Manage Your Mage

You know....

2009-12-31T07:28:00.002-05:00

I had forgotten the responsibility factor when it comes to instance dynamics. All parts of the group are important....without dps the healer and tank would die, without the healer everyone else would die, and with out the tank...well....we have all seen that scenario before! What I am talking about is the chance of surviving if any part of this puzzle is eliminated....

Just by shear chance if one of your dps is eliminated, then you still have an above average chance of downing a certain mob(s). You still have your tank, a healer, and a fair (although lessened) amount of dps. If you take the healer away unless you have a utility toon with you that can off heal, you have a severely limited ability to complete the task at hand. If the tank goes....well....RUN!

I guess what I am saying is that there seems to be a certain lack of respect or maybe acknowledgement to the people that still find tanking and healing enjoyable and, even more so, rewarding! Does a dps ever consider that when a tank or a healer has to worry that they are pulling aggro that they decrease the chance of any encounter of success? I know as having played all of these that aggro management needs to be looked at again and taken to heart by those dps WHORES who just vie for the top spot on the aggro meter. As a healer, I am revisiting the idea of my Kill List and implementing it again....if you pull aggro you will pay the consequence...

Mages Rock Again!

2009-12-16T05:26:00.002-05:00

I was waiting for the day that mages would crawl back to the top of the damage meters and they have! With AoE and crit I am pushing 3.5k dps on most fights and almost 4K on bosses! Now....dont you wish you were a cool kid playing a mage?? :)

Bubble Priests

2009-09-03T07:42:00.002-04:00

For those of you that are curious, I have found a new passion in the game. PvP'ing with my low level priest! OMG! I never thought that I would feel so invunerable on a clothy! If I have the mana, I can drag two or three pvper' with me for a good while! And talk about kills! I DoT everything up with shadow word pain and plauge and let everyone else do the work! I also LOVE the exp that you get when doing it! RockOn Blizzard!

Hello Again!

2009-09-01T08:40:00.002-04:00

I know it's been awhile... Life, BlizzCon, gear grind... but I decided that I need to come back to this so I could share a few of my feelings about the game. As all of you people (well, actually person) who follows this blog), this is not the informative ElitistJerkest type blog that will math crunch as the specs and discussion the minutiae of one spec over the other. I am more the emotional type WoW player... the one that will quit his farming routine to help out a fellow friend who needs it with a quest, instance, whatever. So...with that being said...

I am now standing on the razor's edge of continuing the WoW that I love...that is leveling new toons and hanging out with people that I enjoy PvP'ing with or do I take that step into raiding that I am fascinated with but find a bit stressful and laborious? The guild that I belong to is a great guild and one for which I have great affection. We are a casual guild but have decided to raid progressively in Ulduar and so forth. So I decided to go. My first performance was a bit... well... crappy. 1700dps in Ulduar is not an aspiration that anyone who is even considering raiding should try to attain! So I spent the next couple of weeks gear grinding and building my toon (now my main is an ele shammy...sue me! :) ). I went back in and...low and behold! I was consistant with 2400dps and I did not die once! I was even told that I had brought my game that night! Man O Man did I feel good! I had made great advancements and I was ready and willing to give it another go!

I signed up for another raid ready to, once again, prove that I was raid ready. I was passed over. I signed up for another. Passed over. Now I know that in the past I have had the rep of being a "loose" kinda player... start an instance and fall asleep, get too drunk! :), whatever... and I knew that I would have to overcome my stigma of that which I was happy to do. Lost the drinking, geared my toon...and no raids.

I guess the point that I am making is that when the momentum goes out of your sail to do something for a group of people that you really wanted to help it's hard to get the aforementioned momentum back. Again I want to remind raid leaders and the like that the reason that we all started to play was to have fun. A majority of that fun comes from being around friends and people that you enjoy.

I am not saying that you should take a total basket case to something that you know will continually wipe the group. Who wants that? But, given the time and oppritunity, I do think that sometimes you CAN find that diamond in the ruff...

I will try and post more often...I find that I miss this way to communicate my feelings...even if it is to myself:)

P.S. I realize that this is a regurgative representation of my innards...please be respectful! :)

Been awhile......

2009-02-16T06:30:00.002-05:00

As you all well know, life is busy WITHOUT WoW....and trying to level 5 70's (and a few lower ones a that!) can be quite time consuming. With hit rating, haste, spellpower, etc that all need to be capped or neared to and with certain crafting professions that have gone into the crapper in my opinion (namely tailoring), I decided to comiserate with all of you who are doing the same thing GLADLY and without remorse because we have decided that this would be our hobby:)

What makes this so enjoyable? Is it the phat loot? Well loot is great but fighting over a cloth chest piece between 2 other clothies can get quite bothersome. Is it the pride you feel when the group comes together and makes it out of the safety dance alive more than one time around??? Let me tell you....I watched a prot pally and a resto druid kill that boss after the rest of us died....amazing to watch but 45 min of my time I would have liked to have back.

I would say it is the friendships and the people that I have gotten to know through this community. For the most part they are kind, generous, and supportive. Yea, yea....there are exceptions but I have found those to be few and far between.I like to watch the noob who has no idea what WoW means to me when I try to tell them this. They just can't believe it isnt all about the Naxx loot......it's about my friends that I get to enjoy when I log in.....

Hit Rating......CURSE YOU!

2008-12-09T06:50:00.003-05:00

A 341 hit rating for casters? BOOOOO! And I thought that leveling 3 tailors was bad enough! Now I have to regem, get new spell thread, new gear, etc. I guess I am just whining but with 4 70's to level there just does not seem to be enough time

EXPANSION TIME!!!

2008-11-18T09:18:00.001-05:00

WOW! And I mean WOW!

I realize that I have not been posting a lot with the oncoming on the expansion and then the launch but I just felt compelled to say a couple of things about the material.

There are still sucky quests out there. There are always sucky quests out there. Whereas the suckiness is about the same in all content, the new quests that are cool sre 100 times more cool then anything in the past! Have you been to Dragon Blight yet?? Where you ride the dragons and kill other ones?? SO COOL!

And the gold and the xp have certainly been bumped up!

Thats all for now.....I have a few 70's to level.

The Winds.....they are ablowin.....

2008-10-27T12:15:00.002-04:00

The patch has come....and I still see that the world still has not come to an end. Imagine that. Yeah, I have heard a few grippings about repecs, nerfing ret pally (this mage has also learned to love the dps of the highly skilled ret pally:) ), a few UI's broke.......but.....we got through it. And now we are on the last few week stretch to NEW MATERIAL.

Since I am not a theory crafter, I tend to wait till the smart people find all the cool specs while slap something together and play with until I find one I like. Gets me back in the action quicker. And into Northrend.

I look forward to seeing all you brave adventurers heading out into the new world. Lets have some brew and reminisce about how in the day Qerk ran into the center of Molten Core having fallen asleep with his finger on the keyboard and woped the party. That is what this game is ALL about to this mage.....

Also....

2008-10-14T08:36:00.003-04:00

If you checkout Outlandishpodcast.com (or something like that) episode 33 part 3, you will here Babygorn and Brem mentioned....I am FAMOUS! :)

BlizzCOn

2008-10-14T08:25:00.002-04:00

OMG! Let me just say that BlizzCon was GREAT and that Brem and I will be going back next year!

Not only did we get the polar bear mount, they gave us all a Starcraft 2 beta key plus all the little chotskies that they give:) I would like to see a group of us go next year......any takers??

A Side Note.....

2008-09-23T07:54:00.002-04:00

Everyone check out Epic Dolls' episode 51 podcast.....the link is on the side here.....I think you may recognize the name:)

A Mage Quest.....

2008-09-23T07:17:00.002-04:00

Waiting in Blade's Edge for the rest of her party was always a nervous proposistion for Babygorn. Several times she has been into the lair of Gruul and it never gets any less nerve wracking for her. She knew what was inside and that, in itself, was nerve wracking enough. Even with seasoned explorers that had agreed to journey together on this expedition, you hardly knew what or even when something would go wrong.

Checking her packs she made sure that she all the necessary potions and food that she would need to heighten her already strong abilities. Being a child of magic, particularly of the arcane school, she wanted any advantage that she could gain against the guards that she would encounter. She even carried a few extra oils for her friends. There was no room for doubt in this case. And she wanted her friends to be prepared too.

"Been waiting long?" Baby turned around and saw that Bremagorn had just landed on his mount and was walking towards her. A warm feeling welled up inside. Though dwarfs were known to be rough and irritable (Bremagorn was no exception), he had a deep sense of right and would defend his frineds to the end.

"Brem!" Baby rushed forward to hug the dwarf who returned her embrace warmly. "You know I get here early to settle my nerves!" Baby admonished him.

"That's my Baby! Always with the itchy casting finger." Brem laughed as he sent his mount back to the stables. He started the same pre-exploration item check that Baby had just completed. Looking satisfied with the situation he looked up and said, "Do you think we aree ready for this?" Bremagorn a a rare serious look to his demeanor.

" Are we ever truly ready?" Baby said as she peered deeply into the tunnel entrance......

To be continued...

A Fresh New Day.....

2008-09-17T14:27:00.002-04:00

I dont think I realized how much spell hit cap rating concerned me until I capped it. I think its 172.....I know its around that. AM really pleased that my mage seems to be pulling her weight now that she isnt missing 40% of the time......

September 11, 2001

2008-09-11T17:25:00.002-04:00

Please never let us forget the true heroism that people represented that day; the people that have the good fortune of being with us and those that passed knowing that they were doing the RIGHT thing. My head is bowed in humble admiration of the ultimate courage those people represent.

Assumption.........Or A Point of View?

2008-09-10T22:51:00.003-04:00

Mages have to, in certain circumstances, look around and assess many situations. Which mob to sheep, which would be the best spell to cast, should they use invisibility because their threat is too high, etc. Given this, it takes an aware person to be a mage with phenomenal powers of observation.....well maybe not phenomenal but maybe just a basic ability to look at facts and make their own decisions.

Facts: things that can be proven. There are people I know that assume that others just aren't as aware as they are. So that the decisions they make are faulty because they are either made out of peer pressure or out of emotion. Hmm......is a decision made on facts in an emotional state of mind automatically wrong? I don't think that is valid logic. I think it is prejudicial and possibly dangerous.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: To all of you who read my blog: I do not go out of my way to flame people or to talk negatively about people to whom I am associated with. I hate no one in the game (severely have issues with some but none that would read this blog:) All two of you:)). To me, a flame is blatant blast of vitriol towards a named person(s). I do not support flaming nor do I respond to it. I do support, however, the right to state opinions and to make your thoughts known in a polite, if mabe an aggressive, way. This, I promise will end this series of blogs. I will go back to the more humourous, if not pompas, mage you have come to know and maybe, in a certain way, to appreciate.

Rock On!
Babygorn

Humbling Words.....A Mage Must Have Written This

2008-09-10T16:12:00.002-04:00

ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

Things that make you go "Hmmmm.........."

2008-09-10T15:03:00.005-04:00

Statements that are taken out of context.
Passive aggressive people that down other people's views just because they don't like them.
People who glorify their beliefs through grandiose logic when they are just hard headed and cant admit when they are wrong.

True mages would stop and view these statements and say "Hmmmmm.................."

I want to clarify something that I stated in an earlier post. When I said you should leave a guild if you don't like what the guild leader says........READ ON!!!! I go on to say that you should TALK to the leaders, see if there is a resolution, and if not......LEAVE. To stall or tell a fellow guildie information contrary to what the guild leader has previously stated is perilously close to treason. I have had that happen to me as a guild leader and it is not a good feeling especially when you think of the person(s) as friends. Please....if there is anyone that wants to judge me, get your facts straight.
Rock ON!
Babygorn

P.S. A Pinch of Wisdom for A Recipe for A Good Life..........

Flaming....Leave it in the Fireplace

2008-09-09T18:35:00.004-04:00

It is to my dismay that I have been (indirectly accussed) of "flaming" someone on this blogspot. Just for the record: THESE ARE MY OPINIONS THAT I HAVE STATED. That's all. No more, no less.

I believe in the things that I do. I believe in my friends. And I believe people sometimes mean well when the results are less than optimal.

So....if anyone thinks I have flammed them I do truly apologize. Although I stand by what I wrote, it is still only the opinion of one person. Me. Since that is who I answer to then I am ok with what I have stated to be my views. Rock on!
Babygorn

Guild Leadership-Not For The Faint of Heart

2008-09-08T19:10:00.003-04:00

In all of my years as a mage on WoW the lesson that I have learned is that Gleaders deserve respect.....you join the guild because of their tenants.....if they have rules or regulations they must be obeyed unless the officers have a discussion. Its like a mutiny.....or a hostile take over.....believe me, there are ppl that I have regretted inviting because they sound too good to be true. Often........they are...........

I know that things happen......but the guild leader is just that....THE LEADER.....even mages have to obey even when they dont agree. If you dont like what the guild leader is saying......LEAVE. If you have an opinion state it.....see if there is some resolution....if not.....so be it. Find a guild that you agree with and one that fits your style of play. Remember ppl....we are human behind these toons......

Mana Gems: Not Only A Girl's Best Friend......

2008-09-07T12:02:00.003-04:00

......but a mage's also:) A short to the point post here:) In raids where I think that I am going to have mana issues (I rarely do with +450 mana regen while casting) I will create mana gems of each size to use up while I am fighting. May take a little more time to prepare but I can assure you that it has save my ignoble behind more than once:)

A little lonely out here....

2008-09-02T08:39:00.003-04:00

For those of us who blog, dont we wish that people would comment on our witty remarks? BTW Is there anything out there that you would like me to address as a mage? :) Comments are always welcome.............

The Top Ten Things People Hate To Hear When You Are Their Mage....

2008-08-22T15:58:00.003-04:00

1. "You can resheep??"
2. "What's a table??"
3. "I have a spellbook??"
4. "I have my talents evenly distributed in all trees."
5. " I ALWAYS out dps the tank and get aggro."
6. "I can portal to Shatt??"
7. "I don't have the gold to train."
8. "What's blink do?"
9. "Wow....I just found out I have a mage shield."
10. "When do I iceblock?"

BLIZZCON

2008-08-13T15:50:00.003-04:00

I hate to brag but I am going to right now.....My mage and her partner are going to BLIZZCON! It took over 15 hrs and many frustrated attempts we did it......Now I just cant wait to ge there and here all the stories of triumph over huntering down those tickets :)

For those of you who didn't get tickets: Know that I know your frustration and I am sorry Blizzard totally missed the mark on how to handle such a highly anticipated event.

Guild Etiquette...Its just not about knives and forks......

2008-08-11T16:09:00.003-04:00

As a mage, I have been invited to several guilds. I think that I have taken two offers in the 4 years that I have been WoWing. I take my guilds seriously in that, wanting to succeed in my guild, I try to follow serveral rules of etiquette:

Do your research. Is the prospective guild the type of guild you want to be in? I know many people accept a guild invite without the slightest clue as to what the guild is about. Look them up on Armoury (I believe that's where guild ratings are...I will look into that:) )Do whatever you can to find out all you can to be better informed.

Know Your Expectations. Do you like to raid? Or is the guild majorly just a social network for you? Know the answer to these questions can save you quite a bit of time.

Read Their Charter. Any guild worth its salt will have a website and a charter that they can refer you to as a quick reference to their expectations and regulationns. Make sure that you agree with what you see.

Know Your Officers. Once you are in a guild, know who the ruling class are. Trust me its embarrassing when you are spouting off at the mouth about the leading officers and you are talking to one! :)

Be Helpful. I know that this may seem like commonsense but I have found, more often than not, that it is not. If you dont help out guildies, they will be less likely to help you. Also, why be in a guild if all you are gonna do is the loner thing?

Give an Exit Interview. One of the worst things you can do to a guild leader is leave without letting an officer know that you are going and any reasons you may want to give as to why. Remember that there are real live people behind those toons and feelings can get hurt if the right thing isn't done

These are good starting rules to pick a guild that will honour your mage and help them flurish. Otherwise, people will just think you an ass and shun you like the Plaguelands:) Think about it.

Rock On!
Babygorn

Here's one for ya......

2008-08-08T07:30:00.000-04:00

http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t26138-mage_pve_dps/

Pug, Pug.....Who Likes Pugs??

2008-08-08T06:57:00.002-04:00

Pugs.......UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH! Isn't that the attitude that most of us have about Pug groups? We know that we will be the unfortunate one that will be caught in the middle of some heroic with the most stupid person in the world, who has bought his level 70 toon off the Internet, and does not know the difference between a Pyroblast and an Ice Block. The woes of our life......

I don't Pug. At. All. Never in a five man group. Never as the only person not from my guild with a group of ppl that each are in a different guild. Just don't do it. Now I have begun to wonder if I may have been a little to hasty in my judgement in other people's abilities.

Often in my wonderful guild, people have their own agenda as to what they want to do at any specific time. Imagine that? Not wanting to spend time with me? I can't imagine!!! So you are left to the......PUG! Do we dare? Should we go down that road? Hmmm.......

I think that negative experiences tend to stand out in our minds more clearly than positive ones. All of us have the sories about the warrior who doesn't know what a taunt is or a mage who has to cast sheep from their spellbook ( I kid you not!). These are the experiences that make us run as far from a Pug as possible. But....wait a sec. Haven't I met people that turned out to be good players AND good friends? I have. I have even joined their guild.

So....maybe venture out? Put my fabulous mage into a Pug where there might be a chance to have a.......good time AND a good run? Maybe find a player that you could cherrypick for your fabulous guild?? Maybe you would be surprised:)

Rock On!
Babygorn

Where O Where??:)

2008-08-06T16:57:00.001-04:00

A fire mage burned my blog list.....

WOTLK Blues?? What Blues??

2008-08-06T14:38:00.002-04:00

I have heard rumour of these "blues" going around about WoW and how we cant wait to get the new content so that we can rush off and never see The Outlands again, to get new and more wonderful gear, and all of that stuff. WTF I say! There is still plenty to do for my itty bitty mage to accomplish (along with several of my alts!) :) There is still stuff in Kara that I would like to get, Hyjal to conquer, SSC to quench.......SO MUCH TO DO!

Other than the 3 or 4 spare sets of gear you should have (seriously.....pitifully I am still working on my staminia gear to tank that aweful mage in Gruuls:) ), there are many things you can re-focus on. I am sure you that since you love your mage so much, you have left your alts to languish in its shadow. So dust them off and learn how to have fuyn on those. I know, I know...its hard to leave the awesomeness of magedom but the other classes deserve (a little) love. It's good to to be well rounded with all your toons that you have.

What about helping guildies with what they need? Sometimes would get so wrapped up in the things that we need/want to do that we forget that there can be great joy to be had by putting the needs of others before your own:) I am sure that there is a lesser geared guildie that would just DIE to have your company on a gear run!

A friend of mine in an old guild summed up WoW for me quite well. He said it was just a chat window with a lot of visuals. We all make friends in the game and I would not give that up for anything. So.....SHAKE IT UP and get over those blues. New content comes and goes but your friends are still there:)

Rock On!
Mason

The Kill List-From its Originator

2008-07-31T06:49:00.004-04:00

I was talking to my partner Brem about a kill list- a list that healers should have that in case of dire straits, they should make conscious decisions about who to let die first as to prevent a wipe. Now Kikidas seems to think that I scarfed the idea from I think GoW but their essay is not really the essence of the kill list nor did I ever read their blog until she brought it to my attention. Great blog! Thank you K! Now I would like to extend the idea to the mage dps class and a philosophy on when to break the rules.

In almost every run that I do, we have kill order marks that we usually follow. Skull, X, Ice Cube, etc I think is the most common kill rotation around (at least for me). This works out well. We all know what do do and when to do it. Kinda nice but most times speed and efficiency are what matters in these fights and a kill order is the order of the day. But do we always have to follow this? I make the suggestion that you do not. Now before I here all the nay saying listen to what I propose...

As mages (and the other cloth classes) we know that we usually cannot stand up to the flesh ripping attacks of most npc melee dps. A bit of a nod to K (even though she thinks mages are only food dispensers) :), warlocks are prolly the best of cloth classes to (sort of) off tank with there life drain and fears (not that many fear in an instance!). I digress; tanking is not what I wanted to discuss. I want to discuss the ability to diagnose, understand, and execute pulling an elite toon away from the tank to kill it on your own.

Did I just send shivers down your spine? You would never DREAM of putting your wonderful mage in harm's way by PURPOSEFULLY pulling aggro? I say it CAN and SHOULD be done. You need to know your mage. You need to know your healer. You need know WHEN to do it. If you keep this points in mind, you can increase the rate you pull mobs and maximize your time and efforts.

I normally only go after other clothies. I know that they have less armour (like me) and I can be most effective with my efforts. Most clothies dont have high health so, with my +1100 to fire/arcane damage and my hit rating is somewhere around 120 (not the 142 cap:) ), I know that I can be effective. This is knowing my toon:)

Is the healer attentive? Are they having problems healing the party? If they arent and the tank is staying around full health AND its NOT a boss fight this might be a good time to do your work outside of the prescribed marks:)

Now would I start this devious plan in the beginning of the fight?? Hmmm.......usually no. Most of the time I wait until the skull dies first. This mark needs to die the quickest and I tend to respect that. Also this gives the tank to cause a little extra damage on the target that I may want to pick off and have all to my own:) No one said that I was totally crazy!

I am not saying that everyone should do this. I am saying that, under the right circumstances, this is a viable strategy. Just know your stuff!

Rock On!
Babygorn

The Bride is here

2008-07-29T14:45:00.002-04:00

Taking a break from purely mage stuff (although your mage could do this if you have a warlock friend and any other stealthy friend:) ), I have to tell you what some guildies and I did to someone. Before I go any further, I have to pay homage to Tasogare (sorry if the spelling is off) from Knights of Utopia on the Alleria server for coming up with this idea. We tweaked it a little but it came from him and it was hilarious. Imitation is the highest form of flattery...

We have this young guy who is pretty laid back (and maybe a little arrogant) in our guild Schadenfreude. Well his father, myself, and another party signed onto his account, took away all arms and anything he could use to fight or flee, put him in a wedding dress, and ported him into the middle or Orgrimmar ( in that instance there), put him in a wedding dress and left him. Was this mean? Had he done anything to deserve this? If you had the wherewithall to check out the meaning of my guild's name, you would know why. 'Nuff said.

Rock On
Babygorn

Fire or Frost: That is the burning question...

2008-07-28T15:35:00.002-04:00

I know that we all have or favs in mages (mine is fire) but I am also realistic in that I know that people have different playing styles that would lend towards fire or frost. As I dont intend for this to be a long post, I will just blurb a few things about both specs and see what you all think.

I am very content (as a player) doing the exact thing over and over again. There is is comfort in my OCD world if I can repeat things with the same sesults in my life. The same is true with a fire mage. I pick a target, I start my spell order, and ususally by the time that it reaches me, it is a molten pile of metal or cloth, whichever the case may be. I am comforted by this. And I dont rack up repair bills (usually). This is my style of play that fits well into my cocktail hours as I play (you cant screw up TOO much when you do the same thing over and over. Unless there is a sheep...... :) ) >

Frost mages are the round'em up, group'em up, and kill, kill, KILL! See, for me, this leaves too much room for error. I have a HUGE ego and I think I would have a tendency to gather the whole zone and think that, with a few of my frost spells, demolish the opposition. Now, I am not say that frost is not a great spec. I know many people out there that are frost and that they enjoy them immenslyl. Not to mention the great damage mitigation that they can generate. I am just saying for me, it would lead down a long and troublesome, repair-bill filled road. Dont be a mage if you are faint of heart.

Babygorn
Rock On!

Spell Hit: DOnt need it....NOT!

2008-07-24T07:29:00.000-04:00

I walked into Gruul's lair with a bit of nervousness. Would we be able to defeat this awe inspiring creature? What great treasure would we find inside? Our group huddled together to discuss any last minute strategy that we would want to employ to get through the epic battle to come. Then the fight commenced. The beast was held at bay by our awesome warriors and paladains as those of use who had the use of arcane powers pummeled the beast with epic amounts of energy. Or were we?? As the fight dragged on, I noticed that I was becoming quite weary and was on the last bit of power that I could dredge up. Finally me and my hardy companions manage to down Gruul but the fight was a bit unnerving. With the raw power we had, Gruul, although a formidable opponent,should not have been so difficult to overcome....

I did not come into the idea of spell hit until later in the game when I was already raiding Kara. I was doing ok damage and I seemed to be doing my job so I never thought that (ohter than hot tiered gear) I could improve my performance. Au contraire! ( I hope I spelled that right:) ) After someone pointed out that I only hit somewhere about 75% of the time, I suddenly became QUITE aware that I needed to do something about my spell hit rating and QUICK!

Spell hit is a function of many different factions. It concerns your lvl, your target's lvl, and any intervening factions like buffs, any talents your have trained down in, and any buffs or auras. Resistance is a totally seperate issue in that for a spell to be resisted, the spell has to hit! I think that this is common misunderstanding that can easily be dispelled:) (Double entaundre there:)

So, in a nutshell, the higher the lvl the enemy you are facing, the less chance you have to hit it. Also consider that, as a max, the best that you can achieve as a spell caster is 99%. Believe me, that is a number that you want to aspire to!

I am not going into the exact math of spell hit. It has been done for you quite well at www.wowwikki.com and plus I find it boring. They explain it in depth which gave me a more comprehensive understanding. Also there is a list of things and items that will bump that spell hit rating up to where your party and guild need it to be.

I have got to share this factoid about elemental shamans (since I have one) and spell hit rating. Did you know that if two elemental shamans are in the same group in a raid that with the stacking of Wrath of Air and elemental precision that with a +0 spell hit rating will give each other the +38 spell hit rating that they need for them both to get a 99%spell hit rating. Interesting...

So....dont be fooled by that little number on your character sheet to touts the huge plus damage that you may cause. If you cant reach that monster with your spell, you are't going to cause ANY damage. And that would suck.

Babygorn
RockOn!

THe Lost Spells

2008-07-22T06:54:00.001-04:00

As mages, we all have our little spell rotations that we are used to casting to melt (or freeze-dry) the face of any and/or all nearby enemies that run afoul of our good sensibilities. Scorch, Ice lance, Pyroblast, etc. are all well known and often used spells that our party loves to see (Cuz of the awesomeness of the dps being caused!). But what about the other less widely used spells in our aresonal? Lets explore a couple of these today.

1) Amplify/Dampen Magic-If you are in end game content, you will know the use of amplify magic in the Gruul's fight. But amplify/dampen are very viable in other situations that can greatly cut the mana used of your healer. If you know that the next few fights are purely melee, throw up an amplify magic if not on everyone then on yourself. If you see a magical fight occurring, dampen magic might be of use. You will take a nibble off the overall healing but the damage mitigated might be worth it

2) Blink-I know we ALL love this nifty little trick when we are in Ironforge and want to get to the mailbox before that crafty gnome heading towards it. It also has its use when you have an AoE damage effect that you need to get out of QUICK! Combine that with mana shield and you have a viable way to stay alive through a LOT of damage.

3) Mana Ruby (and all the lesser mana stones)-Even though, as a lvl 70 mage, I have very little mana issues, I have found that these have saved my life in a couple of situations. How many times did we wish that we had just that little bit of mana to start a round of arcane missles on a boss that has 1% of health left instead od wanding? I know I have been there and I suspect there are a few of you out there too:)

I know there are others but these are the lil' buggers that I wanted to feature. Please feel free to add any others that I have not mentioned. Looking forward to it!

Babygorn
Rock On!

Aggro and Mages: Ride the Line

2008-07-21T15:37:00.001-04:00

Now that I am into this bloggin thing I feel the need to get a couple of posts down to get SOME material down so that all of you knowledgeable peeps out there can give a shout out and share/provide tips and info to us to make the game more enjoyable. I know that I have learned many things from blog sites, fellow guildies, pugs (not that often but it DOES happen) and so on. So today I would like to talk about aggro and the monkey on our mage's back.

Having played a fire mage for the first three years ans still somewhat leaning on my prowess with the flames, I know that mages, espicially fire, are spikey little critters that seem to all of a sudden to be fighting the tank for superiority on the aggro list. My motto that I coined about 2 years ago goes like this: " A dead mage has no aggro; nor do they create dps." You can make the effect of aggro a little less if you do a couple of things preemptively.

1)Invisable-dumps all aggro from the mage. On the surface it seems like that this would be the end all-be all of the worry of aggro. But try casting it when you have 5 scorches up ticking damage, a POM pyroblast ticking off damage, and any other little trick you may have up your sleave. The 5 seconds that it takes to cast and then go into invisability now seems forever. I suggest casting it once or twice during LONG boss fights. That way you can always open up and not worry too much. You may take a little hit on the dps meters but see above mentioned motto.

2) Mana Shield- not an aggro dump but it is a way that if you get aggro, this might buy you a little time to cast invisability. I have successfully used this when I have become a little bit of an, uh, overacheiver.

3) MANAGE YOUR AGGRO- This is the most surefire way to never get your fire little buns into trouble with aggro. Yes I know that we all want to put out the damage but, again, see my motto. Give the tank, espicially in a 5 man group, some time to build up aggro. Dont cast your big ticket spells right away. COMMON sense ppl. I dont want another repair bill. Fat chance, huh?

4) THreart meters-there are several out there that work. See what your guild supports.

5)Know your toon-this should be self evident but is it? Do you know your playing style? DO you know what each spell does? Is it a DoT or straight damage? Your team my depend on you having and embracing this knowledge.

I have played with people that really dont care when they start casting, what they cast, who is in the party, etc. In our guild, in a 5 man, the quote, "You spank it, you tank it" is often uttered to those you challenge the aggro of our tanks. Nuff said.

Babygorn
Rock On!

Well I have finally done it......

2008-07-21T09:26:00.001-04:00

This is Babygorn from the the Allerian server. I have been playing 4 years now and I have 4 level 70 toons with two on the way up. My mage was my first Alliance toon that I leveled to 70 after starting with an Undead warlock on a PvP server (what a pain! :) ) My guild Schadenfreude is currently working on end game material such as Hyjal, SSC, etc. All of this history is to tell you that I come to blog with a practical view backed by years of experience so....take that!

I started out as a dyed in the wool, burn your face off, deep (51pts) into the fire tree fire mage. I did well starting in Kara and not doing too poorly but something felt...missing. Like the high damage other mages, shammys, warlocks, etc seemed to be pouring out and I wasn't. Part of this was my spec. Part is that mages are gimped right now (which is suppossed to be addressed in WOTLK making us KINGS OF DAMAGE again:) ) And part was the fact that I would not come to a raid prepared which is the subject of my first blog: RESPONSIBILITIES TO RAIDS AND BEING PREPARED!

I know, I know.....we all like to think that we do great dps the way our lovely little selves are but the fact of the matter is that we may do ok by just showing up and playing, gracing the raid with your awesomeness, we could be doing SO MUCH BETTER if we brought the pots, food, even equipment to the same raid. Since I will be dealing with the mage class I will only delve into the needs directly to them.

Lets start with the little things first. Potions. Flasks. Food. Arcane elixir will increase your spelll power by up to 20. Considered a Battle elixir and lasts an hour. Consider how many spells you cast during a raid and you will realize that you would be missing out on A LOT of dps if you dont utilize these little dittys. I mentioned these first because it is prolly one of the least expensive items to boost your dps immediately. Poached bluefish (from the cooking side) will immediately bonus you +23 spell damage and +20 spirit WHILE giving your little lovely back 7500 pts of health. So right there you have a +43 bonus to ALL damage (notice the word "mage" in there?? ) right off the bat.

Flask of Pure Death counts as both a Guardian and Battle elixir granting a bonus to shadow, frost, and fire spells by +80 for two hours. This effect lasts through death which makes the expense of these humdingers (about 40g at current AH price) A LITTLE easier to swallow:) I like this Flask because I can have bonus to both my frost and fire spells. I AM an arcane POM mage (Presence of Mind for all you newbies that allows me to cast an instantaneous pyroblast FTW:) )I will use blizzard as an AoE at times so these plus to damage really stack up. There are other flasks and elixirs that work but these fit my build and the style of play so I suggest do as I say....or not. At your pwn peril :) Get it??

Now lets talk about armour. Armoury on the main page of the WoW website is a great place to research armour for your toon. PLEASE dont make the raid leader single you out at the begining of the raid to tell you your gear needs to be upgraded. As in your guild. Read. It is NOT the raid leader's responsibility to give you this info. If you have a class lead, ask them. But, I have found, the best info is the info you find for yourself. If you are unsure about it, ask someone who knows! We all can become our own experts if we try!

I could go on for days about responsibilities and preparedness for raids. Be early and prepared. Be signed up. Have a good attitude. Have fun!

I will sign off now. Come back soon for another informative and slightly irreverant post on really important stuff!

Babygorn
ROCK ON!