New NIN

[plonq]

I was a bit ambivalent when I listened through this album last night, but I have been that way with all of Reznor's albums. I fired it up again on my MP3 player and gave it another listen after lunch today, and I am sold. It is interesting to hear his music progress from one album to the next (now that he is putting them out again). He has long since shifted away from the primal scream of Broken, and the introspective angst of Downward Spiral and moved into social commentary, backed by discordant, Enoesque ambiance. With a danceable beat at times. The Slip continues his journey into post-industrial where With Teeth started, and Year Zero left off, with a bit of Ghosts mixed in.

Even though this album is free, I would not have felt cheated paying retail for this disc. Don't download it if you are expecting a redux of Downward Spiral or Pretty Hate Machine because you will be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are a fan of ambient industrial (like me) then give this album a listen.

On a more Warcraftian note... After our SSC run last night I spent about 20 minutes sifting through the Recount statistics for the whole run. While part of my motive was pure curiosity - I like to see how the other classes operate - I also wanted to find out why the other two healing priests on the run weren't crushing me on the healing meters. By all rights they should; they have virtually the same spec as me, and substantially better gear. What I saw there made me want to cry.

Part of me wants to post a primer on our guild website. One of those "I've been playing this class forever, and here are some healing tips I've picked up over the years" things. On the other hand I can't think of any way to post something like that without coming across as an arrogant, know-it-all prick, so I'll just grumble about it a bit here and move on. Our raiding is progressing nicely, so there's no need for me to rock a boat that doesn't need righting. But...

FOR GODSAKE STOP USING FLASH HEAL AND USE RENEW INSTEAD OF IT AND STOP USING HEAL BECAUSE IT ITEMIZES HORRIBLY WITH YOUR GEAR BONUS AT LEVEL 70 SO YOU SHOULD BE USING GH1 INSTEAD BECAUSE IT TAKES THE SAME CAST TIME AND IS WAY WAY MORE EFFICIENT AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT PLEASE USE POM AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY BECAUSE IT IS VERY EFFICIENT AND HELPS THE TANKS TO BUILD AGGRO AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY IF YOU ARE GOING TO SPEND 20% OF YOUR TIME HEALING YOURSELF THEN USE BINDING HEAL!

[pant pant pant] Okay, I feel better now. =)

Comments

[pfcottontail.livejournal.com]

I was unaware of GH scaling. O.o I thought they scaled +heal with rank to make things like that less substantially useful!

I haven't healed in a while, but I used to use flash heal spams to keep people topped off while waiting for a free big heal proc. At one point I checked mana efficiency of all my spells and I thought it wasn't that bad but maybe I am wrong!

In my defense, I am a big big fan of both PoM and binding heal. >.>

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I was unaware of GH scaling. O.o I thought they scaled +heal with rank to make things like that less substantially useful!

They do, and that's part of the problem with using Heal 4, rather than GH1 as a down-ranked spell; H4 is a lower tier spell and takes a bigger hit from the nerf to coefficient. H4 looks more efficient on paper, but as soon as you start to stack on any +heal gear, GH1 quickly becomes the better choice.

Flash Heal is a good "top up" spell, especially if you down-rank it 2-3, but its fast cast time and relatively poor healing/mana ratio make it a good candidate for going OOM early in a long fight. I see too many people using it as their main heal, and that's a recipe for heartache.

[aldisara.livejournal.com]

i see your point about not rocking the boat...but thinking about the huge disparity between your numbers and theirs makes me think that maybe they could do with some tough love!

...for things like this and for making assignments i sort of think its a shame we dont have a healing captain or something like that...i can't tell you how much i hate having to listen to loq say "heal the tanks" or kazie only give the direction of "heal stuff"

[atara.livejournal.com]

A healing captain - that would be perfect. They could work with the raid leader and get healing assignments out (so that the RL doesn't have to worry about it, and can focus more on the overall strat), and also do the whole poring over Recount to see what could be improved on.

Give Hecter a nudge, hey? ;D

[aldisara.livejournal.com]

i'll mention it but i don't want it to be interpreted as volunteering for the job :P i wish everyone had a decent enough computer to run recount...its so useful!

[orleans.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed NIN music over the years and I agree that every phase Trent has gone though does add something new. I'm not sure if he'll ever match "The Downward Spiral" for overall vision and consistency, but "With Teeth" is certainly a solid recording. I haven't heard his latest yet.

"Pretty Hate Machine" is undervalued in my opinion. I think it's better than "Broken".

[plonq.livejournal.com]

He's come out with three since With Teeth; Year Zero (a solid piece of work, with an overall running theme through it), Ghosts (his instrumental piece) and The Slip (which just came out).

A lot of critics tend to finger Pretty Hate Machine as his best work, in spite of Downward Spiral's greater commercial success.

[orleans.livejournal.com]

I actually have "Year Zero" as well, and also like it, but I misremembered it as coming before "With Teeth". I wasn't aware of the instrumental album you're mentioning. I'll have to check that out. Thanks. :)