Guilt Tripping through Heroics

I haven't been able to play that much lately, mostly because of IRL things. So, I think this is an excellent opportunity for me to address a little thing that has had me thinking for a while.

Tam recently wrote a post on how some DPS can be utter utter, utter utter sh-, uhm, I mean a slight pain in the neck sometimes. I don't think there are any healers out there that did not have to deal with the sort of situations he has to deal with. What I like about his post, though, is that it clearly shows he has had enough and behaves more assertive in groups. He does not stay to grief or to be a weight the rest of the group has to carry around, he simply states what his problem is, and if it is not resolved, he quits. Whenever I read this type of posts I am in awe of who wrote them, and I decide it's time I step up in my own groups as well. But why is it that I have to read posts about it to make up my mind about behaving like a normal human being in the first place?

The Bossy Pally already addressed part of the issue. She points out she puts up with some behaviour because she doesn't want to be perceived as a whiny overly sensitive girl. When I read it, I agreed with her completely. In situations like the one she describes, her explanation does fit. But I tried to look at the wider scope. Why do we put up with any bad behaviour at all? We wouldn't do it in our actual lives. If we get harassed and yelled at by complete strangers, we call the police or yell back at them. Why do we meekly do as they say online?

At first, I pointed at The Panties In A Wad (tm) argument to explain why I put up with people. Then, however, something strange happened. (As a complete coincidence, might I point out. I do not think my thoughts and the following are linked in a causal manner.) Pocky started to get some heat in heroics. He admitted to me that he had not been on the top of his game, and he had been making some mistakes, but for me that is besides the point. He is the tank. If DPS pulls before he has aggro, or before he is anywhere close to where the DPS is pulling, they made a mistake, not him. If they then get transformed into bloody splatters on the floor, it is not the tank's fault either. Yes, he has ways to pull aggro back onto him, but they're not supposed to be part of his standard routine. He has them for very bad situations only. That is made quite clear by the CD Blizzard put on those skills. However, he was being treated like he was a bad tank, just because he had an off-few-days and only did an average job. (Otherwise, I am really happy to inform you, he is an excellent tank. Rocks my socks, seriously.)

Pocky should not be worried about having His Panties In A Wad (tm), because, quite simply, he is a man. Still, he follows the morons and idiots around to make sure he pulls everything off them, even when the good players in the group clearly need a break (mana or otherwise).

I will unveil my theory in a moment, but first I would like a small amount of your time and take you back on memory lane. From the earliest moments in our lives, (if all is well) we have had a mother to take care of us. Those first few years we would have done anything for her. She is the light of our lives. But then, that gradually changes, and sometimes she even becomes the bane of our existence. Still, we do everything she asks of us in the exact way she likes it to be done. Why? Because she guilt trips us into it. Remember the disappointed look? The slight raise of the eyebrows and the twinge right next to her mouth? The hitch in her voice that tells you you're upsetting her (and she will make your life miserable if you do!)? (Ok, maybe I'm taking this a bit too far, I'm sure you get the point.)

That is why we are vulnerable to those evil DPS'ers. Something drives us to please these people, to be praised about the job we're doing. And so we all shut up and nod when they're behaving like the bags of sh-, air, they are.

The bad news is that they won't stop after a reasonable argument, and we will be the ones feeling bad about it.

The good news is that it is perfectly reversible. Because, unlike our mums, these people have absolutely no hold over us. We are not their children. And, even more perfectly, they probably have the same training from their mothers. So, my brethren, I cry for justice in the form of the Mummy Treatment. Imagine all of the extremely annoyingly effective things that your mother has ever said to you, from the time she pulled out the baby pictures in front of your friends to the time she barged into your room/house during a crucial bossfight, and then slam them down on those prepubescent pottymouths. They will not know what hit them. Don't get angry, get disappointed!

I would also like to use this opportunity to call for some more tank-loving. All of you healers out there, remember to hug a tank today. They need the TLC just as much as you do. And maybe you can gang up on the baddies, that way?

~Ari

PS: Please note that I refer to -bad- DPS in this post. The stress is on bad, not on DPS (not all DPS is bad). I'm well aware they come in all shapes and sizes, these players. There are healers and tanks like it too. I am not easily exposed to them because I usually know my tank will be Pocky. (Unless I'm on alts.) However, the Mummy Treatment will be just as effective on them, so don't hesitate to apply it.

A rose by any other name...

Having read the recent blue post on Mastery, I grow more and more impatient for Cataclysm. No doubt that is exactly what Blizzard aimed for, sneaky little buggers...

Part of me is screaming for all these changes to stop. I'm trying to learn about gear and how all that works *now*, and it is somewhat frustrating to see how all of that will be blown away once the expac arrives. Of course, as a good friend told me in comfort, the expansion is not to be released for a while, in all probability, but I still feel as if my current efforts are rendered completely useless. Still, I don't just want to leave my lovely priest hanging there while I twiddle my thumbs in exasperation.

I like the idea of mastery being applied to gear. I also like that, while all stats are being simplified a little, there will still be a sufficient amount of diversity for players to make their own decisions. At least that is what I expect will happen. I do understand that some players are concerned that the game is getting a little too 'dumbed down', and I must say I count myself as one of them on rare occasions. My sentiments are then more along the lines of "We had to do it as lowbies, we had to bite through the pain, they should too!", and not the preservation and protection tactics that I see elsewhere. After all, as the game expands the goal of endgame is removed further and further away from the starter levels, and it is in Blizzard's best interest to remain inviting for new players as well as experienced ones. It is a thin line to walk, however, but I suppose we'll just have to suck it up and see how it turns out.

In the end, they are tweaking some aspects of the game, but the core remains the same. While I am a little nervous about the changes, and anxious to try them, it is still the same game - but in a new coat. Especially when it comes to the talent changes. Ultimately, they just grouped the talents a little differently. None of the effects they had in-game will go away completely.

I suppose we will have to put Shakespeare's words to the test. Will our roses, by any other name, still smell as sweet?

Bonus Ambivalent

Yesterday, Miss Medecina made a post on the T10 changes Blizzard recently made for priests. More accurately, they changed the 4-piece bonus. I have to admit, the original bonus made my brain hurt when I first read it. I'm not the quickest thinker when it comes to numbers and maths... ugh. This is what it originally said:

Your Circle of Healing and Penance spells have a 20% chance to cause your next Flash Heal cast within 6 sec to reset the cooldown on your Circle of Healing and Penance spells.

I found this sentence to be grammatically ambiguous at best, but then that's just the little grammar nazi in me. It does take some time to take in what this means, though. Basically, what this means for Holy priests:

You hit CoH, and cast FH six seconds later. One chance in five, it will reset the cooldown on CoH.

Sounds reasonably nice, right? But it does only proc in specific types of situations, rendering this bonus useless for a majority of priest healers out there. Especially for disc priests. (I heard. I don't play my disc offspec that often... Still learning the ropes). Miss Medecina pointed out that it proved Blizzard was completely out of touch with what Discs are about. I see her point.

Now, Blizzard decided to make some changes about that. This is what the PTR states:

Priest Tier-10 4-Piece Healing Set Bonus: Redesigned. This bonus now increases the effectiveness of the caster's Power Word: Shield and Renew spells by 5%

*sigh*

I don't feel the love... On the one hand, it's nice to have an increase on Renew, and it is definitely a more general bonus than the other one. But, on the other hand, it really looks like the development team just slapped something on there. As if they just picked the two most basic spells for both specs and gave it a little 5% static increase. I am not particularly happy, but not particularly sad either. I do use Renew quite often. That may change, however, when I set my white hoof on raiding grounds. We shall see, I suppose.

On a completely unrelated note:

Tamarind is starting something new on Argent Dawn. The guild is called Single Abstract Noun, and will be all about the blogging community. I'm sorely tempted to roll (yet another) alt so I can take a peek there. It looks like a lot of fun.

Thanks to Tam, I actually posted something on my own guildforums to ask if they'd be ok with being mentioned in this blog before I write about them. Otherwise, I would probably have written myself straight into the snakepit Tam just managed to escape.

~Ari

Is holy dead?

A few weeks ago, something big happened. I hit 80. How I got there is a whole different story. Let me just say it did not happen easily. I've been playing on and off for about (uhm... let me see...) four or five years now, and only recently I reached the level cap for the first time. My trusty tanking partner actually had to freeze his exp so he would not get there weeks, nay months, before I did. After our initial rush of victory, realisation dawned that we were now facing something completely different: Endgame. (Cue doomsey music, à la 'dun dun dunnnnnn'.) Panic seized our throats, and anguish drove us to our number one information resource, the internet, to find out more about our specs, class, gear, etc. We had done this before, to find out what gear drops where and such, but I needed something more detailed this time. I needed a fellow holy priest with more experience, to direct me to the things I should and should not do to gear up and get ready.

Initially, that is the three seconds after I first hit search on google, I felt relatively confident. Of course I would find a holy priest who blogs. Why wouldn't I? Surely, this game was widespread enough for there to be at least one other person like me. Or not?

As I clicked outdated link after outdated link, the comments I had received during my levelling came flooding back. "Holy? Why?" "Spec disc lol" and "Wth? Holy sucks" were often whispered to me, but I dismissed them at the time. I had read that holy is a difficult spec to level in, so I was not surprised others preferred not to. I considered myself lucky to have my tank and moved on. But suddenly my thoughts were wavering. There were no updated gear lists. There was no actual advice out there. Worried, I turned to my tank. What if I had made a mistake? He reassured me everything was fine, and I just had to keep looking. Thanks for those words of courage, by the way, I would have given up on it without them.

After a long search I found some blogs that are very valuable. Sadly, most 'holy blogs' seem to be on permanent hiatus, or completely called off. There are some still out there, however. And although most are dual speccing disc, there is some information to be found still.

My finds did not calm my thoughts. The world of holy priests looks like an ancient and forgotten one. Have we really become dispensible? Have we been thrown out like rags? Where are our thrones that read 'most versatile healer' and 'best raid healer'? In other words, is holy dead?

~Ari