The importance of Lifebloom

Since Lifebloom is tied to so many synergistic events as a druid, I needed to make it more obvious when it’s wearing off on my focus, so I came up with this little ditty:

Set=Page 2@
Aura[25]=Version:4.16; InvertAuraBelow:5; icon:INV_Misc_Herb_Felblossom; buffname:Lifebloom; alpha:0.36; owntex:true; isResting:0; mine:true; inVehicle:0; stacksOperator:>; groupOrSelf:true; size:1; ismounted:0; timer.HideLeadingZeros:true; timer.h:5.02; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:CENTER; stacks.enabled:true; stacks.y:60; stacks.h:3.89@
Aura[26]=Version:4.16; icon:INV_Misc_Herb_Felblossom; buffname:Lifebloom; owntex:true; isResting:0; multiids:25; inVehicle:0; sound:25; size:0.02; ismounted:0@

It pops up hugely over my character when Lifebloom is within 5 seconds of expiring on my focus. I figure that gives me a second or two to complete whatever spell I’m casting and choose between re-casting Lifebloom on the focus, or going with a Healing Touch or Nourish to refresh the Lifebloom stack. The second conditional aura makes a noise at me in case I’ve got the green-bar stare going on.

And since Lifebloom leads to Replenishment (and Clearcasting procs), I made an indicator that Replenishment has fallen off – maybe I got locked out of refreshing my Lifebloom, maybe I’m forgetting how important it is, so I have an inverted warning that I don’t have a Replenishment buff when I’m in a party:

Version:4.16; anim1:4; icon:Spell_Magic_ManaGain; buffname:Replenishment; begin:1; owntex:true; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; inParty:true; size:0.2; y:58; inverse:true; ismounted:0; anim2:2

Hunter Powas

This is just an aura dump, since it’s pretty clear:

I’m trying to get away from my ArcHud dependency since it seems like they all tend to stop being updated after a while, so instead of a big obvious Focus display around my character, I have an aura that pops up around 30% and screams at me. I’ve tried to make it fairly obnoxious since I still haven’t gotten used to using focus, and I tend to find myself starved and clueless:

Version:4.16; b:0.2196; anim1:4; g:0.4235; icon:ability_hunter_mastermarksman; begin:1; bufftype:10; texture:20; sound:25; PowerType:2; threshold:30; size:0.57; y:-53

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I’ve always had a hunters mark aura, I don’t know why. I just do.

Version:4.16; target:true; icon:Ability_Hunter_SniperShot; beginSpin:true; buffname:Hunter's Mark; bufftype:2; texture:34; alpha:1; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; combat:true; size:0.15; y:100; texmode:2; inverse:true; ismounted:0

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And a reminder to use Kill Shot, because I never do without a big horrible reminder.

Version:4.16; b:0.0196; g:0; icon:Ability_Hunter_Assassinate2; buffname:Kill Shot; bufftype:7; texture:10; alpha:1; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; sound:1; combat:true; size:0.15; y:-70; texmode:2; ismounted:0

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A simple reminder to get Serpent Sting going on a mob – I probably should update this to count for any sting, but it’s early days for my hunter:

Version:4.16; b:0; target:true; icon:Ability_Hunter_Quickshot; beginSpin:true; buffname:Serpent Sting; r:0.0392; begin:2; bufftype:2; texture:16; alpha:1; isResting:0; duration:5; mine:true; inVehicle:0; speed:2; combat:true; size:0.4; texmode:2; inverse:true; ismounted:0

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A dead pet is a huge DPS loss for me, so here’s a reminder to throw a mend pet up:

Version:4.16; b:0; anim1:2; icon:inv_alchemy_elixir_05; unitn:Pet; bufftype:8; texture:29; alpha:1; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; sound:11; threshold:60; size:0.15; optunitn:true; y:40; texmode:2; ismounted:0

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And, to go with the prior aura, a timer showing me how much time is left on my Mend Pet – useful for damage heavy fights or extreme soloing:

Version:4.16; b:0; anim1:2; icon:Ability_Hunter_MendPet; buffname:Mend Pet; r:0; begin:2; unitn:Pet; texture:33; alpha:1; isResting:0; mine:true; inVehicle:0; size:0.28; optunitn:true; y:40; texmode:2; ismounted:0; timer.h:0.7; timer.Texture:Monofonto; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:58; timer.Transparent:true

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And my usual default reminder to get into aspect of the hawk (i.e. out of aspect of the pack, usually):

Version:4.16; icon:Spell_Nature_RavenForm; buffname:Aspect of the Hawk; texture:22; alpha:1; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; size:0.2; texmode:2; inverse:true; ismounted:0

Druid Powas

A lot of these are cribbed from Keeva who has a long post on her power auras here.

My resting state as a boomkin:

The brown swoop on the left is for Barkskin, the purple swoop on the right is for Innervate, and the little thorny paw prints means that Thorns is available. Now, when the spells are on CD, they do different things:

The swoop goes away and is replaced by a brown oval with two timers – one showing how long until Barkskin fades on the right, and one showing how long until it’s off cooldown on the left.

When thorns is up, the thorns go away and are replaced by a cooldown count.

When innervate is cooling down, the purple swoop is replaced by cooldown count.

When my mana dips below 80%, this pops up for a second with an audio alert to warn me that now would be a good time to Innervate.

And finally, since I was running around one-shotting low level mobs for a while to get my Guardian of Cenarius title, I made up an aura to remind me to keep moving to keep Lunar Shower up:

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Resto base:

From left – Tree of Life available, Nature’s Swiftness available, Swiftmend available, Wild Growth Available and Tranquility Available.

And having blown all my cooldowns – I can see how much more time I have as a tree, how long it’ll be until I can be a tree again, what the cooldowns for swiftmend and wild growth look like as well as Nature’s swiftness and tranquility. Keeva’s page has better information and individual entries for the auras, to be honest, I just tweaked them – she came up with the wonderfully crazy inverted and linked auras in the first place.

My full aura export set for Balance and Resto druids are:

Set=Page 1@
Aura[1]=Version:4.16; b:0.1647; g:0.302; icon:Spell_Nature_StoneClawTotem; buffname:Barkskin; r:0.4941; x:-49; customname:22812; bufftype:15; texture:91; alpha:1; isResting:0; size:0.35; torsion:0.99; y:-35; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-60; timer.x:-57; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[2]=Version:4.16; icon:inv_alchemy_elixir_02; beginSpin:true; bufftype:9; texture:9; alpha:1; isResting:0; duration:2; sound:22; threshold:80; wowtex:true; size:0.75@
Aura[3]=Version:4.16; b:0.1647; g:0.302; icon:Spell_Nature_StoneClawTotem; buffname:Barkskin; r:0.4941; x:1; customname:22812; texture:5; alpha:0.15; symetrie:3; isResting:0; wowtex:true; size:1.08; torsion:1.5; y:-43; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-44; timer.x:55; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[4]=Version:4.16; b:0; icon:Spell_Shadow_ManaBurn; buffname:Clearcasting; r:0.2431; x:-41; texture:6; alpha:0.25; isResting:0; customtex:true; size:0.78; torsion:1.5; y:-45; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:21; timer.x:-119; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[5]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:INV_Relics_IdolofRejuvenation; buffname:Swiftmend; r:0.9922; x:4; customname:18562; bufftype:15; alpha:0.5; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.2; y:-100; texmode:2; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-100; timer.x:4; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[6]=Version:4.16; b:0.0471; g:0.1765; icon:Spell_Nature_Thorns; buffname:Thorns; r:0.2353; x:69; customname:53307; bufftype:15; texture:125; alpha:1; isResting:0; exact:true; size:0.39; y:-32; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-30; timer.x:104; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[7]=Version:4.16; b:0.6235; g:0.3333; target:true; icon:Spell_Nature_FaerieFire; buffname:Faerie Fire; x:7; bufftype:2; texture:160; symetrie:2; isResting:0; size:0.75; torsion:1.17; y:-115; anim2:1; finish:0@
Aura[8]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:INV_Relics_IdolofRejuvenation; buffname:Swiftmend; r:0.9922; x:4; customname:18562; bufftype:15; alpha:0.18; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.12; y:-100; texmode:2; inverse:true; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-100; timer.x:4; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[9]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Ability_Druid_Flourish; buffname:Wild Growth; r:0.9922; x:53; customname:48438; bufftype:15; alpha:0.5; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.2; y:-100; texmode:2; anim2:1; finish:0@
Aura[10]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Ability_Druid_Flourish; buffname:Wild Growth; r:0.9922; x:53; customname:48438; bufftype:15; alpha:0.18; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.12; y:-100; texmode:2; inverse:true; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.b:0.9765; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.r:0.9922; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:CENTER; timer.Transparent:true; timer.UseOwnColor:true@
Aura[11]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Spell_Nature_RavenForm; buffname:Nature's Swiftness; r:0.9922; x:-43; customname:17116; bufftype:15; alpha:0.5; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.2; y:-100; texmode:2; anim2:1; finish:0@
Aura[12]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Spell_Nature_RavenForm; buffname:Nature's Swiftness; r:0.9922; x:-44; customname:17116; bufftype:15; alpha:0.18; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.12; y:-100; texmode:2; inverse:true; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.b:0.9765; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.r:0.9922; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:CENTER; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[13]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Spell_Nature_Tranquility; buffname:Tranquility; r:0.9922; x:105; customname:740; bufftype:15; alpha:0.5; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.2; y:-100; texmode:2; anim2:1; finish:0@
Aura[14]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Spell_Nature_Tranquility; buffname:Tranquility; r:0.9922; x:104; customname:740; bufftype:15; alpha:0.18; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.12; y:-100; texmode:2; inverse:true; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.b:0.9765; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.r:0.9922; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:CENTER; timer.Transparent:true; timer.UseOwnColor:true@
Aura[15]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Ability_Druid_TreeofLife; buffname:Tree of Life; r:0.9922; x:-94; customname:33891; bufftype:15; alpha:0.5; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.2; y:-100; texmode:2; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:CENTER; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[16]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Ability_Druid_TreeofLife; buffname:Tree of Life; r:0.9922; x:-94; customname:33891; bufftype:15; alpha:0.18; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.12; y:-100; texmode:2; inverse:true; anim2:1; finish:0@
Aura[17]=Version:4.16; g:0.4824; icon:Spell_Nature_Lightning; buffname:Innervate; r:0.8431; x:57; customname:29166; bufftype:15; texture:91; alpha:0.25; symetrie:1; isResting:0; size:0.35; torsion:0.99; y:-35; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-58; timer.x:64; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[18]=Version:4.16; b:0.0471; g:0.1765; icon:Spell_Nature_Thorns; buffname:Thorns; r:0.2353; x:69; bufftype:15; texture:125; alpha:1; isResting:0; exact:true; customtex:true; size:0.39; y:-32; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-30; timer.x:104; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[19]=Version:4.16; b:0.0863; g:0.9059; icon:Spell_Nature_NaturesBlessing; buffname:Nature's Grace; x:188; texture:75; isResting:0; size:0.8; torsion:1.19; y:-219; timer.h:1.72; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-219; timer.x:309@
Aura[20]=Version:4.16; b:0.9765; icon:Ability_Druid_TreeofLife; buffname:Tree of Life; r:0.9922; x:-94; customname:33891; alpha:0.29; isResting:0; exact:true; textaura:true; size:0.02; y:-63; texmode:2; anim2:1; finish:0; timer.h:1.56; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:CENTER; timer.Transparent:true@
Aura[21]=Version:4.16; icon:Achievement_WorldEvent_Lunar; buffname:Lunar Shower; owntex:true; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; size:0.18; y:-83; ismounted:0; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:BOTTOM; stacks.enabled:true; stacks.Relative:TOP@

Warlock Powas

So I’ve been running Kyol up to 85 with my wife these past couple of days, and I discovered that I really needed to have some Power Auras to simplify things a bit.

A little something to make Decimation more obvious, coz otherwise it’s just a “Decimation!” alert from MSBT, which isn’t nearly enough to make me use it. It changes Soul Fire from slow and ponderous to crazy fast, which greatly increases your DPS. The problem is that usually the Shadow Bolt or Incinerate that I cast to get Decimation to pop also kills off the mob, so if I don’t have another target lined up, Decimation tends to burn away uselessly. But when I can use it on another target right away, it nearly doubles my DPS.

Version:4.16; icon:Spell_Fire_Fireball02; buffname:Decimation; owntex:true; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; size:0.15; y:-69; ismounted:0; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:BOTTOM

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As much as I like the built in auras, I feel that they really need more information, so here’s one that gives the default Molten Core aura a timer and stack count. Molten Core is another big DPS increase like Decimation, but for Incinerate. There’s a bit of synergy here on bit DoT-able fights. I start out by dropping Corruption, Bane of Agony and Immolate on everything that’s moving, which usually procs Molten Core, which will usually cause Decimate to proc. Not so great while soloing, but when you get the chance to make it tick, it’s a lot of fun:

Version:4.16; icon:Ability_Warlock_MoltenCore; buffname:Molten Core; x:-92; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; customtex:true; size:0.75; y:-20; ismounted:0; timer.enabled:true; timer.y:61; timer.x:-105; stacks.enabled:true; stacks.y:44; stacks.x:-93

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And since I’m usually pretty awful at remembering my basic always-up spells, I have a couple of auras reminding me that Soul Link and an Armor aren’t up. I honestly couldn’t tell you when Soul Link goes away and when it doesn’t – I suspect it’s always up between me and a live minion and will stick around through that minion being dismissed, but fades when that minion dies? Anyway, it’s a reminder. And now that our Armors aren’t on 30 minute timers, they fade less often, which means I tend to forget to recast it on death.

Version:4.16; icon:Spell_Shadow_GatherShadows; buffname:Soul Link; owntex:true; isResting:0; size:0.15; y:-70; inverse:true

Version:4.16; icon:Spell_Shadow_FelArmour; buffname:Fel Armor/Demon Armor; x:50; owntex:true; isResting:0; size:0.15; inverse:true

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And for Dark Intent, I’m still tweaking it, but something along these lines. I’m not sure if I want to toggle the “in party” option or if I can just drop it on some friendly target and go on my merry way with the haste buff even if I can’t get the damage buff from them:

Version:4.16; icon:spell_warlock_focusshadow; buffname:Dark Intent; x:50; owntex:true; isResting:0; inVehicle:0; size:0.15; y:10; inverse:true; ismounted:0

Guardian of Cenarius

So I’ve been working on Guardian of Cenarius for the past few days.  Cenarion Circle is pretty easy – do all of the Desolace quests (may as well do everything, there aren’t many that aren’t somehow CC rep related), then do all of the Silithus quests, then settle in for a long grind killing Twilight Prophets and everyone else for Encrypted Twilight Texts.  It’s a cakewalk at 85.  The Cenarion Expedition is a bit trickier.

Start out doing all of the quests in the Outland zones, and run into Steamvault to get the Orders from Lady Vashj so that repeatable opens up for you.  If you’re a good soloer, go ahead and solo Steamvault for rep – my boomkin felt slow and not great at mowing through packs, so I’m grinding Minions of Kaw for their ears.  I ran around the rock formation Kaw is on, nuking them with Moonfire and always moving to keep Lunar Shower up.  Kill in one pass, loot them the next pass while killing the respawns.  They respawn just as fast as you can kill them, so the only limit is your bag or looting glitches. Eventually I always seemed to get a sparkly corpse or two that I couldn’t loot, so I’d take that as an indication to let everything despawn and go do my turn ins.  I think I was up to Revered by time I got out of Outland and the DEHTA quests, so I only had a thousand or so ears to collect.  Judging from the buff you get for turning them in, I was getting on the order of 100 ears per 20 minutes, so it’s over quick enough.  Highly recommended!

Hyjal down, Vashj’ir ahead

So I started with Nasthian in Vashj’ir and it was too near the leveling rush, because it was pretty hard to move without having the mob you just killed respawn on top of you.  That and the 3D nature of the zone meant that I sent Beyotamah to Hyjal first instead, and it was well done.  Enough lore moments and big fights, my only complaint was that flying into the zone from Org is a bit tricky, and the flightpaths are hilariously circuitous.  But once my guild reached level 8 and got the Hasty Hearth guild perk, hearthing out and using the portal to get back was the best way around.

So since I’m a completist, I’m doing Vashj’ir on Beyotamah now.  It’s better now that mobs aren’t instantly spawning on you, and Aquatic Form is pretty much fast enough to get around with (even with the Seahorse), but I think I’m going to level clear past the normal dungeons I’m supposed to be able to run.  I’m not sure how I feel about that since Beyotamah got to 80 more or less entirely through healing random dungeons.  I suppose I should check the drops and see if anything is an upgrade before I get too worked up about it.

New zones, new quests!

So I recently got through Stonetalon Mountains on both my Alliance and Horde characters, and I have to say that it feels like Blizzard dropped the ball for the Alliance.  Just like how it felt like the Wrathgate quest line really catered to the Horde, the Stonetalon plot was really eye opening for Horde characters, while the Alliance is mostly reacting to the bomb.  It’s nice to see Garrosh standing up for some of the stuff that makes me proud to be Horde.  I still haven’t had a quest that makes me feel that Varian isn’t a dink, though.

The Southern Barrens quests overlapped pretty heavily once you got past the starting hubs, and the Alliance questing in Dustswallow Marsh got kind of weird.  (I skipped over Horde questing there since the initial quests were all basically the same as I remember)  First, it seems like the first zone where everything isn’t nicely clumped together, and second it’s the first zone where the mobs stop having their expected body parts.  It’s a fairly significant wall where you might want to look elsewhere.  I also felt like I knew more about the road into the Barrens from the Horde questing in the Southern Barrens than I did from Alliance questing in the Barrens and Dustswallow.  Maybe I missed some prelude questing that explained it to the Alliance better.

Thousand Needles has been a bit of a blast so far on my Alliance character, I should see if I can get the introductory quest for my Horde character to see what’s different there.

I still haven’t really been playing my 80’s.  I think my hunter is up to 81, and I’m keeping my Horde druid at 80 so I can co-quest with my wife if she wants to try again.  I think she’s stuck that she had to learn a 5-man rotation for the end of Wrath, and now she should respec to a slightly less squishy soloing spec, which seems like a fair chunk of hassle.  I can even sort of understand – I never really got the hang of running around with my moonkin, instead leveled purely through the dungeon finder.  That’s why I’m trying to be a bit more balanced with Beyotamer, so I know how to play balance better.