Questions & Feedback #34:

The feedback and questions have been coming hard and fast lately. I love it. Keep it all coming. Every Friday we're going to post Questions and Feedback!


Feedback: PowerPoint Viewer is free. Also, so is OpenOffice.

I tried to include links, but your comment form doesn't allow it.


Feedback: Twice now in ICC I've had players comment that my gems suck and basically give me grief because I'm not decked out in King Amber +20 intellect gems. Nevermind, I'm consistently at the top of the healing meters and not only am I keeping my assigned tanks up but I'm also helping raid heal in the process.

I like to FoL when possible and HoL when it really hits the fan so it shouldn't matter whether my mana pool is 28K versus 32K (rarely is OOM an issue with Divine Plea and knowing the fights). Still, I'm wondering if maybe I should rethink my healing strategy and re-gem for a higher mana pool and make HoL my goto heal of choice.

Looking for your wisdom.... Thanks.

Response: If I were you I would but it doesn’t necessarily make it the best choice for you. You didn’t say what kind of runs you were in, whether it’s a high end guild farming hard modes or a noobie guild or even pug raiding. It all makes a difference.

If it’s either of the later raids, you’ll fine that skill will win out more in the end. You can make less mistakes than the other healers and that can make you come out on top. If that makes sense? If you have the spare gold, try the Holy Light style. If not and you’re still able to get into raids and perform, then why upset a good thing?


Feedback: I think the guy asking about frost emblems and weekly stuff wasn't including clearing ICC. Although that would make it odd for him to assume the weekly raid quest as part of his farming. IDK

What do you think is a good target for healing on Heroic Valithria? I've only gotten 3 attempts in with my guild on heroic and it tends to be the first heroic mode that falls victim to the push to get a full clear for the week but on those attempts I managed between 23k and 24k hps. I just want to be sure I'm pulling my weight.

Response: At 23-24k you’re smashing me. We’re sending a lot of healers up in the portals so we’re all trying to work together up there which really slows us down. Not only that, where we play from we have huge amounts of latency compared to most others which doesn’t help. From memory we send 5 healers up in the portals for Dreamwalker. If memory serves me correctly I only hit about 19-20k (come close to topping the meters most times) but I’m an uncoordinated doofus when it comes to 3d stuff.

We usually one shot it lately even bringing in 3-4 new players. Of course we’ll get the occasional wipe on Dreamwalker.

It sounds like you’re pulling your weight. I’m also assuming we’re talking 25 man. For 10 man, I haven’t done it on hard mode, so I don’t know the comparison. I’d assume we’d perform a little better and can act a little more recklessly on 10 man version.


Feedback: FORMATS: The format being used is great in my opinion. I would recommend not doing video for the sake of doing video, instead, use video (with audio) to show your readers what it is they should be looking at or focusing on. For example, some of the UI articles could have contained some video (Like a training video)to show some of the steps taken to get the preferable UI, as well to show your readers the ideal end result.

Future articles could contain some video format to meet the above needs. But a simple article that is more food for thought than an actual 'learning' article could be kept in simple text.

[I’ve got a lot of feedback but this seems to hit the nail on the head].


Feedback: To go along with things I would like to see more articles on.

Macros.

I know there is a short article on macros already. But it would be nice to see more. With the addition of Grid/Clique/Quartz to my UI, I am able to effectively heal anyone in my raid vey quickly. So why would I need mouseover macros, or any macros at all?
Obviously there are a few reasons why macros are useful even with my addons doing most of the work.
A compendium style article on macros, why we need them as part of our UI, how to set them up, a detailed list of holy paladin friendly macros, and what they all accomplish. Ones that are 'needed' and ones that are optional.
Not everyone who reads these articles (including myself) are familiar with macros, let alone how to write one up and use them effectively.
Assuming we all now have grid/clique running in our UI, an article that assumes this and focuses on macros that makes them even more effective would be the bomb.

The goal of every holy paladin is to be as effective and efficient as possible, to keep everyone alive and top the healing charts at the same time. An article of this nature would help immensely in this regard for many people I'm sure.


Feedback: For some reason I just can't get into click-healing. I have the older model of the Logitech G15 keyboard (the one with 18 programmable keys on the left). I've set up all my healing spells, plus things like Beacon and Cleanse, on macros that are onmouseover, and then tied these to the programmable keys. I can then use the mouse to run, or the arrow keys if needed to move.
RE: http://www.theholypaladin.com/healing-lesson-turning-grid-into-a-pro-version-of-healbot.php

Response: I agree with you, but there are many people who point and click to heal.


Feedback: Ive just started using grid, thanks for the 3 parts article on it. Though for the beacon and ss trackers Ive been using power auras for so long Ill probably just stick with them.
RE: http://www.theholypaladin.com/questions-and-feedback-part-030.php


Feedback: I read your article and I noticed that you recommend us critical strike rating. Don't you think that we need more mp5 than crit? I'm always running out of mana and my mana pool is 34k. Or is that becouse I don't know when I have 15 seconds time to use Divine Plea?

Sorry if that was annoying or pointless message.

Response: It does depend on your gear, how you heal and how aggressive you are with your mana mangement. For a lot mp5 will be better. When I write out another guide, I’ll change it over.


Epilogue:

Keep the feedback and questions coming. Believe it or not, it makes me go out and research some things. Sometimes the results surprise me and we'll all learn something new together!

Be sure to send them in, if you're asking the question, others are going to be asking too.

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