How to unlock heroics

Since BC already we have heroics in the game. Heroics are a more difficult version of an instance, and generally give better rewards. Since Wrath we have heroic raids as well and hard modes, and then of course there are still achievements so you can do a boss in a certain way to get the better loot.

In Burning Crusade there was a uniform system to get into heroic dungeons. You had to become revered with the specific reputation that went with a dungeon and then you could do this dungeon on heroic mode. But in WotLK the unlocking of heroic modes has become diversified and isn't always as clear as it could be.

After the break an overview of how you unlock the different heroic modes in WotLK.

The Responsibility of every Blogger

A comment from Tamarind got me thinking about media, writing, and blogging in particular. It's been 9 months now since I started blogging, and I've been wondering for a while already if my blog has had any influence on how people do things.

I think there must be some people out there who have followed my strategies for the Red Proto Drake, since that is still my most visited blog post, and I know there are some people who took some of my more recent advice on Discipline priesting and have changed their healing style a bit with that.

But if my guides have influence on how people do, then my other posts might as well. My positive posts about Pugtastic might make people more leniant about grouping with people outside the normal comfort zone, but my 'blow off steam posts' might influence people's train of thought so that they too might be feeling more negative about whichever subject I speak about that day?

About LFD - Looking for Dungeon

The blogosphere is buzzing with posts about the new LFD system. About bad pugs, bad experiences, and just general asses all around.

I've had my fair share of bad pugs myself, though funny enough the worst so far was a hunter that we invited for a raid and not at all through LFD, but that LFD system can only be as good as the people who queue up was a given.

I would like to stick a reminder out there to all you people who are complaining about the bad pugs...you don't have to use it.

PPI compared it with porn, no intimacy, elsewhere I've seen things about the silence that often comes with these pugs. Nobody speaks, nobody says anything until the dungeon is done, you get a quick 'Ty' and poof, people are gone again.

This too can be partly you. If you start a conversation, people will often follow. People will chat, and people are more than willing to say hello. But hey, why look at your own behaviour if it's so much easier to look at someone else's, right?

Wrong. If you don't like LFD, don't use it. Please don't run off with it, do 10 dungeons a day, and then complain about how bad it is. There is still the option to simply go run with your friends. And if they're not on, go read a book.

Mandatory Authenticator

WoW.com is reporting that it might finally happen; a mandatory authenticator. I say finally because I seriously don't understand how it could've taken this long. We still have people in my guild who get hacked, in fact our guildbank got cleaned out partially a week ago due to someone not having an authenticator. And luckily the people with more access do all have authenticators, but too many are still going without.

And really guys it's not that hard, and not that expensive. You get a nice pet along with it, just go get one of those things, you'll have to in the future anyways!

And oh...don't expect me to feel too sorry for you if you get hacked and it turns out you didn't have one...sucker.

Grid + Clique Guide

Yesterday I wrote for Disc Priests only, today I will stick some interesting content for all healers in. However, do keep in mind that what works for one, may not work for the next, I will speak from my own experience and hope that it may help some people.

Healer Addons

My priest has been my main for a while now (since Kara already) and she's gone from being holy, to becoming disc the moment that the new talent trees came in. Penance looked pretty, and holy had lost it's challenge for me. But whichever character you heal on, or whatever your healing style is, addons can help you to heal better.

And yes, I realize that there are some healers out there who heal purely with the standard UI, but really, addons are there specifically to help, and if all they do for you is give better visual indication of what is happening around you, it's already a win. Some addons are there for very specific tasks, like PoM Tracker for example, others are for the general overview.

I have to admit, when I discovered Grid and Clique a world opened up for me, and though I can heal without addons (on PTRs you sometimes have no other choice), my performance is much higher with these two brilliant mods.

Discipline Guide

I've been very hesitant to write something like this up, especially since there are some who take these sort of guides as religion and stop thinking for themselves, but in the end an overview guide is nice to have, so yeah..here we go.

Talents & Specs

54/14/0 - The Cookie Cutter

These are the talents that you need. The points you can change are the 5 points in Divine Fury, and stick them in Improved Renew and Healing Focus instead. It depends on if you're more comfortable using Greater Heal or Renew.

It leaves you with 3 floater points. I normally stick them in Focused Will, 3% extra crit is pretty nummy, but you could also get to 2 points in Improved Healing for cheaper penance, or stick 2 points in Reflective Shield for easier soloing. If you find yourself dispelling a lot Absolution is also a very good choice. 

Class Links for PVE - Patch 3.3

I've been playing 4 different characters at 80, it's so nice to gear up at the moment, and LFD makes it so much easier. Especially since I have my very own pocket tank along with me most of the time. But what I did find is that I like fiddling around with specs, figure out what works best for me.

Every time that I start fiddling around I go to elitist jerks to find which spec is recommended, or if I can't find it there I have to search further. It got me thinking that I might not be the only one having to look all over the place to find information, so I figured I would collect some links here for ease of reference. Most of these pages will lead to guides on EJ, since those are generally really nice overviews, but for some I've found others that I liked better.