To prevent clutter, I will be posting my entries regarding raid/guild leadership at my 2nd blog:
http://legacyofstorm.blogspot.ca/
Monday, May 6, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
I'm back
Well, I'm not really consistent with anything in life so it's no surprise that I left this in dust. But I have decided to restart this blog. I won't make promises of weekly posts but if there's content that interest me, I will blog about it.
I am very much active in game. I started my own guild eight months ago and I am having a blast. So aside from priesting, I think the new HFS will cover some guild leadership/raid leading topics as well. It's an area with lots of questions and lots of answers, and over the past eight months I have experienced and learned more than I ever have in this game. So that is definitely an area I want to explore further.
Also, I have got to say blogger's new post interface is amazing. Much more user friendly than the tiny writing box they used a few years ago. Makes writing a much more comfortable experience.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Basic Keybinding for Healing Priests
Cataclysm introduced many new spells to the priest's healing arsenal. While you can technically bind your healing spells to multi-button mouses, I personally find key-binding far superior. Here's a summary of what I use, based on individual spell use frequency as well as the size of my left hand.
Movement Keys: AWSD
Notice that I try to keep the same healing spells used by both spec on the same key, so that when I do change spec occasionally, it doesn't feel foreign. Basic spells such as Greater Heal and Heal still have the same key-binding for both spec.
Characteristic spell of both spec are bind to R. Chastise, which morphs into either Serenity or Sanctuary in Holy, and Penance for Discipline.
The fourth row of the keyboard consists of two emergency keys. F for Flash Heal, which is easy to remember simply based on the name, and G, for either Guardian Spirit in Holy or Pain Suppression in Discipline. The letter G is just slightly further to the right to prevent you from hitting it by accident. At the same time, it's close enough to reach when you need to use it.
I also set the self casting modifier as Shift in the WoW interface. So that when I need to heal myself, I can simply press Shift + C for self-renew, or Shift + Q for self-PW: Shield. I do not have to de-select my current target to do this. This is especially useful in pvp. Having to target yourself, do something, then target your partner and do something is ridiculously inconvenient. It also helps with instant casting while moving, as you do not have to click your unit-frame to cast spells, making mouse turning much easier.
Less frequently used spells, such as Chakra State/Inner Focus/PW: Barrier, can be bind to Shift + ?? that cannot be self targeted. You cannot cast Binding Heal on yourself, so Shift + B is used for PW: Barrier instead.
Last but not least, remember that your TAB key is used to target enemy targets. Do not mouse click enemy targets, it's slow.
For the remaining spells, you can either click, or bind them to modifiers such as Alt + ?? or Ctrl + ??. For myself, I just click them. But I organize their location in my action bar accordingly.
Cooldowns: Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, Shadowfiend, Power Infusion, Trinket
Buffs: PW: Fortitude, Inner Focus, Shadow Protection, Fear Ward
Life-saver: FADE. Unless you are raiding with a flawless tank, I think this spell saves more priests' ass than Guardian Spirit, Desperate Prayer, or Pain Suppression combined together...seriously. You see the enemy nameplates flashing red with "high threat"? Hit Fade!
Movement Keys: AWSD
| | Holy | Discipline |
| 1 | Heal | |
| 2 | Circle of Healing | Holy Fire |
| 3 | N/A | Smite |
| 4 | N/A | Archangel |
| Q | Power Word: Shield | |
| E | Greater Heal | |
| R | Chastise | Penance |
| T | Prayer of Healing | |
| F | Flash Heal | |
| G | Guardian Spirit | Pain Suppression |
| Z | Dispel | |
| X | Cure Disease | |
| C | Renew | |
| V | Prayer of Mending | |
| B | Binding Heal | |
| Shift + 2 | Chakra | Inner Focus |
| Shift + B | N/A | Power Word: Barrier |
Notice that I try to keep the same healing spells used by both spec on the same key, so that when I do change spec occasionally, it doesn't feel foreign. Basic spells such as Greater Heal and Heal still have the same key-binding for both spec.
Characteristic spell of both spec are bind to R. Chastise, which morphs into either Serenity or Sanctuary in Holy, and Penance for Discipline.
The fourth row of the keyboard consists of two emergency keys. F for Flash Heal, which is easy to remember simply based on the name, and G, for either Guardian Spirit in Holy or Pain Suppression in Discipline. The letter G is just slightly further to the right to prevent you from hitting it by accident. At the same time, it's close enough to reach when you need to use it.
I also set the self casting modifier as Shift in the WoW interface. So that when I need to heal myself, I can simply press Shift + C for self-renew, or Shift + Q for self-PW: Shield. I do not have to de-select my current target to do this. This is especially useful in pvp. Having to target yourself, do something, then target your partner and do something is ridiculously inconvenient. It also helps with instant casting while moving, as you do not have to click your unit-frame to cast spells, making mouse turning much easier.
Less frequently used spells, such as Chakra State/Inner Focus/PW: Barrier, can be bind to Shift + ?? that cannot be self targeted. You cannot cast Binding Heal on yourself, so Shift + B is used for PW: Barrier instead.
Last but not least, remember that your TAB key is used to target enemy targets. Do not mouse click enemy targets, it's slow.
For the remaining spells, you can either click, or bind them to modifiers such as Alt + ?? or Ctrl + ??. For myself, I just click them. But I organize their location in my action bar accordingly.
Cooldowns: Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, Shadowfiend, Power Infusion, Trinket
Buffs: PW: Fortitude, Inner Focus, Shadow Protection, Fear Ward
Life-saver: FADE. Unless you are raiding with a flawless tank, I think this spell saves more priests' ass than Guardian Spirit, Desperate Prayer, or Pain Suppression combined together...seriously. You see the enemy nameplates flashing red with "high threat"? Hit Fade!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Revamping
This blog has been eating dust for too long. I have returned to commence the revamping process. Everything here is out of date, so there are a lot of things to update. I also removed the old layout, it's boring and stale. I have put in a place holder for now, I actually like the simplicity (made the content area wider for easier reading).
So I think that's all for now. Your patience is much appreciated. Thanks.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
End of Wotlk
Patch 4.0 went live yesterday. To me, this marks the conclusion of Wrath of the Lich King. Talents and class mechanics will be tuned for 85, so the game experience in the next few month will shift constantly until a few month after the launch of Cataclysm. As a result of this, I think I'm done with WoW for now.
My highlights for Wotlk are the following:
Peace out.
My highlights for Wotlk are the following:
- Full clear Naxx 10 in a pug for the first time
- Full clear ICC 10 in a pug for the first time
- Completing Benediction quest line
- Wiping on Sindy 10 for 4 hours in a pug and witnessing the raid leader raging and kicking 1 warrior and 3 more warrior replacements
- Healing Heroic Hall of Reflection
- Holy Nova farming in Icecrown
- Winning a Battered Hilt in Pit of Saron on the first day returning from hiatus. (I sold it)
- Doing 2s arena with my DK partner and getting Hot Streak with him having 500 resilience and moving with a touch pad. I suppose we got lucky. We finished off with 1100 rating 5 days later on the night before he quit WoW, had a blast, best partner ever. Vent helps, but I think I made his ears bleed on one of our match days.
- Getting Twilight Vanquisher title in a pug and had mount ninjaed by a DK. You may ask why it's on Master Loot, the answer is the DK kicked everyone but 3 guildies from the raid when Sarth was at 1%. So it wasn't on ML, but we weren't getting anything. I didn't really care about the drake, but trade chat was crazy afterward, admittingly I had fun watching the drama unfold itself.
- Pug finish Ruby Sanctum 10 and 25
- Took a resto druid for my pug and watch him rocking ToC 10 and later ToCG 10 with 4300gs. He two healed with another resto druid. He was good, gearscore fails.
- Finally got enchanting to skill cap after 2 years.
- Finally managed to pick an alt class/spec that I enjoy and can commit to level - feral bear tank.
- Writing this blog
Peace out.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Smite Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4h3tgEFH5k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX4XM8doPYg
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Beta 12694 Talent Builds
The talent trees had gone through a lot of changes since my last post. I have been holding off on commenting on them until now because they look very unfinished, especially the holy tree. However, the latest beta build gave me some ideas, so here is a post on what I think so far.
Before I start, let's refresh our memory on the principle changes of the talent tree design in Cataclysm.
Available talent points have been reduced to 41 points, averaging 1 point per 2 levels. You must put at least 31 points in a single tree before the other trees are unlocked and available to you. This means any previously viable hybrid spec xx/28/0 or alike will no longer be allowed in the game.
So what does this mean to Smite priest? I think devastation was my first thought. But really, it only means one thing - Power Infusion is no longer available to the standard Smite spec, a major dps loss.
PI had been in the Smite spec since TBC. They removed Searing Light, they removed Enlightenment, they removed all the hit and pushback talents last build, but none of that concerned me as much as this change. What sadden me is that this change is pretty much irreversible due to tree balancing. Shadow priest must not have access to PI because it will make them overpowered. Therefore, PI will most likely remain where it is in tier 3 or even deeper tier until launch.
Aside from the bad news, what is new? Well, as of today it seems Veiled Shadow will now be available to Smite priests, so I predict we can kiss our mana issue goodbye.
Build I: Standard Smite 8/31/2
Holy Tree
The top part of the tree is pretty much free territory. I'm not a fan of renew myself so I placed all the points into talents that improves direct healing. Improved Holy Nova, Body and Soul, and the new Surge of Light will make this an affective AoE farming build. 31 points will also ensure solid healing should you wish to take on that role.
Shadow Tree
Two points in Veiled Shadow will reduce the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 2 minutes. Three minutes Shadowfiend will make life a LOT easier on our mana so rejoice.
Discipline Tree
Not much to be said here except that there is simply not enough points to fill every talent we need. Archangel will give us solid mana back when we are really in trouble. It's great for farming but for serious dps, I don't see us using it often because it removes our dps buff.
On the side note, I think a discipline pvp build with 3 minutes Shadowfiend will be one sick experience in arena or battleground. Shadow priest with Archangel will also be very fun to play. I think Blizzard did promise %Spirit to %Hit conversion talent so there is still hope for a solid Smite build, but for now, I hope they don't butcher anything else next patch.
Before I start, let's refresh our memory on the principle changes of the talent tree design in Cataclysm.
Available talent points have been reduced to 41 points, averaging 1 point per 2 levels. You must put at least 31 points in a single tree before the other trees are unlocked and available to you. This means any previously viable hybrid spec xx/28/0 or alike will no longer be allowed in the game.
So what does this mean to Smite priest? I think devastation was my first thought. But really, it only means one thing - Power Infusion is no longer available to the standard Smite spec, a major dps loss.
PI had been in the Smite spec since TBC. They removed Searing Light, they removed Enlightenment, they removed all the hit and pushback talents last build, but none of that concerned me as much as this change. What sadden me is that this change is pretty much irreversible due to tree balancing. Shadow priest must not have access to PI because it will make them overpowered. Therefore, PI will most likely remain where it is in tier 3 or even deeper tier until launch.
Aside from the bad news, what is new? Well, as of today it seems Veiled Shadow will now be available to Smite priests, so I predict we can kiss our mana issue goodbye.
Build I: Standard Smite 8/31/2
The top part of the tree is pretty much free territory. I'm not a fan of renew myself so I placed all the points into talents that improves direct healing. Improved Holy Nova, Body and Soul, and the new Surge of Light will make this an affective AoE farming build. 31 points will also ensure solid healing should you wish to take on that role.
Two points in Veiled Shadow will reduce the cooldown of Shadowfiend by 2 minutes. Three minutes Shadowfiend will make life a LOT easier on our mana so rejoice.
Not much to be said here except that there is simply not enough points to fill every talent we need. Archangel will give us solid mana back when we are really in trouble. It's great for farming but for serious dps, I don't see us using it often because it removes our dps buff.
On the side note, I think a discipline pvp build with 3 minutes Shadowfiend will be one sick experience in arena or battleground. Shadow priest with Archangel will also be very fun to play. I think Blizzard did promise %Spirit to %Hit conversion talent so there is still hope for a solid Smite build, but for now, I hope they don't butcher anything else next patch.
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