Moving right along

Last night our guild had a sit down and we decided it was time to stop raiding. Some people are going to move on to larger 25 man raiding guilds, but I think for the most part, I feel that our guild had reached a logical conclusion to the progression we started about a year ago.

I just haven't felt the drive to log on lately, and I know I wasn't the only one. Getting on for raids was feeling more and more like a chore; in the past few weeks, when other guild members had other engagements and raids were getting cancelled, I felt relieved, not irritated.

I do regret not downing the Lich King, but I am pretty proud of what our little scrappy guild was able to accomplish during its run.

So I'm paid out through July and I may still log on for pvp and such, but for the most part, I think I'm pretty much on an official WoW break until Cataclysm. Looking forward to it!

Cataclysm Class Preview: Shaman

Saw these notes on MMO Champ today. Just going to break down the resto changes:

• Healing Wave will be split into two direct heals, a larger nuke heal called "Greater Healing Wave", and a medium heal with the current name.
  Not sure how I feel about this. I really am skeptical that they'll be able to make 3 levels of heals individually viable, but we'll see. With the larger health pools they've promised in Cataclysm, I can see how finer granularity could potentially be necessary
• Unleash Weapon Unleashes the power of your weapon enchants for additional effects (see below). A dual-wielding Enhancement shaman will activate the effects of both of their weapon enchants. Instant cast. 30-yard range. 15-second cooldown. Undispellable. Earthliving Weapon – Heals the target slightly and buffs the shaman's next healing spell by 20%.
  Umm, cool ability on a short cooldown, gives us another instant heal
• Healing Rain An area-effect heal-over-time (HoT) spell that calls down rain in a selected area, healing all players within it. There is no limit to the number of players who can potentially be affected; however, there are diminishing returns when healing a large number of targets, much like the diminishing returns associated with AoE damage spells. This should give Restoration shaman another healing tool that improves their group-healing and heal-over-time capabilities. 2-second cast time. 30-yard range. 10-second duration. 10-second cooldown.
  VERY NICE. Kind of like a wild growth/tranquility spell. As the only heal with no limit of targets Could be crazy OP in 25 man situations. Gotta wait on numbers to see this one
• Spiritwalker's Grace When this self-targeted buff is active, your spells are no longer interrupted by movement and possibly even by your own attacks. This will give shaman of all three specs another way to heal or do damage when it’s necessary to move in both PvE and PvP. Instant cast. 10-second duration. 2-minute cooldown.
  A really nice buff that will give us some great mobility on a cooldown.
• Dispeling Shaman will be able to remove magic defensively and offensively, and remove curses. Cleansing totem will be removed from the game.
  I'm a little disappointed with the dispel changes, but they are so closely tied to encounter mechanics, we'll have to see how those look
• Spirit Link The idea is that you will be able to link targets together so they share damage. When we had previously tried to implement Spirit Link, it was hard to balance and a little confusing. However, we really liked the concept -- and so did players -- so we are trying to bring it back.
  This could be very interesting, but I do remember when they tried it at 70 and couldn't get it to balance right
• Mastery Our passive talent tree bonuses are Healing, Meditation, and Deep Healing (increased healing to players at low health).
  No surprises here- I think these are going to be the boilerplate masteries for all healers

Looks like some really exciting changes coming up for Shaman. It looks like devs are addressing our issues with mobility and group healing, and have some good ideas for new mechanics to make cataclysm interesting. Can't wait to hear more!