Having written two posts with tips for leveling specific classes, I feel like it's time I write a post with tips for leveling any class, considering that leveling alts is what I spend most of my time doing these days, so it's a part of the game I know quite well. This guide will assume you know the basics already and are simply considering leveling an alt on the side. After all, if you have gotten into the WoW blog scene, you are probably already fairly familiar with the game, so I don't imagine anyone reading this will be unfamiliar with the basics. (Though if you are, I apologize for my assumption and applaud you for involving yourself in the greater WoW community.)
1. Stick with it.
This seems like a pretty basic tip, but it's only recently that I started heeding it myself, so I figure it's worth mentioning. Classes are supposed to be simple when you first roll them. This is to make it easier for a newbie to acquaint themselves with the game; if they had to juggle five or six abilities in addition to learning all of the things we take knowing for granted, it would be a very confusing experience. As such, expect one-button spamming at first, and don't expect it to get much more interesting quickly. Classes evolve slowly as you level up, and you really can't get a feel for a class until you have a few dozen levels under your belt. As such, don't give up on a class just because you find the first few levels boring. My shadow priest didn't become as fun as it is until I got Vampiric Embrace and Shadowform at level 30 and 40, respectively, so stick with it.
2. If you use mana, carry water with you during the middle levels.
During earlier levels, you mana regeneration is greatly increased, so you won't need to use water. During later levels, many classes gain abilities that allow them to regenerate more mana, so you won't need to use water as much. During those middle levels, you'll likely find yourself running out of mana, and many classes can't fight without mana. As such, you should always have some of whatever is the best water you can drink so you can reduce your downtime. You can buy water from most Innkeepers and general suppliers, as well as bartenders. Of course, it helps to practice smart combat practices and try to conserve mana as you fight, but water will likely be helpful anyways, no matter how little mana you use. I remember questing on my shadow priest, using only three spells at the beginning of the fight and doing the rest of the damage with my wand, and still running out of mana. Point is, keep water on you until you stop using all together.
3. Keep any and all healing potions you get from quests or that drop from enemies.
Some quests award healing potions, and most humanoid enemies drop healing potions from time to time. You may want to sell them for a bit of extra gold, but you should keep them when you get them. No matter how careful you are, you will run into situations that spiral out of your control, and that little bit of health can really help. Think about it this way: the money you get from selling a potion will be less than how much a repair bill costs; which is the better deal? I keep my healing potions in a bag I dedicate to holding things like my hearthstone, crafting tools and supplies, and bandages, so they don't take up space in my regular bags. You should drag your healing potion(s) down to your action bars on the bottom of your screen so you can have them handy when you need them in a pinch.
4. Take First Aid
Even if you are a class that can heal yourself, it helps to be able to save that mana for fighting. Bandages allow you to heal yourself without expending mana, which makes them good for healing classes and great for classes that can't heal themselves. You may end up abandoning the profession in later levels if you can heal yourself and you won't run out of mana doing so (that happened to my shaman once he hit Outland), but until then, you won't regret keeping bandages in your bags to heal yourself.
5. Switch around between zones so you are always questing.
Outland and Northrend were designed so you could move from one zone to another in a linear fashion: Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms were not designed that way. If you want to keep your leveling interesting and fast, you'll need to move around between zones so you are always questing. If you finish all the quests you can reasonably do in one zone, move to another zone in your level range. You can look on the Wowhead zones page to see which zones are in your level range, though make sure you look at the quests page of each zone to see if it will actually offer you any quests.
6. Keep quests that take you out of the zone you are in so you can do them when you eventually go to that zone.
Because Azeroth was not designed for fast leveling, there are many quests that start in one zone and end in another. If you get one of these quests, take it and keep it in your quest log. You will likely go to that zone at some point in the future. Doing that extra quest will give you more experience and give you more to do once you enter the zone. The one exception to this rule is if the quest takes you to a zone you have already out-leveled or a zone that doesn't offer any quests for you because it favors one faction; in that case, don't let that quest take up space in your quest log.
7. Turn on quest tracking and take advantage of quest tooltips.
Go to the map screen (m button) and check the "Show Quest Objectives" box. This will make your leveling much easier as the locations of the objectives of most of your quests will be shown on your map. You can then click the diagonal arrow to make the map smaller so you can look at it and locate your objectives without blocking your view of your character. As for the quest tooltips, if you move your mouse over an enemy or object that you need to kill or collect for a quest, a little blurb should appear under it telling you which quest it is for and your progress on that quest. It helps to scroll your mouse over enemies as you pass them in case you can kill them for a quest but didn't know it. That way, you can kill them on the way to wherever you were going and be a more efficient quester.
8. A macro for selling all of your gray-quality items
/script for bag = 0, 4 do for slot = 1, GetContainerNumSlots(bag) do local name = GetContainerItemLink(bag,slot) if name and string.find(name,"ff9d9d9d") then DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Selling "..name) UseContainerItem(bag,slot) end end end
If you use this macro while talking to a vendor, you'll automatically sell all gray-quality items in your bags. This is very useful when you are out questing since you probably won't want to keep any gray items for any reason; they're called "vendor trash" for a reason. I also take advantage of this macro by putting my vendor trash in my extra bags and keeping white-quality or better things that I plan to sell in my main bag. That way, I don't have to go searching through my bags for the things I plan to sell, since I can use the macro to sell all of the vendor trash strewn throughout my different bags, and all of the other things I plan on selling will be right in my main bag.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
100th Post!
It's almost hard to believe, but the numbers don't lie: this is my one-hundredth post. Yep, thirty three miscellaneous posts, thirty three advice posts, and thirty two philosophy posts (we don't talk about that Thanksgiving-week Friday post) have finally brought me to this point, and like the then soon-to-come end of my long, strange trip, I feel this occasion warrants some reflection about what I have done so far, why I did it, and what I may do in the future. After all, if reflection--especially reflection on those kinds of topics--is not the very essence of philosophy, I don't know what is... ok, the Socratic method is a better candidate for the essence of philosophy. Point is, I'm going to reflect.I remember when I first started this blog. I caught the blogging bug after reading the article How to get your blog crashed by WoW.com on WoW.com. Something about the article struck a chord with me. I suppose it was similar to the feeling I get when reading an online strategy guide for a game I plan on buying; I seem to have a penchant for going into a completely new situation with some foreknowledge, rather than going in blind. Anyways, something about that article made me realize that I wanted to blog. Thing is, I had tried blogging in the past and could never stick with it. I had two dead blogs that were the I-write-when-I-feel-like-writing kind of blogs that were simply my thoughts of the day. They failed because I lost motivation to write in them, so what could I do differently to avoid losing motivation in this new venture?
I settled on two things to keep me going as I started this new blog. One, I would keep to a schedule with my posting. I always have an easier time doing things if I set out a schedule by which to do them, so I figured blogging would be the same, hence the Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting scheme. Secondly, I decided to focus my efforts on one subject, rather than just write about what I was feeling that day. I knew that would make it easier to stick with the blog, since I always have an easier time coming up with ideas when there are some restrictions placed on me, and I knew subconsciously that writing about one topic would be more likely to generate a steady readership. I didn't acknowledge it then, but I wanted to be read. There was some post on some blog (sorry I can't be more specific, but I can't for the life of me remember where I read it) on getting started in blogging that stated that anyone who says they are "blogging for themselves and themselves only" is likely deceiving themselves. Blogging is a public medium, so if someone writes on a blog, they likely want their work to be read, if only on a subconscious level. If that were not the case, they would likely write in a LiveJournal instead.
So, on that fateful Monday night, I wrote the post that started it all. Some of my earlier posts were posts I knew I wanted to write from day one, such as a philisophical analysis of the Barrel series on XKCD, how to level fishing without being bored, and why you should not rush to the level cap. It was nice to finally get those thoughts out on some tangible medium, and the thought of others potentially reading those thoughts made it even more tantalizing. That last point is rather ironic, because one defining feature of those early months was the lack of comments on my posts. Aside from one encouraging comment by Larisa of The Pink Pigtail Inn on my first post, I didn't get a single comment on any of my posts until November. That's five months that I, for all intents and purposes, wrote for myself and myself only.
Why did I do it? Because I love blogging. Sure, the fact that people are reading the things I write and commenting on them factors into it, but at the end of the day, I love expressing my opinions and ideas in a public medium. I also enjoy writing, as evidenced by the fact that I won NaNoWriMo 2009, but the usual genres of writing (fiction, poetry, song-writing, etc.) just never did anything for me. Something about blogging made it different; it was probably the fact that blogging appealed to my practical nature in some way. Blogging became a way to exercise my writing skills that I could do on a regular basis and enjoy. In short, I found a hobby, and I loved it.
The fruits of my labor paid off when I finally had the opportunity to market my work in an appropriate way. I had never been one for self-advertising, and it was mostly a lack of marketing that caused my first few dozen posts to go un-commented. The reason I never self-marketed was because I could never find a way to namedrop my blog without seeming like I was shamelessly advertising myself. What I wanted was a way to name-drop my blog that was still relevant to the topic at hand, and that opportunity came with the wow.com post World of Warcraft and Philosophy now on sale. Since I was in the middle of reading World of Warcraft and Philosophy at the time, I posted my thoughts on it and also mentioned the fact that the book has been out for a while (in order to gently say that WoW.com was late to the game), a fact I knew since I googled "World of Warcraft and Philosophy" before starting my blog to see if this niche was already taken and had found the book by doing so. Thus I knew the book had been around at least as long as my blog, and my blog had been out for quite some time. I then left the link to my blog in parentheses ("in case you are interested"), and that got people to actually read my blog. I only get a comment here and there, but considering that I had been writing for myself for so long, that was enough for me.
My big break, though, would come later, about three months later, when WoW.com posted an article in response to my post on how the new emblem system ruined heroics. I remember the day it happened quite well. You see, I have blogger set up to e-mail me when someone comments on one of my posts, so I got an a-mail when the first comment on that post was left. I then got another e-mail, telling me another comment had been posted. This was my first post to ever receive more than one comment, so I thought to myself, "Wow, I must have really struck a chord with my readers." Then I got a third one and thought to myself, "Ok, this wouldn't happen under normal circumstances. WoW.com didn't link to me or something, did they?... Oh boy, they did." I got a total of twenty-seven comments on that one post, and I started getting comments on my old post as well. I had finally been noticed.
As exciting as this was for me, I also got butterflies in my stomach. Why? I suppose it was because having an audience exposed the fact that I hadn't held my posts to as high of a standard as I would have if I knew people were going to read them. For example, I'll be the first to admit that my suggestions at the end of my post on how the new emblem system ruined heroics weren't good ones. I only wrote them so that post wouldn't be another post full of complaints without any actual helpful content. In hindsight, though, I wouldn't have written them if I were more concerned with the quality of my post, because they were just bad. Still, I left them in because at that point, I was still mostly writing for myself. My lack of readership meant that this blog was a safe little haven for me where quality didn't matter as much as it does in the other aspects of my life. Once I had a bigger audience, that changed, and the fact that my less-than-good posts could now be scrutinized was what gave me butterflies. Of course, I didn't dwell on that point, because I had finally accomplished my goal in starting this blog: I had become a read* blogger.
So that's my reflection on sevens months and one hundred posts. I look forward to seeing what the future brings this blog, and I hope you'll be there to see it with me.
*On a different note, we really need to agree on a different spelling for the past-tense version of the verb "to read."
Friday, February 26, 2010
The wisdom of death knights: "Suffer well."
If you have done the Death Knight starting zone questline or have interacted with the Knights of the Ebon Blade, you have likely heard one of those reanimated warriors say "suffer well" after you finish talking with them. This always seemed a bit odd to me, but I just chalked it up to their deathly nature. However, a chapter from Arthur Schopenhauer's Studies in Pessimism entitled "On the Sufferings of the World" gave me a new perspective on this salutation, perspective I would like to share here.
Before I talk about that, let me summarize the relevant portions of On the Sufferings of the World. (You can read the whole thing here if you are interested. If you are familiar with it, skip this paragraph and the next two.) On the Sufferings of the World begins by acknowledging that everyone, by virtue of their existence, suffers. Our friends and family die, time is slowly wearing away on us, and tragedy enjoys visiting us on a regular basis. Schopenhauer also contends that happiness is really the absence of suffering, for happiness only serves to distract us from the miseries of the world. Thus the default mode of our life is suffering, so life is suffering. As such, suffering must have a purpose, for if suffering has no purpose, than life has no purpose. After all, if there is no point to suffering, then why go on living if we are doomed to suffer?
Schopenhauer discovers a few purposes for suffering in this chapter. One is that it gives our lives meaning--purpose, if you will. Most of what we do is motivated by the desire to avoid suffering. We work so we can make money so we can eat so we don't feel hungry. We socialize so we can have friends so we don't feel alone. We play World of Warcraft so we don't feel bored. "..if all wishes were fulfilled as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what would they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of boredom or hang themselves..." In other words, eliminate suffering, and our lives have no purpose, causing us to become depressed from the lack of things to do. That may sound absurd to you, but it turns out that suicide rates increase as you move up social brackets, so Schopenhauer is right when he says that, if there were no suffering, we would die of boredom or hang ourselves.
Schopenhauer then goes on to talk about how our powers of reflection and and expectation cause us to suffer even more, but let me skip to the important part, the part you'll want to pay attention to. Towards the end of On the Sufferings of the World, Schopenhauer says that the best perspective to see this world from is to see it as a prison of pain, a penitentiary of misery, a jailhouse of suffering. Why, you may wonder? Because then we can adjust our view of the world accordingly and brace ourselves for the suffering we will inevitably face. If we see life as full of misery, then when tragedy does strike our lives, it will not come as some great surprise, and it shouldn't, for we all know that bad things happen. More importantly, when we recognize that we are suffering, and that other people are suffering, it's much easier to be empathetic towards others. After all, when our we perceive our lives as good, it's difficult to be empathetic towards others because we don't want to get bogged down in their misery. And, of course, if others' lives seem good, we have no reason to be empathetic towards them, for they don't need our empathy. However, if we see our lives as bad and others' lives as bad, "...it reminds us of that which is after all the most necessary thing in life—the tolerance, patience, regard, and love of neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore, every man owes to his fellow."
So, what does that have to do with Death Knights? By saying "Suffer well" to people who talk to them, Death Knights (from here on in, I am referring to Death Knight NPCs, not Death Knight players) acknowledge that suffering is a part of life; they don't try to sugar coat it. This is especially true in WoW, where your character gets attacked by wild beasts, monsters, and agents of the scourge on a daily basis, or even other players if you PvP. Suffering is an intrinsic part of your character's life; in fact, it probably defines your character's life. Death Knights' saying "suffer well" acknowledges that suffering and the fact that without it, your character's life would likely be meaningless. "Suffer well" is simply a more appropriate greeting than something like "Have a good day," for such a greeting ignores the suffering that is a necessary part of life.
What can we take away from these former agents of the Lich King and their Schopenhauer-inspired salutation? For starters, we can realize that everyone around us is fighting their own personal battles, that everyone around us suffers, and thus when we suffer, we won't feel so alone. We can recognize that suffering motivates most of what we do and thus have some appreciation for it; we can see it as the unfortunate necessity that it is, rather than proof that this is a cold, uncaring universe (although that is a completely different topic). When suffering seems pointless, like when someone is slowly dying of a terminal disease or when you lose a family member, we can recognize that suffering is a vector for empathy, an experiences that motivates us to connect with others. And so, I say to you, my readers, suffer well.
If you found this post depressing, let me leave you with one more quote from On the Sufferings of the World: "I shall be told, I suppose, that my philosophy is comfortless—because I speak the truth; and people prefer to be assured that everything the Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and leave philosophers in peace! At any rate, do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to the lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please, and you will get it."
Before I talk about that, let me summarize the relevant portions of On the Sufferings of the World. (You can read the whole thing here if you are interested. If you are familiar with it, skip this paragraph and the next two.) On the Sufferings of the World begins by acknowledging that everyone, by virtue of their existence, suffers. Our friends and family die, time is slowly wearing away on us, and tragedy enjoys visiting us on a regular basis. Schopenhauer also contends that happiness is really the absence of suffering, for happiness only serves to distract us from the miseries of the world. Thus the default mode of our life is suffering, so life is suffering. As such, suffering must have a purpose, for if suffering has no purpose, than life has no purpose. After all, if there is no point to suffering, then why go on living if we are doomed to suffer?
Schopenhauer discovers a few purposes for suffering in this chapter. One is that it gives our lives meaning--purpose, if you will. Most of what we do is motivated by the desire to avoid suffering. We work so we can make money so we can eat so we don't feel hungry. We socialize so we can have friends so we don't feel alone. We play World of Warcraft so we don't feel bored. "..if all wishes were fulfilled as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what would they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of boredom or hang themselves..." In other words, eliminate suffering, and our lives have no purpose, causing us to become depressed from the lack of things to do. That may sound absurd to you, but it turns out that suicide rates increase as you move up social brackets, so Schopenhauer is right when he says that, if there were no suffering, we would die of boredom or hang ourselves.
Schopenhauer then goes on to talk about how our powers of reflection and and expectation cause us to suffer even more, but let me skip to the important part, the part you'll want to pay attention to. Towards the end of On the Sufferings of the World, Schopenhauer says that the best perspective to see this world from is to see it as a prison of pain, a penitentiary of misery, a jailhouse of suffering. Why, you may wonder? Because then we can adjust our view of the world accordingly and brace ourselves for the suffering we will inevitably face. If we see life as full of misery, then when tragedy does strike our lives, it will not come as some great surprise, and it shouldn't, for we all know that bad things happen. More importantly, when we recognize that we are suffering, and that other people are suffering, it's much easier to be empathetic towards others. After all, when our we perceive our lives as good, it's difficult to be empathetic towards others because we don't want to get bogged down in their misery. And, of course, if others' lives seem good, we have no reason to be empathetic towards them, for they don't need our empathy. However, if we see our lives as bad and others' lives as bad, "...it reminds us of that which is after all the most necessary thing in life—the tolerance, patience, regard, and love of neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore, every man owes to his fellow."
So, what does that have to do with Death Knights? By saying "Suffer well" to people who talk to them, Death Knights (from here on in, I am referring to Death Knight NPCs, not Death Knight players) acknowledge that suffering is a part of life; they don't try to sugar coat it. This is especially true in WoW, where your character gets attacked by wild beasts, monsters, and agents of the scourge on a daily basis, or even other players if you PvP. Suffering is an intrinsic part of your character's life; in fact, it probably defines your character's life. Death Knights' saying "suffer well" acknowledges that suffering and the fact that without it, your character's life would likely be meaningless. "Suffer well" is simply a more appropriate greeting than something like "Have a good day," for such a greeting ignores the suffering that is a necessary part of life.
What can we take away from these former agents of the Lich King and their Schopenhauer-inspired salutation? For starters, we can realize that everyone around us is fighting their own personal battles, that everyone around us suffers, and thus when we suffer, we won't feel so alone. We can recognize that suffering motivates most of what we do and thus have some appreciation for it; we can see it as the unfortunate necessity that it is, rather than proof that this is a cold, uncaring universe (although that is a completely different topic). When suffering seems pointless, like when someone is slowly dying of a terminal disease or when you lose a family member, we can recognize that suffering is a vector for empathy, an experiences that motivates us to connect with others. And so, I say to you, my readers, suffer well.
If you found this post depressing, let me leave you with one more quote from On the Sufferings of the World: "I shall be told, I suppose, that my philosophy is comfortless—because I speak the truth; and people prefer to be assured that everything the Lord has made is good. Go to the priests, then, and leave philosophers in peace! At any rate, do not ask us to accommodate our doctrines to the lessons you have been taught. That is what those rascals of sham philosophers will do for you. Ask them for any doctrine you please, and you will get it."
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tips on leveling a priest
A while ago, I went over some general things I have learned by leveling a shadow priest. That priest is now level 47, and though I still have a ways to go before hitting the level cap, there are some things I have learned by leveling him that I would like to share with anyone out there considering leveling a priest.
1. Be prepared to be bored.
Priests are definitely near the top of the list of most boring classes to play at early levels, along with paladins and druids. You'll spend a lot of time spamming Smite, since that will be your only worthwhile offensive spell until level 10, when you get Mind Blast. Shadow Word: Pain? Only worth using if your enemy will be alive for a while, which, at low levels, they won't be. Things get much better at level 20, when you get Holy Fire, Holy Nova, Devouring Plague, and if you spec'ed shadow, Mind Flay. Yep, your offensive arsenal more than doubles in size when you reach level 20.
2. Take advantage of Mind Flay's speed debuff.
I like to start every battle with either Mind Blast or Holy Fire. Obviously, once you get Shadow Form, Holy Fire isn't an option, but before then, it's usually more mana-efficient and causes more damage. Anyways, start your battles at maximum range, then use whichever ability you plan on starting out with. Immediately when your cast finishes, use Mind Flay. That will slow your enemy and damage them, and if you used Holy Fire, it gives some time for the DoT to do its work. I can usually use Mind Flay twice before the enemy reaches me if I start at maximum range. Doing this also applies five stacks of Shadow Weaving if you have three points in that, allowing you to start the battle out strong. Also, if your enemy runs away from you, use Mind Flay to finish them off and slow them down at the same time, reducing the risk of them bring back more of their buddies. In fact, I often find that when I use Mind Flay to slow down a runner, he tends to run in the opposite direction when I use it, meaning back to me and away from his friends, but he is still technically fleeing, so he won't attack me.
3. Use this macro.
#showtooltip Mind Flay
/cast [nochanneling:Mind Flay] Mind Flay
This macro allows you to cast Mind Flay, but only if you are not channeling it already. Thus you can spam it and start using Mind Flay again immediately after you finish casting it, which is useful for the above-mentioned method, without clipping it and losing out on damage.
4. Don't use your DoTs unless your target will take a while to kill and the DoTs will run their full duration.
Your damage-over-time spells are some of your most mana-intensive spells. They aren't worth using unless you are using them to their full potential, meaning you won't get the most out of them unless your enemy takes a long time to die. Now, granted, I have been known to drop Devouring Plague and Shadow Word: Pain on an enemy that attacks me while I am attacking someone else so that they don't have as much health once I get to them, but aside from doing that and when facing elite enemies or targets a few levels above you, DoTs aren't worth using. When facing a target a few levels above you, it's generally better to use one of your DoTs, rather than both, otherwise you'll burn right through your mana. Use whichever one is more mana-efficient. Once you get Improved Devouring Plague, that will generally be Devouring Plague, but until then, it's usually which ever one you last bought an upgrade for.
5. Keep Inner Fire up at all times.
With Inner Fire active, you'll have a similar armor-count to what a leather user has, which definitely makes it amazing. Trouble is, you lose one charge everyone time you are hit, so after 20 hits, you're right back down to your crappy cloth armor-count. This means you'll need to refresh it at the end of every two or three battles, or even in the middle of battle if you are facing multiple enemies or an elite (yes, you can solo-kill elites on a shadow priest if you know what you are doing; I solo-ed Big Game Hunter while it was still yellow in my quest log). Like a shaman's shields, it's easy to forget to reapply it in the middle of battle, but be sure you do so.
6. Take advantage of Spirit Tap to buff yourself while regenerating mana.
Speaking of buffs.... Spirit Tap is an amazing talent that doubles your spirit after you kill something and allows most of your spirit-based mana regeneration to take place, even if you are casting. That means you should use it as an opportunity to reapply the multitude of buffs you'll need to keep active on yourself so that you don't gimp yourself out of mana by buffing yourself when it will activate the five second rule.
7. Get Glyph of Shadow.
Spirit Tap alone is a good reason to stack spirit on a Shadow Priest, but this glyph makes it an even more lucrative stat. I don't know why, but this glyph was particularly hard to find on my realm's Auction House. If the same is true on your realm, then as you start approaching level 40, you should look on the auction house to see if someone put it up. Anyways, this glyph gives you a spellpower boost based on your spirit when you crit with Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Mind Sear, or the instant damage of Improved Devouring Plague, and considering that you'll probably use the first two pretty frequently, you are bound to learn personally just how sweat this glyph is, especially when that Mind Blast you start the battle with critically hits.
Since this post probably qualifies, I will be submitting it as part of Tree Burglar's Elder Blogging Event. You can read about it here on his blog or here on Blog Azeroth.
1. Be prepared to be bored.
Priests are definitely near the top of the list of most boring classes to play at early levels, along with paladins and druids. You'll spend a lot of time spamming Smite, since that will be your only worthwhile offensive spell until level 10, when you get Mind Blast. Shadow Word: Pain? Only worth using if your enemy will be alive for a while, which, at low levels, they won't be. Things get much better at level 20, when you get Holy Fire, Holy Nova, Devouring Plague, and if you spec'ed shadow, Mind Flay. Yep, your offensive arsenal more than doubles in size when you reach level 20.
2. Take advantage of Mind Flay's speed debuff.
I like to start every battle with either Mind Blast or Holy Fire. Obviously, once you get Shadow Form, Holy Fire isn't an option, but before then, it's usually more mana-efficient and causes more damage. Anyways, start your battles at maximum range, then use whichever ability you plan on starting out with. Immediately when your cast finishes, use Mind Flay. That will slow your enemy and damage them, and if you used Holy Fire, it gives some time for the DoT to do its work. I can usually use Mind Flay twice before the enemy reaches me if I start at maximum range. Doing this also applies five stacks of Shadow Weaving if you have three points in that, allowing you to start the battle out strong. Also, if your enemy runs away from you, use Mind Flay to finish them off and slow them down at the same time, reducing the risk of them bring back more of their buddies. In fact, I often find that when I use Mind Flay to slow down a runner, he tends to run in the opposite direction when I use it, meaning back to me and away from his friends, but he is still technically fleeing, so he won't attack me.
3. Use this macro.
#showtooltip Mind Flay
/cast [nochanneling:Mind Flay] Mind Flay
This macro allows you to cast Mind Flay, but only if you are not channeling it already. Thus you can spam it and start using Mind Flay again immediately after you finish casting it, which is useful for the above-mentioned method, without clipping it and losing out on damage.
4. Don't use your DoTs unless your target will take a while to kill and the DoTs will run their full duration.
Your damage-over-time spells are some of your most mana-intensive spells. They aren't worth using unless you are using them to their full potential, meaning you won't get the most out of them unless your enemy takes a long time to die. Now, granted, I have been known to drop Devouring Plague and Shadow Word: Pain on an enemy that attacks me while I am attacking someone else so that they don't have as much health once I get to them, but aside from doing that and when facing elite enemies or targets a few levels above you, DoTs aren't worth using. When facing a target a few levels above you, it's generally better to use one of your DoTs, rather than both, otherwise you'll burn right through your mana. Use whichever one is more mana-efficient. Once you get Improved Devouring Plague, that will generally be Devouring Plague, but until then, it's usually which ever one you last bought an upgrade for.
5. Keep Inner Fire up at all times.
With Inner Fire active, you'll have a similar armor-count to what a leather user has, which definitely makes it amazing. Trouble is, you lose one charge everyone time you are hit, so after 20 hits, you're right back down to your crappy cloth armor-count. This means you'll need to refresh it at the end of every two or three battles, or even in the middle of battle if you are facing multiple enemies or an elite (yes, you can solo-kill elites on a shadow priest if you know what you are doing; I solo-ed Big Game Hunter while it was still yellow in my quest log). Like a shaman's shields, it's easy to forget to reapply it in the middle of battle, but be sure you do so.
6. Take advantage of Spirit Tap to buff yourself while regenerating mana.
Speaking of buffs.... Spirit Tap is an amazing talent that doubles your spirit after you kill something and allows most of your spirit-based mana regeneration to take place, even if you are casting. That means you should use it as an opportunity to reapply the multitude of buffs you'll need to keep active on yourself so that you don't gimp yourself out of mana by buffing yourself when it will activate the five second rule.
7. Get Glyph of Shadow.
Spirit Tap alone is a good reason to stack spirit on a Shadow Priest, but this glyph makes it an even more lucrative stat. I don't know why, but this glyph was particularly hard to find on my realm's Auction House. If the same is true on your realm, then as you start approaching level 40, you should look on the auction house to see if someone put it up. Anyways, this glyph gives you a spellpower boost based on your spirit when you crit with Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Mind Sear, or the instant damage of Improved Devouring Plague, and considering that you'll probably use the first two pretty frequently, you are bound to learn personally just how sweat this glyph is, especially when that Mind Blast you start the battle with critically hits.
Since this post probably qualifies, I will be submitting it as part of Tree Burglar's Elder Blogging Event. You can read about it here on his blog or here on Blog Azeroth.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Does the difficulty of What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been justify the reward?
Oh Violet Proto-Drake. The debates I have seen you inspire in the WoW.com comments section have been nothing short of remarkable. And yet to think, had Blizzard simply made you just another 280%-speed mount, we would not have these disagreements. As I come to the end of my long, strange trip, I can't help but wonder, have I really deserved that 310%-speed mount? Of course, being philosophical by nature, I have no choice to but to ponder this question, so here we go.
Let's establish the basics: there are many rewards for your various exploits and adventures in World of Warcraft, but they all fall into two categories: practical and aesthetic. Aethetic rewards include mounts, pets, titles, and other such things that don't actually make gameplay easier or more enjoyable (other than by looking at them.) Practical rewards somehow enhance your gaming experience. Practical rewards are things like gear, which allows you access new content, and certain mounts, like the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, the usefulness of which I can definitely vouch for. I bring this up because, in the end, practical rewards are the only ones worth getting worked up over. Yes, aesthetic rewards can represent certain achievements (like the title of "the Insane" representing your uncommon dedication to the game), but in the end, assuming the criteria for their acquisition doesn't change significantly, they aren't worth getting worked up over.
So, which category do 310%-speed mounts fall into? Though the difference of speed may seem negligible, the fact is that it is a difference, making them a practical reward for anyone who already has a regular epic flying mount. In fact, that difference of speed isn't as negligible as it seems. Let's say there is a trip that takes you five minutes to make on a 280% speed mount. That same trip will take you a bit over four and a half minutes on a 310% speed mount. What that means is that using a 310%-speed mount instead of a 280%-speed mount makes you around 10% faster, i.e. a significant amount. What all that math means is that 310%-speed mounts are very practical rewards, and definitely worth considering seriously.
So, now that we know it's worth it to consider whether completing What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been justifies owning a 310% speed mount, it's time to ask that question. Let's get one thing straight before we start: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is not as difficult to get as it used to be. I won't go over all of the changes that have been made to the holiday achievements in the interest of saving time, but I'll sum it up by saying that a lot less is based on chance these days, with most of the achievements being based on whether you have enough time to do them, and they don't really take that long to do, either. If other holidays go the way of Love Is in the Air, we won't be able to use the difficulty of the holiday achievements to justify What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been rewarding a 310%-speed mount.
But then again, it never was about the difficulty, was is? Considering that the only other way to get a 310%-speed mount is to be really good at raiding, really good at arena, or really lucky with raid drops, the Violet Proto-Drake was meant to be a way for people who can't raid really well or fight in the arena really well to get a 310% speed mount. So how did Blizzard justify giving such a reward for something that isn't that hard compared to all of the other sources? Dedication. What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is possibly the only thing in WoW that is guaranteed to take about year to earn; there's just no way to get around that. That's why such a great reward can be rewarded for such simple actions.
But is dedication enough? After all, considering how little time the holidays take to complete these days, the only real dedication required is simply participating in the holidays when they come around. One can't deny that School of Hard Knocks is pretty difficult, and Sinister Calling takes quite a bit of luck, but Blizzard could up and change those on us the next time those holidays come around. I suppose the only objective way to determine whether the Violet Proto-Drake is a fair reward is to look at the other ways 310%-speed mounts can be obtained. The raiding mounts require you to fight boss battles in ways that make the battles exceedingly difficult, meaning you need to be really good at raiding and be part of a raid with good coordination. The arena drakes require you to be part of a really good arena team, meaning you need to be good at PvP and your teammates need to be good team players. The Onyxia drake requires you to get really really lucky with your loot and your roll and have the basic skills needed to down Onyxia (.2% drop chance divided by 25 players equal you'll never get it, i.e. .008% chance of getting the drake on any given kill). So, to get a 310%-speed mount, you need to be either really good at the game or really lucky. I suppose the solo-equivalent would be being really dedicated to WoW, so does working on holidays on and off for a year qualify as really dedicated?
Here's the thing about 310%-speed mounts: some people may not see them as a necessity, but they are without a doubt the next step up in mounts. They are as much of a non-necessity as epic flying mounts are a non-necessity: sure, you could get by without them, but your playing experience wouldn't be as enjoyable if you had to. That said, as the fastest mounts in the game, they should without a doubt be difficult to get, just as epic flying used to be difficult to get when 5,000 gold was big money. Still, you could grind a bit each day and get that 5,000 gold without spending too much time each day in game. It would take you a long time, but you'd get it eventually. The Violet Proto-Drake is the same way, except the real-world time you need to spend grinding for it is forcibly stretched out to almost a year. The only difference between how a casual player would go through the holidays and how a dedicated player would go through the holidays is that the dedicated player would get all of the achievements really quickly, while a casual player may need the whole duration of the holiday to earn them. Hell, the only reason I got Fool For Love in only two days was because my schedule was such that I really had nothing else to do, so I spent almost all of my waking hours working on the meta, and I found a really good spot for grinding Lovely Charms. I bring that up because the reason this is even an issue is that dedicated players go through the holidays really quickly and end up feeling cheated, as if Blizzard has made What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been easier just to cater to the casuals.
But here's the thing: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is supposed to cater to the casuals. As I have said, 310% speed mounts are the logical stepping-point after regular epic mounts, and the purpose of What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is to allow casual players to get those mounts. The people who complain that the holidays are too easy are the ones that the raid and arena mounts are intended for. The Violet Proto-Drake is the 310%-speed mount for people who can't spend a lot of time in-game each day, which is why many of the changes that made dedicated players angry were made to the holiday achievements. Making someone spend a whole year on holidays, only to make them wait longer once they have done everything they need to do is decidedly non-casual friendly. Forcing people to run a boss every day in hopes of getting a mount to drop when they could very well be screwed over by RNG is decidedly non-casual friendly. Forcing players to log in every hour because the RNG keeps giving them the same candies is decidedly non-casual friendly.
Point is, the Violet Proto-Drake is supposed to be easy to acquire, which is why it takes so long to do so in real-world time. The various holidays should only take a dedicated player a few days to complete, because that means they would take a casual player longer. If you think about the amount of dedication someone who can only play for an hour a day or so would need to complete these holidays, it's probably similar to the amount of dedication needed to get the raiding drakes. Holidays are just a different game, one that is designed for the casual player; players who blast through the achievements and then complain the holiday is too easy are, to borrow terms from Halo, heroic or legendary players playing on normal mode.
Let's establish the basics: there are many rewards for your various exploits and adventures in World of Warcraft, but they all fall into two categories: practical and aesthetic. Aethetic rewards include mounts, pets, titles, and other such things that don't actually make gameplay easier or more enjoyable (other than by looking at them.) Practical rewards somehow enhance your gaming experience. Practical rewards are things like gear, which allows you access new content, and certain mounts, like the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, the usefulness of which I can definitely vouch for. I bring this up because, in the end, practical rewards are the only ones worth getting worked up over. Yes, aesthetic rewards can represent certain achievements (like the title of "the Insane" representing your uncommon dedication to the game), but in the end, assuming the criteria for their acquisition doesn't change significantly, they aren't worth getting worked up over.
So, which category do 310%-speed mounts fall into? Though the difference of speed may seem negligible, the fact is that it is a difference, making them a practical reward for anyone who already has a regular epic flying mount. In fact, that difference of speed isn't as negligible as it seems. Let's say there is a trip that takes you five minutes to make on a 280% speed mount. That same trip will take you a bit over four and a half minutes on a 310% speed mount. What that means is that using a 310%-speed mount instead of a 280%-speed mount makes you around 10% faster, i.e. a significant amount. What all that math means is that 310%-speed mounts are very practical rewards, and definitely worth considering seriously.
So, now that we know it's worth it to consider whether completing What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been justifies owning a 310% speed mount, it's time to ask that question. Let's get one thing straight before we start: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is not as difficult to get as it used to be. I won't go over all of the changes that have been made to the holiday achievements in the interest of saving time, but I'll sum it up by saying that a lot less is based on chance these days, with most of the achievements being based on whether you have enough time to do them, and they don't really take that long to do, either. If other holidays go the way of Love Is in the Air, we won't be able to use the difficulty of the holiday achievements to justify What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been rewarding a 310%-speed mount.
But then again, it never was about the difficulty, was is? Considering that the only other way to get a 310%-speed mount is to be really good at raiding, really good at arena, or really lucky with raid drops, the Violet Proto-Drake was meant to be a way for people who can't raid really well or fight in the arena really well to get a 310% speed mount. So how did Blizzard justify giving such a reward for something that isn't that hard compared to all of the other sources? Dedication. What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is possibly the only thing in WoW that is guaranteed to take about year to earn; there's just no way to get around that. That's why such a great reward can be rewarded for such simple actions.
But is dedication enough? After all, considering how little time the holidays take to complete these days, the only real dedication required is simply participating in the holidays when they come around. One can't deny that School of Hard Knocks is pretty difficult, and Sinister Calling takes quite a bit of luck, but Blizzard could up and change those on us the next time those holidays come around. I suppose the only objective way to determine whether the Violet Proto-Drake is a fair reward is to look at the other ways 310%-speed mounts can be obtained. The raiding mounts require you to fight boss battles in ways that make the battles exceedingly difficult, meaning you need to be really good at raiding and be part of a raid with good coordination. The arena drakes require you to be part of a really good arena team, meaning you need to be good at PvP and your teammates need to be good team players. The Onyxia drake requires you to get really really lucky with your loot and your roll and have the basic skills needed to down Onyxia (.2% drop chance divided by 25 players equal you'll never get it, i.e. .008% chance of getting the drake on any given kill). So, to get a 310%-speed mount, you need to be either really good at the game or really lucky. I suppose the solo-equivalent would be being really dedicated to WoW, so does working on holidays on and off for a year qualify as really dedicated?
Here's the thing about 310%-speed mounts: some people may not see them as a necessity, but they are without a doubt the next step up in mounts. They are as much of a non-necessity as epic flying mounts are a non-necessity: sure, you could get by without them, but your playing experience wouldn't be as enjoyable if you had to. That said, as the fastest mounts in the game, they should without a doubt be difficult to get, just as epic flying used to be difficult to get when 5,000 gold was big money. Still, you could grind a bit each day and get that 5,000 gold without spending too much time each day in game. It would take you a long time, but you'd get it eventually. The Violet Proto-Drake is the same way, except the real-world time you need to spend grinding for it is forcibly stretched out to almost a year. The only difference between how a casual player would go through the holidays and how a dedicated player would go through the holidays is that the dedicated player would get all of the achievements really quickly, while a casual player may need the whole duration of the holiday to earn them. Hell, the only reason I got Fool For Love in only two days was because my schedule was such that I really had nothing else to do, so I spent almost all of my waking hours working on the meta, and I found a really good spot for grinding Lovely Charms. I bring that up because the reason this is even an issue is that dedicated players go through the holidays really quickly and end up feeling cheated, as if Blizzard has made What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been easier just to cater to the casuals.
But here's the thing: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is supposed to cater to the casuals. As I have said, 310% speed mounts are the logical stepping-point after regular epic mounts, and the purpose of What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is to allow casual players to get those mounts. The people who complain that the holidays are too easy are the ones that the raid and arena mounts are intended for. The Violet Proto-Drake is the 310%-speed mount for people who can't spend a lot of time in-game each day, which is why many of the changes that made dedicated players angry were made to the holiday achievements. Making someone spend a whole year on holidays, only to make them wait longer once they have done everything they need to do is decidedly non-casual friendly. Forcing people to run a boss every day in hopes of getting a mount to drop when they could very well be screwed over by RNG is decidedly non-casual friendly. Forcing players to log in every hour because the RNG keeps giving them the same candies is decidedly non-casual friendly.
Point is, the Violet Proto-Drake is supposed to be easy to acquire, which is why it takes so long to do so in real-world time. The various holidays should only take a dedicated player a few days to complete, because that means they would take a casual player longer. If you think about the amount of dedication someone who can only play for an hour a day or so would need to complete these holidays, it's probably similar to the amount of dedication needed to get the raiding drakes. Holidays are just a different game, one that is designed for the casual player; players who blast through the achievements and then complain the holiday is too easy are, to borrow terms from Halo, heroic or legendary players playing on normal mode.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tips on leveling a shaman
As I mentioned in my Discovery Channel tribute, I have a shaman alt that I have been leveling since early in the Burning Crusade era. Because of my less-than-consistent dedication to him, he is still languishing in early Burning Crusade content; he's just the character I go back to when I need a break from end-game, so I play him pretty infrequently. Still, in leveling him, I have learned quite a bit about leveling a shaman that I thought I would share here for anyone else who is doing the same.
1. Spec Enhancement
Of course, this piece of advice comes with the universal leveling-spec-advice caveat: you should level as whatever spec you like the most. No matter what you want to do with your alt, you'll likely do it better as a spec you like than as an "efficient" spec. Are you leveling for fun? Well, it's a no brainer there. Trying to get your alt to 8o quickly? You'll want to play it more if you enjoy your spec, so you'll likely get your alt to 80 faster with a spec you enjoy than with the "best" leveling spec. With that said, Enhancement is both a good leveling spec and a fun spec to play. The mix of melee and casting (especially with the inclusion of Maelstrom Weapon late in the talent tree) makes the enhancement shaman one of the only specs (probably the only, in fact) that feels like a true hybrid class. Enhancement also has good mana efficiency, especially as you level, to the point where by the time you reach 50, you'll rarely need to buy water again.
2. Weapon choices
If you level as Enhancement, the type of weapon you use will be an important decision to make. Of course, once you hit level 40 (or 41 if you took Stormstrike first), you should take the talent Dual Wield and equip the two slowest one-handed weapons you can find for your level. There's no reason to do anything else. Before then, you'll need to decide whether to use a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon and a shield. If you use a two-handed weapon, battles will be over faster, since you'll be taking more damage (without the shield) and causing more damage to your foes. You'll also need to get two replacement weapons once you hit level 40 (or 41). If you use a one-handed weapon and a shield, you battles will be more drawn out, giving you more time to react and making the battles less hectic. You'll also only need to get one new weapon when you get Dual Wield. Ultimately, my advice is this: if you want to rush your shaman to the level cap, use a two-hander; if you want to play him to relax, use a one-hander and a shield. Either way, it all evens out at 40: you get to wear mail, so that will make up for the loss of the shield, and dual wielding will likely increase your damage either way.
As an extra note, if you use a shield, then defense rating becomes surprisingly useful between levels 30 and 40, assuming you took Spirit Weapons. The combination of being able to parry and block means you'll be able to take advantage of all of the aspects of defense rating, so if you see a ring with it that is an upgrade for you, think about taking it.
3. Totems are mana-intensive.
Although totems can bring many benefits to your shaman in battle, they cost a lot of mana to drop. Until you get Shamanistic Rage at 50 (assuming you spec'ed enhance) you have no quick way of getting that mana back, so totems are only worth using if you'll be able to benefit from them for a while. As such, you should only drop them in a spot close to a few enemies that you are going to kill. If you are running around for a quest, never staying in one place for more than one kill, dropping totems is not a good idea; you'll burn through mana faster than classic-era balance druid. If you want to get the most out of your totems, try using Lightning Bolt to pull an enemy from afar, then run toward your totems and fight him by them. Use shocks to keep him interested in you if you have to. With all that said, if you are going to fight more than one enemy in one spot, at least drop Mana Spring Totem. The others are only worth using if you are going to be killing at least four or five enemies by the spot where you drop them, but Mana Spring Totem, when used at every opportunity, really adds up. Try to use it right before battle so that you gimp your spirit-based mana regen as little as possible.
4. Use your elemental shields intelligently
At level 8, you get a spell called Lightning Shield that causes extra damage to enemies that attack you. At level 20, you get Water Shield, which restores mana when you are attacked and also constantly restores mana. There are a few important points to remember when using these spells in order to use them well.
-Use Lightning Shield if you are finishing battles with less health than mana (percentage-wise). Use Water Shield if you are finishing battles with less mana than health.
-If you are using Water Shield, make sure you always have at least one orb left so you can benefit from the passive mana regeneration as well as the orb effect. Because Lightning Shield is on an internal cooldown, you don't need to activate it immediately after it runs out, but don't delay too long or you'll miss out on that free extra damage.
-In the heat of battle, it's easy to forget to refresh your shields when they run out. Make it a habit to refresh whatever shield you are using whenever you aren't casting anything else and won't case anything else in the next second and a half.
-If you are just riding somewhere and have no intention of fighting anything, don't leave up Lightning Shield. Water Shield is fine, but Lightning Shield will cause threat to enemies that attack you, making them chase your farther than they usually would.
1. Spec Enhancement
Of course, this piece of advice comes with the universal leveling-spec-advice caveat: you should level as whatever spec you like the most. No matter what you want to do with your alt, you'll likely do it better as a spec you like than as an "efficient" spec. Are you leveling for fun? Well, it's a no brainer there. Trying to get your alt to 8o quickly? You'll want to play it more if you enjoy your spec, so you'll likely get your alt to 80 faster with a spec you enjoy than with the "best" leveling spec. With that said, Enhancement is both a good leveling spec and a fun spec to play. The mix of melee and casting (especially with the inclusion of Maelstrom Weapon late in the talent tree) makes the enhancement shaman one of the only specs (probably the only, in fact) that feels like a true hybrid class. Enhancement also has good mana efficiency, especially as you level, to the point where by the time you reach 50, you'll rarely need to buy water again.
2. Weapon choices
If you level as Enhancement, the type of weapon you use will be an important decision to make. Of course, once you hit level 40 (or 41 if you took Stormstrike first), you should take the talent Dual Wield and equip the two slowest one-handed weapons you can find for your level. There's no reason to do anything else. Before then, you'll need to decide whether to use a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon and a shield. If you use a two-handed weapon, battles will be over faster, since you'll be taking more damage (without the shield) and causing more damage to your foes. You'll also need to get two replacement weapons once you hit level 40 (or 41). If you use a one-handed weapon and a shield, you battles will be more drawn out, giving you more time to react and making the battles less hectic. You'll also only need to get one new weapon when you get Dual Wield. Ultimately, my advice is this: if you want to rush your shaman to the level cap, use a two-hander; if you want to play him to relax, use a one-hander and a shield. Either way, it all evens out at 40: you get to wear mail, so that will make up for the loss of the shield, and dual wielding will likely increase your damage either way.
As an extra note, if you use a shield, then defense rating becomes surprisingly useful between levels 30 and 40, assuming you took Spirit Weapons. The combination of being able to parry and block means you'll be able to take advantage of all of the aspects of defense rating, so if you see a ring with it that is an upgrade for you, think about taking it.
3. Totems are mana-intensive.
Although totems can bring many benefits to your shaman in battle, they cost a lot of mana to drop. Until you get Shamanistic Rage at 50 (assuming you spec'ed enhance) you have no quick way of getting that mana back, so totems are only worth using if you'll be able to benefit from them for a while. As such, you should only drop them in a spot close to a few enemies that you are going to kill. If you are running around for a quest, never staying in one place for more than one kill, dropping totems is not a good idea; you'll burn through mana faster than classic-era balance druid. If you want to get the most out of your totems, try using Lightning Bolt to pull an enemy from afar, then run toward your totems and fight him by them. Use shocks to keep him interested in you if you have to. With all that said, if you are going to fight more than one enemy in one spot, at least drop Mana Spring Totem. The others are only worth using if you are going to be killing at least four or five enemies by the spot where you drop them, but Mana Spring Totem, when used at every opportunity, really adds up. Try to use it right before battle so that you gimp your spirit-based mana regen as little as possible.
4. Use your elemental shields intelligently
At level 8, you get a spell called Lightning Shield that causes extra damage to enemies that attack you. At level 20, you get Water Shield, which restores mana when you are attacked and also constantly restores mana. There are a few important points to remember when using these spells in order to use them well.
-Use Lightning Shield if you are finishing battles with less health than mana (percentage-wise). Use Water Shield if you are finishing battles with less mana than health.
-If you are using Water Shield, make sure you always have at least one orb left so you can benefit from the passive mana regeneration as well as the orb effect. Because Lightning Shield is on an internal cooldown, you don't need to activate it immediately after it runs out, but don't delay too long or you'll miss out on that free extra damage.
-In the heat of battle, it's easy to forget to refresh your shields when they run out. Make it a habit to refresh whatever shield you are using whenever you aren't casting anything else and won't case anything else in the next second and a half.
-If you are just riding somewhere and have no intention of fighting anything, don't leave up Lightning Shield. Water Shield is fine, but Lightning Shield will cause threat to enemies that attack you, making them chase your farther than they usually would.
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