Pandacraft Raiding

It has been 4 long weeks since I killed Heroic Madness of Deathwing and in that time we have had the new expansion, to level up from 85 to 90, gear up through running scenarios, heroics and copious amounts of daily quests (don't you just love 'em?). But now the dust has settled and normal service has been resumed as we're all back raiding and aiming for progression at our various levels.

The boys and girls of Exhumed have had a fun time overall although it hasn't all been as smooth as I would have liked. Our success at the end of Cataclysm and new shiny content have caused us some challenges, and while those challenges have been the cause of a lot of debate, many guilds out there would probably love to exchange their problems for ours.

We ended Cataclysm on a real high and with a really strong raid team, that made us an attractive proposition to a lot of people who were returning to the game only to find their guild desolate or having found replacements for them leaving them with no raiding vacancies. We also had returners of our own, some damned fine players too I'll add. 

Project Titan

I have a burning ambition to do something challenging. Some may call it stupid, others pointless but it is something that I want to do but I need help from 9 others to achieve. There is no time limit on getting the team together to do it though. You're probably all thinking what the hell is he on about. OK so you may not, but regardless. 

I'm going to share this dream with you today, because my dear friends, the dream I have is to become Evlyxx, Herald of the Titans (in game not in real life). Now the main issue I face with achieving this is that this became a Feat of Strength in Cataclysm and with the account wide nature of achievements, it is now possible to get it on your main regardless of their level. However, while it is still obtainable there is a catch; all raid members have to be level 80. The second obstacle for me is that I have 11 characters on my home realm and really don't fancy reopening my second account.

How to Take Charge of Your Mana Regen

Mana the enemy of all healers?

It is the beginning of the expansion once more and many healers are struggling for mana. Of course the top priority is not to waste your mana with a gazillion over healing or on that pesky rogue who always stands in the crap. But even when you've got these things under control sometimes things are still rough on us healers right? 

The first thing you need to do is, of course get as much spirit as possible, Gem it, enchant it, reforge it anything goes right now because while you can stack all the other stats you like they're are worthless without mana.

You also need to change the way you see your mana pool.  As it is NOT 300,000. Sure it STARTS at that amount but throughout a fight we regen mana and therefore over a long fight we use a heck of a lot more than 300,000. The trick is to use your cooldowns early and then again as soon as the CD is over.

Pull! A Guide to Raiding Faster Revisited

Again just a post capturing some valuable information that is no longer available from the original source. A transcript of the audio from the above video:

Motivation

Why should you care what speed your raids run at?

Slow raids lead to bored raiders. Bored raiders lead to more mistakes. And mistakes make raids drag on for hours. Learning to raid quickly speeds up farming nights and progression content, since getting to the hard boss faster gives you more time to practice.

During progression periods, Fusion raids five days a week, a little over twenty hours, and yet keeps up with many guilds raiding six or seven. We do this, in part, because we have a culture of moving fast and using our time in raids as effectively as possible.

Top Ten Tips for Faster Raids

http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2009/4/15/128843248076036034.jpg

Below is not my own work it is some old stuff that I can no longer find at the original source that I think needs to be out there in the public domain:

1. DPS-spec'd plate can tank: 
   You can run with 2 tank-spec'd players and have extra tanks for trash if you just ask your tank hybrids to wear their tank gear during trash and help pick up mobs.
   
   
2. Don't ignore repeated mistakes: 
   While you don't need to rant and rage over each minor error, don't let repeated screwups be ignored. No one likes "that guy" who doesn't care enough to pay attention and causes wipes to the same stuff each week -- say something to him.
   
   
3. Have fun: 
   No one will want to raid if you suck the fun out of it
   
   
4. Don't be afraid to wipe: 
   You will wipe when first pushing your limits, that's fine. Don't make a big deal about it (unless it was a repeated stupid mistake -- see #2), just pick up and continue.
   
   
5. Don't stop for deaths/rebuffing: 
   Unless you lost a significant portion of the raid, there's no reason not to resurrect the 1-2 people who died and just rebuff on the fly. There's no raid buff so critical that you can't do trash without it.
   
   
6. Set goals: 
   Set goals for clear times each week. If you prefer to set your targets by wing/subsection, you can use the in-game stopwatch (/sw) to track it in real time.
   
   
7. Plan AFK breaks: 
   When people know one is coming, they will wait. This reduces the constant revolving door of AFK's.
   
   
8. Be impatient: 
   Always be pulling more trash if healers have enough mana and there aren't too many people dead.
   
   
9. Fast Loot: 
   Even at "only" 5 minutes per boss in most instances you will spend 30 minutes of loot over the course of an entire raid. Use Master Looter if you can't make fast decisions, so at least the raid can continue clearing.
   
   
10. Delegate: 
    The buck stops with you, but don't do all the work.

Mogu Shan Vaults: The Stone Guard (10)

Overview

This dynamic encounter is similar to the Omnotron Defence System seen in Blackwing Descent as we will be fighting multiple mobs with an energy bar that we need to monitor and some very have special abilities for us to avoid.

In 10 man mode, we will only be fighting 3 of the Guards at once but much like the Halfus fight from the Bastion of Twilight the three we fight will vary. Our 4 opponents are:

• Amethyst Guardian;
• Cobalt Guardian;
• Jade Guardian;
• Jasper Guardian;

Sandboxing Your World of Warcraft Installation

No not that one!

Like many folks, I mess with addons and I raid. Sometimes that can create conflict as if I'm not ready to raid because that new alpha version of an addon has broken my lovely UI I'm screwed and as a healer and raid leader so are my guild, That simply isn't cool. So what I do is have a test environment which replicates my normal WoW but if that new addon breaks my UI, I have a safe "live" version ready to go and the idea was originally put to me via a post by Matticus, but as I recently tried to direct a friend there and neither of us could find that post, I thought I'd share the technique with you all.

Pandacraft: Week 1 Review

Vale of Eternal Blossoms

End of week one of Pandacraft and people are already settling in to the new way of warcraft life. Most of the raiding community are 90 and gearing up for raids while the more casual type players are still enjoying the process of leveling up to level cap. There are loads of people around and that is a great thing to see.

What better way to start my post than a review of how I see things at the end of this first week. It is not a review of everything that is in the expansion just my views on what I have experienced so far.