Dressing Up Your Druid in Blues and Greens

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Picture this, dear readers.

You’ve just hit 80–in fact, you dinged five minutes ago. You’re still wearing many of your shiny purple epics from the BC era, perhaps even the coveted 4 pc T6. A tell comes in, and you’re needed to heal heroic Halls of Lightning. You walk inside, clear to the first boss, and—-ta da, you find that you’re undergeared. What’s a tree to do?

Many of us floated through the leveling process still on a high from our successes at the end of BC. Thanks to a series of ever easier-to-access epics, many of us were very well equipped–for BC content. That has all changed! This is one suggestion for how to get the greens and blues that will allow you to do heroics, Obsidian Sanctum, and Naxx without repeatedly apologizing to your dead teammates. I’ve focused on two areas–regen and healing throughput–that are the main weak point of the new 80. Stamina might have been important in late BC raid content, but we’re not at that point in Wrath’s raid cycle yet.

In order to make my list, I’ve used this post from Phaelia, in which she kindly filtered Wowhead for the rest of us lazy willows. To focus my choices further, I’ve gone for the easiest, cheapest options for each slot.

Head:

Helm of the Majestic Stag

This helm can be bought from the Kirin Tor quartermaster at Honored. Just get your Kirin Tor tabard and take a spin through a few regular-level dungeons.

Extra Credit:
Helm of Anomalus

This better helm comes from an easy boss in the Nexus, which is the easiest heroic I’ve done. In fact, I’d say that the Nexus is the new Mechanar–5 quick, easy badges just ripe for the taking. In addition, there are several workable healing pieces throughout.

Necklace:

Amulet of the Crusade

This item is a quest reward from “The Admiral Revealed,” a group quest in Icecrown.

Another option:
Dragon Prow Amulet

If, like me, you’d rather run a heroic than do a group quest, this is a nice little BoE zone drop from Heroic Utgarde Keep. You may be able to purchase one of these as well.

Shoulder:

I’m using the Runecaster’s Mantle, a BoE blue that seems to drop like candy from Heroic Utgarde Keep. One of my teammates sent me one far before I hit 80. I really like it and would recommend it to anyone, despite the fact that it’s cloth. Even if you can’t find it in your guild bank or the AH, it comes from a very easy heroic, which is a big plus.

Cloak

The easiest option, and the most expensive, is the craftable Wispcloak.

If you don’t feel like going the crafting route, there are four drops from Heroics that will do just fine.

Try the Ancient Dragon Spirit Cape from H Oculus, the Reanimator’s Cloak, a BoE from H Drak’Tharon Keep, the Shroud of Moorabi from H Gun’drak, or the Subterranean Waterfall Shroud from Ahn’Kahet. I haven’t had luck with this slot yet, so unless I can find that BoE on the AH, I may just save my money for the craftable. At the moment I can’t afford it, because I already paid for the BoE epic leather boots and pants.

Chest:

Bauble-woven Gown

I see everyone–including me–wearing these. This is a delightful little quest reward from a collection quest within Utgarde Pinnacle. Even if you can’t finish the instance, you can do this quest.

Another option:

Ymirjar Physician’s Robe

This one is leather and looks very druidic. It’s a Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle zone drop, but since it’s BoE, you may be able to buy one.

Bracers:

Soaring Wristwraps

This is a quest reward in the Oculus. It’s not an easy dungeon, and the quest requires killing the last boss, but it’s definitely worth doing once and picking up these beauties.

Another option:

Overcast Bracers

You can also go the crafting route with these bracers. They have resilience, but they’re still not half bad for PvE.

Hands:

Gloves of the Time Guardian

This is the reward for successfully completing the Caverns of Time: Stratholme. It’s well worth the effort.

Extra Credit:
Gloves of Glistening Runes

These gloves drop from the (easy) final boss of Heroic Nexus. They have great stats for resto druid and will serve you well until you get a tier piece.

Belt

Fishy Cinch

I’m going for this reputation reward, purchasable at Revered with the Oracles. They’re so cute, I’ll even wear something that smells like tuna to show my support. Besides, I want one of those eggs.

Another Option:

Overcast Belt

This item is craftable and may be quicker to obtain. True, it spends some of its item budget on resilience, but if you PvP as well as PvE, this might be a nice piece to acquire.

Pants:

Leggings of Heightened Renewal”

These are the quest reward from “The Iron Colossus,” which appears to be a vehicle quest in the middle of a large chain. Personally, I find it easier to do dungeons than to chase these quest rewards down, but to each her own!

Another Option:
Opposed Stasis Leggings

Once again, Heroic Nexus. Did I give you enough reason to go there yet?

If you have infinite money:

Get the Earthgiving Legguards, a BoE purple, crafted. I spent my hard-earned gold on these and the matching boots in the hopes of being able to pass more to my teammates in Naxx 25.

Rings

I found this slot pretty tricky. Here are some decent options:

Flourishing Band, a quest reward from “The Struggle Persists” in the Oculus

Lion’s Head Ring, a quest reward from “For Posterity” in Gun’drak

Kurzel’s Angst, a quest reward from “Search and Rescue” in Drak’Tharon Keep

Extra Credit:

Band of Enchanted Growth

This item drops from Mage-Lord Urom in Heroic Oculus, and it’s what I’m wearing. Be warned, however–the Oculus is not easy, although this particular boss shouldn’t cause trouble.

Trinkets

There’s absolutely no need for me to weigh in on this slot. Go read Matticus’ trinket exposé on WoWInsider!

The only thing I will suggest is the Badge of the Infiltrator which is a very good, very accessible green quest reward from “Sabotage” in Zul’Drak. That +46 Intellect turns out to be more useful than I thought it would be in terms of regen.

Feet

Bugsquashers

I’m a lucky druid. My friendly neighborhood leatherworker (thanks S13!) sent me a pair of these in the mail back when I was a wee 72. They’re pretty much great for trees until you get an epic replacement, either through crafting or through a Naxx drop.

And for the moneybags:

Don’t count out the Earthgiving Boots. These are a solid item and a bit cheaper than either the craftable pants or cloak. However, I don’t suggest springing for these unless you’ve already got many of the materials–the Eternal Lifes set me back more than I’d like to remember. If S13 hadn’t provided the leather and my heroic runs the orbs, I would probably have waited on these.

That concludes my green-and-blue roundup. Yes, I did sneak a few little purple in there…but hey, it’s my favorite color. Equip yourself in some or all of these things, and you’ll find that you have an easier time healing heroics and entry-level raids.

Post Raid: December 1st

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I’m a bit in a tizzy again. Actually writing is a good way for me to unwind. This way, I can organize all of my thoughts together and it serves as a good virtual sounding board. I know Larisa appears to be a big fan of such posts. I will try to oblige where I can.

The good

Raid DPS has improved a lot. We did Spider Wing and Sartharion shorthanded with 23 players. Gear level ranged between players who ran heroics for weeks to players who had just hit 80 the evening before. It truly was a mishmash of players.

loatheb

Loatheb down. We were able to clear Spider, Plague wings as well as Sartharion within 3 hours. Entry level raiding guilds, there’s your answer in terms of time that should be spent in there.

Did those instances with 6 healers tonight. 1 Holy Paladin, 1 Resto Shaman, 2 Holy Priests, 2 Resto Druids made up the healing team. Did a slam dunk job adjusting to the various mishap and overpulls that occurred. Proud to say that no one lost their cool. More importantly, no one panicked. Excellent players to have with you when weathering a storm.

Not a lot of fuss about gear. That’s good. It seemed players were more focused on the raiding aspect of things.

The bad

I died on Noth. Twice.

The Mattlike

Diagnostic raiding. I’ll write a post about this soon because I think it merits its own. I don’t know if all raiding guilds do it but I’ll write a little bit more about our post raid discuss and the ideal process.

I have a 2nd 80. My Shaman dinged last night. Nothing like throwing Lightning bolts to unwind for a while.

Last day of classes is today. I may have to stock up on pre-written posts again. For the next two weeks, I’ll be hitting the books. I trust Syd and Wyn will be able to hold the fort down.

But for other aspiring bloggers out there, this is your chance to showcase some of your posts. Drop me a line via the contact form if you’re interested in contributing a guest post. I almost never say no. But do get in touch with me anyway. Even if its just to say hi or good luck on exams.

Its how I met Wyn, afterall.

The Return of the Gangsta

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I always wanted to use that in a relevant context…. my apologies to Coolio, but I hear Outkast in my head….

Hi. How are you?

Yes… I’ve been gone for a few months. I know, I know.

It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about you – I have. It’s just that I work in the finance industry, and things got a little crazy for a while. Then there was the election, the expansion, the Turkey…..

And the whole time, Matt kept quietly hinting that maybe he’d like me to come back and write some content. Maybe the Horde is under-represented… maybe… maybe the world needs a little more Troll to brighten it up.

And it hits me like a ton of Twitter-requested messages:

You have to make time for things that are important to you. Whether it’s WoW in general, working out, your relationships, or blogging. If you wait until inspiration strikes to be productive, you’ll at best limit yourself to spurts of creativity and at worst, end up slowly not doing anything at all.

(See: Inertia)

So, my apologies. To Matt, for not being the disciplined buddy he’s always been to me. (And for not taking the time to put a headline image on this – i figured better to get it posted than to procrastinate further.) To Syd, for recruiting her and then running-running-running away. (Hey! She’s an amazing and therefore intimidating co-blogger!) To all of you, for leaving you in a world devoid of fabulous Red Mohawks. And mostly to myself, for burning out and giving up on my passion for so long.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for writing.

Some things I’ve been working on:

  • My gear upgrade spreadsheet. (it’s as laborious as it sounds. Thanks to DwarfPriest for the starting point.)
  • My rep-faction grind
  • Achievements (Yes, they’re mostly frivolous….but some aren’t.)
  • Professions
  • Updating my UI

Drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you’d like to hear about first, and I’ll make that the subject of my next post. And it will come out by the end of the weekend – I promise. (I’m very good with deadlines.)

Thanks again, to all of you that wrote to say you missed me…. it really did mean a lot.

Luv,

Wyn

I Wrote About Healing Trinkets

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Go read it on WoW Insider.

In other news, Naxx cleared on 10s. Got Faith Helm. Got my 2 piece. Going to go smash my face on Malygos and collapse. Also about to get my second 80. Good thing I got all this done before my exams.

I think I may rotate myself off of Naxx 10s soon. It’s exhausting enough to run 12 hours of 25 man raids. I don’t know how I’d fair with an additional 6 hours of 10s on top of that. Need to take care that I don’t burn myself out just yet.

Naxx 10 cleared

Is Trade Chat a Good Avenue for Guild Prospects?

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recruiting

I don’t get a lot of email. But the ones I do get are often insightful questions. Heh, sometimes I have to respond to the reader and tell them that an email response wouldn’t do their email justice. The next best thing is to convert their question and topic into a blog post so I can really attack it from all angles.

From Ephii:

I see that you’re posting in trade to advertise/recruit. Our guild is currently recruiting but our members have always felt that spamming trade carries a social stigma of being "one of those crappy guilds." We were the most progressed Alliance guild in TBC until some of our core members transferred off. Our reputation is sterling as the mature guild with players who don’t run their mouths. However, we’re having problems getting new recruits by posting on the realm forums alone (for server recruits). What is your take on posting in trade?

Ephii runs a really cool Shadow Priest blog, interestingly enough. Pay attention to the Healing Macros post.

Back to the question at hand. I can understand why players don’t like to advertise in trade. Trade chat has traditionally been viewed as a place where scoundrels, heathens, morons, and bad players congregate.

So why would I want to advertise my guild there?

Because, like it or not, it is the largest channel in terms of population. Just because you have scoundrels, heathens, morons and bad players running their mouths off in trade chat doesn’t mean that you have scoundrels, heathens, morons and bad players reading it all the time.

I used to think about trade chat the same way. I wouldn’t want any guild I was a part of to advertise there because of the perception that those bad players bring. Why would I want to play or raid alongside these trade chat pollutants, right? Only crappy and unskilled guilds recruit from trade chat. Real good players are the ones that transfer to you off server and come to you directly. With that in mind, I shouldn’t advertise in trade chat.

Why is this wrong?

You have to start somewhere. Unless you’re a top 20 guild, you’re never going to be able to attract top level talent. The only way to attract talent is to prove that you have tenacity to get the job done with whatever members you have at your disposal. At this point, for most guilds, their immediate goal is to attract players. Skilled players come later. Weak players weed themselves out as time goes on.

As GM, my immediate goal is to get into the 25s as soon as possible. I wanted to develop the image and perception that Conquest would be a successful guild. In order to do that, I have to have at least 25 raiders. Without it, my goals are as good as dead in the water. I don’t have the reputation yet to be able to convince or draw 25 players without utilizing trade chat.

Lesson of exposure

One important concept I was taught in marketing is the concept of exposure. If you don’t expose yourself, people aren’t going to know you. If they don’t know you, they’re not going to join you.

Let’s put it this way.

I’m an electronics chain looking to unload some Blu-ray Players. Specifically, I got these kick ass Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Player‘s lying around.

Let’s forget the fact that it’s 1080p, HDMI, Dolby Digital, and comes at a low price of only $199. Because it’s not important.

(I can hear the epic sighs and see the head shaking but I’m trying to prove a point here!)

You wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t told you. If I was working in marketing and I wanted to sell as many of these as I could, I have to make people aware that I’m selling these. Why do you think advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry? Companies employ television ads, magazine and newspaper ads, billboards and our most hated enemy are banner ads.

Hell, people call you at 7 PM when you’re having dinner to ask you to buy something. Those guys, I want to shoot.

Everyone is competing for your attention.

We’ve grown accustomed to filtering them out. But if a company can attract your attention for even a few seconds, they’ll have succeeded because they want you to think about them. The next time you get the urge to to buy a product or pursue a service, they’re banking on you to remember it.

Back to trade chat

So how does this apply to WoW guilds and recruiting? It’s the same general principle. People aren’t going to buy stuff if they don’t know you have them. Players won’t apply for your guild if they don’t know you exist. For guilds that are just starting out, trade chat is the biggest source of potential recruits because in my experience there are three types of players:

  • Players that aren’t looking for a raiding guild
  • Players that are looking for a raiding guild, but don’t know it yet because they’re waiting for the right opportunity
  • Players that are looking for a guild

Numbers 2 and 3 are the most important. Offering EST friendly hours was one of the best moves I was able to make because I didn’t alienate players on the other side of the continent. I advertised this in trade and received a number of applicants this way because they weren’t able to handle raiding up until 1 AM or 2 AM anymore. The only reason they stayed in their current guild was because they had little choice.

But by exposing my guild, my days, my times, my goals, and wants, I gave them another way out. Raiders looking to join raiding guilds generally have little to say in trade chat. You’ll be amazed at how many people you can pick up from there.

Realm and guild recruitment forums are nice. But only a small fraction of players check those. In my experience, those tend to be the 3rd category of players.

Although you may hate it, trade chat’s going to be the biggest source of recruits for you. Take advantage of it. Otherwise, you’re going to be waiting for a long time.

For my purposes, I view trade chat as a necessary tool. I don’t exactly have people knocking on my door and I need to spotlight my guild as much as possible. This means plugging it on Twitter, using my blog, advertising in Trade chat, using the realm forums, the guild recruitment forums, my Plusheal forums and so forth.

Where did they come from?

Since my guild is still relatively lean, I still remember where (most of) my players come from:

recruits

When I mean off server, I don’t mean transfer. These are players that were a result of advertising on guild recruitment forums. I probably had around 7ish server transfers (if you include the blog and twitter). Referrals are players that a guild member knows. A Paladin applies, gets in, refers a Rogue and a Shaman and those guys subsequently get in as well. They may or may not have been exposed to trade chat. Had I not advertised in trade chat, the original Paladin would not have known about Conquest or advised his friends about it.

Don’t judge the quality of every player in trade chat by what’s said. Most of us generally keep our mouths shut. Just because we don’t say anything doesn’t mean we aren’t reading.