by Chase Christian

Paladins were the antonym, created to help defend their raid and party from damage and to provide useful buffs. While much of the original intentions have been diluted via homogenization, paladins are still the ultimate defensive class. Unfortunately, in order to perform our role in the face of constantly changing opponents and venues, our toolbox of abilities has become fairly large. We’ve got a utility spell for nearly every situation, and there are a vast number of situations out there. The key to being an effective paladin is to do your homework and to come prepared.

Get your buffs right

While Cataclysm is halving our Blessing count from four to two, making it incredibly simple to make sure everything is covered, we currently have quite a few different options when it comes to buffing the raid. Blessing of Might only helps physical classes while Blessing of Wisdom is only effective for classes with a mana bar. Blessing of Kings is good for everyone, and Blessing of Sanctuary is really only needed for paladin tanks and groups without a discipline priest around. With so many specific cases for each class, it can be hard to figure out what to buff. If you have enough paladins in the raid to buff all four blessings, then simply coordinate via chat or PallyPower to get all four buffs on the entire raid.

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by Michael Gray

We’re talking about the very, very basics of raiding. These are the fundamental building blocks that will get you into the instance, help you kill trash and finally help you defeat the boss. Most of this stuff will seem like common sense to experienced players. That’s good news; if it’s obvious data, that means you’re already on top of the dynamic. But for others, not every aspect of raiding will be obvious, especially to players for whom WoW is their first MMO.

What is a raid?

World of Warcraft has a dynamic called a “raid group” that allows up to 40 people to join a sort of mega-party. One person is the raid leader, and any number of other people are raid assistants. It’s generally up to each individual raid to decide how it operates, in terms of leadership, loot and organization. Rest assured, there really is no “right way” to run a raid. There are some “good ways” and there are some “not as effective ways,” but no one owns the market in the One True Raiding Organization.

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by Zach Yonzon

Something I’ve been meaning to write about for a while are my personal guidelines to ganking, or more generally, world PvP. There are no hard-and-fast rules regarding world PvP, although I follow a personal code of conduct when it comes to these things. Think of it as a guide on being good — character-wise, if not skill-wise — or how not to be an asshat in PvP. Today, we’ll go through a few simple unwritten rules or ideas and my reasoning behind them. That way, I can also say they’re no longer unwritten rules.

It might seem futile to lay out some ground rules for world PvP, considering that at the heart of it, they’re not really enforceable, but I’d like to think the world (of Warcraft) would be a better place if everyone followed a few simple rules of PvP engagement. It would certainly go a long way towards rectifying the image that some PvE players have about those who PvP. I mean, we’re not all uncouth ruffians. At least, not all the time — oh, who am I kidding? PvP players are bastards. But some of us, at least, are nice bastards.
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by Mathew McCurley

Bati has created something that I truly appreciate: easy-to-use, easy-to-set-up, pre-made Grid healer profiles that give you everything you could ask for. The profile set even includes a DPS setup for your off spec, if needed.

An interface for every healer

Oren.1 is the paladin interface, showing all of the pertinent buffs on the target at the bottom of the Grid frame, with built-in timers from the excellent addon OmniCC. Bati is the priest Grid setup, displaying shields, Weakened Soul, Prayer of Mending and other vital priest information right on the Grid frame. Paired with a PoM counter addon, this setup proves very powerful for priests.

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by Chase Christian

Let’s face it, rogues don’t really have any spontaneous abilities to look forward to. Each spec has its own toolbox of cooldowns to use as soon as they’re available, and we can typically predict our actions a few steps out. We’ve been using the combo point system for so long that there’s really nothing that can surprise us. We know how energy works, and a quick look at our buff and debuff timers let us know exactly what the next step is in our priority system.

Rogues and their rotation

The basic model for rogue DPS is the rotation system, which has two core parts. We start by using techniques that generate combo points and then release those combo points in the form of finishers. We have a variety of CP generators that vary by spec, and we have a similar selection of finishers for every situation. The pacing of CP generation provides the necessary amount of DPS ramp-up requirements to ensure that we’re not too powerful in short fights, while also allowing for us to reach our peak DPS when we’re allowed to attack uninterrupted.
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by Chase Christian

I think that holy paladins have been pretty blessed this expansion, pun definitely intended. Our holy tree has been very solid throughout Wrath, and we’ve even got a few flex talents that we can use to pick up Improved Lay on Hands or even Blessed Hands. Our massive healing throughput has also made us one of the healers of choice for Anub’arak and the Lich King on heroic mode and even for bugging out Yogg-Saron’s heroic mode, as well. Our progression throughout Northrend has settled holy paladins into a pretty comfy healing niche. Even with all of the development our class has seen in the past few months, a few questions still remain.

For example, why are we still using the item level 200 Libram of Renewal instead of one of the shiny new librams from the Emblem of Frost vendor? The reason is that our old libram is too strong, and our new librams are poorly designed. Specifically, the Libram of Blinding Light just doesn’t mesh well with our playstyle. It forces us to use Holy Shock on a regular basis to keep it active and only provides extra spellpower. Of all the stats possible, spellpower is probably the one that holy paladins need the least of. What can Blizzard do to get things right the next time around?

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by C. Christian Moore

Offense vs. defense

4 DPS teams are offensive quintets (even the healers participate in damage most of the time) that use incredible damage to accomplish quick wins and losses. They’re often referred to as “zerg teams.” Silly StarCraft references.

When I first started playing arena, a friend much more PvP-experienced than myself explained to me the difference between two-healer team and 4 DPS: “A two-healer team is a balanced fighting force, using positional and defensive advantages to their advantage. Think of a castle, fortified with archers and boiling oil. A 4 DPS team is more akin to a juggernaut, barreling through walls and relying on brute force. Sometimes the castle wins; sometimes the battering ram is successful. The lines of attack and defense are much different, however.”

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by Steve Zamboni

Almost all auction house tactics revolve around the undercut. It may be a single copper, a few silver or a few gold, or a freefall drop down to the price of materials. Regardless of the amount or the frequency, most undercuts share a common misconception: that you’re controlling the market with your undercuts. You’re not. Your competitor has the control. By undercutting, you’ve just let your competitor decide your price. You’ve let your competitor set a cap on your profits — and more, you’ve agreed to accept even less with your undercut.

The inscription market sees more than its fair share of this, sometimes on a large scale. The low deposits encourage large number of postings, followed by even larger numbers of cancellations and repostings. Prices fall as each new poster accepts and trumps the previous poster’s prices, until the market falls to the cost of materials and the walls go up. The final wall signals a complete loss of market control.

Once it’s up, it no longer matters who built the wall. If it’s your wall, you can’t raise prices until the competition perched above you goes away. If it’s not your wall, you can’t raise prices on your auctions until someone breaks the wall. Stalemate, and out come the piña coladas.

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by Joe Perez

This week, we are going to talk about Healing Rain, a new spell obtained when a restoration shaman reaches level 83. When we first received word of the new spells and abilities during the Cataclysm class preview, there were quite a number of people who didn’t know how they felt about this new spell. Would it be good? Would it be useless? Was it really necessary? When the beta was released and the level cap moved to 83, we started to get a small idea of what the spell could do. I’ve been spending the better part of the last couple weeks testing it out in various situations, seeing how it complements the other tools in our healing arsenal.

What is Healing Rain?

Healing Rain is a new restoration shaman healing spell learned at level 83. Here are the stats:

• 46% base mana
• 30-yard range
• 2-second cast time
• 10-second cooldown
• 10-second duration
• Calls forth healing rains to blanket the area targeted by the Shaman, restoring 345 to 409 health to allies in the area every 2 sec. for 10 sec.

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