Toying with healing builds.

Delgada started out as a 39 twink holy priest. She didn't get much play time, but when I did pull her out, she was fun! A few rounds of Arathi Basin playing her was a blast. But, at heart, I was an arms warrior, wielding a huge Halberd of Smiting, and wearing a good amount of the Zul'Gurub plate wear for fashionable warriors. Burning Crusade came along, and Shawndra didn't get much play. She wasn't a tank, and she was undergeared. While everyone else was starting to run the level 70 instances, Shawndra was sitting it out, while I leveled a hunter. Carlotta was fun, but our healers wanted to play their alts, so I dusted Delgada off, respecced her to shadow, and started leveling. At level 70, the guild discouraged her from healing, instead begging her to become a mana battery. She was a mana battery until the doldrums before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Then, healers and tanks started dropping left and right. Delgada was needed for healing. With her off set gear she had put in the bank for "just in case", she started to learn. The guild trembled in fear as I changed her spec, wishing someone else would step up to the plate. I hope they were happy with the results. They must have been since they have been begging me to hurry up to 80 because they need a healer. So, I have figured out a build, I think, that will allow me to be a good healer with some decent mana regeneration/conservation. I'd really love to be able to grab the 51 point talent in Holy and still be able to spec into the spirit buff. I figure, until we get more people at 80, I'll have to live with this as it is, because I will be one of the few they have to heal, and that spirit buff is essential, in my opinion. Here it is, my take on a holy priests talent tree. Comments would be appreciated, as I did no research, but chose the talents I thought would work best. Now, that is very heavy in the holy tree. I remember reading and hearing this around, that the discipline tree is no longer a spare parts tree, and can be a very viable PvE healing spec, if the right talents are chosen. Can these be the right set of talents for a discipline priest? Well, comment or no, Delgada will be monkeying around with both specs to see how they play out. Any suggestions on spells I should have chosen and some I could have skipped will definitely enter my "play around with healing specs" period. :)

Fast as Fast can be...

Today is the day I look forward to all year long at my school...Gingerbread Man day. That's not the official name for it, but it's tradition, so it has been named today. Every year, 2 weeks before Christmas break, the kindergarten classes at the school I work for read the Gingerbread Man story, then make gingerbread men. Then, the teachers bring their men to me, and the kids warn me not to peek in the oven until they are done, because they might run away. I solemnly promise to be careful with the cookies, and put them in the oven. A little later in the day, they come back, and all I have to show for the cookies they made is a cookie sheet with a few crumbs on it, and big puppy dog eyes.

"I tried so hard not to peek, but they smelled so good, and I thought it would be alright just to open the door a little bit..."

"But we told you not to peek!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I tried to catch them, but they were so fast!"

"It's okay, it's not your fault, they are tricky."
"Can you look for them?"
"We made a trap for them in the sandbox. Don't worry, we'll catch them!"
"Kids, if we are very quiet, we might sneak up on them. Everyone stop talking and we'll start looking!"

"I'm really sorry! I'll look for them, and if I find them, I'll lock them back up in the oven so they don't run away again!"

After this small bit of subterfuge, I start to lock up. Since the kids are gone, I sneak another peek at the cookies...



YUM!

They'll get their cookies tomorrow and the next day so they can decorate and eat them. But today, I feel just a little bad for letting all those ginger boys and girls run away.

Well, maybe not. :)

Finally...the Sholazar Basin and Nesingwary!

I cannot tell you how I have looked forward to moving to this zone. I had hoped to be welcomed by Hemet himself, telling me his bud had lost their favorite book of campfire ghouls stories, and I had to find all 40 pages, and would I please kill 2,000 of every species available in the whole continent of Northrend?

No. You don't get your way! I want you to go fetch me an airplane engine part, find my wedding ring, and kill Venture Company lackeys, say his expedition help. Blah, I hope he gives me a mindless kill quest soon.

Delgada is about a quest and the experience from kills away from 77. Guess I'll log in and give the boys a thrill.

Broke...time for the farmers to hit the scene!

I have many characters ready for Northrend. Their chosen professions are at max level, or really close, they have gear that will last them at the very least the first 5 levels, and their bag space has been emptied in preparation. Quests from the old worlds? Dumped.

So, what to do? Delgada has been my focus, being that the guild needs a healer. I am such a pushover. We have our main tank already at 80 running heroics for gear. DPS, well, worth a dime a dozen. So my tank, Shawndra, and her DPS sisters, Carlotta and Maura, sit in the wings, waiting to go in. I think now may be the time to do it.

You see, Delgada is broke. And Rowena is broke. I have siphoned as much as I dare from every one of my 10 alts, and Delgada still has 8 recipes to train from the tailor trainer, and 3 from the enchanting trainer. Expensive...Delgada needs a sugar daddy, or momma, as it may be. I logged Delgada out near a trainer, and brought Maura out of the Undercity to hop the blimp to the Howling Fjord. I'm hoping that the skinning she has, and her pick pocketing, might net a nice stock of cloth and an income Delgada can rely on. She's less than half a level from cold weather flying! There's another 1000 gold she'll need.

I know that if I had just waited until Delgada had some levels under her belt to start her profession leveling, that I wouldn't be in this predicament. But I couldn't wait..the guild needs an enchanter! And a healer! YESTERDAY!! Though, they have asked if I could shoot for Tuesday. I don't think I am that good.

So, here is the plan. Delgada goes out, makes level 77, and logs out after using what cloth and enchanting materials she has to level with. Then, Maura comes out, and starts her questing, spending all sorts of fun time in the starter area, skinning everything with a skin, and sending all her greens, cloth, and gold to Delgada. With any luck, by the time Maura is 73, Delgada will be healthy, still not flying, but at least able to get her professions trained.

The flying carpet will just have to wait.

I finally found..the worst quest EVAR!

I won't spoil it for those who are behind me, but there is this giant, and you have to find this other giant, and kill his buddies.....


He can go find him all by himself. I'm tired of getting there when 20 other people are trying to kill him.
And, if you really, really wanted me to kill him? You'd make it so I could group with all yourselves that are running around.

Bah. I'm gonna go find something bad to eat.