The three least represented classes on my server are, in order of lowest up, Rogue, Priest, Shaman. We have so many Rogues I could fill a 10 man with just Rogues as DPS. We have so many Priests that we have filled a raid with a tank and all priests, a few times. And recently we have added some new Shaman to the mix bringing us to the point where we could do the same with them.
I'm not exactly sure why it is but my guild seems to have no problem attracting the least represented classes in the game.
The three most represented classes in the game on my server, from highest down, are Paladin, Druid, Hunter. While we do have our fair share of Hunters, outside of mine they are mostly alts. Same goes for Paladins. We have one main protection paladin and no rets and no holys. Druids are another one that seem to be all over the place but we have only one regular and at that it is a cat. Our main bear left a while back and our main resto has not been getting much playing time in.
Sometimes I am left to wonder why exactly is it that my guild seems to go so far against the grain of the game. We have tons of the three least represented classes in the game and we are seriously lacking in the three most represented classes in the game.
Are all the numbers we see thrown around on these statistics sites made up or are we just a guild that somehow has found a way to break the mold.
When I first became raid leader for my guild I sat down with the previous raid leader and he gave me a crash course on what our guild does basically. He also gave me some raid leader tips, all of which I am still learning to be honest.
What he explained to me was that as a casual guild we work on a "whatever you have" approach. We don't every get the privilege of going into a raid with the ideal make up. We instead work with what we have and hang our hopes of success on the ability of the players themselves to overcome the challenges set forth for us.
Sometimes going against the grain helps us a lot. I read strategy guides and I adjust them to what will work best for us. Sometimes it works wonders and bosses that take some guides a week to progress past we walk past like it was a heroic or something. One boss we downed on our second attempt when no one in the guild had ever even attempted it before. Other times it becomes a world of hell trying to get it done.
One good thing about having a bunch of Priests and Shaman is that being most have a heal spec we have some rotation ability when it comes to heals. Not to mention, on some fights Shaman are better then any other class in the game (more on that on a post I have in mind for later).
I just question the break down on how they tell what classes are the least represented in the game and which are the most.
Disc Priest is the lowest class/spec combo as far as the stats for my server goes. While it is true, we have a lot more holy priests in my guild, we are not lacking in the Disc department at all.
For Shaman, with so few on the server, we can reasonably field a raid with nothing but Shaman in the non tanking roles. We have Shaman healers, Enhancement, Elemental, all coming out of the ying yang. One good thing with that many Shaman, I don't see any boss being able to ever get a cast off with that amount of wind shears at your disposal.
It is kind of funny when you look at it sometimes. I see guild after guild on the server advertising in trade begging for a Shaman or a Priest healer and we usually have a few that have to sit out when we raid because we try to rotate people. These are top 10 guilds. We are a lowly fortysomething guild. Over all, being in the 40s on a server over all is not bad for our make up after all is said and done and when you think that we did not even start to raid until the game was out almost four months then it is even better.
Now if only we could find some of those DK tanks that are crying because they can not get in a raid because their guild is full on DK tanks. The sites that call for a break down show that DK tanks are in abundance on my server.
Perhaps if we could find a holy paladin it would be nice. We have one person that has it as a offspec but he is not a raider. We have two others that have new level 85 paladins that are making holy their offspec but both of them are rarely used alts. Yet the break downs show that holy paladins account for nearly 40% of all healers on my server. I don't think I have ever seen one. I sure as hell have never raided with one this expansion.
We will just keep going I guess but there is one thing for sure. If you happen to make a priest on my server, even if you do not want to, somehow you will find your way into my guild. It seems we collect Priests.
All your priests are belong to us.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
You're Not Worthy - Arrogant Bastard
Arrogant Bastard Ale
The choice of PuG tanks all over Azeroth
 |
| Hello, I'm Your Tank |
You are what you drink
Be an Arrogant Bastard
Drink Arrogant Bastard Ale
Are you worthy?
Reforging and You!
In my opinion the single largest change to the game when Cataclysm was released was the addition of being able to reforge items.
Everything else this expansion you could call hit or miss. Some people like the new questing and some hate it. Some people like more difficult dungeons and some hate it. Nothing in the expansion can be called a plus to the game by everyone except for one, reforging.
No matter who you ask they will say that they like reforging. If anything the only two complaints you might ever see is that you can not reforge resilience or main stats but both of those are easily explained away.
The reason you can not reforge to or from resilience is because it would start to blur the line between PvP gear and PvE gear, that is a reasonable explanation if you ask me.
The reason you can not reforge to main stats is because that would be the only thing people ever reforged to, at least as DPS for sure. The main stat for a DPS is always worth so much more then any secondary stat (except hit maybe). So that too is acceptable.
So what exactly is this reforging that I consider to be the best thing to be added in Cataclysm? I am glad you asked. The following is a little guide to reforging for those that might need a little information on it.
What is Reforging?
- Reforging is the act of changing one secondary stat into another.
What are Secondary Stats?
- Critical Strike, Haste, Mastery, Hit, Expertise, Dodge, Parry and Spirit. Basically almost anything that is a bonus stat on gear, with the exception of Spirit that still appears as a normal stat on gear.
Where do I find the person that reforges my items?
- They will always be near the enchanting trainer in main cities.
Can I reforge all of one stat into another?
- No. 40% of a stat can be reforged into another. For example, if you have 100 critical you can reforge 40 of that into any of the other options as long as that stat is not already on the piece of gear.
What do you mean if that stat is not on the gear?
- If a piece of gear has critical and haste on it that means the allotment for those two stats are already there and no more can be added to them. So you can reforge the critical into anything except haste or the haste into anything except critical.
What if I want to reforge the haste and the critical into mastery?
- You can only reforge 1 stat per item.
Does that mean if I change my mind I am screwed?
- Not at all. You can restore your item to its original stats at any time and reforge it differently if you want.
Why would I want to reforge?
- Hit rating might be the number one example of why people want to reforge. If you are below the hit cap you can reforge something else into hit so you can get to hit cap. If you are over the hit cap you can reforge some of the hit off your gear into something more useful as any hit rating over the cap is wasted itemization.
What items can I reforge?
- Every item you own. If it has a secondary stat from the above list then it can be reforged.
So I can reforge my trinket that has 1710 critical on use?
- No, that is an on use critical and not a base stat critical. If the stat is an on use stat or a random proc stat it can not be reforged.
Does reforging have anything to do with why tanks seem to be needing on DPS plate?
- Yes. It used to be that a tank would never need on an item that had hit. However, with mastery being such a huge stat for tanks now they are rolling on items that have hit/mastery or basically anything/mastery and then reforging 40% of the hit away into dodge or parry.
Does that mean I can need on Tank gear and reforge the dodge/parry?
- Absolutely not. There is a difference. A tank can use the hit but dodge or parry is better for them whereas a DPS can not use dodge or parry at all. So you will end up with 60% of a wasted stat even if you reforged 40% away.
Is there an unwritten rule to that gray area?
- Yes, there is. If you can use all the stats on the gear you can need on it even if you plan to reforge one of the stats that is of little use. Like a tank reforging hit. They can still use the hit but dodge or parry are so much better.
- Some examples of things that are wrong to need on. A non tank needing on anything with dodge or parry is wrong. A hunter needing on anything with expertise is wrong. A warlock or mage needing on anything with spirit is wrong. In all those cases the stat has 0 use to them. If anything has a stat that has 0 use to you on it then the unwritten rule is you do not need on it.
Why is reforging so exciting then if all it does it turn one stat into another?
- Every class/spec has stats that benefit them more then other stats. I will give a few examples of why reforing has changed the entire face of the game.
- On my hunter I need more haste in my MM spec then I do in my SV spec. As such I have many items reforged to haste to reach that perfect number I need to aim for while in MM. If I switch to SV I have too much haste. Now instead of having two sets of gear, one for my MM and one for my SV I can keep one set of gear and if I switch from MM to SV I just remove some of the reforging I did to get haste. It is a lot easier then having two sets of gear.
- As I mentioned earlier, for many classes hit rating is very important. When you got an upgrade the first thing you did was try and get yourself as close as possible to the hit rating cap without going over too much. This was usually done with enchants and gems. One new piece of gear might mean switching out a few gems and a few enchants each time you get new gear. Now it just means reforging a few pieces of gear. Much easier and much more cost effective.
So is hit the main thing it is for?
- Absolutely not. Reforging can be used for numerous things. Some class have certain plateaus for haste where haste is their most important stat at that exact level but it worth less before or after it. Reforging allows you to get as close as possible to that cap.
- For example, on my Shaman 916 is a magic number for haste. Being I can reach that number easily that becomes my highest priority stat until I get to that point and the least priority after I do being I can not reach the next haste level with my current gear. So I reforge to get myself to that number. Either reforging into it to get there or away from it to give it to something that is more useful for me.
How do I know what to reforge?
- It is based on the class/spec you play. There is no hard and fast rule for what needs to be reforged. If you look over your class forums on the official site, MMO-Champion, Elitist Jerks, or any other resource you will likely find a break down of your priority of stats. You would then reforge to take advantage of those stats that are best for you.
Does reforging really make much of a difference?
- Yes it does, it allows you to better align your stats so that you are always getting the most out of what you have available to you.
Say I already reached my caps for hit or haste or whatever, is it still worth it?
- Once again, yes. Some stats will always be better then others. If your class values critical over mastery you will always want to reforge all your mastery into critical.
What if the item has critical and mastery then I can not reforge my critical into mastery because the item already has mastery?
- This is where the delicate game of reforging starts to come into play. If you can not reforge your critical into mastery because both are on an item you can still reforge your critical into something else and then start playing the reforging game.
What is the reforging game?
- I am glad you asked because the reforging game is why I wanted to write this guide. I've always found it fun to try and figure out what is the best combination of stats and how I should go about getting them.
The Reforging Game:
Using the example above where you've got a new piece with critical and mastery and you want more mastery but can't get it becuase there is already mastery on the item you can reforge the critical into something else, lets say hit and then reforge hit off of something else into mastery.
That is the reforging game. It is the mixing and matching of stats to get the most out of it.
You reforge off the critical into 40 hit rating. Now being you where already at hit rating cap you are 40 over cap. So you go to another item, say one with hit and haste and reforge the hit off of that, as long as it is 40 or less so you keep hit cap, and make it mastery.
So while you could not reforge the critical off of that piece into mastery because it already had mastery on it you still managed to get the mastery from it by reforging the critical into something else and then taking that something else off another item and turning it into mastery.
It is basically taking the long route around getting that critical into mastery anyway, you just have to play the reforging game to get there. This is why reforging is such a powerful tool. You can do anything as long as you can figure out how to mix and match the numbers.
The Quick Fix:
Reforgenator is an addon I have found that takes all the work out of the reforging game. It uses the stat breakdowns from elitist jerks to decide what is best for the spec you are in and it tries its best to get you the exact numbers you need.
You can choose for it to give you the best breakdowns for dungeons or raiding. I suggest always using the raiding option and always using the consider all items option as well.
You might look at this and ask why would you really want to go through all this trouble just for an extra 40 mastery but I look at it as getting myself 40 more of a stat that is good for me and anything that is more of something better for me is good, isn't it?
5 Reasons why reforging is the most powerful tool in the game right now.
1) Easier to reach hit/expertise caps.
2) Easier to reach those magical haste numbers.
3) For some dual specs it limits the amount of different gear you need to carry around.
4) Ability to stack your best stat on every piece of gear.
5) Cheaper then regemming and reenchanting each time you get new gear.
Anything that offers you complete control over your stats is a powerful thing. While this does not offer you complete control over all your stats it offers you a great deal of control over it. That is why it is powerful and that is why all good players use it to the best of their ability.
Reforging can be your best friend if you just take the time to get to know it.
Reforging + You = Together Forever.
It's like a love story.
Everything else this expansion you could call hit or miss. Some people like the new questing and some hate it. Some people like more difficult dungeons and some hate it. Nothing in the expansion can be called a plus to the game by everyone except for one, reforging.
No matter who you ask they will say that they like reforging. If anything the only two complaints you might ever see is that you can not reforge resilience or main stats but both of those are easily explained away.
The reason you can not reforge to or from resilience is because it would start to blur the line between PvP gear and PvE gear, that is a reasonable explanation if you ask me.
The reason you can not reforge to main stats is because that would be the only thing people ever reforged to, at least as DPS for sure. The main stat for a DPS is always worth so much more then any secondary stat (except hit maybe). So that too is acceptable.
So what exactly is this reforging that I consider to be the best thing to be added in Cataclysm? I am glad you asked. The following is a little guide to reforging for those that might need a little information on it.
What is Reforging?
- Reforging is the act of changing one secondary stat into another.
What are Secondary Stats?
- Critical Strike, Haste, Mastery, Hit, Expertise, Dodge, Parry and Spirit. Basically almost anything that is a bonus stat on gear, with the exception of Spirit that still appears as a normal stat on gear.
Where do I find the person that reforges my items?
- They will always be near the enchanting trainer in main cities.
Can I reforge all of one stat into another?
- No. 40% of a stat can be reforged into another. For example, if you have 100 critical you can reforge 40 of that into any of the other options as long as that stat is not already on the piece of gear.
What do you mean if that stat is not on the gear?
- If a piece of gear has critical and haste on it that means the allotment for those two stats are already there and no more can be added to them. So you can reforge the critical into anything except haste or the haste into anything except critical.
What if I want to reforge the haste and the critical into mastery?
- You can only reforge 1 stat per item.
Does that mean if I change my mind I am screwed?
- Not at all. You can restore your item to its original stats at any time and reforge it differently if you want.
Why would I want to reforge?
- Hit rating might be the number one example of why people want to reforge. If you are below the hit cap you can reforge something else into hit so you can get to hit cap. If you are over the hit cap you can reforge some of the hit off your gear into something more useful as any hit rating over the cap is wasted itemization.
What items can I reforge?
- Every item you own. If it has a secondary stat from the above list then it can be reforged.
So I can reforge my trinket that has 1710 critical on use?
- No, that is an on use critical and not a base stat critical. If the stat is an on use stat or a random proc stat it can not be reforged.
Does reforging have anything to do with why tanks seem to be needing on DPS plate?
- Yes. It used to be that a tank would never need on an item that had hit. However, with mastery being such a huge stat for tanks now they are rolling on items that have hit/mastery or basically anything/mastery and then reforging 40% of the hit away into dodge or parry.
Does that mean I can need on Tank gear and reforge the dodge/parry?
- Absolutely not. There is a difference. A tank can use the hit but dodge or parry is better for them whereas a DPS can not use dodge or parry at all. So you will end up with 60% of a wasted stat even if you reforged 40% away.
Is there an unwritten rule to that gray area?
- Yes, there is. If you can use all the stats on the gear you can need on it even if you plan to reforge one of the stats that is of little use. Like a tank reforging hit. They can still use the hit but dodge or parry are so much better.
- Some examples of things that are wrong to need on. A non tank needing on anything with dodge or parry is wrong. A hunter needing on anything with expertise is wrong. A warlock or mage needing on anything with spirit is wrong. In all those cases the stat has 0 use to them. If anything has a stat that has 0 use to you on it then the unwritten rule is you do not need on it.
Why is reforging so exciting then if all it does it turn one stat into another?
- Every class/spec has stats that benefit them more then other stats. I will give a few examples of why reforing has changed the entire face of the game.
- On my hunter I need more haste in my MM spec then I do in my SV spec. As such I have many items reforged to haste to reach that perfect number I need to aim for while in MM. If I switch to SV I have too much haste. Now instead of having two sets of gear, one for my MM and one for my SV I can keep one set of gear and if I switch from MM to SV I just remove some of the reforging I did to get haste. It is a lot easier then having two sets of gear.
- As I mentioned earlier, for many classes hit rating is very important. When you got an upgrade the first thing you did was try and get yourself as close as possible to the hit rating cap without going over too much. This was usually done with enchants and gems. One new piece of gear might mean switching out a few gems and a few enchants each time you get new gear. Now it just means reforging a few pieces of gear. Much easier and much more cost effective.
So is hit the main thing it is for?
- Absolutely not. Reforging can be used for numerous things. Some class have certain plateaus for haste where haste is their most important stat at that exact level but it worth less before or after it. Reforging allows you to get as close as possible to that cap.
- For example, on my Shaman 916 is a magic number for haste. Being I can reach that number easily that becomes my highest priority stat until I get to that point and the least priority after I do being I can not reach the next haste level with my current gear. So I reforge to get myself to that number. Either reforging into it to get there or away from it to give it to something that is more useful for me.
How do I know what to reforge?
- It is based on the class/spec you play. There is no hard and fast rule for what needs to be reforged. If you look over your class forums on the official site, MMO-Champion, Elitist Jerks, or any other resource you will likely find a break down of your priority of stats. You would then reforge to take advantage of those stats that are best for you.
Does reforging really make much of a difference?
- Yes it does, it allows you to better align your stats so that you are always getting the most out of what you have available to you.
Say I already reached my caps for hit or haste or whatever, is it still worth it?
- Once again, yes. Some stats will always be better then others. If your class values critical over mastery you will always want to reforge all your mastery into critical.
What if the item has critical and mastery then I can not reforge my critical into mastery because the item already has mastery?
- This is where the delicate game of reforging starts to come into play. If you can not reforge your critical into mastery because both are on an item you can still reforge your critical into something else and then start playing the reforging game.
What is the reforging game?
- I am glad you asked because the reforging game is why I wanted to write this guide. I've always found it fun to try and figure out what is the best combination of stats and how I should go about getting them.
The Reforging Game:
Using the example above where you've got a new piece with critical and mastery and you want more mastery but can't get it becuase there is already mastery on the item you can reforge the critical into something else, lets say hit and then reforge hit off of something else into mastery.
That is the reforging game. It is the mixing and matching of stats to get the most out of it.
You reforge off the critical into 40 hit rating. Now being you where already at hit rating cap you are 40 over cap. So you go to another item, say one with hit and haste and reforge the hit off of that, as long as it is 40 or less so you keep hit cap, and make it mastery.
So while you could not reforge the critical off of that piece into mastery because it already had mastery on it you still managed to get the mastery from it by reforging the critical into something else and then taking that something else off another item and turning it into mastery.
It is basically taking the long route around getting that critical into mastery anyway, you just have to play the reforging game to get there. This is why reforging is such a powerful tool. You can do anything as long as you can figure out how to mix and match the numbers.
The Quick Fix:
Reforgenator is an addon I have found that takes all the work out of the reforging game. It uses the stat breakdowns from elitist jerks to decide what is best for the spec you are in and it tries its best to get you the exact numbers you need.
You can choose for it to give you the best breakdowns for dungeons or raiding. I suggest always using the raiding option and always using the consider all items option as well.
You might look at this and ask why would you really want to go through all this trouble just for an extra 40 mastery but I look at it as getting myself 40 more of a stat that is good for me and anything that is more of something better for me is good, isn't it?
5 Reasons why reforging is the most powerful tool in the game right now.
1) Easier to reach hit/expertise caps.
2) Easier to reach those magical haste numbers.
3) For some dual specs it limits the amount of different gear you need to carry around.
4) Ability to stack your best stat on every piece of gear.
5) Cheaper then regemming and reenchanting each time you get new gear.
Anything that offers you complete control over your stats is a powerful thing. While this does not offer you complete control over all your stats it offers you a great deal of control over it. That is why it is powerful and that is why all good players use it to the best of their ability.
Reforging can be your best friend if you just take the time to get to know it.
Reforging + You = Together Forever.
It's like a love story.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
DPS Check and Standards
In a recent talk on my guild forums we mentioned that we expect certain DPS standards to be met if someone wants to be invited to a raid.
While it is true that we are a casual guild, we are a casual guild that still cares about actually downing a boss. There are some casual guilds that have no issues banging their head against a wall against the same boss for months on end but I hate that. I want to down at least 1 new boss every 2 weeks at least. Even with our limited raiding schedule of 2 hour raids one or two nights a week that 1 boss every two weeks is very doable as we have proved.
Even if we are casual and we take anyone who is around we need to have some sort of standard. Personally I do not ask for much. Do your job and I am happy.
Follow mechanics and I will be glad to have you along even if your DPS does not meet my standards. We usually have at least three people doing 14K or about there so even if one of the DPS dips into the 8K range it is not going to hurt us at all. I have no problem with someone learning and I understand that people will always have lower DPS their first few times on a boss and that the more they see the boss the better their DPS will get.
From my own personal experience I know that in the same gear I could do 12K on a boss the first time I see it and I can get to 19K after I've seen it a few times. It is all a matter of getting used to the fight so I know first hand and am willing to give DPS a break from time to time.
However, when someone is doing 6K I start to wonder how that is even possible. We had someone in our guild at run last week that was doing that. Okay, it was a run of mostly people doing things they were not used to doing so even if we did not get anything down I did not mind. It was to get people that don't raid a chance to raid and to get people that do raid a chance to play a different roll.
Upon further inspection I noticed that the DPS, an elemental shaman, that was doing 6K DPS, was wearing three leather items. While it is true they were the ideal stat itemization for the class they are also the wrong type of armor for the class. That is easily remedied, tell the person, dude, things changed since wrath, you should never be wearing a type of armor that is not meant for your class.
With that out of the way I started to think what are the standards I look for in a damage dealer in my raids. Things like wearing the right gear type ranks high. So does gemming and enchanting. However, when it comes down to it there are only three things I look for from a damage dealer in a raid.
1) How you handle mechanics
- This is the most important thing. If you can pull 30K DPS, well good for you, it means nothing if you are dying to simple mechanics are even worse, killing others because you do not following mechanics.
- Handling mechanics is not only about movement. Is there an interrupt you need to be on? Are you interrupting it? Is there something that needs to be kited? Are you kiting it? Mechanics are more then just movement.
2) How you manage your aggro
- This is really important as well but doesn't seem to be as much of a problem after the first few seconds of a fight. It is usually the trash that I see damage dealers screwing up with aggro. Even at that, watching your own aggro is very important.
Every time a damage dealer pulls aggro I cringe. Some will say, the tank needs to be better. Sure, the tank can be better but I do not blame the tank if they are doing all they can to generate aggro. Aggro management is on the DDs.
If the tank can only handle you doing 17K DPS then only do 17K DPS, don't try to push it because you want to inflate your numbers. You doing 17K DPS and not taking aggro is a hell of a lot better then you pulling 23K and grabbing aggro. Grab aggro at the wrong time and even if the boss only turns for a split second it could mean the DD dies and maybe even others around them die.
3) DPS
- Plain and simple, it is a number so it is very easy to judge this one. The higher you can get this number while doing both 1 and 2 the better you are. If you do 1 and 2 perfectly, then this is all that is left for you.
Now for my DPS check lets just assume that everyone is doing number 1, mechanics, and number 2, aggro, perfectly.
In my current crop of raiders, on an ideal night, I would have me (hunter), a warlock, a feral druid, a shadow priest, a death knight and a mage. All of us are capable of at least 12K which means at worst we are going to have no issues with current content. Heck, in some cases we are all capable of 15K at least on fights we know well and there are even a few cases where I can see 20K from at least 4 of those 6, me, the druid, the lock and the priest.
Do I use that as my standard? No, not really, we are all good players sure but we are all also pulling close to the most we can out of our classes. Based on theory crafting we all do within 20% of what is considered our maximum potential. The best players are usually within 5% of the best their class can do. That doesn't mean we are bad, but we are more then competent.
I do not hold everyone up to that type of number however. Like I said, we are a casual guild. I look for at least 10K DPS while doing 1 and 2 which is not asking much in my opinion.
Your average player regardless of class should be able to pull 10K before they are even finished gearing in heroics I believe. I also know that for as much as I believe it I am completely wrong. 100s of heroics in Cata have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the average player in heroic gear can not even pull 8K.
Sorry, call me an elitist if you want to, but that is just not acceptable for me. Maybe 8K from a guild mate we are running thought and they are just learning a class is fine in a raid, we have more then enough DPS to compensate for them but I want 10K, at least 10K.
In an ideal world this is what I personally see as DPS markers for each step of current progression. Again, assuming #1 and #2 are already being followed. DPS means nothing if people do not follow #1 and #2.
Heroic Dungeons
8K DPS - This should be no problem in 329 gear.
Zul Heroics
10K DPS - In all 346 gear you should be able to do this with your eyes closed.
BH
10K DPS - Heck, this was being done the first week of the game when a 338 gear score was still considered good.
Raids
12K DPS - 10K can get the job done, but if you can (and should) do at least 10K in a zul with 5 man buffs you should be able to do 12K in a raid with 10 man buffs.
Raid - End bosses
14K DPS - Sure it can be done with less but by the time you get to last bosses you should have at least a 353 gear score and 14K DPS in 353 should be the worst anyone can do.
Looking at all of that leaves me very sad however because at least on my server those numbers are way to high. In the average BH I do with pugs (so many 85s so I only do 1 or 2 with guild) there are usually at least 2 people under 10K, sometimes even under 8K and in a few rare cases someone under 6K.
Do you think that my numbers are too high? I personally don't think so. I am not asking for people to do 20K DPS even if I know based on current gear and the DPS analyzers that nearly every class should be doing at bare minimum 15K around 350 gear score. I just want people to do their job. I want people to follow mechanics, not grab aggro and put up decent numbers.
Maybe I am asking for too much sometimes. Someone told me the other day that I expect to much from people. I disagree. I just expect from them what I know they are capable of doing.
I rarely see a hunter that can out DPS me but when I do I go out of my way to find out why. I check their profile for gear, gems, enchants, reforging, you know, the whole nine yards so to speak. I try to see what they are doing differently so I can learn and get better myself. As a damage dealer I believe it is my job to always get better. I once saw a hunter in a ToC 25 a few years back that beat me by almost 1K DPS and I looked him up. It was scary bad. He had spirit gems, intellect gems, wrong enchants, you name it.
Sure, he beat me in DPS but I considered him a bad player and do you want to know why? Because if he could beat me being so horribly itemized I could only imagine what they would have been capable of doing if they had the correct stats. I do not see a person based on their gear, I see a person based on their potential. His potential was so much higher then what he was doing. To me, that makes him a bad player because he was wasting all that potential on something as stupid and easily correctable as the wrong gems and enchants.
Each person is only capable of doing what they can do but sometimes you can do more. There is nothing worse then seeing someone waste potential. Seeing someone do 6K DPS in a Zul doesn't make me call them bad because of the 6K, it makes me call them bad because they are wasting so much potential. I know they can do more, even if they do not get into the 20% of the best that can be done marker I am at they can still do more. That is what kills me looking at them, all I see is a ton of wasted potential.
While it is true that we are a casual guild, we are a casual guild that still cares about actually downing a boss. There are some casual guilds that have no issues banging their head against a wall against the same boss for months on end but I hate that. I want to down at least 1 new boss every 2 weeks at least. Even with our limited raiding schedule of 2 hour raids one or two nights a week that 1 boss every two weeks is very doable as we have proved.
Even if we are casual and we take anyone who is around we need to have some sort of standard. Personally I do not ask for much. Do your job and I am happy.
Follow mechanics and I will be glad to have you along even if your DPS does not meet my standards. We usually have at least three people doing 14K or about there so even if one of the DPS dips into the 8K range it is not going to hurt us at all. I have no problem with someone learning and I understand that people will always have lower DPS their first few times on a boss and that the more they see the boss the better their DPS will get.
From my own personal experience I know that in the same gear I could do 12K on a boss the first time I see it and I can get to 19K after I've seen it a few times. It is all a matter of getting used to the fight so I know first hand and am willing to give DPS a break from time to time.
However, when someone is doing 6K I start to wonder how that is even possible. We had someone in our guild at run last week that was doing that. Okay, it was a run of mostly people doing things they were not used to doing so even if we did not get anything down I did not mind. It was to get people that don't raid a chance to raid and to get people that do raid a chance to play a different roll.
Upon further inspection I noticed that the DPS, an elemental shaman, that was doing 6K DPS, was wearing three leather items. While it is true they were the ideal stat itemization for the class they are also the wrong type of armor for the class. That is easily remedied, tell the person, dude, things changed since wrath, you should never be wearing a type of armor that is not meant for your class.
With that out of the way I started to think what are the standards I look for in a damage dealer in my raids. Things like wearing the right gear type ranks high. So does gemming and enchanting. However, when it comes down to it there are only three things I look for from a damage dealer in a raid.
1) How you handle mechanics
- This is the most important thing. If you can pull 30K DPS, well good for you, it means nothing if you are dying to simple mechanics are even worse, killing others because you do not following mechanics.
- Handling mechanics is not only about movement. Is there an interrupt you need to be on? Are you interrupting it? Is there something that needs to be kited? Are you kiting it? Mechanics are more then just movement.
2) How you manage your aggro
- This is really important as well but doesn't seem to be as much of a problem after the first few seconds of a fight. It is usually the trash that I see damage dealers screwing up with aggro. Even at that, watching your own aggro is very important.
Every time a damage dealer pulls aggro I cringe. Some will say, the tank needs to be better. Sure, the tank can be better but I do not blame the tank if they are doing all they can to generate aggro. Aggro management is on the DDs.
If the tank can only handle you doing 17K DPS then only do 17K DPS, don't try to push it because you want to inflate your numbers. You doing 17K DPS and not taking aggro is a hell of a lot better then you pulling 23K and grabbing aggro. Grab aggro at the wrong time and even if the boss only turns for a split second it could mean the DD dies and maybe even others around them die.
3) DPS
- Plain and simple, it is a number so it is very easy to judge this one. The higher you can get this number while doing both 1 and 2 the better you are. If you do 1 and 2 perfectly, then this is all that is left for you.
Now for my DPS check lets just assume that everyone is doing number 1, mechanics, and number 2, aggro, perfectly.
In my current crop of raiders, on an ideal night, I would have me (hunter), a warlock, a feral druid, a shadow priest, a death knight and a mage. All of us are capable of at least 12K which means at worst we are going to have no issues with current content. Heck, in some cases we are all capable of 15K at least on fights we know well and there are even a few cases where I can see 20K from at least 4 of those 6, me, the druid, the lock and the priest.
Do I use that as my standard? No, not really, we are all good players sure but we are all also pulling close to the most we can out of our classes. Based on theory crafting we all do within 20% of what is considered our maximum potential. The best players are usually within 5% of the best their class can do. That doesn't mean we are bad, but we are more then competent.
I do not hold everyone up to that type of number however. Like I said, we are a casual guild. I look for at least 10K DPS while doing 1 and 2 which is not asking much in my opinion.
Your average player regardless of class should be able to pull 10K before they are even finished gearing in heroics I believe. I also know that for as much as I believe it I am completely wrong. 100s of heroics in Cata have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the average player in heroic gear can not even pull 8K.
Sorry, call me an elitist if you want to, but that is just not acceptable for me. Maybe 8K from a guild mate we are running thought and they are just learning a class is fine in a raid, we have more then enough DPS to compensate for them but I want 10K, at least 10K.
In an ideal world this is what I personally see as DPS markers for each step of current progression. Again, assuming #1 and #2 are already being followed. DPS means nothing if people do not follow #1 and #2.
Heroic Dungeons
8K DPS - This should be no problem in 329 gear.
Zul Heroics
10K DPS - In all 346 gear you should be able to do this with your eyes closed.
BH
10K DPS - Heck, this was being done the first week of the game when a 338 gear score was still considered good.
Raids
12K DPS - 10K can get the job done, but if you can (and should) do at least 10K in a zul with 5 man buffs you should be able to do 12K in a raid with 10 man buffs.
Raid - End bosses
14K DPS - Sure it can be done with less but by the time you get to last bosses you should have at least a 353 gear score and 14K DPS in 353 should be the worst anyone can do.
Looking at all of that leaves me very sad however because at least on my server those numbers are way to high. In the average BH I do with pugs (so many 85s so I only do 1 or 2 with guild) there are usually at least 2 people under 10K, sometimes even under 8K and in a few rare cases someone under 6K.
Do you think that my numbers are too high? I personally don't think so. I am not asking for people to do 20K DPS even if I know based on current gear and the DPS analyzers that nearly every class should be doing at bare minimum 15K around 350 gear score. I just want people to do their job. I want people to follow mechanics, not grab aggro and put up decent numbers.
Maybe I am asking for too much sometimes. Someone told me the other day that I expect to much from people. I disagree. I just expect from them what I know they are capable of doing.
I rarely see a hunter that can out DPS me but when I do I go out of my way to find out why. I check their profile for gear, gems, enchants, reforging, you know, the whole nine yards so to speak. I try to see what they are doing differently so I can learn and get better myself. As a damage dealer I believe it is my job to always get better. I once saw a hunter in a ToC 25 a few years back that beat me by almost 1K DPS and I looked him up. It was scary bad. He had spirit gems, intellect gems, wrong enchants, you name it.
Sure, he beat me in DPS but I considered him a bad player and do you want to know why? Because if he could beat me being so horribly itemized I could only imagine what they would have been capable of doing if they had the correct stats. I do not see a person based on their gear, I see a person based on their potential. His potential was so much higher then what he was doing. To me, that makes him a bad player because he was wasting all that potential on something as stupid and easily correctable as the wrong gems and enchants.
Each person is only capable of doing what they can do but sometimes you can do more. There is nothing worse then seeing someone waste potential. Seeing someone do 6K DPS in a Zul doesn't make me call them bad because of the 6K, it makes me call them bad because they are wasting so much potential. I know they can do more, even if they do not get into the 20% of the best that can be done marker I am at they can still do more. That is what kills me looking at them, all I see is a ton of wasted potential.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
World PvP
I was never around when world PvP was a big thing. I am not a vanilla player but that doesn't mean I have not heard the stories about it. From time to time however I get lucky enough to grab a little taste of world PvP but the times that it happens are so few and far between.
Last week a lone horde was caught by a guild member, that is not a PvPer, trying to get through the back gates swimming. My guess would be he was trying to enter under the radar so to speak. He and I had just grouped because we were about the run a dungeon and I told him to kill him, I would heal if he needed it being I was on my shaman.
A few people on vent heard us talking and asked to join the group so we invited them and soon we had about 6 people in a mini raid. We killed that guy and then noticed that he was just a scout for a group that was meant to come in from the tram.
So we asked in guild if anyone else wanted in on some fun, we were going to go on the tram and try to sniff them out. Our little raid group went up to eight people and we went into the tram. There were three horde as soon as we walked in, it was four of us that had entered, an enhancement shaman, a prot pally and a fury warrior along with me on my resto shaman. Both the DKs (the third was a pally) summoned army and away we went.
We destroyed them. Of course it was four on three and we had a healer in me so of course we should win a match up like that even if the paladin on our side had never even gotten an honorable kill before he meet the guy outside the gates.
After that point we starting making passes on the trams trying to find more. There seemed to be roughly 20 horde, all from the same guild, down there. Our personal guild raid group got up to 14 members itself.
So there is was, 14 vs 20, we were outnumbered but we were on our home turf so to speak. It was a massive battle here there and everywhere. Only once did we get the short end, the enhancement shaman, assassination rogue and feral druid were jumped by seven horde, two of which where healers, but while the shaman and druid died, the rogue got away, called on us, and we went there and got our just revenge.
One of the great moment where when me and the paladin that had never PvPed before where on the tram and a DK and a priest jumped on from a side platform. It was on, two plate wearers with their healers behind them, the difference I think here was I had a hell of a lot of PvP experience as a healer and I am guessing the priest healer on their side did not.
I told the paladin do a bit of AoE to make sure the healer gets hit from time to time and I went on the offensive while healing. I killed the healer and then the DK went down quickly. On their side the DK did no AoE, the healer never hit me, I never took damage at all, hence the reason we won that two on two so easily and I think that they did not have a lot of PvP experience. An experienced priest healer could have MCed me off the tram and not even worry about killing me if he were more on the ball.
This went on for about an hour (and almost two hours if you count the time others started to join in) and it was fantastic, as a guild we had great fun and we declared a decisive victory over the numerically superior opposing forces. They all decided to wait until the flag wore off and rez and hearth once others started to come in and it was becoming way more alliance then horde but for the time it was just us vs them it was a lot of fun.
It makes me wish I were around for the old time world PvP. This was just a small taste of it but it was great. The only world PvP I've been lucky to experience is either those lame objective things we come across from time to time or one sided things where we defend a city or attack a city which will always put you in a numerically superior or lacking department.
The paladin that had never PvPed at all started talking about how he had such a great time and he never knew PvP could be this fun. He wanted to start doing battleground and arenas and PvPing more.
The sad part was we needed to break the bad news to him. Battlegrounds and arena are nothing like world PvP. Wintergrasp and TB are nothing like world PvP. World PvP is a horse of a different color. He will still give PvP more of a chance now, which will surely be a plus for our rated battleground group but it makes me wonder, what could be.
What could be done to bring world PvP back into play in the game? It is a game now where on one needs to leave their home city. They can queue for PvP or Dungeons while sitting in their home town. When they do travel they fly by things so fast they would never even notice if an epic battle was being played out under them. When it is raid time there is usually one person that heads to the raid instance and does have group to get everyone there and when the raid is over you hearth back or if you have a mage they open a port.
How would it be possible for world PvP to make a come back when there is no reason to go out in the world any more?
When it comes to PvP I happen to think world PvP is the most exciting form of PvP. Maybe it is because I've had so few occurrences of it that it still feels fresh to me or maybe it is because it really does feel nice to just fight for the sake of fighting. It feels so much more natural, so much more part of the horde vs alliance battle. No battling over resources, no three vs three in a controlled area, just a free for all, a bring everything you've got and I'll bring everything I've got and lets get down and dirty. You are killing for the sake of killing. Nothing more, nothing less. It is fantastic.
I've had some ideas in the past that could bring back world PvP and they are mostly achievement based. Oddly enough, achievements, even if the points mean nothing, are a great motivator.
Make a whole slew of new achievements like [Kill 100 "class" in "area"], [Kill 100 "race" in "area"], and do it for 250, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, etc. This gives people a motivating factor to PvP in the world, for achievement sake. Of course there would have to be a few tweaks in this such as only kills of equal or higher level would count, so people do not go in level 20 areas and kill 20s all day long.
I could really see me getting a group of 10 or 12 or more guild mates and saying, lets go get some achievements and heading out to an area we all need kills in and flying around looking for players to start some world PvP with. Even if it is just a blood bath back and forth basically exchanging kills almost, it would be fun. It would bring a taste of world PvP back and it has the beauty of extendability. Just keep making achievements for higher numbers.
Being that will never happen, at least I would not expect Blizzard to do something to get people back in the world, I'll just have to wait it out for another of those rare moment when we just have an all out brawl just for the fun of it. And oh what fun it is, even for the non-PvPers among us.
Last week a lone horde was caught by a guild member, that is not a PvPer, trying to get through the back gates swimming. My guess would be he was trying to enter under the radar so to speak. He and I had just grouped because we were about the run a dungeon and I told him to kill him, I would heal if he needed it being I was on my shaman.
A few people on vent heard us talking and asked to join the group so we invited them and soon we had about 6 people in a mini raid. We killed that guy and then noticed that he was just a scout for a group that was meant to come in from the tram.
So we asked in guild if anyone else wanted in on some fun, we were going to go on the tram and try to sniff them out. Our little raid group went up to eight people and we went into the tram. There were three horde as soon as we walked in, it was four of us that had entered, an enhancement shaman, a prot pally and a fury warrior along with me on my resto shaman. Both the DKs (the third was a pally) summoned army and away we went.
We destroyed them. Of course it was four on three and we had a healer in me so of course we should win a match up like that even if the paladin on our side had never even gotten an honorable kill before he meet the guy outside the gates.
After that point we starting making passes on the trams trying to find more. There seemed to be roughly 20 horde, all from the same guild, down there. Our personal guild raid group got up to 14 members itself.
So there is was, 14 vs 20, we were outnumbered but we were on our home turf so to speak. It was a massive battle here there and everywhere. Only once did we get the short end, the enhancement shaman, assassination rogue and feral druid were jumped by seven horde, two of which where healers, but while the shaman and druid died, the rogue got away, called on us, and we went there and got our just revenge.
One of the great moment where when me and the paladin that had never PvPed before where on the tram and a DK and a priest jumped on from a side platform. It was on, two plate wearers with their healers behind them, the difference I think here was I had a hell of a lot of PvP experience as a healer and I am guessing the priest healer on their side did not.
I told the paladin do a bit of AoE to make sure the healer gets hit from time to time and I went on the offensive while healing. I killed the healer and then the DK went down quickly. On their side the DK did no AoE, the healer never hit me, I never took damage at all, hence the reason we won that two on two so easily and I think that they did not have a lot of PvP experience. An experienced priest healer could have MCed me off the tram and not even worry about killing me if he were more on the ball.
This went on for about an hour (and almost two hours if you count the time others started to join in) and it was fantastic, as a guild we had great fun and we declared a decisive victory over the numerically superior opposing forces. They all decided to wait until the flag wore off and rez and hearth once others started to come in and it was becoming way more alliance then horde but for the time it was just us vs them it was a lot of fun.
It makes me wish I were around for the old time world PvP. This was just a small taste of it but it was great. The only world PvP I've been lucky to experience is either those lame objective things we come across from time to time or one sided things where we defend a city or attack a city which will always put you in a numerically superior or lacking department.
The paladin that had never PvPed at all started talking about how he had such a great time and he never knew PvP could be this fun. He wanted to start doing battleground and arenas and PvPing more.
The sad part was we needed to break the bad news to him. Battlegrounds and arena are nothing like world PvP. Wintergrasp and TB are nothing like world PvP. World PvP is a horse of a different color. He will still give PvP more of a chance now, which will surely be a plus for our rated battleground group but it makes me wonder, what could be.
What could be done to bring world PvP back into play in the game? It is a game now where on one needs to leave their home city. They can queue for PvP or Dungeons while sitting in their home town. When they do travel they fly by things so fast they would never even notice if an epic battle was being played out under them. When it is raid time there is usually one person that heads to the raid instance and does have group to get everyone there and when the raid is over you hearth back or if you have a mage they open a port.
How would it be possible for world PvP to make a come back when there is no reason to go out in the world any more?
When it comes to PvP I happen to think world PvP is the most exciting form of PvP. Maybe it is because I've had so few occurrences of it that it still feels fresh to me or maybe it is because it really does feel nice to just fight for the sake of fighting. It feels so much more natural, so much more part of the horde vs alliance battle. No battling over resources, no three vs three in a controlled area, just a free for all, a bring everything you've got and I'll bring everything I've got and lets get down and dirty. You are killing for the sake of killing. Nothing more, nothing less. It is fantastic.
I've had some ideas in the past that could bring back world PvP and they are mostly achievement based. Oddly enough, achievements, even if the points mean nothing, are a great motivator.
Make a whole slew of new achievements like [Kill 100 "class" in "area"], [Kill 100 "race" in "area"], and do it for 250, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, etc. This gives people a motivating factor to PvP in the world, for achievement sake. Of course there would have to be a few tweaks in this such as only kills of equal or higher level would count, so people do not go in level 20 areas and kill 20s all day long.
I could really see me getting a group of 10 or 12 or more guild mates and saying, lets go get some achievements and heading out to an area we all need kills in and flying around looking for players to start some world PvP with. Even if it is just a blood bath back and forth basically exchanging kills almost, it would be fun. It would bring a taste of world PvP back and it has the beauty of extendability. Just keep making achievements for higher numbers.
Being that will never happen, at least I would not expect Blizzard to do something to get people back in the world, I'll just have to wait it out for another of those rare moment when we just have an all out brawl just for the fun of it. And oh what fun it is, even for the non-PvPers among us.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Touching All The Bases
Blogger had some issues that would not allow me to log in and waste some time being grumpy so instead I wasted some time at work playing games instead of writing about them. I love GemCraft, it is a fantastic time waster. Yes, work is that exciting at times that I have nothing better to do then write here. Hey, it makes the day go faster.
This expansion needs more raid bosses like...
Chimaeron. Come on, how easy does it get to describe it to people. Spread out, group up, make sure everyone is over 10K, taunt double attacks. Go go pug power. I love bosses like this. You can pull a group of trade trolls and get this boss down. I love easy to explain bosses. It also has the added factor that even if it is super easy it is also difficult enough that it can still put a bit of a challenge on everyone in a sense that they still need to perform well to get it done.
This expansion needs less raid bosses like...
Al'Akir. 360 degree fights go screw yourself. It is not like the mechanics are hard or anything, it is because it is annoying. It is like a vehicle fight without the vehicles. Think Maly without drakes. Horrible horrible design. When will they stop thinking that people like this crap.
Do they not remember the needed to bribe people to do the Oculus and they still would drop group the second they zoned in? Do they remember they had the dragons scale to gear making it a joke and people would still drop when they zoned in? Do they remember that when the weekly was Maly most people skipped it that week? Give it up Blizzard, math does not lie, people do not like this concept, stop using it.
I want more random dungeons like...
This Lost City run I was in. I walk in on my Shaman healer and the DK tank says to me, you look geared do you mind if we skip CC? I say, I'll give it a try. Without a second of notice the DK takes off and pulls the pack on the left side, the guys off to the side training and the big guy in the alley. We burn them down and he is off to the second pack and the boss at the same time. Oh crap, maybe I should have said no.
I popped hero and we rocked it. I was basically oom after chain pulling up to the boss and keeping everyone alive so I sat to drink and he continued ahead. I got to him in time to save him and this was the pace of the group. It was move move move and it never stopped. By the time we downed the last boss I still had 4 minutes left on the heroism debuff. That means 6 minutes from the first to last boss. Maybe 2 minutes before the first boss. So an 8 minute heroic. I loved it. It actually challenged me as a healer and it was exciting. We need more 8 minute heroics. It brings back the speed of wrath with an added bonus that if anyone sucked we would have died unlike wrath. Now that is how heroics should be fast and challenging. Let me add, the DPS was not amazing either, 12K, 10K and 9K, so it is not like you needed a super group to do this in 8 minutes.
I want fewer random dungeons like...
This ZG I got into. Apparently the tank and healer dropped and a tank and me ended up joining them on the second boss. The tank says, I always worry about coming in on an in progress run. I felt his pain and agreed but I always stick things out. We start the raptor boss. No one is switching to the raptor, me and the tank are DPSing it down. Yes, I am the healer mind you. One DPS is pulling 9K, what I consider a bit low for a Zul but acceptable, the other two are pulling 4K and 5K. How the hell did they even get in here? The tank says, now I see why the previous tank left. All three of the DPS where dead, we were out of spirits, I knew it was only a matter of time so I hit hero, went to DPS mode and we got the boss down to about 30% before it killed me and the tank shortly after.
They need to find another way to judge people besides item level before letting them into heroics or even more so Zul heroics. 4K or 5K DPS is not even acceptable in 329 item level gear for a standard heroic. There is no way it is possible to be that bad in 346 item level unless you are trying to be that bad. Sorry, not possible. Unless you're the healer. I pulled 3K and was quite happy with that considering it was not my freaking job to kill the raptor, it was the job of the DPS.
Some dungeons are just good for those...
WTF moments. I joined a GB run seeing a mountain of bones on the second boss. Oh joy. Lets rock it. two of the DPS, a mage and a hunter, decided to get at range, not really a bad thing, but then then walked down the stairs. Hey people, don't LoS the healer if you want heals. Either way, we make our way to the last boss after finishing that one and skipping the third and we wipe.
No biggie, that last one still seems to be a killer for most groups I end up with. We get at it a second time and the tank says people need to really step up their DPS, the adds need to go down. I add, for the hunter, that concussive and trap can slow the one on his side. Just to be helpful of course. A few seconds pass and the tank says, okay pulling, just as the hunter speaks up and says, I don't have those.
The tank stopped dead in his track in mid run in and turns and says. What?
You could hear a pin drop. I don't know, I found it amazingly funny that a hunter made it to 85 and never noticed his traps or concussive. Apparently so did everyone else in group. Oddly enough, we downed the boss anyway that try but just seeing the tank go "What?" made me laugh and made the whole run worthwhile.
It still annoys the hell out of me when...
People ask for at least a 355 item level to do a non heroic raid. Excuse me? I know you want it easy but it is easy if everyone knows what they are doing. They are trying to have gear compensate for ability. Correct me if my reasoning is wrong but I will go into any raid with everyone wearing 340 items that knows what they are doing before I would consider going into one with everyone in 355 items that doesn't. Item level does not mean you know what to do or even how to play your class. I've seen more then enough 346 item level people doing under 5K in Zul runs to prove that one.
It always makes me want to quit the game...
When I spend to much time reading trade chat. I don't know why it is but if I spend to much time reading trade chat I am always left wanting to quit the game. Something about everyone being retarded, people insulting everyone else, people thinking that they are elite and everyone else sucks, people berating anyone that might ask a question, people thinking 355 is needed for a raid and in some cases even a heroic dungeon.
Trade people leave me feeling empty inside. Not sure if it is because of the way they treat each other that bothers me or the fact that I play the same game as them and if I am playing it that means somehow I am as bad as they are. Maybe having something in common, the game, as these people makes me want to quit. I hate thinking that in some way I am exactly like them, we are both on this game looking for something to do. Perhaps I will evolve into one of them if I play to long. If there were ever a good reason to quit the game, that is it, quit to not become one of them.
It always makes me love them game when...
Something exciting happens and it makes someone happy. We did a Maly run the other day for people that needed the achievement and for fun. I decided that we might as well do it on 25 and take a chance at getting someone the Azure Drake. As luck would have it, it dropped and made someone in the group extremely happy. I like seeing people happy. It makes me remember why I play the game. There are still moments of joy to be had playing, even in older content.
I wonder why I write here sometimes until...
I am not able to. When I could not post a new post I found myself bored. It seems like this has become a way to pass the time for me. As much of a habit as the game itself has become writing about my thoughts, gripes, and general babble about nothing has become a fun part of the game in and of itself. Without the ability to talk about the game here, even if only to myself, I think I would have lost interest in the game.
The blog community is basically...
The best part of the game itself. I've come across blogs that have helped me play my class better, blogs that just talked about interesting ideas and concepts, blogs that talk about lore and blogs that just talk about their daily game play. I have found them all to be interesting and in a strange way I feel as if I know some of the bloggers better then I know some of my own guild members.
Agree or disagree with them, over all the people in the blogging community are the best part of the game. If only more people would spend their time blogging instead of trolling trade the game community would be so much better. There are no forums I have found that did not always fall into hate filled venom after a few posts. There is no server I have been on this did not seem to want to destroy anyone that was unfortunate enough to ask a question in trade. The blog people seem to be a step above the curve when it comes to being people and not just players.
Now to go catch up on some reading. Have a great day.
This expansion needs more raid bosses like...
Chimaeron. Come on, how easy does it get to describe it to people. Spread out, group up, make sure everyone is over 10K, taunt double attacks. Go go pug power. I love bosses like this. You can pull a group of trade trolls and get this boss down. I love easy to explain bosses. It also has the added factor that even if it is super easy it is also difficult enough that it can still put a bit of a challenge on everyone in a sense that they still need to perform well to get it done.
This expansion needs less raid bosses like...
Al'Akir. 360 degree fights go screw yourself. It is not like the mechanics are hard or anything, it is because it is annoying. It is like a vehicle fight without the vehicles. Think Maly without drakes. Horrible horrible design. When will they stop thinking that people like this crap.
Do they not remember the needed to bribe people to do the Oculus and they still would drop group the second they zoned in? Do they remember they had the dragons scale to gear making it a joke and people would still drop when they zoned in? Do they remember that when the weekly was Maly most people skipped it that week? Give it up Blizzard, math does not lie, people do not like this concept, stop using it.
I want more random dungeons like...
This Lost City run I was in. I walk in on my Shaman healer and the DK tank says to me, you look geared do you mind if we skip CC? I say, I'll give it a try. Without a second of notice the DK takes off and pulls the pack on the left side, the guys off to the side training and the big guy in the alley. We burn them down and he is off to the second pack and the boss at the same time. Oh crap, maybe I should have said no.
I popped hero and we rocked it. I was basically oom after chain pulling up to the boss and keeping everyone alive so I sat to drink and he continued ahead. I got to him in time to save him and this was the pace of the group. It was move move move and it never stopped. By the time we downed the last boss I still had 4 minutes left on the heroism debuff. That means 6 minutes from the first to last boss. Maybe 2 minutes before the first boss. So an 8 minute heroic. I loved it. It actually challenged me as a healer and it was exciting. We need more 8 minute heroics. It brings back the speed of wrath with an added bonus that if anyone sucked we would have died unlike wrath. Now that is how heroics should be fast and challenging. Let me add, the DPS was not amazing either, 12K, 10K and 9K, so it is not like you needed a super group to do this in 8 minutes.
I want fewer random dungeons like...
This ZG I got into. Apparently the tank and healer dropped and a tank and me ended up joining them on the second boss. The tank says, I always worry about coming in on an in progress run. I felt his pain and agreed but I always stick things out. We start the raptor boss. No one is switching to the raptor, me and the tank are DPSing it down. Yes, I am the healer mind you. One DPS is pulling 9K, what I consider a bit low for a Zul but acceptable, the other two are pulling 4K and 5K. How the hell did they even get in here? The tank says, now I see why the previous tank left. All three of the DPS where dead, we were out of spirits, I knew it was only a matter of time so I hit hero, went to DPS mode and we got the boss down to about 30% before it killed me and the tank shortly after.
They need to find another way to judge people besides item level before letting them into heroics or even more so Zul heroics. 4K or 5K DPS is not even acceptable in 329 item level gear for a standard heroic. There is no way it is possible to be that bad in 346 item level unless you are trying to be that bad. Sorry, not possible. Unless you're the healer. I pulled 3K and was quite happy with that considering it was not my freaking job to kill the raptor, it was the job of the DPS.
Some dungeons are just good for those...
WTF moments. I joined a GB run seeing a mountain of bones on the second boss. Oh joy. Lets rock it. two of the DPS, a mage and a hunter, decided to get at range, not really a bad thing, but then then walked down the stairs. Hey people, don't LoS the healer if you want heals. Either way, we make our way to the last boss after finishing that one and skipping the third and we wipe.
No biggie, that last one still seems to be a killer for most groups I end up with. We get at it a second time and the tank says people need to really step up their DPS, the adds need to go down. I add, for the hunter, that concussive and trap can slow the one on his side. Just to be helpful of course. A few seconds pass and the tank says, okay pulling, just as the hunter speaks up and says, I don't have those.
The tank stopped dead in his track in mid run in and turns and says. What?
You could hear a pin drop. I don't know, I found it amazingly funny that a hunter made it to 85 and never noticed his traps or concussive. Apparently so did everyone else in group. Oddly enough, we downed the boss anyway that try but just seeing the tank go "What?" made me laugh and made the whole run worthwhile.
It still annoys the hell out of me when...
People ask for at least a 355 item level to do a non heroic raid. Excuse me? I know you want it easy but it is easy if everyone knows what they are doing. They are trying to have gear compensate for ability. Correct me if my reasoning is wrong but I will go into any raid with everyone wearing 340 items that knows what they are doing before I would consider going into one with everyone in 355 items that doesn't. Item level does not mean you know what to do or even how to play your class. I've seen more then enough 346 item level people doing under 5K in Zul runs to prove that one.
It always makes me want to quit the game...
When I spend to much time reading trade chat. I don't know why it is but if I spend to much time reading trade chat I am always left wanting to quit the game. Something about everyone being retarded, people insulting everyone else, people thinking that they are elite and everyone else sucks, people berating anyone that might ask a question, people thinking 355 is needed for a raid and in some cases even a heroic dungeon.
Trade people leave me feeling empty inside. Not sure if it is because of the way they treat each other that bothers me or the fact that I play the same game as them and if I am playing it that means somehow I am as bad as they are. Maybe having something in common, the game, as these people makes me want to quit. I hate thinking that in some way I am exactly like them, we are both on this game looking for something to do. Perhaps I will evolve into one of them if I play to long. If there were ever a good reason to quit the game, that is it, quit to not become one of them.
It always makes me love them game when...
Something exciting happens and it makes someone happy. We did a Maly run the other day for people that needed the achievement and for fun. I decided that we might as well do it on 25 and take a chance at getting someone the Azure Drake. As luck would have it, it dropped and made someone in the group extremely happy. I like seeing people happy. It makes me remember why I play the game. There are still moments of joy to be had playing, even in older content.
I wonder why I write here sometimes until...
I am not able to. When I could not post a new post I found myself bored. It seems like this has become a way to pass the time for me. As much of a habit as the game itself has become writing about my thoughts, gripes, and general babble about nothing has become a fun part of the game in and of itself. Without the ability to talk about the game here, even if only to myself, I think I would have lost interest in the game.
The blog community is basically...
The best part of the game itself. I've come across blogs that have helped me play my class better, blogs that just talked about interesting ideas and concepts, blogs that talk about lore and blogs that just talk about their daily game play. I have found them all to be interesting and in a strange way I feel as if I know some of the bloggers better then I know some of my own guild members.
Agree or disagree with them, over all the people in the blogging community are the best part of the game. If only more people would spend their time blogging instead of trolling trade the game community would be so much better. There are no forums I have found that did not always fall into hate filled venom after a few posts. There is no server I have been on this did not seem to want to destroy anyone that was unfortunate enough to ask a question in trade. The blog people seem to be a step above the curve when it comes to being people and not just players.
Now to go catch up on some reading. Have a great day.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Personal Progression
My main is my Hunter. I like raiding with him but for my guild I am sometimes needed in other roles. Last week we got a new boss down and I was tanking. This leaves my Hunter behind in progression.
Would I consider my personal progression to include all my characters, just the one I am currently on, or my main?
I've done things on other characters I have not done on my main. I've done stuff on my main I have not done on other characters.
For me, none of my characters will look very progressed on their own but when you add up their body of experience this expansion it looks much better.
So for me, is my personal progression everyone combined, or is it whomever I am on at the time?
Would I consider my personal progression to include all my characters, just the one I am currently on, or my main?
I've done things on other characters I have not done on my main. I've done stuff on my main I have not done on other characters.
For me, none of my characters will look very progressed on their own but when you add up their body of experience this expansion it looks much better.
So for me, is my personal progression everyone combined, or is it whomever I am on at the time?
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