Return to school, Yak needed his account to raid MC with Fatalis Fodei. I got to play maybe 30 - 45 min a night before bed, when he would call me to get off his account. I listened to his end of raids over the phone and thought this was all very silly. Sometimes I would listen in on vent and think it was more silly.

We got married. We went on our honeymoon. We came back and FF had disband. I didn't work that summer so I got Aert up into the 40s. Yak raided with LOKI for a few weeks, but his overtime was getting in the way. I just thought LOKI was getting in the way of quality time with my husband. I was pretty mad at raiding. Fall/school came again. I stopped playing because it was the responsible thing to do.

Christmas break rolls around and suddenly I got the desire to really play (Left and Ava were playing by then.) I reactivated my account and I leveled Aert on Yak's account while he leveled Auroraglory on mine. Thats when I started to be the healbot for our questing and instancing. This continued into the school year, when Yak wasn't leveling Yak in BC. I reached the 50s and joined Dissension because all my friends were there.

Off to outlands I went, where I could play with YAKRA... except that... Aert and Yak were on the same account. So I legally changed my last name, 1 year after getting married, so I could move Aert to my account and Aurora to Yak's account.

Dissension blew up and Ava found MoH, who was trying to get Kara going. We all went there. The first Kara raid was planned. I was keyed but not level 80, so Yak and I spent all day leveling me to 80 and my very first anything bigger than I 5 man was that night. It was our first anniversary.

MoH was full of high emotions for me because it was my first real guild and I didn't know I would meet so many awesome people online. We got through Kara, but felt a little held back from the inability to effectively work two groups. Left left and app'ed LOKI, using his friends as bartering chips to get into the rouge full guild. So I never actually app'ed to LOKI. It helped to get in as Yak's wife too, since he left Ruff on good terms.

Stuck it out in LOKI missing MoH SO much, but loving raiding. LOKI got flooded with bad players who brought us down and PvE disbanded. I went back to MoH for a little bit, but then stopped playing because THE SCHOOL YEAR STARTED AND THATS THE RESPONSIBLE THING TO DO. Christmas came, I saw Yak playing and was SO jealous of ZA and watching him raid again. I finished college and started raiding again and, well, the rest is history (and archived)!