Gear Scaling:
The best part of this super gear is having fun and a few laughs while doing lower raids with this stupid gear we have now. This weeks weekly was Flame Leviathan and we still do the weekly every week for fun and for those people that are still leveling. When I saw it was Flame Leviathan I thought it would be fun to do a four towers up run just for fun.
We jump in the vehicles and mine is at five and a half million. How stupid is that? We go straight in and straight for the boss and just burn it down like it were a heroic boss. Heck, even heroic bosses are harder. We completely ignored all the crap on the floors and just when into kill, kill, kill mode.
I don't remember it being like that before. I remember it being a little bit of hell when I did that the first time. Must admit, it was sure a hell of a lot of fun to do it like that. Maybe we should do it again and try to see if we can get it down in less then 30 seconds. That would be the challenge.
Have to love bosses that scale with gear like that. Makes for some nice brainless fun. You need that sometimes.
Item Level:
Okay, I might not be a rocket scientist or anything but if I replace a piece of 325 gear with a piece of 346 gear shouldn't my average item level equipped go up? I was sitting at 341 (don't laugh, not my fault 90% of wow sucks so bad I can not spam heroics) and when I upgraded my gear from a 325 piece to a 346 piece my average item level went down. I am now sitting at a 336 average. It just makes no sense at all.
I lost 5 points by getting a piece that was 21 points higher. Even if it counts stuff in your bag I was at 341 before I got the 346 item so the items in my bag went up too as soon as I got the 346 item.
Does Blizzard fail at math? I'd like to present this as evidence that Blizzard does indeed fail horribly at math.
Spec, with gear:
Doing some playing over at femaledwarf with numbers and such last week I saw that as MM I would max out at a potential 8800 DPS and as SV it would be 9100 DPS. Mind you that these are generated numbers that consider a perfect situation and does not include buffs and such.
With such a small difference I figured I would stay with my MM spec for now. I love having silencing shot being it seems I am the only person that ever tries to interrupt things when I am in heroics and the heal from Chimera really takes a lot of pressure off healers while they are still in gearing up mode.
However, after a couple of new pieces when I test it my MM spec is up to 9200 and my SV would be up to 9800. I am guessing that hinges more on mastery then anything else but the gap is starting to get wider. I think once I am in all heroics gear if this rate keeps up the difference might be as high as 1500-2000 and it might leave me with no choice but to change over.
I am tempted now to switch over because it would give me a nice little boost in DPS but I am very fearful of doing that because, as I said, the silence shot and chimera heal do work wonders and so far it is still nearly impossible to clear a heroic with a complete PuG. My other spec will always be BM however, so I can tame and use exotic beasts. Trust me, when you are in a dungeon and someone says I wish her had a heroism they do not mind if I switch and I lose 500 DPS because my corehound and his heroism is a welcome addition.
I guess once I start completing heroics on a regular basis with PuGs then I will worry less about being helpful healing myself and silencing mobs but until that point comes I would rather do less DPS and be a team player and be more helpful to my team.
Not to mention as I've said before, the survivability of MM right now is so much better then the other specs and in at least four occasions I needed it on trash pulls gone wrong and twice I was the last person alive on a boss fight where it would have ended as a wipe if I had not been MM. MM is just to good to give up now with the 600 DPS difference but as that moves higher and becomes 1500-2000 difference it might be a lot harder to convince myself I am doing the right thing staying MM.
The thing is, gear sure as hell seems to play a huge part in DPS scaling for hunters. I only moved up a few pieces of gear and they where all minor upgrades. The increase in DPS seems to be rather large for such small upgrades. I can only imagine how I will be doing in raid gear if this type of scaling keeps up.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Enjoy The Power. (DPS)
Right now where things stand in Cataclysm at the start the most important role in a five man is that of the DPS classes. Now is our time to enjoy this position. It will not last long. Once everyone and their mother is raid geared or the second tier of raiding comes out then DPS will move back down the order of power.
When the time comes that tanks can take seemingly unending damage making life easier on the healer and they can keep threat just by giving mobs a dirty look or two meaning they can work more on damage and less on threat as it is no longer an issue then tanks will move up the power list.
When the time comes where healers can just spam one heal over and over without anyone ever being in danger of dying and can heal through bad DPS not moving, their position will move up on the power list.
Don't believe the hype that Cataclysm is a different WoW. It is only like this because it is new. It is only like this because we are all gearing up and all experiencing things for the first time. It is only like this for a short time more.
Once the masses enter raids and once people start getting the point gear things will start to change. As more people become geared better then each problem boss will become less and less of a problem until they get to the point where they are not even an issue at all.
At the moment DPS is the power player in the game. It might not seem like it all the time being we have a 45 minute wait for a dungeon. It might not seem like it because we can get kicked for anything from not saying hello to saying hello when they did not want to hear it. In the end however the success of all dungeons right now hang on DPS directly. Without good DPS the dungeon is a complete and total failure.
Tanks and Healers right now are turning red in the face and possibly calling me every name in the book but they need to understand who I am referring to here. I am referring to good DPS, not all DPS. Let me explain how good DPS holds all the power now.
A Tanks job is to Tank.
A Healers job is to Heal.
A Damage Dealers job is to deal damage, crowd control, interrupt, target switch, help the tank manage threat, help the healer manage mana, etc.
You see where this is going?
At the moment there are some pulls that can not be attacked with brute force. You need CC otherwise the tank can not round them all up. You need CC otherwise the healer will not be able to keep up with the incoming damage to the tank. Who does this fall on usually? The DPS.
At the moment there are some bosses that can one shot a tank so they need to watch their defensive cooldowns like a hawk. This means, while they can interrupt, it is a better idea for the DPS to interrupt.
At the moment there are a lot of trash mobs with some serious AoE style spells, the DPS makes sure those spells never happen. This makes the healers life easier.
At the moment if you do not move instantly and I do mean instantly you can get hit with amounts of damage that can really hurt a healers mana pool. Of course the only one that can help with that is yourself. Moving quickly and thinking preemptively can save the healer loads of mana. You being better makes your healer better.
At the moment every last bit of damage you can put out means the fight will end that much sooner. That means less hits the tank has to take. Less heals the healer has to toss out. It basically makes the fight easier the faster you can burn it down. This all falls on the able hands of our friendly neighborhood damage dealers.
When the time comes that the Tank no longer needs CC. When the AoE damage doesn't mean anything and is just ignored and burned through. When the healer does not care if you move from the pool of fire any more because they can heal through it as the boss will be dead in less then 30 seconds anyway. When all that happens. And it will, mark my words. Then DPS will once again be a dime a dozen. The good from the bad won't make a difference.
Until that point comes when you get into a dungeon as a DPS you have all the power in the world. If you (and the other 2) DPS are good DPS then the run will be smooth. No matter how completely and totally awesome the tank and healer are if the DPS suck the dungeon will fail.
Enjoy the power while it lasts because it will not last long. I give it 3 months at most before the good DPS can not be told apart from the bad DPS any more.
What is now "that hunter was great, he kited all three of those mobs for 2 minutes and never got hit even once while still doing 10K on the boss." will turn into "WTF where you doing kiting them you noob, you should have just burned the boss L2P".
Good DPS are the true power players in the game right now. Do your best to be one of the good DPS. Enjoy the praise while we can still get it. Our place in the sun will soon fade.
And now a public service announcement for all your damage dealers out there:
You can always get better.
As soon as a tank can control all mobs and hold threat like a pro... he is done getting better.
As soon as a healer can finish any fight with everyone alive and never in danger... he is done getting better.
Sure, they can both add doing damage into their arsenal but that is not their job. Once they max out doing what is their designed job, they are done. They can not get any better. They are doing their job perfect.
DPS classes can never be perfect.
DPS classes can always get better.
You can always move with the environment faster.
You can always switch to adds cleaner.
You can always line up your priority/rotation tighter.
You can always arrange for priority/rotation changes on add switches to be more effective.
You can always respond with CC on the fly more alertly.
You can always interrupt more timely leaving less room for lag error.
You can always put out more damage.
You can always get better.
Once a tank can hold threat like a pro doing more threat is useless.
Once a healer can heal everyone without issues healing more then what is needed is useless.
Once a DPS can burn down a boss in 30 seconds, they can always strive to do it in 29 next time.
We can always get better. Don't just be another DPS. Be a good DPS and always strive to be better. No matter how amazingly super fantastic you think you already are you can still be better.
Use this time, when damage dealers are the power players in the game to make a name for yourself as being a good DPS even if it is only for your own personal ego because as soon as everything becomes face roll again in a few months you will just be another idiot DPS that is being carried (as all tanks and healers seem to always think) through heroics and the only people that will know that you are really a good DPS are the people you raid with.
So go grab your favorite dwarven ale and give yourself a toast because this is your time to shine.
Cheers!
When the time comes that tanks can take seemingly unending damage making life easier on the healer and they can keep threat just by giving mobs a dirty look or two meaning they can work more on damage and less on threat as it is no longer an issue then tanks will move up the power list.
When the time comes where healers can just spam one heal over and over without anyone ever being in danger of dying and can heal through bad DPS not moving, their position will move up on the power list.
Don't believe the hype that Cataclysm is a different WoW. It is only like this because it is new. It is only like this because we are all gearing up and all experiencing things for the first time. It is only like this for a short time more.
Once the masses enter raids and once people start getting the point gear things will start to change. As more people become geared better then each problem boss will become less and less of a problem until they get to the point where they are not even an issue at all.
At the moment DPS is the power player in the game. It might not seem like it all the time being we have a 45 minute wait for a dungeon. It might not seem like it because we can get kicked for anything from not saying hello to saying hello when they did not want to hear it. In the end however the success of all dungeons right now hang on DPS directly. Without good DPS the dungeon is a complete and total failure.
Tanks and Healers right now are turning red in the face and possibly calling me every name in the book but they need to understand who I am referring to here. I am referring to good DPS, not all DPS. Let me explain how good DPS holds all the power now.
A Tanks job is to Tank.
A Healers job is to Heal.
A Damage Dealers job is to deal damage, crowd control, interrupt, target switch, help the tank manage threat, help the healer manage mana, etc.
You see where this is going?
At the moment there are some pulls that can not be attacked with brute force. You need CC otherwise the tank can not round them all up. You need CC otherwise the healer will not be able to keep up with the incoming damage to the tank. Who does this fall on usually? The DPS.
At the moment there are some bosses that can one shot a tank so they need to watch their defensive cooldowns like a hawk. This means, while they can interrupt, it is a better idea for the DPS to interrupt.
At the moment there are a lot of trash mobs with some serious AoE style spells, the DPS makes sure those spells never happen. This makes the healers life easier.
At the moment if you do not move instantly and I do mean instantly you can get hit with amounts of damage that can really hurt a healers mana pool. Of course the only one that can help with that is yourself. Moving quickly and thinking preemptively can save the healer loads of mana. You being better makes your healer better.
At the moment every last bit of damage you can put out means the fight will end that much sooner. That means less hits the tank has to take. Less heals the healer has to toss out. It basically makes the fight easier the faster you can burn it down. This all falls on the able hands of our friendly neighborhood damage dealers.
When the time comes that the Tank no longer needs CC. When the AoE damage doesn't mean anything and is just ignored and burned through. When the healer does not care if you move from the pool of fire any more because they can heal through it as the boss will be dead in less then 30 seconds anyway. When all that happens. And it will, mark my words. Then DPS will once again be a dime a dozen. The good from the bad won't make a difference.
Until that point comes when you get into a dungeon as a DPS you have all the power in the world. If you (and the other 2) DPS are good DPS then the run will be smooth. No matter how completely and totally awesome the tank and healer are if the DPS suck the dungeon will fail.
Enjoy the power while it lasts because it will not last long. I give it 3 months at most before the good DPS can not be told apart from the bad DPS any more.
What is now "that hunter was great, he kited all three of those mobs for 2 minutes and never got hit even once while still doing 10K on the boss." will turn into "WTF where you doing kiting them you noob, you should have just burned the boss L2P".
Good DPS are the true power players in the game right now. Do your best to be one of the good DPS. Enjoy the praise while we can still get it. Our place in the sun will soon fade.
And now a public service announcement for all your damage dealers out there:
You can always get better.
As soon as a tank can control all mobs and hold threat like a pro... he is done getting better.
As soon as a healer can finish any fight with everyone alive and never in danger... he is done getting better.
Sure, they can both add doing damage into their arsenal but that is not their job. Once they max out doing what is their designed job, they are done. They can not get any better. They are doing their job perfect.
DPS classes can never be perfect.
DPS classes can always get better.
You can always move with the environment faster.
You can always switch to adds cleaner.
You can always line up your priority/rotation tighter.
You can always arrange for priority/rotation changes on add switches to be more effective.
You can always respond with CC on the fly more alertly.
You can always interrupt more timely leaving less room for lag error.
You can always put out more damage.
You can always get better.
Once a tank can hold threat like a pro doing more threat is useless.
Once a healer can heal everyone without issues healing more then what is needed is useless.
Once a DPS can burn down a boss in 30 seconds, they can always strive to do it in 29 next time.
We can always get better. Don't just be another DPS. Be a good DPS and always strive to be better. No matter how amazingly super fantastic you think you already are you can still be better.
Use this time, when damage dealers are the power players in the game to make a name for yourself as being a good DPS even if it is only for your own personal ego because as soon as everything becomes face roll again in a few months you will just be another idiot DPS that is being carried (as all tanks and healers seem to always think) through heroics and the only people that will know that you are really a good DPS are the people you raid with.
So go grab your favorite dwarven ale and give yourself a toast because this is your time to shine.
Cheers!
Droping in Dungeons
We did a few guild run heroics last night and had to pug a healer being we are still not healing ready so to speak. If you are going to need a 5th person ever the healer is the one you want as your 5th.
Pugging a DPS could mean you always have a dead DPS because they do something wrong or a dead group because they do something wrong. Same goes for pugging a tank. As long as a healer knows how to heal and step out of stuff on the ground they are fine, there really isn't anything they can do that could mess anyone up.
I just noticed that healers, like tanks, drop groups for no reason. Even when there no one is wiping. I don't get it.
First run was BRC heroic as our random. No problems there, even got the achievement on the first guy. We had one wipe on the 3rd boss because he bugged and did not want to leave the center. Anyone else have that happen sometimes? Annoying I tell you. Otherwise it was a smooth run. Thank god for guild runs. Every PuG I get into can not get past the first boss and even if we do, the second boss is a dead end.
The healer was a good healer. Priest, so they had to drink a lot, but they did a fantastic job. When we were done we told the priest we were going to do another one and the priest said they would love to come along. I guess for them finding a good group is as exciting as for me finding a good group on a random. The priest said that they needed 5 minutes. So we said we would take a 5 minute break and then go for another.
Have to admit, finding a group that can run through a heroic without wiping (except for that bug) it is a group you want to stay with. I know I would not leave if I was the fifth and someone said to me they wanted to do another. Finding a group like that is rare at this moment in wow, or at least for me it is.
When we were ready to choose another random the healer dropped. This is 2 seconds after he said he was good for another. No big deal, we will grab another healer. We enter the next heroic. ToT. I've never done that one on heroic and was worried because the trash there is worse then any of the bosses on normal so I knew heroic would be interesting.
Needless to say, we wipe on trash. I saw it coming. We come back in, finish the trash and move on to the first boss. Down the boss no problem. One person went down early but it was no big deal, we were still able to down the boss easy.
We go along to the second boss, down it no problem. Healer leaves without saying a word. Okay, maybe they were looking for a drop from that boss. We get a new healer. Tank runs into the first pack and gets his butt handed to him and dies. We somehow manage to hold them all off only lossing one of the DPS and the tank zergs back in and joins us to down the last one.
Wow, that was interesting. Did the tank really get hit that hard or was the healer really that slow? Who knows and we did not get a chance to see their healing ability any more. The healer waited for the tank to pull the next trash pack first before leaving of course.
Why do all assholes do that? They could have said, I have to go. They could have said you suck because you wipe on trash I am out of here. They could have said anything. Why wait until someone pulls before leaving? I will never understand that concept. I guess you need to be a special type of stupid to understand what retards like that are thinking.
We get another healer, decked in all heroics too. Okay, we might be able to get this one done. Healer comes in like he owns the place. Tells everyone what is happening and so forth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We go in and pull and start downing stuff. One person drops. Then another. It is just me, the tank and the healer now. I drop. The healer drops. It is just the tank now. He is doing damn good all by himself too. We zerg back in and the tank dies just before we get to him. The mobs had like 2% life left. Damn we where close.
Healer of course, leaves. That one was a good thing for us. The healer never healed anyone but himself and the tank. That is why we all dropped so quick. That thing lifting people in the air and dropping them causing them to take damage must be the DPS's own fault and that is why the healer did not heal any of the DPS. I only lasted longer because I always disengage when dropped. That way I take no fall damage. Some heroic geared healer. That guy sucked big time. As a healer your main job is to heal. When you do not heal anyone you really are not useful at all. We are lucky they left.
Next healer comes in. We move along the hall and come to that guy that throw everyone up in the air again for our revenge this time and everyone dies. Healer said, I'm sorry I did not know he would do that, never been here. I say, no worries, now you know. We all need to learn some time.
We down the trash and get to the boss and give the healer a quick run down. I love explaining fights to a healer. In most cases they are as simple as "stay out of the bad stuff and heal people". This is one of those fights. He gets it, we down it with no problem, we move on.
On the route to the last boss we wipe on the trash not once, not twice, but three times. Holy crap. What the hell was that? Healer could not keep up with the AoE the water guys do. Hey, it is his first ever heroic and he has never even been in this one even on normal. We all cut him some slack.
We get to the boss and explain it to him again. Stay out of the bad stuff and heal people. Healing is so easy to explain to someone that has never done the simple bosses before. Running with rookie healers is a hell of a lot easier then running with rookie DPS. We wipe once. Come back and blow it away no problem.
I knew it before we even started. I said it to my guild mates on vent. I said I bet we wipe on the trash more then bosses and that held true. We wiped so many times on trash and only once on a boss.
I must say I am glad that I was able to get a few heroics in with the guild. Doing them on randoms is frustrating as hell. Heck, even normals are still frustrating sometimes. I got HoO as my normal random yesterday with a group of all 85s and a tank that did not realize that keeping those guys in the puddles on the ground healed them. Oh joy. I hope I do not run into that tank in a heroic if he can not handle basic tactics in a normal.
I just wonder what the problem with healers is? They leave for no reason. They leave at the first sign of trouble. They leave because they do not get a drop. I had always thought of healers as the selfless ones. The type of people that sacrifice their own personal glory for the betterment of a team effort. Lately healers seem to be the new tanks. All self centered and everything is all about them.
Why is it that healers leave so often and usually for no reason? Maybe the instant query is what makes them do it. I think being healers and tanks are in such small numbers that they take advantage of that. I think there should be very stiff penalties for leaving right after a boss fight that was not a wipe. Something like a 48 hour cooldown where you can not enter any dungeons or any raids. That would keep people from dropping group for no reason or because they are pissed their item did not drop.
Actually, that is a fantastic idea. If anyone ever leaves at any point in the dungeon that was not directly preceded by a compete wipe gets a 48 hour debuff that will not allow them to enter any instances (raid or dungeon) until it is off. That will keep people from leaving mid pull or if their item does not drop. Great idea, problem fixed.
Could you imagine some top end raiding guild not being able to run because their top healer was acting like some elitist prick leaving a random group mid pull? That would make my day.
Yes, I am aware that would never work. People would just close the wow window and wait until they where kicked for disconnecting to avoid the debuff, but it is still a nice idea.
I just do not get why people drop so quickly. Even more so after a successful and easy boss fight. That makes no sense.
Pugging a DPS could mean you always have a dead DPS because they do something wrong or a dead group because they do something wrong. Same goes for pugging a tank. As long as a healer knows how to heal and step out of stuff on the ground they are fine, there really isn't anything they can do that could mess anyone up.
I just noticed that healers, like tanks, drop groups for no reason. Even when there no one is wiping. I don't get it.
First run was BRC heroic as our random. No problems there, even got the achievement on the first guy. We had one wipe on the 3rd boss because he bugged and did not want to leave the center. Anyone else have that happen sometimes? Annoying I tell you. Otherwise it was a smooth run. Thank god for guild runs. Every PuG I get into can not get past the first boss and even if we do, the second boss is a dead end.
The healer was a good healer. Priest, so they had to drink a lot, but they did a fantastic job. When we were done we told the priest we were going to do another one and the priest said they would love to come along. I guess for them finding a good group is as exciting as for me finding a good group on a random. The priest said that they needed 5 minutes. So we said we would take a 5 minute break and then go for another.
Have to admit, finding a group that can run through a heroic without wiping (except for that bug) it is a group you want to stay with. I know I would not leave if I was the fifth and someone said to me they wanted to do another. Finding a group like that is rare at this moment in wow, or at least for me it is.
When we were ready to choose another random the healer dropped. This is 2 seconds after he said he was good for another. No big deal, we will grab another healer. We enter the next heroic. ToT. I've never done that one on heroic and was worried because the trash there is worse then any of the bosses on normal so I knew heroic would be interesting.
Needless to say, we wipe on trash. I saw it coming. We come back in, finish the trash and move on to the first boss. Down the boss no problem. One person went down early but it was no big deal, we were still able to down the boss easy.
We go along to the second boss, down it no problem. Healer leaves without saying a word. Okay, maybe they were looking for a drop from that boss. We get a new healer. Tank runs into the first pack and gets his butt handed to him and dies. We somehow manage to hold them all off only lossing one of the DPS and the tank zergs back in and joins us to down the last one.
Wow, that was interesting. Did the tank really get hit that hard or was the healer really that slow? Who knows and we did not get a chance to see their healing ability any more. The healer waited for the tank to pull the next trash pack first before leaving of course.
Why do all assholes do that? They could have said, I have to go. They could have said you suck because you wipe on trash I am out of here. They could have said anything. Why wait until someone pulls before leaving? I will never understand that concept. I guess you need to be a special type of stupid to understand what retards like that are thinking.
We get another healer, decked in all heroics too. Okay, we might be able to get this one done. Healer comes in like he owns the place. Tells everyone what is happening and so forth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We go in and pull and start downing stuff. One person drops. Then another. It is just me, the tank and the healer now. I drop. The healer drops. It is just the tank now. He is doing damn good all by himself too. We zerg back in and the tank dies just before we get to him. The mobs had like 2% life left. Damn we where close.
Healer of course, leaves. That one was a good thing for us. The healer never healed anyone but himself and the tank. That is why we all dropped so quick. That thing lifting people in the air and dropping them causing them to take damage must be the DPS's own fault and that is why the healer did not heal any of the DPS. I only lasted longer because I always disengage when dropped. That way I take no fall damage. Some heroic geared healer. That guy sucked big time. As a healer your main job is to heal. When you do not heal anyone you really are not useful at all. We are lucky they left.
Next healer comes in. We move along the hall and come to that guy that throw everyone up in the air again for our revenge this time and everyone dies. Healer said, I'm sorry I did not know he would do that, never been here. I say, no worries, now you know. We all need to learn some time.
We down the trash and get to the boss and give the healer a quick run down. I love explaining fights to a healer. In most cases they are as simple as "stay out of the bad stuff and heal people". This is one of those fights. He gets it, we down it with no problem, we move on.
On the route to the last boss we wipe on the trash not once, not twice, but three times. Holy crap. What the hell was that? Healer could not keep up with the AoE the water guys do. Hey, it is his first ever heroic and he has never even been in this one even on normal. We all cut him some slack.
We get to the boss and explain it to him again. Stay out of the bad stuff and heal people. Healing is so easy to explain to someone that has never done the simple bosses before. Running with rookie healers is a hell of a lot easier then running with rookie DPS. We wipe once. Come back and blow it away no problem.
I knew it before we even started. I said it to my guild mates on vent. I said I bet we wipe on the trash more then bosses and that held true. We wiped so many times on trash and only once on a boss.
I must say I am glad that I was able to get a few heroics in with the guild. Doing them on randoms is frustrating as hell. Heck, even normals are still frustrating sometimes. I got HoO as my normal random yesterday with a group of all 85s and a tank that did not realize that keeping those guys in the puddles on the ground healed them. Oh joy. I hope I do not run into that tank in a heroic if he can not handle basic tactics in a normal.
I just wonder what the problem with healers is? They leave for no reason. They leave at the first sign of trouble. They leave because they do not get a drop. I had always thought of healers as the selfless ones. The type of people that sacrifice their own personal glory for the betterment of a team effort. Lately healers seem to be the new tanks. All self centered and everything is all about them.
Why is it that healers leave so often and usually for no reason? Maybe the instant query is what makes them do it. I think being healers and tanks are in such small numbers that they take advantage of that. I think there should be very stiff penalties for leaving right after a boss fight that was not a wipe. Something like a 48 hour cooldown where you can not enter any dungeons or any raids. That would keep people from dropping group for no reason or because they are pissed their item did not drop.
Actually, that is a fantastic idea. If anyone ever leaves at any point in the dungeon that was not directly preceded by a compete wipe gets a 48 hour debuff that will not allow them to enter any instances (raid or dungeon) until it is off. That will keep people from leaving mid pull or if their item does not drop. Great idea, problem fixed.
Could you imagine some top end raiding guild not being able to run because their top healer was acting like some elitist prick leaving a random group mid pull? That would make my day.
Yes, I am aware that would never work. People would just close the wow window and wait until they where kicked for disconnecting to avoid the debuff, but it is still a nice idea.
I just do not get why people drop so quickly. Even more so after a successful and easy boss fight. That makes no sense.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Time to work on the healers?
My Bear is leveling as a Bear of course. Resto is not really great for questing. My Shaman will level Enhancement. Again, Resto is not really great for questing. My Priest is Disc and will level Disc however. When it comes to questing you might kill things a tad bit slower but you will never get hit if you control your battles.
When thinking of which healer to level first I have to figure out which one is the best route to go. Priest has the obvious advantage of not needing to gear up for two different specs. However, with Priest mana regen being nerfed as bad as it has I do not look forward to healing as a Priest at all. That is why I am locked at 80 for now. Until I decide.
I heal for guild mates on the low level dungeons and do not have to worry about taking the penalty of leveling. Really, leveling as a healer makes people cringe in pain. Each time you level you think to yourself how much harder it just got.
That harder part is one of the reasons I think I want to level a healer now. After tons of failures in dungeons I know as a DPS with the wait time and failure of groups it feels like it is going to take me a year to finish them all. With a healer I still get to be challenged with mana issues but I get instant query and basically if I wanted to I can hand pick who I run with for premades to assure I do not have run with people that will make mistakes.
Based on seeing the healers I had yesterday in the GB I was in, the ones that could not move from Blitz over and over, there is proof positive that you do not even need to be good to be decked out in all heroic and raid gear already. They were all horrible and they all had fantastic gear.
As a healer I can be decked out in full heroics in less then 1 day. That seems almost too easy if you ask me. Instant query. More tolerance being everyone knows mana issues are bad now. Being able to pick my own groups. Not having to worry about so much in dungeons. I don't know about you, but that all seems good to me.
As DPS you wait forever and then all the pressure is on you. You need to burn the boss before the healer goes OOM. You need to switch to adds. You need to interrupt. You basically need to do everything.
As a tank you need to keep the mobs off everyone else which can sometimes be harder then other times but you also get instant query. You are also expected to mark all mobs and make all assignments.
As a healer everything is easy compared (when not considering mana issues).
Boss does not go down fast enough? Not the healers fault.
Adds not getting killed? Not the healers fault.
Mobs all over the place? Not the healers fault.
CC not used? Not the healers fault.
CC broken? Not the healers fault.
Anything that goes wrong is usually not the healers fault. Not in this day and age where everyone knows that all fights have an unwritten enrage timer on them and that enrage timer is called the healers mana bar. As soon as that mana bar hits 0 everyone dies. It is not the healers fault they went OOM, it is the DPS that are at fault. If they downed the boss faster you would not have run out of mana.
The "hard" part of cataclysm dungeons are avoidable damage, cc and interrupts. Avoiding damage is easy once you do it a few times, CC is more about someone assigning it and interrupts are not the healers problem. So all the healer has to do is heal the people around them. Stressful for sure but more often then not if there is a wipe it is not the healers fault.
So I would get to fill the role no one else seems to want to play, I would get to finally see content on a more then one dungeon per day rate and I would not be the one with all the pressure on me. Not to mention that with no healers in my guild now really (only 1 at 85) I can run randoms all day long AND help my guild out by helping gear them up.
Like I said, the mana bar is the only real pressure on healers if they are running with competent people. So if you think about it that way, there really is no pressure.
Now back to what I was thinking. Which healer should I level?
I think my Disc Priest is the best option because I enjoy playing it and in the end, even with the issues they have now, I want to have fun playing the game and I would like to enjoy what I do. I find Disc healing fun and I really want to find something fun in this expansion because so far there is too little to enjoy about it.
I've never healed as a Shaman however. My Shaman does not even have a second spec. I've had three people tell me however that Shaman healing is easy. One person said he rolled a Shaman healer so his dog can take over for him when he had to go to the bathroom. Of course it was a joke but that kind of explains how easy he thought Shaman healing is. I am not entirely sure I would like that however. I want some challenge even if minimal.
As for my Druid I am still depressed that there is no tree any more. If anything that is reason enough not to play a Druid healer. I also need to work on my Druid anyway because I need to level my jewel crafting.
Now to see what happens tonight. I'll go on my Hunter and do my dailies and hope that I get a group that does not suck. 2 days in a row without a heroic now. Then I will see how much time I have left and decide on a whim.
So far everything in this expansion makes no sense what so ever.
Like my second highest leveled character is my Rogue. What the hell is that? Why am I even playing my Rogue?
This expansion makes no sense and everything around it makes no sense either.
I've already got my excuse for letting stupid DPS die in heroics.
I'm sorry, you must have been out of my range while standing in that avoidable damage when I moved away from it.
Yes, I'll let people die if they do the same mistake more then twice. See, I am nice. I give them two times to learn.
When thinking of which healer to level first I have to figure out which one is the best route to go. Priest has the obvious advantage of not needing to gear up for two different specs. However, with Priest mana regen being nerfed as bad as it has I do not look forward to healing as a Priest at all. That is why I am locked at 80 for now. Until I decide.
I heal for guild mates on the low level dungeons and do not have to worry about taking the penalty of leveling. Really, leveling as a healer makes people cringe in pain. Each time you level you think to yourself how much harder it just got.
That harder part is one of the reasons I think I want to level a healer now. After tons of failures in dungeons I know as a DPS with the wait time and failure of groups it feels like it is going to take me a year to finish them all. With a healer I still get to be challenged with mana issues but I get instant query and basically if I wanted to I can hand pick who I run with for premades to assure I do not have run with people that will make mistakes.
Based on seeing the healers I had yesterday in the GB I was in, the ones that could not move from Blitz over and over, there is proof positive that you do not even need to be good to be decked out in all heroic and raid gear already. They were all horrible and they all had fantastic gear.
As a healer I can be decked out in full heroics in less then 1 day. That seems almost too easy if you ask me. Instant query. More tolerance being everyone knows mana issues are bad now. Being able to pick my own groups. Not having to worry about so much in dungeons. I don't know about you, but that all seems good to me.
As DPS you wait forever and then all the pressure is on you. You need to burn the boss before the healer goes OOM. You need to switch to adds. You need to interrupt. You basically need to do everything.
As a tank you need to keep the mobs off everyone else which can sometimes be harder then other times but you also get instant query. You are also expected to mark all mobs and make all assignments.
As a healer everything is easy compared (when not considering mana issues).
Boss does not go down fast enough? Not the healers fault.
Adds not getting killed? Not the healers fault.
Mobs all over the place? Not the healers fault.
CC not used? Not the healers fault.
CC broken? Not the healers fault.
Anything that goes wrong is usually not the healers fault. Not in this day and age where everyone knows that all fights have an unwritten enrage timer on them and that enrage timer is called the healers mana bar. As soon as that mana bar hits 0 everyone dies. It is not the healers fault they went OOM, it is the DPS that are at fault. If they downed the boss faster you would not have run out of mana.
The "hard" part of cataclysm dungeons are avoidable damage, cc and interrupts. Avoiding damage is easy once you do it a few times, CC is more about someone assigning it and interrupts are not the healers problem. So all the healer has to do is heal the people around them. Stressful for sure but more often then not if there is a wipe it is not the healers fault.
So I would get to fill the role no one else seems to want to play, I would get to finally see content on a more then one dungeon per day rate and I would not be the one with all the pressure on me. Not to mention that with no healers in my guild now really (only 1 at 85) I can run randoms all day long AND help my guild out by helping gear them up.
Like I said, the mana bar is the only real pressure on healers if they are running with competent people. So if you think about it that way, there really is no pressure.
Now back to what I was thinking. Which healer should I level?
I think my Disc Priest is the best option because I enjoy playing it and in the end, even with the issues they have now, I want to have fun playing the game and I would like to enjoy what I do. I find Disc healing fun and I really want to find something fun in this expansion because so far there is too little to enjoy about it.
I've never healed as a Shaman however. My Shaman does not even have a second spec. I've had three people tell me however that Shaman healing is easy. One person said he rolled a Shaman healer so his dog can take over for him when he had to go to the bathroom. Of course it was a joke but that kind of explains how easy he thought Shaman healing is. I am not entirely sure I would like that however. I want some challenge even if minimal.
As for my Druid I am still depressed that there is no tree any more. If anything that is reason enough not to play a Druid healer. I also need to work on my Druid anyway because I need to level my jewel crafting.
Now to see what happens tonight. I'll go on my Hunter and do my dailies and hope that I get a group that does not suck. 2 days in a row without a heroic now. Then I will see how much time I have left and decide on a whim.
So far everything in this expansion makes no sense what so ever.
Like my second highest leveled character is my Rogue. What the hell is that? Why am I even playing my Rogue?
This expansion makes no sense and everything around it makes no sense either.
I've already got my excuse for letting stupid DPS die in heroics.
I'm sorry, you must have been out of my range while standing in that avoidable damage when I moved away from it.
Yes, I'll let people die if they do the same mistake more then twice. See, I am nice. I give them two times to learn.
Heroics need a leader.
I got into GB as my heroic yesterday and it was a total disaster again. Never even got a dungeon in yesterday. I did not have a lot of time and wasting over an hour trying to get one boss down left me not even wanting to try again.
I had about an hour left before I was going to head off and with a 30-45 minute wait time and the knowledge that getting in a pug that last less then 2 hours is still a major miracle it seemed it was just not worth it. There were a few groups from the guild doing runs but only normals and I did not want to hijack the 85s helping others to make a heroic group just for me, I am not selfish like that.
So they ran their normals and another day goes by where I do not get a heroic done. It is a really sad state of events still. Sure I could get lucky and get a good group but with my bad luck that is like a one in ten chance at best.
The biggest thing I have noticed is that a 5 man dungeon run needs a leader. When I am in a heroic with someone that is chatty (usually the tank) things seem to go smoothly. Even if no one in the group has even one piece of heroic gear you can clear a heroic with a little communication. I know that for a fact, I've done it.
I've also been in groups where everyone (except me of course) was in all heroic and raid gear and they wipe over and over and over. Needless to say it is not because they do not know the fights, they have heroic gear so they have to have done heroics you would think.
It is the fact there is no leader. When you are in a group with four other people you do not know then there is no "normal". Like in GB, the druid will normally hibernate one of the dragonkin. If you do not tell the druid to do that, or if the druid does not say "I am going to CC this one" then no one knows. It breaks down and becomes a mess.
Broken CC because no one said who they were CCing. Targeting the wrong focus because no one set an attack order. It becomes a holy mess.
Mind you, a holy mess can sometimes be fun. One of the trash pulls two DPS and the tank died and it was just me and the druid healer against 4 mobs that had not even been touched.
I multi kited, shot when I could, double trapped, concussived the one I was working on while throwing a silence shot over to the caster whenever it was off cooldown and the druid rooted one melee. It took a whole mess of me moving like a rabbit bouncing all over the place. Some excellent healing and a little bit of luck later and we downed all 4 of the elites and the healer went on to revive the three people that died. Exciting, I loved it. That is some fun stuff there but there where two huge problems here and they are both because of lack of communication.
First problem is why was the CC broken? Lack of communication. If there was a set order for CC everyone would have known who it was on and who was doing it. That way they would have been less likely to break it.
Second problem is why where mobs up so long and targeting DPS? It is because nothing was marked and the whole assist thing that everyone says you need to do it about as retarded as banging your head against a wall because it gives you a cool buzz.
When mobs are all over the place like that and the tank is trying to gather them up the tank is not focusing on one target, he is focusing on all of them to build threat on them. If DPS 1 targets him while he is on one target and DPS 2 targets him while he is on another target then you have 2 DPS hitting 2 different targets. Do not assist tanks, but then again, when nothing is marked, that is the correct way to do it I guess. Just a clusterfuck. Communication would have fixed this.
Personally I hold off DPS for a few seconds until the tank gathers them up and then go after his focus.
I could add another thing here but I understand why no one did it. It is not a boss fight, why did they not just released and come back in to help. I know why. They thought it would be a wipe. One lonely hunter and a druid healer against 4 elites that we are still under geared to beat as a 5 man team? That has wipe written all over it.
Either way, we finally make it to the first boss and the healer leaves. They do not want to get saved, they figure if we had trouble getting here then we are not finishing. Lame excuse but okay. Another healer comes in and they say they know the fight. We go in, they get charged, they die, wipe shortly after.
We try again, same results, healer gets charged and dies and we wipe. A DPS leaves and the healer leaves.
Third attempt, different healer, same results. Do healers understand that mechanics are not just for DPS and that the healer needs to pay attention to them as well? None of the ones I've seen recently seem to know that.
Forth attempt, with another new DPS. Now I am the only ranged. No fun going after that add alone. Either way, not much of an issue. The new DPS dies to the first charge. I get hit by the second while kiting the purple guy and end up dying when I kill the purple guy and the wipe comes shortly after because without me doing the purple guy they figure no one has to now. It was my job and if I am dead that means the job is done. Doesn't make a difference, they were not doing it with 1 tank, 1 healer and 1 DPS.
Fifth attempt ended with a reset, how the hell I did that I do not know. The healer did what it is healers seem to do in this heroic and died to the blitz and the tank went down shortly after followed by a melee DPS. The boss focused on me and I did what a good hunter does. I ran. Well, kited sounds better. When I got far enough away, he reset.
Sixth attempt was something different. No clue what hit the tank but he went down like a ton of bricks and we all followed.
Seventh attempt. More healer failure. Do you have DBM? Why? Because it will tell you when to move because the blitz is coming. I know when to move. Dead healer. Wipe.
Healer leaves because we are taking to much damage. Excuse me? Who is the one dying because they refuse to move. DPS drops and then me, the tank and the other DPS all stand around. None willing to hit the button to find more. I wish them well and go about my day.
It all comes down to communication. No one was talking, even on the boss fight. No one asked if everyone knew the fight. No one said anything to the healer until they died a few times from the same thing. No one understood that I was drawing the purple one away for a reason. One person even yelled at me because I was making it harder for the tank to pick up adds because I kept drawing the purple one away. No one said anything useful.
As bad as that looks we got it down below 50% nearly every time. It was not like we were totally horrible. It was just that a little communication would have helped. If we spend 10 minutes talking before the pull we would not have had to spend 1 hour wiping on it over and over.
Heroics need a leader. Anyone, usually the tank. Just someone to step up and take charge.
The only heroics I have ever been in where we downed bosses had someone step up and talk. They would say, okay when he does this do this. Hunter I need you to do this. Warrior you stay on the boss but step away when he casts this. Blah, blah blah. Most of the time, if someone takes the time to do that it means one or two wipes at most. Usually down the first time.
I guess I just need to wait until I am lucky enough to find a group with an actual leader. You might ask why I do not lead and I have the perfect answer for that. One dungeon I was in someone said has anyone ever done this before. Everyone said no except me, I said I have. I started to explain the fight to everyone and someone said I am not the leader and I should shut up. So I left.
For some reason, even if a Hunter is the only one that knows the fight no one wants to hear how to do it from a Hunter because Hunters are always idiots as far as they are concerned. Thank god for Death Knights otherwise Hunters would take even more abuse. Death Knights take the most now.
Heroics do need a leader however or until we all woefully over gear them they will never be a nice easy run. Without a leader or guild run however, they seem nearly impossible still. Very sad. Every time I end up with another fail group it makes me start to wonder why I even play this game. If the skill level of people does not greatly increase soon I can see many people quitting. It is no fun not being able to run a heroic for fun whenever you want to.
I miss the good old days of doing a random for something to do. Just for the hell of it. It was fun sometimes. The fun is completely gone from the game at the moment. It is no fun knowing that 9 times out of 10 you are going to get a group of people that can't tell their ass from their elbow. I would like to see the fun bought back into the game but the only way that is going to happen is if people get smarter.
Being that is not going to happen I do not see this game being any fun in the near future. I guess I will continue to work on my Archaeology trying to get my alchemy recipe. That, is not fun either.
I had about an hour left before I was going to head off and with a 30-45 minute wait time and the knowledge that getting in a pug that last less then 2 hours is still a major miracle it seemed it was just not worth it. There were a few groups from the guild doing runs but only normals and I did not want to hijack the 85s helping others to make a heroic group just for me, I am not selfish like that.
So they ran their normals and another day goes by where I do not get a heroic done. It is a really sad state of events still. Sure I could get lucky and get a good group but with my bad luck that is like a one in ten chance at best.
The biggest thing I have noticed is that a 5 man dungeon run needs a leader. When I am in a heroic with someone that is chatty (usually the tank) things seem to go smoothly. Even if no one in the group has even one piece of heroic gear you can clear a heroic with a little communication. I know that for a fact, I've done it.
I've also been in groups where everyone (except me of course) was in all heroic and raid gear and they wipe over and over and over. Needless to say it is not because they do not know the fights, they have heroic gear so they have to have done heroics you would think.
It is the fact there is no leader. When you are in a group with four other people you do not know then there is no "normal". Like in GB, the druid will normally hibernate one of the dragonkin. If you do not tell the druid to do that, or if the druid does not say "I am going to CC this one" then no one knows. It breaks down and becomes a mess.
Broken CC because no one said who they were CCing. Targeting the wrong focus because no one set an attack order. It becomes a holy mess.
Mind you, a holy mess can sometimes be fun. One of the trash pulls two DPS and the tank died and it was just me and the druid healer against 4 mobs that had not even been touched.
I multi kited, shot when I could, double trapped, concussived the one I was working on while throwing a silence shot over to the caster whenever it was off cooldown and the druid rooted one melee. It took a whole mess of me moving like a rabbit bouncing all over the place. Some excellent healing and a little bit of luck later and we downed all 4 of the elites and the healer went on to revive the three people that died. Exciting, I loved it. That is some fun stuff there but there where two huge problems here and they are both because of lack of communication.
First problem is why was the CC broken? Lack of communication. If there was a set order for CC everyone would have known who it was on and who was doing it. That way they would have been less likely to break it.
Second problem is why where mobs up so long and targeting DPS? It is because nothing was marked and the whole assist thing that everyone says you need to do it about as retarded as banging your head against a wall because it gives you a cool buzz.
When mobs are all over the place like that and the tank is trying to gather them up the tank is not focusing on one target, he is focusing on all of them to build threat on them. If DPS 1 targets him while he is on one target and DPS 2 targets him while he is on another target then you have 2 DPS hitting 2 different targets. Do not assist tanks, but then again, when nothing is marked, that is the correct way to do it I guess. Just a clusterfuck. Communication would have fixed this.
Personally I hold off DPS for a few seconds until the tank gathers them up and then go after his focus.
I could add another thing here but I understand why no one did it. It is not a boss fight, why did they not just released and come back in to help. I know why. They thought it would be a wipe. One lonely hunter and a druid healer against 4 elites that we are still under geared to beat as a 5 man team? That has wipe written all over it.
Either way, we finally make it to the first boss and the healer leaves. They do not want to get saved, they figure if we had trouble getting here then we are not finishing. Lame excuse but okay. Another healer comes in and they say they know the fight. We go in, they get charged, they die, wipe shortly after.
We try again, same results, healer gets charged and dies and we wipe. A DPS leaves and the healer leaves.
Third attempt, different healer, same results. Do healers understand that mechanics are not just for DPS and that the healer needs to pay attention to them as well? None of the ones I've seen recently seem to know that.
Forth attempt, with another new DPS. Now I am the only ranged. No fun going after that add alone. Either way, not much of an issue. The new DPS dies to the first charge. I get hit by the second while kiting the purple guy and end up dying when I kill the purple guy and the wipe comes shortly after because without me doing the purple guy they figure no one has to now. It was my job and if I am dead that means the job is done. Doesn't make a difference, they were not doing it with 1 tank, 1 healer and 1 DPS.
Fifth attempt ended with a reset, how the hell I did that I do not know. The healer did what it is healers seem to do in this heroic and died to the blitz and the tank went down shortly after followed by a melee DPS. The boss focused on me and I did what a good hunter does. I ran. Well, kited sounds better. When I got far enough away, he reset.
Sixth attempt was something different. No clue what hit the tank but he went down like a ton of bricks and we all followed.
Seventh attempt. More healer failure. Do you have DBM? Why? Because it will tell you when to move because the blitz is coming. I know when to move. Dead healer. Wipe.
Healer leaves because we are taking to much damage. Excuse me? Who is the one dying because they refuse to move. DPS drops and then me, the tank and the other DPS all stand around. None willing to hit the button to find more. I wish them well and go about my day.
It all comes down to communication. No one was talking, even on the boss fight. No one asked if everyone knew the fight. No one said anything to the healer until they died a few times from the same thing. No one understood that I was drawing the purple one away for a reason. One person even yelled at me because I was making it harder for the tank to pick up adds because I kept drawing the purple one away. No one said anything useful.
As bad as that looks we got it down below 50% nearly every time. It was not like we were totally horrible. It was just that a little communication would have helped. If we spend 10 minutes talking before the pull we would not have had to spend 1 hour wiping on it over and over.
Heroics need a leader. Anyone, usually the tank. Just someone to step up and take charge.
The only heroics I have ever been in where we downed bosses had someone step up and talk. They would say, okay when he does this do this. Hunter I need you to do this. Warrior you stay on the boss but step away when he casts this. Blah, blah blah. Most of the time, if someone takes the time to do that it means one or two wipes at most. Usually down the first time.
I guess I just need to wait until I am lucky enough to find a group with an actual leader. You might ask why I do not lead and I have the perfect answer for that. One dungeon I was in someone said has anyone ever done this before. Everyone said no except me, I said I have. I started to explain the fight to everyone and someone said I am not the leader and I should shut up. So I left.
For some reason, even if a Hunter is the only one that knows the fight no one wants to hear how to do it from a Hunter because Hunters are always idiots as far as they are concerned. Thank god for Death Knights otherwise Hunters would take even more abuse. Death Knights take the most now.
Heroics do need a leader however or until we all woefully over gear them they will never be a nice easy run. Without a leader or guild run however, they seem nearly impossible still. Very sad. Every time I end up with another fail group it makes me start to wonder why I even play this game. If the skill level of people does not greatly increase soon I can see many people quitting. It is no fun not being able to run a heroic for fun whenever you want to.
I miss the good old days of doing a random for something to do. Just for the hell of it. It was fun sometimes. The fun is completely gone from the game at the moment. It is no fun knowing that 9 times out of 10 you are going to get a group of people that can't tell their ass from their elbow. I would like to see the fun bought back into the game but the only way that is going to happen is if people get smarter.
Being that is not going to happen I do not see this game being any fun in the near future. I guess I will continue to work on my Archaeology trying to get my alchemy recipe. That, is not fun either.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tips and Tricks: Trap Pulling
With the minds of men, women and children all wrapped up in crowd control lately I thought it would be a nice time to teach some new hunters some old tricks.
I might not be a vanilla player but I love to solo stuff and doing that I picked up a ton of experience using skills that Hunters where never asked to use in the LK era. So here is a little guide to trap pulling.
#1 thing to remember.
When you trap pull you are basically body pulling all mobs connected to mob you are trapping.
With that in mind it is best to stand on top of the tank when you shoot your trap (or behind him/her directly). That is so when they come for you, they are coming right at the tank. This makes it easier for the tank to pick them up.
#2 thing to remember.
If any of the mobs not being trapped are ranged (caster or hunter) put your pet on passive or dismiss it before trapping.
If you trap a mob it will aggro on you. If all the mobs are melee they have to run to you to hurt you. They will be picked up by the tank before that happens of course.
However, if one of the mobs not being trapped are ranged, as in a caster or hunter, then they will hit you with a ranged attack before coming after you. If your pet is on defensive then your pet will go after them.
This could really screw up a pull because now the mobs will not come all the way to the tank for the tank to grab aggro. They will go after the wild animal that just came running toward them. So unless all mobs not trapped are melee make sure you pet is on passive (and away from you) or dismiss it before sending in a trap.
#3 thing to remember.
You can always reset the mobs if something goes wrong, but only if you do it right away.
If you Feign Death the mobs will go back to what they where doing beforehand. For some reason mobs are stupid. They will not even remember that their buddy bob was not sitting in a giant block of ice a few seconds ago. They won't even think to look around for the reason he is frozen. If you are in mid fire and the tank says wait or the healer says AFK then FD instantly. You will still have trapped your target and you will have stopped the battle from beginning. If you wait too long to FD they might get close enough to notice someone else. So FD sooner then later.
Now you know how to trap.
Max range.
Trap launcher on their feet.
Shoot.
Step back.
Now, for advanced trapping.
Depending on the group you are in you might be short on good CC. Survival is a master of chain trapping two mobs but any spec can trap two mobs to start a pull. Here is how.
Get at max range.
Fire first trap.
FD.
Wait 30 seconds for trap CD to end.
Fire second trap.
Let tank pick up the mobs that come.
Thing to remember. That first trapped mob will be active in 30 seconds, the second has a full minute, and there will be a small gap before you can trap it again.
If you are survival and speced into trap mastery you will get extra length on your traps. This, in effect, gives you an extra 18 seconds on the traps if maxed. Which means as survival can keep two targets trapped indefinitely rotating traps between them.
Other tips.
If you are on trap duty, even if it is for only one target, do not wait until the trap is about to fall off before applying another one. About 45 seconds in find a place in your rotation to put another on under the mobs feet. That way when he unfreezes he will refreeze instantly.
Let the tanks know you are willing to trap. Sad as it might sound many Hunters, and players of all classes in general, make Hunters look bad. Also, most people do not understand the useful
Happy trapping all.
I might not be a vanilla player but I love to solo stuff and doing that I picked up a ton of experience using skills that Hunters where never asked to use in the LK era. So here is a little guide to trap pulling.
#1 thing to remember.
When you trap pull you are basically body pulling all mobs connected to mob you are trapping.
With that in mind it is best to stand on top of the tank when you shoot your trap (or behind him/her directly). That is so when they come for you, they are coming right at the tank. This makes it easier for the tank to pick them up.
#2 thing to remember.
If any of the mobs not being trapped are ranged (caster or hunter) put your pet on passive or dismiss it before trapping.
If you trap a mob it will aggro on you. If all the mobs are melee they have to run to you to hurt you. They will be picked up by the tank before that happens of course.
However, if one of the mobs not being trapped are ranged, as in a caster or hunter, then they will hit you with a ranged attack before coming after you. If your pet is on defensive then your pet will go after them.
This could really screw up a pull because now the mobs will not come all the way to the tank for the tank to grab aggro. They will go after the wild animal that just came running toward them. So unless all mobs not trapped are melee make sure you pet is on passive (and away from you) or dismiss it before sending in a trap.
#3 thing to remember.
You can always reset the mobs if something goes wrong, but only if you do it right away.
If you Feign Death the mobs will go back to what they where doing beforehand. For some reason mobs are stupid. They will not even remember that their buddy bob was not sitting in a giant block of ice a few seconds ago. They won't even think to look around for the reason he is frozen. If you are in mid fire and the tank says wait or the healer says AFK then FD instantly. You will still have trapped your target and you will have stopped the battle from beginning. If you wait too long to FD they might get close enough to notice someone else. So FD sooner then later.
Now you know how to trap.
Max range.
Trap launcher on their feet.
Shoot.
Step back.
Now, for advanced trapping.
Depending on the group you are in you might be short on good CC. Survival is a master of chain trapping two mobs but any spec can trap two mobs to start a pull. Here is how.
Get at max range.
Fire first trap.
FD.
Wait 30 seconds for trap CD to end.
Fire second trap.
Let tank pick up the mobs that come.
Thing to remember. That first trapped mob will be active in 30 seconds, the second has a full minute, and there will be a small gap before you can trap it again.
If you are survival and speced into trap mastery you will get extra length on your traps. This, in effect, gives you an extra 18 seconds on the traps if maxed. Which means as survival can keep two targets trapped indefinitely rotating traps between them.
Other tips.
If you are on trap duty, even if it is for only one target, do not wait until the trap is about to fall off before applying another one. About 45 seconds in find a place in your rotation to put another on under the mobs feet. That way when he unfreezes he will refreeze instantly.
Let the tanks know you are willing to trap. Sad as it might sound many Hunters, and players of all classes in general, make Hunters look bad. Also, most people do not understand the useful
Happy trapping all.
Hardest role in new Heroics?
We hear it all the time. Heroics are hard. Then of course we hear people say the opposite, Heroics are easy you just need to learn how to play. I've said it before and will say it again. It is a learning curve. For some people it clicks fast and for others it takes a while.
Example: Yesterday I was in Heroic Shadowfang Keep and we are on the last boss. Just our luck as it would be we have no one that can cure curses. So the tank says lets just try the fast burn and the healer will have to try their best to keep up. Two wipes later someone says "Can the curse be interupted?" and another person says "Yes, but it has a 1 second cast time so you need perfect timing".
I'm MM, which is against the grain right now as it is the lowest DPS spec at the moment but I know that gives me silencing shot. I proclaim "Don't worry about it then, if it can be interrupted he will never get a cast off, leave it to me."
We start the fight and low and behold the person was right, it can be interrupted. He never got a cast off. My DPS was a bit off being I had to make sure I was not in the middle of a steady when it was time to interrupt but I managed to pull 11.5K DPS and interrupt every single cast. The boss went down quickly and no one but the tank took any damage.
See, learning curve. We where dying horrible deaths in pools of cursed blood the first two tries. Once it clicked for us and the learning curve caught up the fight went from difficult to laughable. Personally, I wonder how that boss even qualifies as a heroic boss now. If you interrupt that cast he is basically a tank and spank boss, no more, no less.
But we are not talking hard in that sense. Anything is hard when first learning it and anything is easy once you get good at it. So hard, in that sense, is your personal learning curve.
I am also currently saying that healing is hard because of the mana issues and such. I say it at least 10 times a day it seems. But that is not the type of hard I am talking about either. As healers work on their own learning curve they will handle the healing issues. Just like a tank has to learn how to be move the mobs and a damage dealer has to learn their rotation and that can be different from fight to fight, a healer needs to learn their new way of healing. So that hard (even if blizzard has said they screwed up on priest mana regen and will fix it) is something that also fits into the learning curve.
I am talking about hard by the perspective of those around you.
Hard, based on that, is more of an exact science. Hard otherwise is all about the learning curve as I mentioned and that is different for everyone so saying something is hard that way really does not fit as a blanket statement.
What do you look for in a tank?
Do they hold threat?
Yes... then they are a good tank.
No... then they are a bad tank.
Do they have good avoidance making it easy on the healer?
Yes... then they are a good tank.
No... then they are a bad tank.
Do they have high hit points? (yes people still look at this as a sign of a good tank for some reason)
Yes... then they are a good tank.
No... then they are a bad tank.
So see, basically, looking at it that way, it comes down to, if the tank can hold stuff and take a beating they are a good tank.
What do you look for in a healer?
Does everyone live?
Yes... then it is a good healer.
No... then it is a bad healer.
There you go, when looking at healers that is all anyone cares about. With the known issues of healers as it is there is even some understanding when people die and you could have 1 or 2 people die almost every pull and the healer would still be called a good.
Funny part is that if a healer ends with everyone alive on 0 mana they are now called an amazing healer instead of a good healer. Weird how doing bad mana management makes you better at what you do? But I can understand it. Spells are just way to costly and most healers have not adjusted from over healing everything. I know that for a fact because I am one of them sadly, only difference is I admit it.
What do you expect from a damage dealer?
Do they do high DPS?
Yes... then they are a good damage dealer.
No... then they are a bad damage dealer.
Do they know how to focus target?
Yes... then they are a good damage dealer.
No... then they are a bad damage dealer.
Do they know how to use (and not break) CC?
Yes... then they are a good damage dealer.
No... then they are a bad damage dealer.
Those are the basics. If you notice there is more involved with doing DPS then with tanking or healer. A tank needs to tank a healer needs to heal and a DPS needs to do everything else, including winning the fight. Seems like more pressure is on them.
Lets take some examples:
Failed attempt on a boss fight (with no adds)
Tank says... Wow, that boss hits hard.
Healer says... I went oom trying to heal through it.
DPS says... I burned all my cool downs and it looked like his life was barely going down.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
Failed attempt on a boss fight (with adds)
Tank says... the adds became to much for me.
Healer says... it became impossible to heal through that.
DPS says... that big add has a crap load of life.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
Failed attempt on a boss fight with no adds but heavy mechanics.
Tank says... Aggro is harder to hold while moving, DPS need to watch threat.
Healer says... It is harder to heal on the move.
DPS says... Mobile fights always lower DPS for me.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS
Failed attempt on a boss fight with adds and heavy mechanics.
Tank says... You have to burn adds faster.
Healer says... You have to avoid add damage, I can't heal you through it.
DPS says... We could burn them down faster and without damage if the tank picked them up to buy us a few seconds of uninterrupted DPS.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
Failed attempt on a heavy AoE fight.
Tank says... I'll hold everything, you just burn.
Healer says... You need to burn him faster I can't kept up with this healing long.
DPS says... I'm doing 15K in blues and greens what more do you want from me.
Verditc: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
I've noticed one trend in heroics lately. The answer for everything is "we need more DPS". I am not kidding either. Even if we down a boss nice and fast someone is bound to say, that would be super easy if we had more DPS.
Like in H SFK the yesterday after we down the last boss someone said, if we had more DPS we could have just ignored the curse. Excuse me? It was easy as sin as soon as I started interrupting. It would have been easy the first time if we had someone to cure the curses. It was an easy fight. Why the hell do we need more DPS for it?
It just seems that DPS have the hardest time in heroics because they have the most expected from them. A tank just need to hold packs and a healer just needs to heal people. If stuff does not go down, for whatever reason, it is the DPS fault. Tank lost threat... DPS fault. Healer when oom... DPS fault. You name it... DPS fault.
If we flash forward 30 days, maybe even 15 days. Once all DPS have all heroics gear, some points gear and some raid gear and go back into all those instances with the same tank and same healer all in their same gear all those instances become laughable.
Remember that it is a tanks job to get beat on and it is a healers job to heal them and everyone else as needed and it is the job of the damage dealers to kill things. The faster the damage dealers kill things the less a tank gets beat on and the less a healer has to heal.
So who has the hardest role in new heroics, even more so while first gearing up? DPS. Hands down DPS. Not even an argument DPS.
They have the most expected from them and being there are millions of them and they are easily replaced they have to not only be good but they have to be great all the time every step of the way. They not only have the hardest role in the dungeon at the moment but they also have the understanding that even one little mistake or not doing enough DPS they can be replaced in a split seconds. Now that... is hard.
The greatest kick to DPS is that a tank in blues and greens comes into a heroic and people say he is here because he needs to gear up. A healer comes into a instance in all blues and greens and people say they are there because they need to gear up. A DPS comes into an instance with blues and greens and they get kicked instantly because "we need more DPS". Wow, just wow. Hardest role in the game right now... DPS.
At least is it getting closer to the point where people can do random heroics again. With kids off school for the winter vacation I expect them to gear up which will mean many more casuals and even more importantly kids. While I hate playing with kids at least there is one thing you can count on them for. They are less likely to kick a DPS that is trying to gear up because the other DPS that are kids as well will look at it as someone that can easily beat and you know, it is all about being #1 on the DPS charts right?
It is taking longer then I expected for the masses to catch up to the heroics but at least they have started to now. No more first boss wipes, thank god. Still seems all runs are 2+ hours in pugs however. At least I was not in my friends pug on Saturday. 4 1/2 hours to do deadmines. I would rater have dental surgery then endure that.
Example: Yesterday I was in Heroic Shadowfang Keep and we are on the last boss. Just our luck as it would be we have no one that can cure curses. So the tank says lets just try the fast burn and the healer will have to try their best to keep up. Two wipes later someone says "Can the curse be interupted?" and another person says "Yes, but it has a 1 second cast time so you need perfect timing".
I'm MM, which is against the grain right now as it is the lowest DPS spec at the moment but I know that gives me silencing shot. I proclaim "Don't worry about it then, if it can be interrupted he will never get a cast off, leave it to me."
We start the fight and low and behold the person was right, it can be interrupted. He never got a cast off. My DPS was a bit off being I had to make sure I was not in the middle of a steady when it was time to interrupt but I managed to pull 11.5K DPS and interrupt every single cast. The boss went down quickly and no one but the tank took any damage.
See, learning curve. We where dying horrible deaths in pools of cursed blood the first two tries. Once it clicked for us and the learning curve caught up the fight went from difficult to laughable. Personally, I wonder how that boss even qualifies as a heroic boss now. If you interrupt that cast he is basically a tank and spank boss, no more, no less.
But we are not talking hard in that sense. Anything is hard when first learning it and anything is easy once you get good at it. So hard, in that sense, is your personal learning curve.
I am also currently saying that healing is hard because of the mana issues and such. I say it at least 10 times a day it seems. But that is not the type of hard I am talking about either. As healers work on their own learning curve they will handle the healing issues. Just like a tank has to learn how to be move the mobs and a damage dealer has to learn their rotation and that can be different from fight to fight, a healer needs to learn their new way of healing. So that hard (even if blizzard has said they screwed up on priest mana regen and will fix it) is something that also fits into the learning curve.
I am talking about hard by the perspective of those around you.
Hard, based on that, is more of an exact science. Hard otherwise is all about the learning curve as I mentioned and that is different for everyone so saying something is hard that way really does not fit as a blanket statement.
What do you look for in a tank?
Do they hold threat?
Yes... then they are a good tank.
No... then they are a bad tank.
Do they have good avoidance making it easy on the healer?
Yes... then they are a good tank.
No... then they are a bad tank.
Do they have high hit points? (yes people still look at this as a sign of a good tank for some reason)
Yes... then they are a good tank.
No... then they are a bad tank.
So see, basically, looking at it that way, it comes down to, if the tank can hold stuff and take a beating they are a good tank.
What do you look for in a healer?
Does everyone live?
Yes... then it is a good healer.
No... then it is a bad healer.
There you go, when looking at healers that is all anyone cares about. With the known issues of healers as it is there is even some understanding when people die and you could have 1 or 2 people die almost every pull and the healer would still be called a good.
Funny part is that if a healer ends with everyone alive on 0 mana they are now called an amazing healer instead of a good healer. Weird how doing bad mana management makes you better at what you do? But I can understand it. Spells are just way to costly and most healers have not adjusted from over healing everything. I know that for a fact because I am one of them sadly, only difference is I admit it.
What do you expect from a damage dealer?
Do they do high DPS?
Yes... then they are a good damage dealer.
No... then they are a bad damage dealer.
Do they know how to focus target?
Yes... then they are a good damage dealer.
No... then they are a bad damage dealer.
Do they know how to use (and not break) CC?
Yes... then they are a good damage dealer.
No... then they are a bad damage dealer.
Those are the basics. If you notice there is more involved with doing DPS then with tanking or healer. A tank needs to tank a healer needs to heal and a DPS needs to do everything else, including winning the fight. Seems like more pressure is on them.
Lets take some examples:
Failed attempt on a boss fight (with no adds)
Tank says... Wow, that boss hits hard.
Healer says... I went oom trying to heal through it.
DPS says... I burned all my cool downs and it looked like his life was barely going down.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
Failed attempt on a boss fight (with adds)
Tank says... the adds became to much for me.
Healer says... it became impossible to heal through that.
DPS says... that big add has a crap load of life.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
Failed attempt on a boss fight with no adds but heavy mechanics.
Tank says... Aggro is harder to hold while moving, DPS need to watch threat.
Healer says... It is harder to heal on the move.
DPS says... Mobile fights always lower DPS for me.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS
Failed attempt on a boss fight with adds and heavy mechanics.
Tank says... You have to burn adds faster.
Healer says... You have to avoid add damage, I can't heal you through it.
DPS says... We could burn them down faster and without damage if the tank picked them up to buy us a few seconds of uninterrupted DPS.
Verdict: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
Failed attempt on a heavy AoE fight.
Tank says... I'll hold everything, you just burn.
Healer says... You need to burn him faster I can't kept up with this healing long.
DPS says... I'm doing 15K in blues and greens what more do you want from me.
Verditc: DPS kicked, we need more DPS.
I've noticed one trend in heroics lately. The answer for everything is "we need more DPS". I am not kidding either. Even if we down a boss nice and fast someone is bound to say, that would be super easy if we had more DPS.
Like in H SFK the yesterday after we down the last boss someone said, if we had more DPS we could have just ignored the curse. Excuse me? It was easy as sin as soon as I started interrupting. It would have been easy the first time if we had someone to cure the curses. It was an easy fight. Why the hell do we need more DPS for it?
It just seems that DPS have the hardest time in heroics because they have the most expected from them. A tank just need to hold packs and a healer just needs to heal people. If stuff does not go down, for whatever reason, it is the DPS fault. Tank lost threat... DPS fault. Healer when oom... DPS fault. You name it... DPS fault.
If we flash forward 30 days, maybe even 15 days. Once all DPS have all heroics gear, some points gear and some raid gear and go back into all those instances with the same tank and same healer all in their same gear all those instances become laughable.
Remember that it is a tanks job to get beat on and it is a healers job to heal them and everyone else as needed and it is the job of the damage dealers to kill things. The faster the damage dealers kill things the less a tank gets beat on and the less a healer has to heal.
So who has the hardest role in new heroics, even more so while first gearing up? DPS. Hands down DPS. Not even an argument DPS.
They have the most expected from them and being there are millions of them and they are easily replaced they have to not only be good but they have to be great all the time every step of the way. They not only have the hardest role in the dungeon at the moment but they also have the understanding that even one little mistake or not doing enough DPS they can be replaced in a split seconds. Now that... is hard.
The greatest kick to DPS is that a tank in blues and greens comes into a heroic and people say he is here because he needs to gear up. A healer comes into a instance in all blues and greens and people say they are there because they need to gear up. A DPS comes into an instance with blues and greens and they get kicked instantly because "we need more DPS". Wow, just wow. Hardest role in the game right now... DPS.
At least is it getting closer to the point where people can do random heroics again. With kids off school for the winter vacation I expect them to gear up which will mean many more casuals and even more importantly kids. While I hate playing with kids at least there is one thing you can count on them for. They are less likely to kick a DPS that is trying to gear up because the other DPS that are kids as well will look at it as someone that can easily beat and you know, it is all about being #1 on the DPS charts right?
It is taking longer then I expected for the masses to catch up to the heroics but at least they have started to now. No more first boss wipes, thank god. Still seems all runs are 2+ hours in pugs however. At least I was not in my friends pug on Saturday. 4 1/2 hours to do deadmines. I would rater have dental surgery then endure that.
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