Many moons ago I asked my dearly beloved, and somewhat vociferous, guild/raid leader to contribute to this fledgling blog. What I wanted was an objective raid leaders view of what we are and more importantly what we sometimes do wrong (or right). I mean we know we are the best , right? Whats the harm in a bit of confirmation? Many thanks to Maz for his input and the time taken to write our first guest post. Hold on to your feathers and "enjoy"!!
Bloody irritating boomkins !!!!!
Boomkins form a Raid leaders prospective
The Boom Daddy asked me to write this a while back , in his grand scheme to create not only a vaguely readable blog about boomkins , but to have it be a resource for the boomkin community nest . At least that’s how he explained it to me. He seems to think boomkins will find this useful , I wasn’t aware most boomkins could read , but hey he asked nicely .
What do boomkins bring to the raid ?
A good question , well lets see , a funky dance , something approaching dps , a useful in fight raid buff , a battle rez , immunity to polymorph ( sometimes not that much of a benefit ). Off healing ( and more about that in a minute ) , raid buff , and semi viable crowd control , a slightly more viable crowd control for beast mobs , an emergency mana pool ,,, and ,,,, erm ,,,, okay that's about it . but that’s quite a lot
Whats all that mean ?
Arh yes , what does all that mean , it means a boomkin is a utility , a very versatile one that aside something approaching dps has other benefits it brings to a raid . BUT here is the bit that frustrates the hell out of a raid leader , all that is all well and good if it is used the right way , and a waste of time and effort if it isn’t . Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon . So lets move on to ……
7 DEADLY SINS OF THE BOOMKIN ………………
SIN 1
The biggest single sin of the boomkin , ( and one that can be thrown at that other ultra versatile dps class the elemental shaman ) Healing.
Boomkins , and sharman alike have the terrible propensity to off heal in a fight .
Now sometimes that’s a good thing , and some times it isn’t , and knowing which is which is the real black magic of the raiding boomkin , and the bit so many get wrong so often. And you watch them slide down the dps chart and the boss hit enrage because the boomkin just did not trust the healers to do their job enough . They pop out of boom to put a heal on themselves , or on the tank , or a aoe heal on the raid , rather than just trust the healers to be on top of their job . Did the healers stop healing and dps half way through the fight for ten seconds , eating their mana pool , nope . So why does the boomkin ? Trust in the healers to do their job .. and you do yours .
I looked at some raid stats from a fight with ignis last night on heroic uldar ,, and bottom of the DPS was an elemental sharman ( not mine I may add , catch me healing when not required on a cold day in hell ) who’s dps was 400 down on normal ,, what could account for this ,, well I am only guessing but the since he spent 80% of the time casting dps spells and 20% of the time chain healing on himself .
This is a fight where we had six healer’s, who are completely on top of the fight , we don’t lose a single man it the kill.
That sharman has ”Boom disease” throwing about heals because he thinks it’s the right thing , or that its needed , or “just to help out the healers “ the equivalent of saying “yay look at me I’m participating “ As a sharman player I feel the need to take that young sharman on one side and slap him till he sees sence ,, as I do with every boomkin in the world .
The healers are on top , the raid leader has not said “ help off heal a little during phase X , Y , Z .. then don’t heal , even if your down to 5% health , don’t heal , let the healers do there job , pop a health stone if you have to , but keep on with the wrath and feathers . The raid leader will tell you in advance if your going to do any off healing , if he doesn’t, don’t unless mid fight he asks you to do it because a healer died ,, literally just do what your good at and DPS . Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon
SIN 2
The wasting of battle resses , a minor seeming sin ,, “ hell the rogue died , I’ll pop a rez on him ..” and a minute later the tank dies ,, and the off tank picks up the mob , but the off tank has to off tank the add mob in 30 seconds and we need the tank back up and …..
Raid leader says ” you rezed the rogue ,, that one , that misbegotten piece of filth that has the dps of a wet haddock , the guy lowest down the dps chart every raid because he’s basically a waste of space and we bring him to fill out the raid and you rezzed him ????? that one who died a minute later by not running out of the AOE blast again , in exactly the same way he died the first time , and you wasted your battle rez on him ?????????”
The raid leader will , we’ll I always will , call for whom he want’s rezing , and by whom , And more than once it will be rezing a healer over a dps , or a tank over a healer ,, or that other boomkin so he can then rez the tree who can then rez the hunter who’s top end dps , and leave the rogue alone . Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon .
SIN 3
The waste of innovate , now this is an odd one ,, about 5 months ago , I asked a boomkin when he was flat out of mana three quarters of the way through every boss fight ,, and he said “ I innovated the dis priest because she whispered me and asked for the innovate . “
Fair enough says I , well what was the problem in the next fight ,, “ I innovated the dis priest because she whispered me and asked for the innovate .”
And the next “ I innovated the dis priest because she whispered me and asked for the innovate .I think she has it on macro “
Right ,, how long have you be doing this , “ oh every raid for the last six months “
Raid leaders head hits table
Here's the thing ,, innovate is lovely ,, it’s a great get out of jail toy , particularly if a healer cops it early in a fight and gets soul stoned up or battle rezed and is on low mana , hell hit innovate , help out the team in a big way and lets party on .. but every raid , same priest , every fight ? then the priest has a problem with mana and needs to solve it , you need your innovate for yourself or the emergency ..
Perhaps you should mention this to the raid leader , because he would sooner have your innovate around for get out of jail refresh the mana of the MT healer , rather than matter of course oh the dis priest needs an innovate again …. Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon .
SIN 4 ,
Boomrage ,, the propensity to over agro with the massive aoe ,, learn to use it approximately see reference every fucking dps class in the world ever . Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon .
SIN 5
Strut the funky chicken .. learn to move when you have to and where you have to and listen when a raid leader gives out instructions and take the time to read up on a boss you know is coming up , see reference every fucking dps class in the world ever . Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon
SIN 6
Tidal wave (typhoon) . oh look I can knock back the mob ,, ,,,,,,,,
The tank will hate you , it’s a great spell use it at the right time , don’t use it just because its there see reference every fucking dps class in the world ever . Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon
SIN 7
“I’m a boomkin , I’m Special “ your not , your just another dps option , if you want to be first on the pick list for a raid don’t rely on being a boomkin to get you in , put it all together and be a fucking great boomkin . and remember the most important lesson
Utility doesn’t mean utensil , don’t be a spoon
Note to all SINs 4 to 7 are universal to all dps classes , but if you don’t get them right sins 1 to 3 won’t matter a jot because you will not be on the raid in the first place
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Funny Old Month more like it!
Boomdaddy has had it bad. But I'm still without a kitchen or bathroom.. this has not progressed much since early may, so he should stop moaning!
Me and the other half now have many things sorted out in the house (thanks to a lovely builder who knocked down walls, replastered, and a lovely electrician, who put things where they should be). What has caused problems is the plumber... nearly 4 weeks worth of problems now. At least we have a bath... nothing else plumbed in though. But the good news is that I have managed to install the kitchen - including the worktop. God I feel so butch. Powertools are my friend So watch out!
My thoughts on patch 3.2: the game has to progress and take the lower players with it eventually, and for that I'm happy with it. Make the higher level stuff available to all, once it's been done to death by the devoted few! (otherwise what's the point in writing the storylines? Only 2% of the players will ever understand the conclusion - that's an awful lot of unfulfilled, confused people. Very bad business practice and completely crap artistic practice).
I for one am not willing to spend 20-30 hours of my week, for 4-5 weeks trying to get a single boss down like the old days. That to me is pointless and silly. Big grats to all those people who want the first kill, but I'm not one of those. I'll try extremely hard to be a good player, but I always remember it's a game I enjoy playing in my spare time. I play it with people I like, and have a good time. What more do I want?
Lots of love,
BoomMummy
Sunday 21 June 2009
Funny old day
Had a go at Warhammer...not truly impressed. It's clunky. Nice ,though ,that they stole most of the movement/fighting/casting dynamics from WoW to make the playing transition easier.
Raiding guild has disintegrated apparently, the officers and a few raiders left in the past week. Today was an Old Testament exodus by the looks of it. Guild has called a halt to 25 man raiding.
Its an interesting dynamic to me how fast a successful raiding guild can implode. Server 5th/7th/9th, couple of bad weeks and they do a Deathnugget explode corpse routine.
I guess one thing is always true in raiding guilds. It is easy to put up with hand shandy merchants when you are all progressing. When progression stops, everyone suddenly realises there is nothing left to make them put up with the twats they have been playing with. Most of the raiding guilds I would have a look at have already been applied to by the twats, so the Boomdaddy is unsure what to do. My one real friend in the guild left today also, so there are no ties at all there now. With no 25 man raiding on the agenda for the foreseeable future, what is a Boomkin to do?
Do we swallow the bitter pill of Blizz's obsequious pampering of scrubs and come back to WoW? Do we apply to a top raiding guild? Do we go back home to the old lovelies? Or just call it a day and jog on.
Its trickier than the thorny issue of why Horde boomkins do not have antlers.....they are presumably the females and alliance are males.....that's just too much for me. I can't shag a moo cow.
Raiding guild has disintegrated apparently, the officers and a few raiders left in the past week. Today was an Old Testament exodus by the looks of it. Guild has called a halt to 25 man raiding.
Its an interesting dynamic to me how fast a successful raiding guild can implode. Server 5th/7th/9th, couple of bad weeks and they do a Deathnugget explode corpse routine.
I guess one thing is always true in raiding guilds. It is easy to put up with hand shandy merchants when you are all progressing. When progression stops, everyone suddenly realises there is nothing left to make them put up with the twats they have been playing with. Most of the raiding guilds I would have a look at have already been applied to by the twats, so the Boomdaddy is unsure what to do. My one real friend in the guild left today also, so there are no ties at all there now. With no 25 man raiding on the agenda for the foreseeable future, what is a Boomkin to do?
Do we swallow the bitter pill of Blizz's obsequious pampering of scrubs and come back to WoW? Do we apply to a top raiding guild? Do we go back home to the old lovelies? Or just call it a day and jog on.
Its trickier than the thorny issue of why Horde boomkins do not have antlers.....they are presumably the females and alliance are males.....that's just too much for me. I can't shag a moo cow.
Saturday 20 June 2009
RIP WoW- or death by patch 3.2
I really should not leave the country. I blame myself. A week or so away from WoW and Blizz seems to have gone completely apeshit bonkers. When I say that they are going mad, I do not mean they are going a little eccentric like your great Aunt Betty who smells of moth balls. No, I mean full bore window licking, diaper wearing, pant sniffing mentalist.
Yes Blizz, I am looking at you with my Boomdaddy eye of Mordor. Why are you systematically destroying everything that I care about in this damn time sink of a game?
What has got my goat? Patch 3.2 has. Most specifically, the proposed changes to the emblem and badge system.
ALL Heroic instances and Pre-Ulduar raids will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead of Heroism or Valor.
Heroic Daily and Daily Dungeon quests will also award Emblems of Triumph.
Ok, it seems that Blizzard is not satisfied with the already dumbed down product that WoW has become. Now it needs to feed T8.5 and T9 gear to the scrubs who cannot handle real raid content. I mean for fucks sake break this down.....lets say the average scrub plays for 3 hours per day Monday-Friday and 6-8 hours over the weekend. How many Emblems of Conquest can said scrub pick up in a good week?
Lets see...
47 Emblems per week from Heroic 5 mans IF they only do each one once per week. (if you ran CoS and Gundrak daily it would be 77 Emblems just for those 2 instances).
15 Emblems from a Naxx 10 clearence
15 Emblems from a Naxx 25 clearance
6 from VoA (10 and 25)
2 from EoE (10 and 25)
8 from OS (10 and 25)
So whats that , then? 93 Emblems (or 123 if you do CoS/Gundrak) without breaking too much of a sweat. Jesus wept. Throw in 14 Emblems of Triumph for doing the two instance dailies for T9 good measure, why don't you Blizz?
Which ever way you shake it, the worst players are going to have T8.5, T9 and Ulduar crafted gear coming out of their scrub arses inside 4 weeks. Yes Ulduar best in slot crafted gear! Why? Because all those Emblems means Runed orbs from heaven, like it was Christmas.
And what is all this about? Money. Top end raiders (that are now leaving the game in droves)make up 5% maybe of the customer base. Casuals the other 95%. If Blizzard lose the 500,000 raiders due to the homogeneous soup of shit that the game is becoming, so be it. The will replace them with 4 million more punters that want to be spoon fed content and gear, without having to put any effort in to learn their class or instances. The scrubs will be visiting Ulduar for the first time with gear that already outclasses the instance content. Its ridiculous Blizzard, totally gut fucking wrenchingly obscene. But its what the whiners on the forums want, and they are the ones that will pay your juicy bonus at Christmas time and fluff your share options.
It ain't much and will make no difference....but you are not getting my subscription money this month psycho Blizz. Poke it where it smells funny. I am going to have a look at what else is out there, starting with a 10 day free trial with Warhammer. Yeah, its probably shite but it is worth a look and a change of scenery. Its at 20% download right now and taking forever. After that who knows. If nothing grips me it will either be back to WoW or give up all this MMORPG non sense and concentrate on work, and my screen play.
In the meantime happy Booming.
Yes Blizz, I am looking at you with my Boomdaddy eye of Mordor. Why are you systematically destroying everything that I care about in this damn time sink of a game?
What has got my goat? Patch 3.2 has. Most specifically, the proposed changes to the emblem and badge system.
ALL Heroic instances and Pre-Ulduar raids will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead of Heroism or Valor.
Heroic Daily and Daily Dungeon quests will also award Emblems of Triumph.
Ok, it seems that Blizzard is not satisfied with the already dumbed down product that WoW has become. Now it needs to feed T8.5 and T9 gear to the scrubs who cannot handle real raid content. I mean for fucks sake break this down.....lets say the average scrub plays for 3 hours per day Monday-Friday and 6-8 hours over the weekend. How many Emblems of Conquest can said scrub pick up in a good week?
Lets see...
47 Emblems per week from Heroic 5 mans IF they only do each one once per week. (if you ran CoS and Gundrak daily it would be 77 Emblems just for those 2 instances).
15 Emblems from a Naxx 10 clearence
15 Emblems from a Naxx 25 clearance
6 from VoA (10 and 25)
2 from EoE (10 and 25)
8 from OS (10 and 25)
So whats that , then? 93 Emblems (or 123 if you do CoS/Gundrak) without breaking too much of a sweat. Jesus wept. Throw in 14 Emblems of Triumph for doing the two instance dailies for T9 good measure, why don't you Blizz?
Which ever way you shake it, the worst players are going to have T8.5, T9 and Ulduar crafted gear coming out of their scrub arses inside 4 weeks. Yes Ulduar best in slot crafted gear! Why? Because all those Emblems means Runed orbs from heaven, like it was Christmas.
And what is all this about? Money. Top end raiders (that are now leaving the game in droves)make up 5% maybe of the customer base. Casuals the other 95%. If Blizzard lose the 500,000 raiders due to the homogeneous soup of shit that the game is becoming, so be it. The will replace them with 4 million more punters that want to be spoon fed content and gear, without having to put any effort in to learn their class or instances. The scrubs will be visiting Ulduar for the first time with gear that already outclasses the instance content. Its ridiculous Blizzard, totally gut fucking wrenchingly obscene. But its what the whiners on the forums want, and they are the ones that will pay your juicy bonus at Christmas time and fluff your share options.
It ain't much and will make no difference....but you are not getting my subscription money this month psycho Blizz. Poke it where it smells funny. I am going to have a look at what else is out there, starting with a 10 day free trial with Warhammer. Yeah, its probably shite but it is worth a look and a change of scenery. Its at 20% download right now and taking forever. After that who knows. If nothing grips me it will either be back to WoW or give up all this MMORPG non sense and concentrate on work, and my screen play.
In the meantime happy Booming.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Raiding at last
Its been a very boring 2 weeks for the Boomdaddy, running Naxx, VoA, EoE etc at weekends and such with guildies. The older content is starting to make my owl-eyes bleed. The process though, needs to be gone through. Why? Well,I have to show that my dps is good enough for a full raider spot. No one has said that these runs are all a little trial but it doesn't take a genius to work out that being top dps on Naxx 25 etc has helped my cause in getting a regular spot.
Hodir and Freya were on the menu last night. I wasn't picked for the raid but after a successful voodoo ceremony involving a virgin chicken, I got drafted in half way through. It was only the second time I had seen Hodir, so was nice to get him down first shot. More importantly i did beat a couple of the front liners in dps, yay for the Boomdaddy. Most importantly I did not die so was saved the indignity of looking like a noobling.
Seeing Freya for the first time was full of win. New content simply breathes life back into these bones. Ok we only had time for two quick attempts at her which ended in wipes but it was still awe inspiring. The location and landscape were a fabulous contrast to the rest of the towering structures of Ulduar.
BUT. There is always a but. I did not feel the same rush of excitement seeing these bosses as I had felt in TBC, seeing Hydross and Lurker for the first time. I do not know if this is because I do not feel part of this raid team yet, or whether I have changed, or whether Blizzard has messed with the game so much and dumbed it down, that I don't feel the right to feel proud or excited anymore. Maybe because things have become so accessible there is no thought or feeling of being special by completing this content. It is not the case now that only decent players got past Lurker and dreamed of seeing Black Temple. Its now a given, that it may take 3-4 months longer than the top raid guilds too see all content.....but you will get to see it. Good players and scrubs alike.
That makes me sad. The drive to clear SSC was partly to be one of the few who enjoyed the hospitality of BT. It was about new, challenging content that was a gear and skill check...but it was also about prestige.My old guild was ranked around 16-18th on the server when the nerf bat patch hit end game content in TBC and we were only 2-3 bosses into SSC. I think that tells a story when compared to guild progress now. I want to Cheer again when a boss goes down, not simply tick him off an achievement list. Am i wrong?
Hodir and Freya were on the menu last night. I wasn't picked for the raid but after a successful voodoo ceremony involving a virgin chicken, I got drafted in half way through. It was only the second time I had seen Hodir, so was nice to get him down first shot. More importantly i did beat a couple of the front liners in dps, yay for the Boomdaddy. Most importantly I did not die so was saved the indignity of looking like a noobling.
Seeing Freya for the first time was full of win. New content simply breathes life back into these bones. Ok we only had time for two quick attempts at her which ended in wipes but it was still awe inspiring. The location and landscape were a fabulous contrast to the rest of the towering structures of Ulduar.
BUT. There is always a but. I did not feel the same rush of excitement seeing these bosses as I had felt in TBC, seeing Hydross and Lurker for the first time. I do not know if this is because I do not feel part of this raid team yet, or whether I have changed, or whether Blizzard has messed with the game so much and dumbed it down, that I don't feel the right to feel proud or excited anymore. Maybe because things have become so accessible there is no thought or feeling of being special by completing this content. It is not the case now that only decent players got past Lurker and dreamed of seeing Black Temple. Its now a given, that it may take 3-4 months longer than the top raid guilds too see all content.....but you will get to see it. Good players and scrubs alike.
That makes me sad. The drive to clear SSC was partly to be one of the few who enjoyed the hospitality of BT. It was about new, challenging content that was a gear and skill check...but it was also about prestige.My old guild was ranked around 16-18th on the server when the nerf bat patch hit end game content in TBC and we were only 2-3 bosses into SSC. I think that tells a story when compared to guild progress now. I want to Cheer again when a boss goes down, not simply tick him off an achievement list. Am i wrong?
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