July 3, 2008
Evolution of the UI
***Disclaimer*** Ive written this post three times now. For some reason when I add the pictures it screws up the post, So the pictures will be added to the bottom under the text. Each picture is small, but you can click on it for a larger view.
Im about as addicted to UI’s as I am to creating new toons. Each time I’ve tried out a new UI or Addon it seems to have taught me something new about the game. Not everyone enjoys them, I know. My husband for example would never stray from the Blizzard UI except to carry only the mods that our guild requires to raid. Even then he’s never happy about having to keep and update extra addons. He’s pretty set using his keybinds to heal and that works for him.
Me on the other hand? I like the flashy, the organized and the having all of my spells out so I can click them setup. This leads me to admit that yes, I am a clicker. I do occasionally use keybinds and macros, and they too work well. There’s just something about a mouse though. I prefer it, and I hope to stick to it. Even for my rogue, which in my opinion is button mashing at its best, I still use the mouse for.
For the most part though my UI has changed many times over the years, the list of core addons I use have not. Some of them (but not all) include:
Omen
Decursive
Recount
Prat
Altas Loot Enchanced
Auctioneer
Cartographer
FuBar
I’ve seen entire compliations for UIs that guilds create and mandate for thier players to use. This is an intresting idea, and would be a good one except in my experiences in leading a guild I’ve learned that not everyone is computer literate. I also hugely support the use of Voice Over IP programs. While not mods, they are certainly helpful to any guild hoping to progress in the virtual world. I’ve played breifly with the Blizzard VOIP program, but was not impressed by it at all. I wish I could develop a UI for the masses, but I lack the kind of knowledge it takes. In setting up these UI’s and trying them out though I’ve learned a lot about each individual addon.
So basically in my opinion I’m PRO UI. I hope that anyone who reads this blog, and sees this UI will maybe give them a shot. While my UI changes constantly, my current one is easy to use as it pretty much sets itself up. I received no errors when I installed it and the only ones I added to it were Pallypower, Decursive, and Clique, You can find the download for this UI here.
Sayge’s Fortune #21
“Divine Shields and Hearthstones do not make a hero heroic”
Aww Blizzard, you crack me up. But your mockery will not make an example out of me! I’ve yet to actually “Bubble Hearth” out of anything, but I have a funny story where this really did happen.
We were in SSC, clearing trash that kills off the leathal fish so that we may attempt The Lurker Below. Myself and 24 other guildmates are about to face yet ANOTHER pack of 9 mobs, when something doesn’t seem right. One of our priests is inching entirely too close to the pack. I was about to say something over our Ventrilo when the mobs started running towards him. He instantly dies. At the time I was a tank, and felt it was my duty to do some damage control. So I picked them all up, and began to recieve some heals. Unfortunatly the DPS was picking them off at random so some ended up dying, but we pulled through, with a little less then half the raid alive.
As I was beginning to help ressurect people, a voice comes over the vent. Its one of our Pally healers. He loudly, but sheepishly asks for a summon back. This took a moment to register. “Wait, a summon?” I ask. “Yeah,” he proudly admits. “I bubble hearthed out of that noise, thought for sure we were gonna die”. A proud moment for Paladins everywhere.
To Tank or Not to Tank?
Now that we’re past the introductions, I feel it is time to get down to business. My first topic of discussion? Paladins. So far played this class has been the most work. Why might you ask? Well not only are the spec’s so incredibly different from each other, but also, the amount of gear for each spec is limited, and really, a pain in the butt to come by.
So far in my experiences, Paladin prot gear mostly comes from badges. With the additon of the Sunwell Badge Vendor there were some neat and very much needed upgrades available to us. There really are not many options for the Paladin Tank. (Well, except for the Paladin Tanks who think they are Warriors. This infuriates me, and is another topic for another day). The average Paladin needs 102.6 percent avoidance (Including thier holy shield) To become uncrushable. Acheiving this number is not all that terribly difficult, unless you are like me and like to push the bar as far as you can.
In my prot set, I didn’t just hit the run of the mill uncrit/uncrush… I also managed to get 18k Hitpoints in buffs, and a nice 450 spell damage. This made tanking a breeze, but was quite the challenge to achieve. I of course took my badge gear like a good pally should, but I also squeezed in some spell damage where ever I could, and got trinkets that did nothing for my avoidance, only added to my stamina and gave a proc. The gems were all avoidance gems to make up for the stats I lost in not having avoidance trinkets, and when everything was said and done, I had a fancy purple pixel protection set, and tanking became a breeze.
However, now the tables have changed, and my guild is in need of a healer. Being a hybrid class I decided it was time for a change of pace and stepped up to the challenge. I shelved my hard earned tanking gear and set out to earn some new shiny purples in which to heal. My first thought was that after all that number crunching for tanking and badge farming, surely healing would be much easier. And technically it is. Healing has two spells (Well three, with my racial of Gift of the Naaru). Spam and go, for the most part. But the gear farm, is about the same. There are a couple of nice items out of Kara that I can easily farm out, and with the addition of Season 2 Arena Gear available to purchase, I might invest in a shield. At least, until I see the one out of ZA. But being a Paladin healer has begged a new sort of debate… Mp5 or Spell Crit?
I was discussing this with my guild today. Some say that if I do not stack Mp5 I would never survive some fights like Lady Vashj or Kael. However others say that with talents, if I stack spell crit I will recieve mana back, and be fine. So far I decided to try the road less traveled, and went with crit. the Spell Crit gear seems to be easier to find, though also a badge farm quite like the prot set was. So far the choice in gear has served me well in Kara, ZA, and one encounter in Mount Hyjal. But I assume more testing will be required to achieve an accurate opinion in all. I will have to find more places to read up on the spell crit vs. Mp5 idea, and share them here when I have more information.
As for Ret? Lawl. I haven’t a clue. So far Ive not really given it a try, and when I do, it will likely be in PvP as currently, the guild does not seem to use them much. Eventually I will piece together all of my knowledge on this wonderful hybrid class and post a guide. Until then, you advice is appreciated.
An Introduction, of Sorts
Well, after viewing my friend’s blog over at http://www.benameless.wordpress.com (Shameless Plug!) I decided he had a good idea. I thought I’d give it a shot as well. So lets begin shall we?
Hi! my name is Andrea. Im a 23 year old mother of two, and I, am an altoholic. Those of you familiar to World of Warcraft are probibly familiar with this term. Some of you may not be, so in short, I can’t seem to make up my mind, therefore I play as many toons as I possibly can. Thus far I have leveled three to 70 on my own, was given a fourth that I haven’t really touched, and have two in the upper 60’s. The rest are 20 something or less
I have been playing a long time, since about a month after release. This doesn’t make me an expert, or a WoW goddess, but I do believe it gives me an edge. Currently my high levels include A Demo Undead Warlock, A Holy Undead Priest, A BM Tauren Hunter, A Holy (Previously Prot) Dreanai Paladin, and a Gnome Combat Rogue. I also played a Tauren Feral Druid, but for only a month at level 70. It really wasn’t my cup of tea. I’ve also messed with other classes, but currently they are of lower levels.
Experience wise in the old world I was fortunate enough to experience MC, BWL, ZG, and AQ20 full clears. 
Also did AQ40 to Princess Huhu. I never did get to see Naxx and at its time of release I wasn’t really intrested in yet ANOTHER fourty man raid. In the new content I’ve seen all of Kara, ZA, and SSC for Lurker Only… And one encounter in Hyjal where we downed the first boss, but that was kinda being in the right place at the right time. However I have done all of the Heroics… if that accounts for anything at all.
Socially, I appear to be quite the butterfly. My friends say I have Charisma… my husband says Im a bit of a bitch…. either way it tends to lead me to places where I end up, “In the know”. I tend to have friends in many guilds, and I seem to be kept in good with the latest gossip, though I do try to stray away from that. I’ve run a few guilds, which ultimately, end up being a great group of people to hang out with, but aren’t much for accomplishing content progression. The first guild was <Dead>. This guild I had joined due to a RL friend who played… and two months in the guild leaders quit, and handed it off to me. I was in no way prepared to run a guild. I tried to adapt but it never amounted to much. Few bad mergers, and eventually I gave up. I joined a guild that gave me all of my old world experience… but after awhile… the amount of time involved in raiding and me working were just more then I could take… so I took a three week break from WoW.
My husband later convinced me to try again. Start fresh and anew. We rerolled Horde again on a brand new server. Started up a guild right away and recruited people of the same level as us, so we could work together and teach them how to be successful raiders. This plan actually proved fruitful for a long time. The guild 
grew, progressed and was doing well until Kara hit. With Three groups going, the first two were successful. The third was not. I learned quickly that even though its just pixels, people will still get mean and greedy if they don’t get what they want, right away. For a year the guild flourished, was self reliant (meaning heroics went off with ease. Enchants, Jewel cuts and the like were easily accessible). However the job for myself became harder and harder. Loot systems to keep track of, three kara teams to organize, a guild bank (Before guild banks were built into the game) and Forums and a website to upkeep again began to become more then I could handle. With the additon of demanding players and a brand new baby, I again gave up on running my own guild.
I decided to give WoW one more shot. This time on the Alliance. I rolled a Paladin, uncertain of her role at the time. I leveled her up, made new friends (along with the old who did in fact follow me across all these relams) and when she got to Outlands, I made her into a tank. For the few months following, I easily cleared Kara, and began to see instances outside of that. I built up her tanking gear using mostly badge gear items, and was blown away by how naturally progession comes to the Alliance side. She stayed a tank until recently… and now she’s a Holy Paladin for the needs of my guild, Ale and Arms.
The Paladin is currently my active main character. I raid with her and am still working on her holy gear. However my warlock remains a love of mine and is used to PvP every now and again. Also Im building up a rogue, since historically I’ve played casters. I wanted to give Melee its fair shot.
The point of this blog is to relate experiences I’ve had, guides I’ve written, and overall the rantings I have about being a serious gamer, and a mother at the same time. WoW is a male dominated game, but there are girls (and mothers!) out there who I know enjoy the game as well. This blog is for everyone alike, but it is from my point of view (Men be warned!) So I hope you enjoy it, and I’ll be posting again soon!
Altoholic's Are Us 