So, supposedly there’s a Cataclysm coming, or some such. Not sure what all that nonsense is about. I guess we’re supposed to be losing a bunch of stats, too? So even in my ridiculous two pieces of tank gear, I would be defense capped and you know, totally capable of tanking raids. That’s definitely not sarcasm in any way, shape, or form.
The most notable change for healers, I suppose, is that mp5 will be removed completely and replaced by spirit. That means our gear will likely soon include spirit and we can hang our heads in shame after laughing at all of the mages and warlocks forced to take spirit crap. Except they won’t be anymore, because apparently it’s only going to be on healer stuff.
What does that mean for a holy paladin, though? It’s not as if we have mana issues. The last time I actually had a mana issue in which I wasn’t just being lazy was when one of the tanks disconnected during Toravon and the poor fool left up got to 20 stacks of the debuff. Blizzard plans on changing this, making mana actually mean something again, but I’m not sure how much of this is going to affect the throughput of a holy paladin because to the best of our knowledge thus far:
INT isn’t really changing. Spellpower is now out the window, so a holy paladin’s INT will give him even more pewpew.
Divine Plea is still a 2 minute mana battery. When I switch over to play my shaman now, I have to remember that I actually need to drink to refill that blue bar. I don't see this really changing, though I hope other healers will be getting an equivalent spell.
I do expect a couple of things, however:
The benefit from INT is going to be reduced. Smaller mana pools seems to be the theme of Cataclysm; forcing healers to be smart about their spells instead of dropping heal-bombs into one target. And I do agree with that. There’s nothing fun or challenging about spamming Holy Light on one target.
We already know that INT is going to give less mana. But I expect paladins will be gemming for INT post-Cataclysm, as well. With the Reforging system, we’ll be able to convert 50% of another stat into something else, so gemming for haste or crit seems silly at this juncture. With the removal of spellpower, even FoL paladins will be gemming for INT.
But what’s going to happen to Divine Plea? I would hope that the co-efficient will change a bit. Hitting a cooldown every 2 minutes does not challenging mana management equal. Even in the middle of a boss fight, popping cooldowns with Divine Plea negates it almost completely.
I’d love to see a Divine Plea with charges that proc when you heal. If you want to be unoriginal, make it proc off of crits. And make it shoot down a pillar of light from the sky. Like a holy laser beam of greatness and awesome. That’ll show those disc priests.
Of course, there’s another small thing. If you’ve logged into WoW since yesterday you’ve noticed a patch. The first of the ICC buffs is now live, and I expect it will help nudge some guilds stuck on certain fights. I’m very much hoping we can get Blood Prince Council down and move on, and I anticipate with the buffs and our raid leader pointing out Slime Spray awareness, we’ll get Rotface in 25. Or at the very least, Festergut. That means 25 Putricide is swiftly approaching. Oh. Joy.
So how do I feel about the ICC buff going in before my raid team has cleared half the content? I don’t care a wit. I don’t raid to spend three or four hours doing the equivalent of beating my head against a wall. Sorry, I just don’t find that fun. The Wrath model of raiding may have ‘dumbed down the game’ for some folks, but I am not one of them.
And hell, I’m even glad. These buffs mean we might start seeing some new (to us) fights, and that can only be a good thing. Doing the same six bosses every week is pushing me rather haphazardly toward the edge of burnout. It’s Ulduar pre-Watchers all over again, and it’s driving me to be even more of a bitch than I normally am.
So this 5% buff? That’s cool. Making healing more fun in Cataclysm? …Good luck! Not giving holy paladins pewpew laser beams? …For shame.
On a related note, I will be FRAPSing the Rotface10 fight on Friday for cleansers. I hope to have it edited and available for viewing on Monday.
Sephrenia of Guild Mum posed the Shared Topic for this week: What boss would you be? Being a game design major and a master of time-wasting, I couldn’t pass it up.
I was considering what my boys could be and, short of some form of servitude or coercion, all logical ‘boss promotions’ would have occurred in their backstory. For Rhys, I can imagine a fight when he was first raised as a deathknight, believing himself to still be a soldier for the Quel’thalas Guard. For Sind, likely when he was still an assassin, searching for his sister at any cost. I may write those up later as well, but since this is mainly a holy paladin blog, I think it’s most appropriate to write up my idea for Drist.
A large part of his backstory involves his work as an Inquisitor for the Scarlet Crusade. He followed a human woman there – his fiancé – and was treated as a prized commodity for his ability to use nether crystals as a means of feeling out and manipulating auras and emotions, often reading information in the process.
Dristanel slowly wiped the blood from his mouth, leaving a streak down his chin. His ribs ached, his skin burned, and he shuddered with each inhale. This beating had been more brutal than the last two, his refusal far more adamant. In the end, he had no choice in the matter. They dragged him to the dungeons, barely conscious, and locked the door.
A strong wave of vertigo hit him as he tried to stand. Grasping at the cell bars for help, he remembered why he was there in the first place and his stomach lurched. All around him the smell of blood and death. And in the far corner of the next cell, huddled in silence, a quel’dorei woman.
“He’s up.” One of the guards called toward the stairs and another joined him, fishing out a set of keys. “Bring the other one, too. Careful the bitch don’t try and bite you again.”
She wouldn’t. She was far past the point of resistance. He knew that first hand, now. After she had killed the other, he had been glad to read her. Felt perhaps he could exact some form of justice for a lost life. But he had gone too far. And she… she was something else, now. Broken, among other things.
Keys fit into the lock of his cell and the guard stood before him, weapon in hand. “Here’s what’s going to happen: You’re going to get us the information we need, one way or the other. And if you don’t… well, I’m sure that pretty girl of yours would be a nice consolation prize.”
Dristanel gave a harsh laugh that devolved into a cough. “What, has your Captain not allowed you a go yet?”
A swift shove sent him into the table where the prisoner was now strapped. “Do your job, and maybe I’ll do you the mercy of killin’ you myself.”
A fine tremble ran through him as he looked down at the woman. He couldn’t do this. Not again. If this was their ‘Light’, he wanted no part of it. “Leave me.”
The guard snorted. “Right.”
He turned a blank, emotionless stare toward the man. “Would you like me to do to you what I have done to her?”
The guard stared down the Inquisitor as if trying to decide whether or not he was bluffing. Evidently, he concluded it wasn’t worth the chance. “Come on. Door’s locked anyway, he can’t go anywhere.” He ushered the other guard up the stairs, turning back to give one final admonition. “We’ll be back in an hour. I’d suggest you be done by then.”
The heavy door thudded shut, the sound of a thick bolt securing the exit. Dristanel drew a long, shuddering breath before setting to work on the straps that held the woman.
“What are you doing?” Her scratchy voice was barely a whisper.
“Getting us both killed, most likely.”
This story originally took place in Tyr’s Hand, so this could be a ‘boss encounter’ for a quest or, if they ever added an instance to Tyr’s Hand, something in that. I imagine it would be designed for players levels 50-55 or thereabouts.
In fact I like the idea so much, I’m going to say it would be the final encounter of a quest chain. You’d clear down to a locked door guarded by two Scarlets. Killing them would get you a key to open the door. After that you’d get a quest from Drist:
What… how did you…?
Nevermind, there’s no time for questions. If you’re down here that must mean the guards are dead and – for all intents and purposes – we’re on the same side. This woman is badly injured. She needs help that I cannot provide.
Please. Get us both out of here and I’ll give you whatever I can in exchange.
Accepting the quest would give you the following text:
I need you to retrieve a few things from around the compound. Two sets of the cloaks and hoods worn by the executioners, and, ah… Let’s see. We’ll need horses. Get the key off of the stablemaster and we’ll make a stop before we leave. Mind the hounds.
And do hurry. It won’t be long before they send more guards.
The player would find the items scattered about the compound. Executioner’s cloaks and hoods off of, well… executioners. And the stablemaster’s keys… yeah. You guessed it.
Quickly, put those on. I expect resistance, regardless of disguise. But this will get us into a more protected area.
I certainly hope you’re good at lying.
At this point you’d have to equip the executioner’s garb and walk (yes… walk. It’s not just for RPers) toward the barracks near the stables. Guards would stop you on the way, and you have to click them and quickly respond to their prompt so that they leave you alone. If you don’t, you’re discovered and you enter combat. If this happens, you’d better hope a,) there are no other Scarlets around b.) you don’t allow any runners, as they will summon the Captain to wtfpwn you. If you can get back out of combat, however, you can re-equip the garb. You will, however, need the garb to pass into the barracks, as they’re full of elites.
Dristanel will walk off to an unoccupied corner of the room where you can turn in the quest and accept the new one.
Alright, now for the tricky part. Take these crystals and hide them about the room. I will head toward the stables. When you hear my signal – and not before – incite the guards to attack you. The crystals will weaken them. I leave it to you to handle them beyond that.
Except… it’s not really going to go as planned. The woman you’re rescuing will start to regain some manner of consciousness and try to escape. Fortunately the crystals do work, and any class will be able to quickly AE down the weakened Scarlets.
Once you get out of the building, Dristanel will be waiting with two horses. Hopping on one gives you a (uncomplicated, I promise!) vehicle bar with two buttons: Jump and Secure Passenger. You use ability number two (Secure Passenger) to pick up the escapee, then follow toward the exit. Waves of Scarlets will appear and you’ll need to use Jump to clear them and keep going. Occasionally your passenger, scared and having no idea what’s going on, will try to jump off. You’ll have to use Secure Passenger when you see the signal text for this (something like “You’re not taking me back to that place!”) to rein her in. (har har.)
Once you get to the exit and complete the quest he will give the girl some supplies and gold and tell her to run. She will oblige, naturally, but that doesn’t leave the two of you with many options as the Scarlet Captain (?? Level) comes riding up with quite the entourage.
There’s a ballista on the western wall. Go around the side and find a way to scale the wall without being spotted. Aim the ballista and fire. I… Level this place to the ground, if you wish. But do it quickly. I can only stall them for so long.
There’s a hill at Tyr’s Hand that allows you to climb onto the wall without drawing the attention of any guards. But to make it challenging, you’d probably be spotted when you tried to use the ballista. You’d need to quickly fight off the aggressors, as a timer is ticking down. Once you use the ballista (aim for the Captain first – killing him extends the timer significantly) to kill the Scarlets, head back to the entrance to turn in the quest. You’ll see Dristanel there, kneeled over the body of a human woman.
Everything she did. Everything she put me through. I still wish it hadn’t come to this.
[Dristanel removes a ring from the woman’s finger.]
Take this. Sell it for your trouble. It doesn’t belong with me.
And… here. It’s not much, but it’s all I have. Please, take it. And get yourself as far away from this hell as you can manage.
Congratulations! You completed the quest! You get a crapton of experience, some gold, and the following items:
[Aurelia’s Engagement Ring] – Gray item, vendors for 10g “Finely crafted.”
And a choice between:
[Small Pouch of Nether Crystals] – Trinket, +30 spell power Equip: Chance to proc Nethershroud, +20 SP for 15 seconds Use: Creates a crystal in your inventory, +20 SP for 1 hour (2 hour cooldown) “The crystals pulse with a pale blue light.”
[Apothecary’s Kit] – Trinket, +30 attack power Equip: Chance to proc Alchemist’s Fury, +20 AP for 15 seconds Use: Creates an elixir in your inventory, +20 AP for 1 hour (2 hour cooldown) “The kit contains several small vials.”
[Field Medic’s Kit] – Trinket, +10 intellect Equip: Chance on heal cast to proc Field Medicine, healing yout current target for 600 damage over 15 seconds Use: Creates a potion in your inventory (Restores 600 mana, 1 hour cooldown) “The kit contains several small vials.”
[Sigil of the Scarlet Inquisitor] – Trinket, +10 stamina Equp: Chance on hit to proc Inquisition, +20 damage shield and increased threat for 15 seconds Use: Creates a potion in your inventory (Restores 600 health, 1 hour cooldown) “The sigil is stained with blood.”
Friends
