World of Warcraft, Not Church

So. I’m a healy priest, right? (or at least, I play one on the internet)

Questing in a group as a healy priest is okay. I mean, they do most of the work and all I need to do, really, is make sure they don’t need to stop for gas along the way. I’m like a pit crew.

Cataclysm

Along comes Cataclysm, and all the sudden Discipline priests are encouraged to HEAL using DAMAGE spells. Funtimes! Holy Fire, Smite x 5, pop your sparklewings and throw a bubble.

Not that a discipline priest should even be considering themselves on raiding damage meters with this, but it DID seem like an attempt by Blizzard to encourage us to get out there and throw around our (teeny weeny) weight a little in fights.

Perhaps even, dare I say it, when questing?

No.

Sorry, the dps I can shell out as a Discipline priest is so weak, I actually caught a squirrel critter laughing at me while a fire elemental whomped on me.

Oh sure, I beat the elemental. It just took about five times as long as any other class in the game.

Sure, I’m “unkillable”, but that doesn’t mean much when everyone else is unkillable by virtue of deading the mob before they have a chance to get in more than one or two good wallops.

Still, I can get to level 85 on the shoulders of my friends, right?

What’s that? DAILIES?

MOTHER&%#$

Shadow

So. My husband finally convinced me to try shadow spec. VERY much against my will, as I have never had even the most remote interest in shadow. Even when I dual-specced Vonya, she was holy/disc.

(By the way, Holy in Cata is distractingly pretty, with all sorts of shiny glyphs and things on the ground that look like something DPS shouldn’t stand in. I’m sure it’s very nice if you get the right raiding group and train them all to stand INSIDE the shiny stuff, but a casual sniff of the spec says for most of Cata’s “run around like a headless chicken” battles, Disc is more flexible. Also: crimunettlies, is it just me or does a glance at that talent tree make you dizzy a little? Sure, it makes sense after you spend some time diagramming the spells out, but JEEZ.)

Vonya is now Disc/Shadow.

I knuckled down and really spent some time looking at that talent tree. I dipped into Disc far enough to pick up darkwing (Duck!) (Okay, those of you who know me by now know I disdain almost every Blizz-supported name for spells. It’s darkwing and sparklewing, depending on spec).  I’ll want the healy buff up at all times, and if I toss this DoT and then this one, then start flaying the mobs enough to pop darkwings, I’ll probably get enough shadow orbs to do a really impressive mind blast, and hoo doggy, I just had TWO shadow copies of myself spawn and head towards the mob …

… and my dps still kind of sucks. On the really long-living mobs, I started to pick up some steam, but despite twisting my fingers into pretzels to get my rotation JUST SO, I still wasn’t impressing anyone. (Well, okay, my disc priest was impressed. Beat the pants off Disc spec, I don’t mind tellin’ ya.)

A Better Rotation

So Mr. Moore, in his loving and sweet way, did some extra research for me and found a rotation that’s actually pretty freakin’ awesome on non-elite mobs (which, as you know, you’re gonna hit when questing).

Are you ready for this? Are you sitting down?

Okay, here’s the secret.

1. Mind Spike
2. Mind Spike
3. Mind Spike
4. Mind Blast

BAM!

Lame lame lame LAAAAAAME. 

Oh wait, that sounds kinda lame, doesn’t it?

It does. *sigh* It totally does.

Giant, complex rotation utilizing spec-specific cooldowns and procs is VASTLY OUTDONE by two spells.

On the one hand, it makes questing pretty simple.

On the other hand … *sigh* Shouldn’t the awesome, complex rotation net me awesome, complex damage output?

Recommendation

At any rate, if you’re disc priesting your way through Cataclysm and you’re frustrated and underwhelmed with your questability, I urge you to try shadow. Just … don’t stress over it too much. I’m not sure it’s worth trying the longer rotation unless you’re heavily shadow raiding, and from what I can tell, raids are only taking mages, rogues, and boomkins if they’re trying for world firsts.

(also, the problem of COMPLEX ROTATION = puny dps is also rampant in the hunter class, only on a different scale, where “puny” still equals “lol, deaded!” on non-elite mobs. The comparison only becomes obvious when running dungeons and raids.)

Related posts:

1. WoW Priest Cataclysm Changes

Star Wars – Sons of Odin

Love this video. The song is amazing, and has been put to an incredible mashup of warhammer videos, but I think the version done to the SWOTOR videos is even better.

Transformers: Fall of Cybetron

Another amazing video with great sound/direction.

Unfortunately, embedding is disabled by request on this one, so you’ll have to click to visit.

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I’m an original pokemon junkie.

I grew up with Red and Blue, felt dissatisfied with Gold and Silver, and didn’t even bother with Sapphire and Ruby after a cursory glance through the new pokedex left me feeling glum.

It wasn’t until I started watching the cartoon series that I started to question the Pokemon universe. Even so, it wasn’t until I began writing my own Pokemon fanfic that I actually applied critical thinking to the problem.

What I realized is this : Pokemon is horrifying.

The Universe

Pokemon are “pocket monsters” – critters (large or small, cute or scary) which can be captured using the technology of a palm-sized pokeball. Once captured, the creature is kept in the ball except to be released so that it can be forced to fight against another creature (using elemental or physical attacks until such time as one or the other creature “faints”).

The creatures level up and will periodically evolve into a larger, more powerful creature – sometimes forced to do so by their “trainer” (in quotes because I’ve yet to see any real training in-game) using elemental stones.

The Cartoon

In the game, everything’s just pixels and cute little sprites – but once I saw the cartoon, I watched pokemon who didn’t want to fight, pokemon who hated being in pokeballs, pokemon who refused to listen to their masters, and pokemon BADLY injured by battles. Trainers capturing GOD pokemon and sending them into battle as easily as they might a caterpie or a weedle!

I saw trainers with the same uncaring attitude that I’d felt when playing the game – who used their pokemon for tools and thought nothing of storing unwanted pokemon in computers, or letting pokemon faint because they could just be revived again at the next town.

I also saw the relationship between pokemon and trainers who loved them. I saw true friendships and the way that pokemon and humans could build a better life for each other.

The Fanfic

I set out to write fanfic and immediately hit upon a problem – I couldn’t sympathize with a main character who would deliberately send her pokemon into meaningless battles for glory’s sake.

I thought about this problem for a long time before coming up with a solution …

… I sent her back in time.

Back to a time when there was such a thing as a wild raichu. Back to a time when towns were small and roads between them fraught with danger. A time without pokeballs and pokemon centers. A time when getting too close to a litter of nidoran would set off a bellowing, enraged nidoqueen.

And most importantly, to a time when roving gangs of outlaws with trained pokemon would raid these townships, and the only way the townsfolk could fight back was by having more powerful pokemon with their own trainers.

A time when pokemon battles meant the difference between civilization and anarchy.

That history could easily lead to the current Pokemon universe. Battles became less bloody and more of a contest. Contests for territory became contests of skill. Contests of skill became a spectator sport. Advances in technology allowed pokemon to be viewed as equipment rather than teammates.

The Games Keep On A’Comin

Formulating that history allowed me to enjoy Pokemon again, even though the newest games have some truly gag-worthy pokedexes and they STILL haven’t made the awesome Pokemon RPG that I JUST KNOW IS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE.

If they build that RPG, part of me really hopes they build it in the history that I constructed. I think I’d have a lot more fun being a pokemon HERO than being a pokemon MASTER.

Anyone Else?

Has anyone else run into any moral opposition to the Pokemon games? Felt twinges of conscience, or wondered who was gone the day some decisions were made?

Have you come up with any reasonings or justifications that work for you?

Anyone else who HAS had a crisis of conscience yet still gets a little giggly every time you see a Pikachu in a window or on a website? (Because I totally do. Guilt or no, the original pokemon had some of the cutest critters ever devised.)

Alternately, what’s your favorite pokemon? (Vulpix/Ninetails, I love you!)

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