MMOUI - Minion Beta

Well I have been waiting a long time for this and it has finally happened, the beta of the Wow Interface Addon Updater is here and as big kev would have said "Im Excited"


I have been following this project for some time now, even prior to the release of the "Premium Curse Client", and it's great to see that not only have they put in the effort (despite preasure) to get it right and ready for beta.

Just quickly I ended up removing the curse client all together, I can put up with one at a time updates but I found that a lot of my addons were either being reset (reinstalled) or they were being updated with 'odd' results. Some of this may have actually been the addon developers doing something funny but last thing I needed was stuffing around with addons 5 minutes before a raid.

I'm still at work now but when I get home i'll be installing it and having a look.

Ill post some more info in the next couple of days :) Have a day off tomorrow so may not do it then haha

Quick Tips & Warnings

• This is a BETA for a reason, if you're wanting to a completely flawless addon updater, wait till the final releaseis ready.
• Backup your Addons/WTF folders (just in case) :D

Druid Skin Changes

Well I wont be able to grumble about anything Blizzard has or hasnt done. I am eager to see how the Tree forms can be changed if at all as it's based on hair color for bear form.

Posted last night not a day after my post about some of this stuff (I'm not so narrow minded to believe my blog had anything to do with it but it's nice to dream) ;

In our next major content patch, druids will find a host of new textures for two major forms, cat and bear. There will be five different designs for each of these forms for the Horde and Alliance. Night elves can choose to change their cat and bear look at any time by visiting the barber shop and changing their character's hair color, while tauren will be able to change which look they use by switching skin tones in the barber shop -- a new feature for tauren in the next major content patch. Given that there are more hair colors and skin tones than unique form looks, some colors and tones will overlap with these new textures. The hair and skin colors chosen will, in most cases, correspond with the color seen in the look of each form. Some similar colors that may share a particular cat texture will not necessarily share the same bear texture.

We'd like to share with you this new art for each form and faction in four installments. So without further ado, our first preview is for the five new textures of the tauren druid bear form. We'll also show the current form design so you can easily see the extra detail and textures of the new art. Work continues on new looks for the remaining druid forms and we hope to add them in future content patches.

Full story here: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/druid-forms.html

Update: Really sounds like tree is not in line for a change /sigh

New art for two druid forms, cat and bear, are coming in the next major content patch. As this has been a much-anticipated update for druids, we'd like to give you a first look at the fresh designs.

Screenshot of the Week

This is from our raid last night :)

4T8 and Spell Prioritisation

Well got my 4T8 set last night, although I'm still using Valorous Nightsong Handguards but I will swap that out later :)

I saw a big jump in Rejuv heals (which is to be expected) from 8-13% to 20-25% but it also required a bit of a shift in my healing style or more specifically my spell prioritisation.

I dont think that my heals when I'm healing tanks (this is generally my assign) will change that much, I will have an extra tick and also (in theory) a bigger Swiftmend so that will be good for oh crap moments (like Ignis flame jets).

I'll use Mimiron as an example because this is a real all out, as Matt would say heads up method, and is a real indication of whether you've got your prioritisation right.

While healing I ask myself these questions in my head while i'm healing for Mimiron we are primarily looking at the right hand side of my little brain chart :)


In summary where there is raid damage being taken I decide if I'm expecting more damage in the next second or so, if so I get my 'best for the cast time' spell off, being Nourish.

If I'm not expecting more damage I choose regrowth, it has a slower cast time but does have the bonus of a hot.

If there is minimal damage or currently no raid damage I will use rejuv across the raid.

It's worth noting that throughout this process I am hitting Wild Growth whenever it is available and I can afford the use of a GCD :)

On the other side of the chart, my tank healing, I wont use Wild Growth too much on a boss encounter i either; dont know well enough, or I know is going to be a hard slog on mana (i.e. General).

On a side note I was promoted to a Sub Officer last night :) was pretty excited about the whole thing :)

On another side note, just a quick shoutout to Sydera who blog on World of Matticus who I noticed comment on my last post, I was excited to see your name there as I read your blog frequently :)

"Is Tree Form Fun?"

Well we had a vague question asked of us on the wow forums by Ghostcrawler and I thought I would take the time to quickly give my opinion on the matter; I am a little one sided because I really dont pvp that much so my points are more about making us trees feel special :)

"This is an open question to the community. Is druid Tree of Life form fun?"

He goes on to assure us (or torment us depending on how you look at it) that no major changes are on the way for us trees.

There were quite a few comments and suggestions, for my 2 cents worth the primary issue with Tree form is it's common, boring, ugly appearance. I personally have no problems that I cant dps in form etc but some do :)

my points as posted on the forums were;

• Post Death Effects - loved this idea, the concept that people can get a minor heal by standing near our body is pretty cool but doubt that will ever happen
  
• Some Old Look - the main thing i dislike about tree form is when running with multiple trees we all look the same.. makes me feel like a social sheep.
• Skin Customisation - the ability to customise our skins, hang stuff from our branches, have birds living in our limbs etc would be really cool.

The general feeling from a PVE point of view is that people love the healing style and idea of changing into a form however they would like to pretty themself up and be unique. For all the male troll hunters out their you can still find differences in appearances between them, not so with us poor druids.

These points really apply to druid in general, bear form, cat form and travel forms too :) I'd pay a stylist some money to give me the latest french branch styles :)

G9 and G13 Update

Well I was just posting a comment about how I use my G9 and G13 on plusheal.com and thought that it may be worthwhile to post a quick update.

If you haven't already check out my original post:
http://upyursh.blogspot.com/2009/03/g9-g13-review-and-mappings.html

I have found that my response time and awareness has increased a lot since using these two gaming tools. I do not go key hunting any longer as my primary 6 key binds are quickly and easily at my fingers, without having to dodge movement keys.

The use of the thumb stick means that I can be moving and planning my next heal without needing to move my fingers around. The stick has also very quickly become the norm in my play style incorporated with mouse-movement too.

I am yet to explore the comprehensive macro functionality (one-click-healing) as I personally like the flexibility of changing my healing/spell priorities.

The only thing I have changed in my mapping since my original post is I have filled in the 2 TBA buttons, 1 with Escape and the other hotkey'ed to my mount macro.

I think all in all my improved awareness can be put largely down to utilising these two tools. I have also done a lot of work on my UI to present the information I need when I need it but my response time has improved enormously!

Twitter Pressure

Well I am weak and can not resist the Twitter phenomenon any longer

Screenshot(s) of the Week

Well I think I will regularly post a favourite screenshot for the week. Being the first I have a couple that I like so Ill post more than one, because I can!

Ulduar 10man - General


H-VH - Kirin Tor Achievement

New Guild

Well one of the only thing I have not done in the game is form my own guild, so on my alt Gaidon I have started a guild with a good friend called Tarmon GaiDon. Those who have read Wheel of Time will know that this is translated to "the last battle" or something similar :)

It's really a casual guild for now but I look forward to eventually growing it into a raiding guild, even if it is 10man content on a single night a week or something.

Shameless plug but if you have any alts on Khaz'Goroth that want a friendly place to park look me up :) Nothing serious but would like to be looking at getting some 5man content in the next few weeks.

http://tarmongaidon.wowstead.com

Good Night :)

Email Subscription Now Available

I have just setup my feedburner for my blog, you can now subscribe to receive email notices when I update my blog :)

25 Man Ulduar Quick Tips Continued

This is my Quick Tips Continued :)

Ignis the Furnace Master
Prior to the nerfs this fight was pretty tough, we now tank Ignis in the water and the adds are tanked off to the sides and the raid stacks up behind Ignis. The priority here is on speed and timing. We usually have 2 Pally's and myself on the Main Tank spamming, the hits get very hard towards the end (30K each) so be on your toes.

Make sure you have a RaidDebuff mod (i use a plugin for Grid for this: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/grid-status-raid-debuff.aspx )

Primary Abilities
Scorch - Where we tank him this is not a big problem but just make sure you arent staying in it if the tank looses control of Ignis for some reason.

Flame Jets - Big Stomp basically, causing a debuff for 2600/sec. Your raid healers should be able to easily get everybody up during the debuff. Be sure to not be interupted as you will be spell locked for 8 seconds. I've been on Tank Heals, and have been saving my Swiftmend for Flame Jets, so when Flame Jet cooldown is getting close I cast (or top up) the Rejuv on the tank, while in the air cast Swiftmend.

Slag Pot - Have at least 1 dedicated healer who prioritises the Slag Pot victim, with other healers helping out when they can. Important that people in the slag pot help themself too, if you've got heals, health pots or a health stone use them!

Kologarn
Kologarn is really an awareness fight, be ready to move quickly from Eyebeams. For healers face the door, no need to face the boss at all. We position ourselves one person per square with healers given priority to squares closest the door.

Primary Abilities
Stone Grib - Randomly pick up 3 raiders, make sure you have people focussed on keeping them up.

Focussed Eyebeam - Randomly targets a raider and tried to blow the hell out of them, kite the beam out of the door, try not to run through the raid, and other raiders be sure to move off your square to allow the victim through.

Auriaya
This is an interesting fight but difficult to explain, once the sentries are down we basically stack on the boss unless the Feral Defender is low, stun it and then move the boss around to avoid the Seeping Feral Essence (Void Zone). Rinse and Repeat 4-5 times depending on your dps. Key is to move prior to the Essence spawning otherwise you will die.

Keep your hots up on the tank and max heals especially on the pull as all tanks will take big hits from Pounce.

Freya
All about add management, make sure you make the kill order very clear to your dps. Dots should be used carefully as to not kill the adds you dont want killed. Be aware the lashers have no threat table so you ARE going to get hit, they do little damage unless your unlucky (like I was a couple of times) and get 5-6 on you.

In Phase 2 mushrooms will spawn, it's important to get under them or you will be spell locked.

Their is a lot going on and no doubt it will take you a few attempts to get this fight right but once you've got it it's easy enough. From a healing point of view, nothing too much to worry about, just stick to your assigns and keep your hots up on the tanks :)

Hodir
This is another awareness fight, in a nut shell you should keep moving through as much of the fight as possible as to avoid Biting Cold debuff.

Avoid Icicles falling and when Freeze is called jump onto the large white circles that formed from the larger falling iceicles. If you're too slow you will need to be freed by your dps.

You should jump once on the white area as i've heard reports that running in will not always recognise that you are ON the area.

Thorim
This is a real prick of a boss, basically two seperate fights where one group will stay in arena and the other will run a gauntlet. I've only healed arena so can only really comment on that, basically a shed load of adds will form, we group up in the middle circle (avoiding chain lightnight from towers) and tanks pick up the adds outside of the circle. My role has been to keep hots up on our 3 tanks, mana can be an issue for rest assured that Phase 2 where Hodir comes down is pretty easy.

Their will be a lot of adds, if they start coming into the main group then just avoid the big guys, they cast a whirlwind that will clean us healer types up.

Phase 2 is pretty simple, throughout the fight you will see a chain of lighting coming from the towers to Thorim, move away from the chain as it will explode (wider than the original chain) and kill most people caught in it. The width of the explosion is directly related to the distance thorim is from the tower, so tank him in the middle

I expect this week to have Mimiron down so will post details when we do :)

Addon Watch: Doom CooldownPulse

Well I was looking for an easy way to be notified when my abilities come off of cooldown, this is especially useful for spells like Wild Growth and Swiftmend.

After trying out several addons, some of which seemed ok, some just didnt work for me, I found this little gem; Doom CooldownPulse.

Basically your spell icons will pulse (configurable in terms of where & how) where you set it up to when your spells are available to be cast. Doesn't do anything like try to cast or anything but a very useful prompt without having to watch your bars.

/cast Fishing

Just thought I would post my little fishing macro. Will definately encourage other fishers to give you your space haha

/use [mod] 1
/stopmacro [mod]
/run SendChatMessage(GetRandomArgument("once i caught a fish thiiiiiis big", "it's a lovely day for it", "missus is expecting dinner...","dont cross my line","","","","","","","","","","",""), "SAY", nil, nil)
/cast Fishing

So I have the Fishing Hat that acts as a Lure heance /use 1 but you can replace that with a Lure apply macro just keep your [mod] in there.

all the blanks mean you wont SPAM every cast :)

Simple Usage
1. hold a modifier down to apply your lure
2. normal click will say a witty comment and then cast Fishing

I also got my first Runed Stormjewel last night
enjoy :)

Fishing: /y It's a nice day for it huh

Well Fishing may or may not be the most frustrating aspect of wow, but in saying that the reasons for going through the pain have increased.



The new fishing dailies offer some excellent rewards including some great gems and in WOTLK it's a lot easier to level up, although still mind breakingly boring. You no longer have to fly all around the world to find the best place to fish. Simply travel to Howling Fjord (Horde to Vengeance Landing and Alliance to Valgarde), grab all the lures you can and go nuts.

The gems from your dailies are being sold for 1300+ on my server but that will drop as more people get them.

Some examples of the Epic Gems;

• Bold Stormjewel


• Brilliant Stormjewel


• Delicate Stormjewel


• Regid Stormjewel


• Runed Stormjewel


• Solid Stormjewel


• Sparkling Stormjewel

Well worth the few hours it takes to get your fishing up and running

The other aspect of fishing is it offers an additional method of farming your buff foods for raids, and you'll make lots of friends with your Fish Feasts