8/12 in ICC 25 now.

Before I go into my, what turns into a, grumpy elf type post I want to go over my analysis from last night. A few posts back I posted about Playing "Good" DPS and wanted to see how I went based on my own assessment of what you should look for.

In DPS, and that never matters, I was number 4 over all.  In total damage done I was number 2 over all.  Right off the bat that is not bad for running with a group where 17 of the 25 players where kingslayers. The other things I look for, as I mentioned were important, like damage taken I was number 18.  15-25 were all within 0.2% of each other.  The damage I took was all from non avoidable things such as pungent blight and lay waste.  That is fantastic as I see it.  Tops on DPS, bottom on damage taken.  That is how you are supposed to do your job when you are DPS.

My DoT uptime was not perfect because I do not often use serpent sting if it is AoE trash unless there is a target we are going to focus down, then I will sting it.  I was middle of the pack with interrupts. My Activity was #2 which is great really.  The only one that should be above me is the tank and in this case possibly 3 tanks.  So being #2 was perfect.  It would also explain why I was number 2 in over all damage behind the one beast that we had going on AoE battles.  I think it should be noted that the person that was #1 in over all damage was never even near the top in single target on any of the fights.

Breaking down fights, even more so the ones where Hunters excel I did exactly what my job was to do.  I toasted everyone.  In some cases by as much as 2K DPS.  I love the dogs.  I could zone out thinking about other things and still end up doing at least 12K on them in 10 man, so a full 25 man raid is no problem for leading in DPS there.  Some fights, like rot and fester I got no love by getting the disease 4 times and getting vile gas 5 times and I still managed top 3 DPS on those fights.

Over all, if I look at my own rules for playing good DPS I think I did about 90-92% good DPS play last night.  I could do more damage I think but over all I did well.  Now to move on to Mr. Grumpiness.

After not seeing much progress in ages this is the second time in less then a week I got down some bosses that I had never gotten down before.  I went 10/12 in a complete PuG in 10 man the other day and joined a guild run from a friends guild for a 25 last night being I had not run 25s in what seems like 3 or 4 months.

We one shot our way through the first 8 bosses in a bit less then 2 hours.  That has to be a speed record for me as well in a 25 man.  Usually 6 takes 2 hours even without wipes.  I was invited back to continue with them on Thursday but I run with my guild on Thursday.  Seeing this group they will probably down (or at least get to) the king on Thursday.  Would love to be able to unlock heroics on 25 mans.  That would be a great way to recruit new players for the guild.  Having the ability to do heroics at this point is an attraction.

One thing I am noticing however after running with these 2 groups recently is that both of them really had no need for a raid leader at all.  Once in a while, in both, the raid leader might say something but over all everyone knew what to do on their own.  Even the people that had never done it before.  In both cases there were people that had never done it before as seen from achievements popping up.

I am starting to think we need to raise the standard of our recruiting.  Not to sound elitist or anything being I really hate that attitude but having people I need to try and explain everything too every single step of the way is not only annoying but unneeded.  Every single boss we go to should be a case of, "any question?" okay go.  There are more then enough videos out there, there are more then enough guides out there and there has been a ton of time for someone to experience this content.  There is no reason there should ever be a long winded explanation for anything any more.  Just a simple question here or there.  Like my questions were last night.  "Anything different in 25?" "Adds come from all four doors instead of just two, everything else is the same."  There you go, that is all that needs to be said.  If I needed more then that to be capable of doing my job correctly then that would mean I suck.

I always say I do not care about gear but about skill and that is true but I have not been doing my job well enough trying to pretend to be a raid leader.  I am not working on evaluating skill.  I think that is more a process of not having enough people show up to raid then me having the choice to choose more skilled players over the less skilled ones.  I am usually stuck in the position of taking whoever shows up.  Like having a 4200 gear score healer that never once stepped into ICC try to heal dreamwalker.  It was not like I had a choice.

If I could just get the skilled players we have to show up, which we have more then enough of, or recruit a few more skilled players to join us, we would be downing ICC 10 heroics every week and trying to complete it on heroic instead of still going for our first king kill on standard.

I think there are various reasons for the issues.  First and foremost, while I think I can lead a raid if need be I am not a recruiter or even a people person for that matter.  The skilled players are sick of trying and failing so they do not make the effort to show any more.  Then with Cataclysm coming out some are just taking some time off.  There is also the point that some of the really skilled players we have would rather join a PuG that goes 10/12 in 2 hours instead of ours that might go 7/12 in 3 and then have a near impossible time of getting enough people to continue later.

I wish I could put my finger on where we fail sometimes but it is just mechanics I think.  Our group has better DPS then any of the groups I join.  We have tanks that do not lose aggro and healers that can keep people up but we just do not get the job done and it is annoying for everyone involved.  Sometimes I just wish everyone would wake up for one night and do the best they can do.  If that were the case we have the people and the skill to go 10/12 in one 2 hour night.  Then getting people to show up to continue would be easy with the end that close in sight.


Either way I am having a touch of fun lately again which was absent for a while.  Playing my Priest in ICC means it is not like doing the same thing over and over for me.  It is keeping it fresh and more enjoyable.  Having my Hunter join in on some PuGs has also been a huge plus for me lately.  It gives me a chance to play my main again which I have been lacking lately.

Tonight is weekly night and it is XT.  I am thinking of running some alts and new players through for badges and then trying to get the best players together to blow through some hard mode stuff.  Lets just hope that the people that are capable of blowing through the hard mode stuff show up and are willing to do it.  Otherwise, it is another lost night.

That is what bugs me the most, the same people that do not show because they are tried of doing the same things are the ones that "if they all showed" we would be well past having to do the same thing over and over.  Double edged sword anyone?