September 2016

AddOns – Are there Others I need?

stargrace September 6, 2016 No Comments

I love World of Warcraft AddOns. I think the Curse Client makes them easy to install (and even those not on curse are pretty easy to install) and they offer a whole lot of function to the game. My basic UI is ElvUI, a popular all-in-one UI replacement. I know there are lots of pros and cons to using it, some people adore it and others hate it, but it does what I need it to do, so for now that’s what I use. The other AddOns I’ve picked up along the way are as follows:

• _NPCScan (This tells me when named are up by announcing them, and lets me target them so I can get to them faster and know when they’re almost dead before I get there)
• Auctionator (A semi-replacement for auctioneer which hasn’t been updated in ages)
• Can I Mog It? (Tells me whether or not I have the transmog for a specific item, across characters)
• Deadly Boss Mods (Dungeon / raid timers across all expansions)
• GTFO (A really loud obnoxious sound plays any time I step in anything bad)
• HandyNotes (Map notes on anything from Panadria treasures to field photographer, this is an amazing addon)
• Master Plan (Garrison organization, hoping they come out with a Legion version)
• PetBattle Teams (Lets me organize my pets into saved teams and name them all)
• PetTracker (Lets me see on each map which pets I have from the area and which are missing)
• Recount (DPS / Heal meter, I use this for myself, not to judge others. I like improving my character)
• World Quest Tracker (I haven’t used this, but I believe it lets me track the new world quests from Legion)

I don’t want a whole lot of addons since eventually they end up creating lag and other problems with one another in-game, but the ones I have picked up all seem to get along well with one another and don’t create any noticeable issues with my system. I was using an inventory mod for a little while, but found that it lagged pretty badly and when I was moving items around and they wouldn’t show up in the right places until I opened and closed the container again. I decided inventory organization wasn’t that much of a priority in the end.

My priest managed to hit 110 over the weekend, and now I’m deciding on an alliance member to level up. Most of my “fun” characters are horde, and alliance are ones I’ve fallen out of love with over the class changes. I’m wishing I had a mage, or a warrior, or an alliance monk or hunter. Instead I’ll have to choose between priest, druid, shaman, paladin, and warlock. Decisions decisions!

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Leveling up As a Discipline Priest

stargrace September 3, 2016 3 Comments

When the class changes first came out my priest was in a shadow / disc spec. Discipline for healing. I had been disc for a few expansions now, I didn’t enjoy the holy spec at all. That completely changed as did my taste about a lot of classes when the revamps came. Fast forward to now: I’m level 106 and I’ve finally found the “perfect” spot for me to play as a discipline priest, and it’s something I wouldn’t have ever expected if it wasn’t for the fact that I was collecting all three artifact weapons.

I’m now using my discipline spec to level, and I love it. I found that while shadow is nice, it wasn’t quite what I wanted any more. Trying to manage my insanity and push out DPS while surviving was getting difficult and shadow spec doesn’t have any real nice heals that I could make use of. Since I was collecting artifacts anyway I decided on a whim to swap over to discipline, arrange my hotbars, and play through a few quests, just to get a feel.

I’m really glad that I did.

My DPS is slightly lower than it was in shadow but my survival has gone WAY up. I barely ever take damage any more, and I can take on huge groups at once. Instead of managing insanity I’m managing atonement, a much easier buff to manage because there’s just one person it’s usually on (or two, if I have my combat ally with me). I don’t notice an enormous drag in DPS at all, and I’m getting used to my rotations for leveling. It’s also nice not to be a shadow figure all the time – I can see my gear, and my character. I can do pretty good DPS or heal on a whim when needed. I don’t think it’s something I want to use in raids or groups, but for leveling up it has quickly become my new favourite.

Of course that also means that now my artifact bonuses are split between three completely different weapons. It’s not a big deal, but I know that means later on I’ll have to do more grinding than if I had of just focused on one (or even just two) weapons. My very casual goal has been to try to get a level a day, some days I surpass that (like yesterday) and others I don’t even come close. I’m still taking my time and enjoying the ride, though I see many of my friends already at 110 and working on alts. The stories have been intense and enjoyable, and I’m really just in no rush at all.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!