Year: 2010

Another Battle Rez?

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In my morning perusal of MMO-Champion, I came across a Blue Post from our friendly neighborhood crab (AKA Ghostcrawler) about the mandatory nature of Shamans. You can read the whole post if you like, since there are some compelling arguments on both sides.  However, I want to draw your attention to one specific part that caught my eye:

For now, in Cataclysm, we are just sharing even more of the buffs and debuffs across a wide gamut, especially very powerful ones like Bloodlust and Battle Rez,….

Say what now?!! We can all agree that Rebirth is a very nice ability to have in progression fights. It’s the only ability to bring someone else back to life in the middle of combat. Sure, Shamans have Reincarnation, but Rebirth allows any class to return to the land of the living.

Even our beloved Goblin Jumper Cables XL lack the ability to rez in combat.

Another Battle Rez?! What an awesome addition, if you ask me. Especially if the intent is to make 10man raids more appealing. There won’t be a need to stack druids on harder fights where a lot of people are “off’ed”. Take a look at a couple other skills that are being shared:

Who is going to get it, though? The new class abilities show no sign of another in-combat resurrection, even amongst non-healing classes. Will it be something that can be learned like the Jumper Cables? Or will it be assigned to one specific class? With the latest tweaks to Guild Perks, we can’t expect it to be one of those. Blizzard doesn’t want those to be game-changing abilities.

So, who do you think it will be?

Email: Elder.Thespius@gmail.com | Twitter: @Thespius

Configuring the Healing UI: What’s on Your Wishlist?

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You can see elements of the default healing UI in place in a recent post. A number of you asked what the configuration window for it was like.

Don’t laugh.

Here it is.

healing-ui-config

Yeah, that’s it.

I should also add that it’s certainly possible to drag it the frames around. I can’t seem to find a way to lock it but maybe that’s a user error.

You’ll notice a c heck box that says Keep Groups Together.

Unchecked, it allows you to sort groups by role, group or name.

Now I don’t expect the default interface to outright replace addons like our beloved Vuhdo or Grid. But I do believe there are some aspects of it that could use additional improvement. It’s important to discern between must have and nice to have but can probably heal without it type changes.

  • I’ve already mentioned the need for clearer debuffs to appear on the frames
  • Resizeable bars would be excellent to have because not everyone plays on the same setup
  • Customizable energy bars. I don’t need to see rage, focus, or energy bars but I do need to see mana bars of other players (healers specifically)

What about you? What would you like to see added? What do you think is important to have on your healing UI? What can you get away without having?

Cataclysm: The updated healing UI

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Spoiler warning (As if the title didn’t give it away)

Check out the updated default healing UI. Yes, this is the default UI. As in, the interface you get without any customization whatsoever. I queued randomly into Blackrock Caverns (took a while, but I managed to get in).

WoWScrnShot_073110_164355

What you see right now is actually the raid frames, not the party frames. I didn’t switch to party frames yet (I prefer my raid UI for everything and this is as close as I can get to it). First thing you’ll see is that the top left of each player has a little role icon.

Never again will I ever see the question “Who are the tanks?”

At least, I hope.

And yes, the red frame highlight shows who currently has aggro.

Yellow frame shows who I currently have selected. You can also move the frames around. I haven’t found out how to lock it in place yet.

WoWScrnShot_073110_164409

Now we’ve got some more action going on here. The healing combat text hasn’t changed much. My personal Renews appear on the bottom right. Haven’t shielded anyone yet.

If you look carefully at our tank, you can see a Frostbolt icon on the bottom left. I almost missed it. Things like debuffs that can be removed need to be made a lot more noticeable.

WoWScrnShot_073110_164309

Green bar shows approximate incoming heal amount.  I don’t know if that’s before or after any type of Mortal Strike debuffs or healing buffs.

That’s it for shots since I’m too busy trying to keep the group alive (Prayer of Healing was the next spell cast, believe me).

Then we wipe because I cast Guardian Spirit on the wrong Pally when some Ogres and stuff wander into us.

EDIT – Back in. Here’s more:

WoWScrnShot_073110_171750

Something that needs to improve on is the dispelling interface. It’s really hard to notice. You have to mouse over it in order to see what type of debuff it is. In the shot below, you can see a little red skull icon on the top right denoting a disease. The actual disease icon is then on the bottom left where you can mouse over and see what it actually is.

WoWScrnShot_073110_172054

I think a better solution would be to fill the entire player frame with the appropriate dispel color which states what type of debuff it is.

For example, if I get  hit with a Frostbolt, my background color could fill with a gradient blue which overrides my normal class color of white. That would make it extremely obvious I have a debuff. The actual debuff icon could still be on the bottom left.

Definitely very cool though.

Thoughts? If this continues to get developed and streamlined further, I might not have to use custom raid frames anymore.

Circle of Healing Podcast Site is Up

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The site for the priest centric healing podcast is now available. Head on over to the Circle of Healing Podcast page. You’ll find out more about the players behind the voices along with archived episodes.

And yes, episode 3 is now available.

Apparently, we’ve got some reviews on our iTunes page. I have no idea  how to find it. I’ll fiddle with it later. Feel free to leave some feedback for us. No guarantees, but at least we’ll read it. If there’s anything you’d like the Circle to address, email it to Questions@circleofhealingpodcast.com.

One thing I do want to clarify is that a number of listeners have expressed concern that it’s a little overloaded on priests.

Well, yeah.

It is going to be biased for healing priests because we’re all priests. We’ll try to make an effort to include material that’s of interest to every healing class. Ultimately, Dawn is the director and producer. I know if she wanted to form a pure healing podcast, a different team would’ve been assembled.

It’s a healing podcast with some emphasis for us Priests.

I’m there just to be the eye candy (or ear candy?)

Enjoy!

Back from Laguna Seca

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What an exhausting and fun trip. Will have a full write-up later on this week. I’m not publishing it until I select my pictures and upload them accordingly.

Highlights

  • 85 SPF sunscreen isn’t enough for me. I still got cooked pretty good. I’m red, and it ain’t from the alcohol.
  • Speaking of alcohol, 1.75 L of Bacardi for 18 bucks. What the hell? (I will need some help finishing it)
  • Chatting with bike enthusiasts. I’m terrible at sales but apparently good at raising awareness, talking with potential customers and directing them to the right staff. This must be what the world was like before Twitter.
  • I was amazed at how fast overcast gets cut through. In the morning, its all foggy and slightly chilly, but I’m standing there in shorts and a T shirt. Reminded me of typical Canadian weather.
  • No merging lanes. What is up with the lack of merging lanes on US roads?
  • I mentioned U Turn lanes before, but they deserve another nod.
  • Rush hour traffic in Portland or Seattle sucks. I will never complain about rush hour traffic in Vancouver again.
  • Monterey (did I spell that right?) seems like a cool city. I wish I could have explored the place more. Downtown was surreal with all the bikers and their bikes lined up. I’m not talking about Hell’s Angels or Harleys or anything. I wish I had pictures of it to demonstrate.
  • Chili’s. I ordered their ribs. Felt it was a bit dry though.
  • Do not chain pot Monster, Red Bull, or the 5 hour energy drink upon consumption. Chain potting Starbucks double shots seem to be okay with no noticeable ill side effects (at least, for me).
  • It takes 20 hours to drive from Monterey back to Vancouver. We stopped once for a 5 hour nap. I’m going to bed.