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1

Freelance Ramblings / The Freelance Raiders Handbook *Required Reading*

« on: September 28, 2015, 06:33:38 PM »

FREELANCE RAIDERS HANDBOOK

SICK DAYS

We will no longer accept a doctor or surgeon's statement as proof of sickness.  If you are able to go to the doctor or surgical theater, you are able to come to Raids.

PERSONAL DAYS
Each Raider will receive 104 personal days a year.  They are called Sunday and Monday.  Tuesday and Wednesday you will be expected to be improving key multi-binds and reclaiming experience from unwarranted and unauthorized deaths during raids.

FOOD BREAKS
Skinny people will be allowed 30 minutes prior to raid call to get food to bring to their desks as they need more to eat, so that they can look healthy.  Normal-sized people get 15 minutes prior to raid call to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure.  Fat people (most of you) get 5 minutes prior to raid call as that's all the time that is needed to drink a Slim Fast.  Trips to the refrigerator during Wipe Recovery will only be condoned if said refrigerator is within arms-reach of your keyboard.

DKP BONUSES
It is advised you come to raids geared according to your Platinum & DKP holdings.  If we see you wearing your Burden of Truth helm, Ancient Cloak of Flames, clicking your Elder Holgresh Beads and bragging about your stack of 20 Kronos, we assume you are doing okay and therefore do not need a DKP bonus.

If you come poorly geared in your group armor, you need to learn to manage your DKP better so that you may bid on nicer items, and therefore you do not need a DKP bonus.

If you come geared in-between, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a DKP bonus.


BEREAVEMENT LEAVE
There is no excuse for missing raids.  There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives, or co-workers.  Every effort should be made to have non-raiders attend to their final arrangements.  In rare cases where raider involvement or attendance becomes necessary, the funeral should be held during weeks when there are no raids scheduled.

RESTROOM USE
Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom between wipes (no pun intended).  There is now a strict 3 minute time limit in the bathroom in the event that such frivolities were not properly taken care of before Raid Call.  At the end of three minutes Furro has programmed an alarm to sound.  The toilet paper roll will retract, the bathroom door will open and a picture will be taken.  After your 2nd offense, your picture will be posted on forums under the thread "Chronic Offenders."

Thank you for your loyalty to our great team, Freelance Raiders.

2

Raider Essentials / Druid Twinheal, Impress your Raid Leader

« on: May 15, 2012, 09:25:50 AM »

Well Okay,  Furro has asked me to expose myself and explain what I do (especially concerning proc'd twinheals) when I'm raid healing.  Maybe with some feedback I'll get to be a better healer through this excercize.  But better yet, I'll get Furro offa my back!  :duck:

My line-up:

Gem 1:  Invigoration Rk.II (lvl 95)
Gem 2:  Sanavida  Rk.III (lvl 92)
Gem 3:  Survival of the Prosperous Rk.III (lvl 93)
Gem 4:  Lunamelioration Rk. III
Gem 5:  Egress (lvl 52)
Gem 6:  Adrenaline Flood Rk.II
Gem 7:  Stonebark Skin Rk.III / Aura of Life (lvl 70) / Wildblaze Aura Rk.III (lvl 92)  --situational use--
Gem 8:  Promised Revitalization Rk.III (lvl 92) / corruption, curse, disease (whatever) cures --situational use--
Gem 9:  Hide of the Reptile Rk.II (lvl 92)/  secondary cures --situational use--
Gem10: Unfettered Growth Rk.III (lvl 92)
Gem 11: Sunbreeze Blessing Rk.II (lvl 94)
Gem 12: Preincarnation Rk.II (lvl94)

My Equipment

Logitec G15 (Programmable keyboard - It has 3 banks of 18 programmable keys)


I have hot-keyed a multi-bind heal button.  My multi-bind heal button seeks out the fastest casting heal that's currently available in my line-up and casts it.

I have programmed bank2 of the keyboard for the majority of my raid keys. 

My Left Hand

Keys G1-G6 I have programmed to target corresponding group members 1-6 and depress my multi-bind heal button. 
Keys G6-G12 I have programmed to target ETW slots 1-6 and depress my multi-bind heal button.
Keys G13-G15 I have programmed to target ETW slots 8-10 and depress my multi-bind heal button.
Key G16 repeatedly depresses my multi-bind heal button.
Key G17 casts spell gem 4 (group heal).
Key G18 casts spell gem 11 (assist/nuke/proc twinheal)

(Obviously I have my ETW filled with potential healing targets:  1-6 are usually tank-type, 7 is Raid MA, and 8-10 are filled with clerics, enchanters or knights situationally)

Hot-keys & shift/alt/ctrl + 1-6

My Right Hand

Mouse
Arrow keys/keypad
Hot-keys & shift/alt/ctrl + 7-12

Twinheals

Okay, so we're finally here.  Druids, like clerics, have the ability to proc a Twinheal on command.  What that means is that after casting the proc-producing spell, your next 2 healing spells will fork and duplicate the effect of that heal, provided they are both cast in the next 18 seconds - which is a LOT of time.  This works whether the next spells you cast is an individual healing spell or a group healing spell.  It doesn't differentiate as long as the spell heals.  With the same effort we would use to cast 3 spells, we can instead get the effect of 4.  The proc-producing spells are found under Direct Damage>Twincast and are available starting at lvl 84.  They are called Sundew Blessing (lvl 84), Sunrise Blessing (lvl 89), and Sunbreeze Blessing (lvl 94).  Our Twincast spells are actually easier to use than the clerical equivalents.  We can be healing the MT (or anyone that has a MOB targeted) and without having to re-target can cast one of the blessing spells.  The spell will automatically nuke that target's target, and cause the afore-mentioned twincast proc.  A word of warning:  Because of the nuke part of these spells, I NEVER cast Blessing when I have an Enchanter or Bard targeted (or situationally a necro) for fear of waking whatever mob they may have mesmerized.

Blessing spells take 1.0 seconds to cast.  Although they cast fairly quickly it takes some practice to know when to cast it.  A poorly timed cast can be disasterous.  I try to cast Blessing when the MT (or other target) has just been topped off and is not taking so much damage that they are going to die in the next 3.5 seconds.  I also try to cast this just before the speed cycle of my multi-bind button thereby taking up the slack caused by casting Blessing.  What I mean by that is as Invigoration only takes .5 to cast and Adrenalinie Flood takes 1.8, they always cast in that order, very quickly.  Whereas Sanavida takes 3.3 seconds to cast and will cast twice whilst Invigoration and Adrenaline Flood recycle.  If you cast Blessing just before the slow cycle of the multi-bind key you will have delayed an already slow-casting spell from landing and even though the healing potential is doubled, quite often the target will die before it hits.  Depending on the speed/urgency of my casting, I am usually able to cast Blessing, the 2 twinheal casts and usually 1 other non-twinheal cast before Blessing has refreshed and is available again.  Cast properly I've seen twinheals land for as high as 146k.  That's a lot of healing.  I also find it useful to cast Blessing just before I cast a group heal.  It fills the group with the potential healing power of 632k+ hps.  As blessing has a nuke component it also has the potential of triggering the necro spell Reluctant Benevolence which for me is another potential 168k of healing.  Gotta love that well-AA'd necro in your group!!

Now, the downside to this healing technique is that it uses a ton of mana and produces extra aggro.  To combat the former, I always try to have the AA Spirit of the White Wolf running, either single or group versions (I know, some of your groupees will not like to be in wolf form - Tough Luck.  When there's time, I'll target another healer -usually a cleric from my ETW- when I cast the group version, so they have white wolf as well, thereby reducing the bitching from the melee in my group and increasing that healer's potential as well.  It's also a great way to identify where my or another group is standing, White wolf is easy to see in a raid).  While in this form your healing spells take less mana, heal for more, have a greater chance to proc - including natural twinheals, and provide some resistance to cold.  This seriously reduces the volume of mana expended especially when Spam/Burn-Healing.  To combat the later I use the AA Silent Casting when I feel I'm starting to tip the aggro balance.  I hardly ever get summoned, until everyone else is dead.  As soon as you start to get summoned, it's time to Fade/Exodus/Egress.

So anyway, that's what I do.  There's probably someone that does it better or can make suggestions to my set up - that's evolved over 13 years of trained druid reflex - difficult to retrain, hence the strange spell gem order.  I'm in the process of replacing Gem 12:  Preincarnation as I have the AA version on an adjacent Hotkey bar, with another Blessing, but haven't experimented with it enough to know how it affects the timing of things.  I DO know however that the lvl 94 blessing is on a different timer than the lvl 89.  So it's very feasible to have 2 Blessings in the line-up... oh the mana it will burn...

- Dimbly, The Halfling.