Patches and achievements

So I’ve been busy these few weeks catching up on WoW-related goals and generally trying to not go insane from my wonky work schedule. My paladin, Delenitha, dinged 70 (alas, I forget to get a screenshot, as is tradition with my 70s) and I am really enjoying the AOE tankadin life on her.

Due to the holiday and achievements, however, my priest has seen a resurgence in playing time. Who knew that achievements could be so addictive? With the help of a friend, I got enough pets to get Stinker and I’m slowly trying to get through the achievements to get the Hallowed title. Earlier this week, I got the ubiquitous Jenkins title but then I thought, Yasura the Hallowed has a bit nicer ring to it than Yasura Jenkins. Maybe.

As for healing, I can say that despite my earlier protestations, I’m really digging the changes. I thought I would miss downranking a lot more but I’ve found the transition easy. I also did something I thought I’d never do and respecced to include “lolwell” in my healing arsenal. I’m still trying to train my party and raid people to actually *use* it but I’m hopeful it’s worth the point since my mana is a lot more valuable now than it was with mana pots freely available. As for raiding,  I can’t say much about that at the moment since my schedule has thrown advance planning out the window. I have heard raids are easy as pie now but that’s no surprise to me considering that the pre-expansion patch always shakes things up, if only for a little while.

Now if only maintenence would end soon, I have more random instances to do and places to explore for achievements. I’m not obsessed…really.

Meow!

It’s like waiting anxiously for the holidays…

While there’s a little lull before the big patch hits (presumably the quiet before the storm), I’d like to take a moment to remind people of all the wonderful pre 3.0 survival/informational resources. As Kadomi posted on her blog, Too Many Annas has a great comprehensive guide to 3.0 that everyone can benefit from.

And while we’re waiting for those awesome changes to arrive (or whimpering for it to not come yet because wow, there’s goals to finish and ZA bears to grind up!) , if there’s one thing that’s awesome to pass the time with, it’s WoW comics. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a webcomic addict and I find myself sometimes staying up late to catch up.  Here are a few of my favorites recently:

Dark Legacy Comics – A great comic, there’s always something I can relate to with each one.

Looking For Group – I admit I haven’t actually kept up with the storyline (don’t hurt me), but my guildies rave about this one.

Manic Graffiti – This comic ranks up there on the cute factor. The drawing style is unique and it’s quite funny.

By Way of Booty Bay – I found this one recently and it’s been featured a lot on the official comic contest and for good reason (side note: some comics may be a tad NSFW).

Flintlocke Vs The Horde – I’d recommend reading the previous webcomic to this series which is awesome on its own. This particular series focuses on the Horde (much love) and it’s shaping up to be hilarious.

World of Warcraft Comic Contest – This isn’t really a webcomic but I love reading these gems from the official site.  And sometimes, I find new comics this way.

So while you’re anxiously awaiting the servers to come back up after patch day, catch some epic giggles from these fine Azerothian webcomics.

The High Life

I love healing. It’s not something I was intitially attracted to as a noob WoW player back in July of 2005 but once I got the hang of it, priest healing hooked me and hasn’t let go. The best part is when you find your groove and everything just clicks.  This is what I love about progression raids and wiping over and over on bosses. It’s that final attempt when you’ve measured your available buffs and consumables carefully, chain-pot at the right moments, pop your trinkets without missing a beat and are healing your heart out until your team wins that really gets your adrenaline pumping. For me, it rivals the excitement of having your favorite sports team win a tough game or pay day at work. When everything just works it’s an awesome feeling.

Last weekend, I got to experience the frustration and joys of working on Hex-Lord Malacrass. Technically, it’s not incredibly hard but the devil is in the details and the execution.  After two raids attempting at him , we finally got him down and got to stare at Zul’jin and tickle him a few times (with not so positive results, unsurprisingly). I’m just so proud of how far we’ve come. We’ve got a fantastic crop of healers, tanks and dps and I could not ask for a better group of people.  Every kill with this guild feels like the best kill ever.

So, discussion time: what is the best part of raiding for you guys?