Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 80 - 85

So we're almost there! Looking back at the very first blog post about this little shaman, I did not know what to expect, but since that original post my blog has sky rocketed and I have met some great shamans out there. I'm so happy with how its evolved over the past month or so, It really has created a connection with this character of mine and I really do enjoy playing it! Again, a quick thank you for the people who have helped me with some information and my blog in general. A big thanks too Katherynne, Nyxrinne, Vanskus and the Monk Meditation podcast. It's time to dive in!

So Deathwing has arisen, The aspects in complete chaos and thrall has taken up his Shamanism heritage full time and left Garrosh in charge of the mighty horde.. A decision that would cost many lives including Thralls closest Tauren friend Carine Bloodhoof. With so much geographical changes to Azeroth, It was up to us to put an end to the madness and destruction that Deathwing and the Twilight Cult brought to our world. Cataclysm did not really bring many dungeons in this bracket but its okay! They were pretty decent but not blizzards best work. Most of the best ones unlock at 85 and more were introduced in to a later patch, but I will leave those out and as usual mention the ones I healed. Lets see what we jumped in to! 

Blackrock Caverns - The carved labyrinth that was built by Deathwing homes The twilight cult and a ton of demonic creatures. It also homes the technology made by the twilight cult to teleport the elementals from Mount Hyjal to the cavern to harness their powers. At the center of this cavern is a forge that is used for crazy experiments transforming cultists in to twilight dragons. Their ideas to forge their own destiny really does go to the utter end of madness here and I loved healing through it! 

The Stonecore - Deep within the temple of earth in the middle of the maelstrom that was ripped open by Deathwing lies the Stonecore. It was within these sacred walls that the twilight cult managed to build and attach armor plates to Deathwing that ultimately lead to him flying through, causing the maelstrom and breaking the world pillar that holds our world and Deepholm together. The people of Deepholm, will not let the twilight cult continue the destruction of their land so the earthen ring have stepped in to replenish the damage and fix the almost destroyed World pillar. This instance was truly awesome to heal. Some of the hallways have a large amount of mobs constantly walking around so pretty much every time I ran this we always had ninja pulls and made extensive work out of my cooldowns. The bosses here were also dynamic and different which I really enjoyed.  

The Vortex Pinnacle - Ahh the Vortex, in my opinion one of the most beautiful instances we have come across so far. This place dwells in the mystic region above Uldum called Skywall, surrounded by mists and magic this has recently been overrun with Tol'Vir as well as Al'Akir, the lord of the wind.  Our job is to make sure the barrier between Azeroth and Skywall is closed so the Tol'Vir can not reign down damage from the skies on to Azeroth. I loveeeee this place! The instance is awesome, boss mechanics are great and a ton of CC and multi healing going on, Definitely one of my favorites! 

Grim Batol - Deep within the Twilight Highlands and not to far from the wetlands meeting point of the two zones lies a beautiful mountain, but don't be fooled. Deep within these jaw dropping mountain ranges lies a deep and dark secret. A once lustrous stronghold for the Wildhammer Dwarves it has been overrun with Orcs creating a prison for Alexstraza, The life bender. With the Twilight cult, black dragon flight and twilight dragon flight all within this mountain, it will be a challenge to stop the damage being done, but with a little help from the Red dragon flight, there is a possibility of victory. This was an *ok* instance to heal. If the dragon part is done correctly were you mount up and kill as many packs as you can, there wont really be much to heal. But the design was awesome and a great finishing point for me before I got 85.  

So lets jump in to the new spells and see what we have acquired during this bracket to help us heal our way to the top! 

Unleash Elements - This spell focuses the elemental power that your current weapon imbue has in to a usable spell that's an instant cast and has a 15 second cooldown. As we always use Earth living, this is mainly used to buff healing rain. I would ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use this before a Healing rain every time. Why? It boosts its effectiveness by 30%. Some shamans forget that, and it can make a huge difference so I got in to the habit early of using it every time I want to use healing rain and pump out some serious aoe healing. The more the better right? 

Spiritwalker's Grace - This great spell calls forth the spiritual guidance of the ancestors granting the player the ability to cast while moving. It lasts 15 seconds and has a 2 minute cooldown so use it when you absolutely have to. I will use this as much as I can in raids, shamans don't have the luxury of healing while moving like a druid or a monk so this helps with that. A great spell, and a cool spell effect. 

And that's all folks! That's the play through's complete! You may be thinking.. *Hang on a minute what about 85 - 90?!* Well I did some research and found a way to level faster recently without having to quest OR dungeon. I wanted to test it out for myself and IF it worked, Create a basic guide for it.. so did it work? HELL YES IT DID. It's an incredible spot and my next post will be all about that! Video guide included.

Again I just want to say a huge thank you for the people supporting me and this little blog. Too all my Monk friends out there, I do understand the shaman has taken up alot of my time and posts and its not as expected but I want you guys to know, That I have totally enjoyed playing my shaman and blogging as I go, I have built a connection to the game again I thought the Lich king stole from me and that's enjoyment out of this game again. I will no doubt be maining this character next expansion, who knows, But I will always be posting monk news and such. So thanks again, keep well and stay up to date with my blog! This is were the real blogging begins. Inc next expansion guides for monk and shamans - Vay.  

Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 70 - 80

Hello ladies and gents, I have had such a busy week as usual with the competition I have set up and some other promoting things going on I have really been tight for time, But I thought I would cover the next bracket on my playthrough series. Documenting and sharing information as I go has really made an impact on how I see things now and I think its made me a better player because of it. So enough waffle from me, lets dive in to the frozen depths of Northrend!  

As our adventure continues, we now have caught up to one of the most Iconic expansions so far, Wrath Of The Lich king. After the burning crusade, alot of players were unsure of this expansion, It seemed to be more user friendly and easier than the previous expansion, this was the year in which Blizzard saw its largest increase in new subscribers. I think it was due to the fact of making more things accessible for others not just the hardcore, which rejuvenated the older players to re sub, and give it a shot. Instances were easier no doubt but what I enjoyed about this expansion was the lore. 

At first, I was not that interested in it, I wanted to level fast, get raiding and see some progress, and that's what I did for the entire expansion. I played as a Enhancement Shaman back when this was in its golden days and lore was the least of my concern, It was only recently I bought the Rise of the Lich King book written by Christie Golden that made me really appreciated the work put in to this expansion. Anyway enough of that, lets have a look at the instances I healed through to reach 80. 

Utgarde Keep - This will be one of the first dungeons you will be faced against upon reaching level 70. The keep is guarded King Ymiron who leads the new race introduced to this expansion called Vrykul. Their mission is to prove to the lich king their power and be worthy of working alongside the lich. The Keep has a number of open hallways and then a upper tier that forces you out on to the very top of the structure to fend of proto drakes and face the evil king.

The Nexus - Is an ice structure unlike most you would have seen, the underground networks were forced by magical energies that Malygos harnessed during his time of madness to all focus on this region. Coldarra itself has been buckled by these recent events which make this dungeon a formidable and interesting experience. The frozen halls, shattered rifts and plant like creatures, this place has a huge variety of things going on within this zone. One of my favorites.

Azjol'nerub - This dungeon is extremely short and can be cleared within a very small amount of time, that being said it is still an extremely important instance, lore wise. Azjol is a series of tunnels that was used for the Nerubian to transport Arthas underground to the icecrown citadel were he would ultimately fight Illidan Stormrage. I liked this instance, the structure of the place is awesome and the fact you have to go deeper inside this zone to face the last boss gave it a different feel too the typical instance layout.

Drak'Tharon Keep -  This old stronghold has some deep and dark secrets. Home to the Trolls surrounding grizzly hills that were forced too look for new ways to help the Lich, a number of creatures now house this place also. Dinosaurs and undead are but a few that roam these halls and stairwells.  Drakuru, the troll leader of this hold is being tested for his loyalty to the Lich king and as you venture towards the end of the instance, you will see what the Lich has in store for poor old Drakuru. This is a great instance, but in terms of healing, there is not much to do.  The last boss for example forces you to transform into Skeletons and use the new abilities given to you, something I find annoying when I want to pump out some heals. Nonetheless an awesome zone. 

Gundrak - My favorite of this bracket by far! Home to the Ice trolls that hunt within Zul'Drak are constantly in battle between the scourge, so its unclear if we're cleansing this place from a curse or what not, However this instance is the one I enjoy most. Its corrupted bosses which include Elementals, trolls that transform to naga or a mammoth are so different to what we're used too.  The Trolls here have contacted their Loa to grant them strength against the hordes of Scourge but with a terrible backlash. You will fight your way through twisted halls, Infested waters, submerged chambers and in turn you will revitalize the Ice troll that dwell here. 

Caverns Of Time/Culling Of Strathholme - The final 5 man instance within this bracket that I experienced before getting level 80, what a way to end the bracket. Here we learn of how Arthas, The lich king became so torn and twisted. It all started with the Culling. He was lead by a evil force that was pushing him beyond his limits and made him believe the best way to cleanse a city, was to eradicate it. Disobeying the orders from Uther to investigate more, he destroyed every living being that stood in his way. During your time here you will be guiding him through the city streets, inns and secret passage ways to kill the demon Mal'Ganis who he believed to be the one behind the tampered grain that was turning people to scourge.  His hatred for this demon was what forced him to hunt for Frostmourne and eventually turn Arthas, A once noble paladin, too the lich king.

Although there are other instances you can jump in to, I only mentioned the ones I had experienced on this shaman. So for more information on the other instances head over to wowhead. Now for the Shaman/healing stuff! In this section I will go over important spells that will be useful to my healing output and which talent I took as well as the final set of glyphs. 

Grace of Air (Passive) - This gives all surrounding raid/party members a 3000 mastery buff, SO LONG BLESSING OF MIGHT, WE GOT THIS!

Mastery: Deep healing - This increases the potency of our healing spells by 24% based on the current health level of your target, the lower their health, the better the heal. Now I'm not to sure about this one, For progression, this stat seems to be great, for hard hitting bosses.. like a good way to stress test the damage your raid takes. BUT it only works when players are low, so the rest of the time it seems to me that its over shadowed by other class healing mastery's. Some testing and research will have to be done, as on paper it looks good, but I'm still unsure.

Rushing Streams (Talent) - I LOVE THIS! Your healing stream totem now heals two players for 15% additional healing, Beautiful! Short and simple. As I have this on CD Its an all and all healing increase.

Glyph of Totem Recall - This causes our totem recall ability to refund all the mana cost of the totem that was placed. I love this, I have got in to the habit early of using this spell and its great for mana.  I would recommend getting for your level 75 Glyph.

So that's it for this playthrough, as I have said before, I loved this bracket. Its an incredible moment in warcraft history.. well to me anyway, maybe because I love the book so much, BUT WHO KNOWS! Until next time guys and girls, Take care. Vay. 

Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 60 - 70

Bonjour! Greetings readers and fellow healers alike! It's that time again to update you on my progress on my little shaman, Vay. I have had a really busy week as usual so I have not had much time to plan this little play through as I have been on my monk a little bit more as well as playing some Hearthstone and some Guild wars. Really do enjoy a number of games right now but i could not wait to stick my teeth in to another shaman post so here goes. 

So we are finally out of the Vanilla section of wow and now diving in to the zone which we held close to our hearts as the best expansion to date and also the first! Outland. I have always loved Outland for a number of reasons. The zones were so diverse and different from the things we experienced on both Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, the questing and factions were so diverse to what we was accustomed too which made it so refreshing. To me this was my favorite expansion, Most of my raiding experience started here and I still to this day enjoy the sheer amount of dungeons this expansion had to offer, so lets dive in and get to know the places I visited. Note: There are many other dungeons in this bracket but I will mention the few I did get to heal while leveling through. 

Hellfire Citadel - This we were we begin our outlandish adventures. This Citadel is home to three dungeons however the following two are the ones I was leveling through. Hellfire Ramparts which is the first dungeon of the zone, this is believed to be the military barracks of the Keep, the front line defense so to speak. Here you will face against fel orcs, wolves, demons and of course more fel orcs, which will all know are bad news! The second dungeon is called the Blood Furnace here Illidans minions have captured Magtheridon and are using there cunning sorcery to drain his blood to build a larger army. This again, is not the best of news you want to here when just visiting this place, however, with more of a demonic feel to this instance you have to get through a maze of orcs, a number of gauntlets to finally get to the bottom of this problem. I love this zone, it was the first real challenge for me in terms of dungeons back in TBC days and was looking forward to finally healing them on my shaman. Lots of aoe packs through the zones made my healing alot better.  

Coilfang Reservoir -  So we have gone from boiling heat, demonic gateways and unforgiving hallways to the underwater habitat of the Coilfang. Again this is home to a number of instances, one of which becomes available at 70 but I only managed to level through two of the instances here. This is a large artificial lake embedded under the tainted waters within Zangermarsh. Under the murky waters holds home to a group of Naga over seeing a subterranean Pumping station. Each dungeon consisting of huge caverns interlinked by pipework powered by huge crystal Capacitor. The Slave Pens is the first dungeon within this zone that holds a number of passage ways that lead you past some lost Naaru. The second dungeon is the Underbog, this place seems to hold the last remaining inhabitants of this zone that have not been totally overran by the Naga. I have always loved these instances and I still enjoy them to this day, I testament to blizzards work!

Auchindoun - The home to the not so holy, This was originally a sanctuary for the fallen heroes within the Draenei community. Now home to a number of factions this zone is housing four instances, three of which I had to heal though. The first instance you enter will be the Mana Tombs, The ethereals are seeking to gain more power to use against creatures within the twisting nether, however this is now over run by currupt beings and a leading figure, Prince Shaffar (sounds like something out of a Jeff Dunham show). The second instance Auchenai Crypts. These are the demonic minions giving this whole play a bad name. Workers, of the burning legion resurrecting the fallen to fight for them, and nothing in their mind will stop them in doing so. Here you will find a number of undead creatures being used as tools to fend off others during their rebirth.
The final instance I dipped my paws in too was Sethekk Halls. Another tomb like structure homing the bird like humans, Arakkoa. Here they are practicing their dark magics, perfecting there evil spells to gain a larger understanding of the world as they believe to be the true colony of the Arakkoa.

Caverns of time/Escape from Durnhold Keep - Ahhh The caverns of time, I have recently gained a new respect for this zone after reading the hour of twilight book this week and this zone is incredible. Guarded by the faithful and powerful Bronze dragon flight, the keepers of time. There are a number of instances and raids within this zone that sends the players back in time to previous historic events that have shaped the world we adventure through today. The Escape from Durnhold is no exception. It goes back a number of years to when Taretha Foxton is creating a diversion to help Thrall escape from the evil grips of Aedelas Blackmoore. Thrall, Also the name for Slave uses your help to create such a diversion that then leads to his escape and eventually the retaking of the keep and the death of many humans and Blackmoore and going on to become the warchief of the horde. WE LOVE YOU THRALL!

Now on to the shaman bits!

Some more goodies to play with! Shamans just get better and better.

Healing Tide Totem - Finally! I have looked up so much on this beauty and I was so pleased once I got this little gem. This is an incredible totem and should not be used so like mindlessly as too Healing Stream Totem. Once this is placed it will heal 5 players every 2 seconds for 11 seconds, The amount it heals is insane and I can not wait to try this out in the big raids! I use this when I know I wont be able to heal the group in time and when I know of huge incoming damage.

Bloodlust - Our most sort after spell as a shaman. Why blizzard gave mages and hunter pets this ability I will never know.. Anyway this spell will grant all party and raid members a 30 % melee, ranged and spell haste for 40 seconds. It does have a 5 minute cooldown and you may think that's a tad crazy for such a powerful cooldown but it also will give the player it affected a sated debuff so that player can not gain that type of buff such as time warp for another 10 minutes. Use this on bosses, in raiding this will tend to be used at the start of the encounter or at the last 25 - 30% depending on the boss mechanics.

Spirit Link Totem - Another one of the Restoration shamans signature tools to the kit! This is an absolute beast of a cooldown and one of my favorites by far. This totem once used will reduce the damage taken by all party and raid members within 10 yards by 10%. Also every one second the health of all affected players is redistributed such that each player ends up with the same percentage of their maximum health, Lasts 6 seconds. When used properly, a stacked up raid/party taking an incredible amount of damage, this beauty will not only reduce damage taken be even out everyone's health without causing any over healing making it one of the most powerful cooldowns and works great with healing rain and other totems.

So that's it for my dungeon/shaman spells update! I do however have a little bit more information to share with you all. I have had such a great time working on my playthrough and my shaman and have been lucky enough to come across some great players one of which deserves a special mention. Katherynne has I presume been looking at my posts now and then and actually commented on a forum post I made a while ago, offering help etc with shamans and end game healing. Recently I have received some awesome tips and tricks on what spells to use, what stats to aim for, what glyphs will be good for raiding etc and alot of things have already improved me as a healer, as a shaman. I just want to say a quick thank you for the information shared with me, I truly appreciate it. - Vay.

If you have stuck around this long then enjoy the clip below. It's me healing through Blood furnace with some ridiculous Chain CC going on from enemies. GIVE ME BUBBLE BITCH! 

Restoration Shaman | Playthrough | 50 - 60

Hello everyone, hope you're all having a awesome weekend! A quick little IRL update.. I went out last night to see Turbo with the girlfriend which by the way was totally not my idea... :3 I'm going on 23 and I still want to watch dreamworks films? I refuse to grow up just yet! Anyway, I have to say it was one of my favorite animated films, Was so awesome. It's that time again! Lets see where our little Shaman went in this bracket and get to know a little bit more about the dungeons and why I enjoyed them.

So we finally reach the classic vanilla end game bracket and as you would expect, we was faced with some pretty huge instances to grind through. Some of the most loved and noticeable instances are within this bracket and for me on of the most diverse. The zones are huge, with so many different routes to take, shortcuts to be found etc, I really did enjoy this bracket in terms of healing. The huge pulls, interesting fights and not to mention the locations, It makes this post really exciting for me to write. 

Black rock depths/Spire - This to me is one of the greatest ideas and such a large scale of an area to hold some of the most game changing experiences in my World Of Warcraft playtime to date. Blackrock holds home to some of the most memorable encounters and incredible game development. For new players and people who were not too fond of dungeons per say, This location has been dramatically changed in terms of difficulty and ease of access. With the introduction to Looking For Dungeon, with a click of a button and depending your wait time you will be transported to this location and have quests to guide you through as well as Dungeon maps and can easily get through this in a decent amount of time and not to mention, heirlooms making everything that tad easier.

However, for seasonal players many will either hate this place or love it just like myself. This was the real turning point for me with my gaming Experience. First of all, Black Rock Depths (BRD) Looking for players to run through this place in trade chat was hard enough! But to finally get a team to delve into the depths of this dwarven mountain, each player knew they had 3 to 5 hours worth of challenges to tackle and overcome. With no real clear route to take, with tasks to complete to open gateways, huge dwarven doors and such, this really turned new Players to Veterans. With most people entering with Green/blue gear, backpacks full of potions and back up gear they did not need to repair, the night was set to defeat the mountain. There was also Black rock spire to attack once you reached level 60. This twisting maze of orcs, Dragonkin and trolls made this place even more epic. You heard rumors of this place, but nothing beats that feeling as a new player stepping in to this incredible Dungeon knowing this was the first stepping stone to the legendary Molten Core (MC)

Sunken Temple - The Temple of Atal' Hakkar, also known as Sunken Temple (ST) was a real challenge and used to take a decent amount of time. As mentioned above, with the new changes this instance has been made a tad easier than it used to be and a lot less time consuming. A skinning heaven this place was which made me see my first 500g back in the day, this was considered a lot! with so many twists and turns this maze full of Dragonkin and trolls was one of my favorite experiences. What this place also held was my first Epic item, Dragons call. which at the time was a huge thing, not many people were lucky enough to see one till raiding back then and when we did finally get that rare, mystical Item, We felt good! Even though I was a hunter and every melee weapon available we went for!

Blizzard seem to have put so much effort into the old content, not all of it was accessible to everyone like it is now days, so again looking in trade for a ST run was never easy, it was more of a guild thing, which back pre TBC days, being in a guild was more a privilege than a perk boost like it is becoming today, which I think is a shame. *Sad face* but nether the less, this place held so many good moments. I will never forget the Snakehead puzzle to summon the twin dragons as well as the summonable secret boss.

Now moving on to the shaman stuff! here I will mention each new spell/talent I gained

Tremor Totem - This beauty is great for moments such as boss/mob fears. If yourself or a player gets Feared, drop this and it removes the effect. Simple and yet, so very effective.

Mana Tide Totem - Another water totem to our disposal! This awesome thing gives your raid/party members 200% of your spirit for 16 seconds! It does have a 3 minute cooldown but this is great for low mana situations and no doubt will be used when needed within raiding, One thing about shamans is that you can always rely on there utility. This is just another gem to the bag.

Earth Elemental Totem - Use this and a huge earth like Golem is called forth to punch the things for a minute. This can be used with Fire elemental and I'm pretty sure gives you a buff once you pick a specific level 90 talent. We will have to wait and see.

Greater Healing Wave - Our last real main healing spell we have unlocked, this spell does have a longer cast time than others and is rather mana intensive but it does pack a huge healing punch so I tend to use this only when needed, and mostly used with the next Talent I shall mention.

Ancestral Swiftness (Talent) - Your next nature spell with a base cast time of less than 10 seconds becomes instant cast, Great when used with Greater Healing Wave, a real oh crap button when a player takes serious damage. It also gives you a passive 5% spell haste and 10% melee haste. Of course the Melee haste is ignored here but the spell haste is great, It helps with the lower end Haste break points so I hear and helps for lower gear levels.

Healing Rain - I LOVE THIS SPELL! It's received some love recently This is a blanket heal on a specific area and anyone who stands within the rain will be healed every 2 seconds for 10 seconds.  Great for stacked aoe damage and I also found great with healing tide totems and chain heals. Some great Aoe healing right there. ( This can also be instant cast when used after Ancestral Swiftness)

On to the glyphs! 

Glyph of Healing stream - This applies a 10% reduction to fire, frost and nature damage for 6 seconds to the player healed by the totem, It works great in dungeons and will be great within the raiding when moving out of fire and such becomes more frequent.

Glyph of deluge - This gives our chain heal and new cosmetic effect, Instead of a bright light (much like the mass resurrection effect around the caster) it turns it in to a torrent of water around our hands, Looks awesome!

So there you have it, some more detailed information on the dungeons and why I enjoyed them, as well as more information of the new spells I have acquired! It all helps towards the aim of becoming a decent heroic raider and hopefully a frequent blogger on them too. But don't worry my brew drinking monk friends, I have some information I will share soon with you all! 

I would just like to thank Nyxrinne for my new awesome blog layout, I was so pleased with the outcome I couldn't believe how great it was and exactly to my liking. To find out more information on her, she also has a great blog so please feel free to check it out at:

http://touch-of-death.blogspot.co.uk/