Everyone knows that getting into a pickup group can be a gamble. Usually, you loose. Lately, I have been blessed with nothing but a bunch of losers. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Explain things thoroughly, make sure that they know how a pull will go, etc. But I start to loose my patience when people either don't know how to play their class or they try to tell me how to play mine. If they do both, it's pretty much a matter of offending me once more and I'm gone.
I've been trying to do heroic Nexus every day because there is a trinket in there I could use. It would basically put my hit and expertise ratings at a more reasonable level, instead of where they are now. Which is poor. Yesterday's attempt ended with me very angry at my group and doing something I rarely do: quit the game in the middle of a group. After being told how to tank by an overzealous DPS shaman who refuses to watch his agrro and having the group wiped twice because the other members can't watch where they are going, I was done. Being polite goes a long way and I try to be kind even when someone is being stupid or rude, but there is a line and they crossed it.
Today's attempt was just as bad. After wiping multiple times in an attempt to do heroic Violet Hold, I ended up seeing that a guildy was looking for a tank for a heroic Nexus group. Little did I know it was a pug, but that's ok. I've been in some good pugs. But today was a mess of bad ones. The Violet Hold debalcle left me brash, since we made it past the second boss then wiped because the healer didn't have the good sense to follow me up the steps to the platform where the mobs were spawning. The second wipe there was because ... well ... I think the dps was off in lala land and the healer decided to join them long enough for me to die.
The Nexus group that I was invited to was no better. It would seem that they had a bad tank. No idea what happened to this tank, but they were extreemly happy to have a "REAL TANK" in the group now. That made me feel good, until we wiped three times on Telestra. My evaluation of why: the healer was awful. He was running out of mana before we were done with her first split. After three wipes he kept asking if maybe he wasn't high enough to heal this. I told him...well...maybe your mana is too low. Trying to be polite. Then he told me I take to much damage. Haha....no I don't. The guildy laughed at that. The healer tried to argue that he had healed in Naxx and had no problems, but I really didn't feel like tearing into this poor schmuck. I have never wiped on trash in heroic Nexus. As far as I recall, the only bosses I have ever wiped on in there were Commander Kolurg and Anomolus. That's it. So...I really can't try to take any of the blame for those wipes.
So there you have it. My most recent PUG gripes. They happen, I know. It certainly doesn't mean I won't end up in one again, but hopefully I'll see less morons as time goes by. ^_~
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
It's Not Just About Gear
I have been doing a lot since I hit 80 about 3 weeks ago. In my attempts to gear up so that I can start raiding as a tank I have made about 3 different wish lists for Yora, gotten gear, scratched off half the stuff on the list, made a new one, and so on. I had done this a lot back in the days of BC and playing a rogue. Anyway, between what advice my guild and non-guild friends have been giving me, I have found that there are a few different takes on tanking out there. Especially since warriors are not the only class that can tank for a group. My good buddy, Kedreeva, who is also a real life friend of mine, plays a druid tank. I have encountered my fair share of paladin tanks in the past and they are quite effective. Now death knights can aparently tank, though I don't really understand what the mechanics of that are. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
I have seen a number of different web sites that give advice for playing WoW. My bookmark is actually set to WoWiki so that when I open my browser on my second monitor it pops up there so I can search for whatever I need in Warcraft while it is running on my primary screen. I recently came across a site called "TankSpot" which I think is a pretty good community. While it does not have the neatly organized structure of WoWiki, there are a number of tank-centric resources on there. I have yet to brave the forums (large forums scare me!) there are some interesting articles. Right now I have three primary interests when it comes to improving my methods as a tank.
1) Gear/Stats I need
2) Talents
3) Spell Rotation
I didn't ever do any hardcore research on how to tank. I did a little of it in the lower levels as Featherwind and I were leveling our characters, but that is not nearly as difficult as it can get once you get into the 60+ dungeons. Pretty much I decided upon my spell rotation (in laymans terms: the order I use my abilities) through personal experience and observation of past tanks.
So...to compare. This is my current method. Some of it is obvious:
This is my current talent spec.
So today, after reading this article on Tankspot, I have decided to re-evaluate my rotation, talents, as well as get a better sense of where I should be focusing to get my hit rating and expertise up because they are pathetic.
For the sake of later comparison of these items as well, I'm going to list where I am at with these stats.
Health - 22801
Armor - 22555
Defense - 551
Dodge - 17.52%
Parry - 15.57%
Block - 16.04%
Hit - 95 (2.90%)
Expertise - 15 (3.75%)
Later I will post my conclusions as well as what changes I have made to see what changing my talents, rotation, and getting different gear has done for me. But for the sake of not making this epic & long, I'm breaking it up.
I have seen a number of different web sites that give advice for playing WoW. My bookmark is actually set to WoWiki so that when I open my browser on my second monitor it pops up there so I can search for whatever I need in Warcraft while it is running on my primary screen. I recently came across a site called "TankSpot" which I think is a pretty good community. While it does not have the neatly organized structure of WoWiki, there are a number of tank-centric resources on there. I have yet to brave the forums (large forums scare me!) there are some interesting articles. Right now I have three primary interests when it comes to improving my methods as a tank.
1) Gear/Stats I need
2) Talents
3) Spell Rotation
I didn't ever do any hardcore research on how to tank. I did a little of it in the lower levels as Featherwind and I were leveling our characters, but that is not nearly as difficult as it can get once you get into the 60+ dungeons. Pretty much I decided upon my spell rotation (in laymans terms: the order I use my abilities) through personal experience and observation of past tanks.
So...to compare. This is my current method. Some of it is obvious:
- Always check to make sure vigilance is up on the healer or DPS lead if they are a bomber. (I can usually tell by the second or third pull which is more important)
- Mark my targets so the rest of the party knows in what order I want to kill the mobs and use charge to start the fight. In the case of needing to line of sight the pull, I will use heroic throw.
- I hit thunder clap to collect the group, followed by devastate to build aggro on the first mob, and lastly I turn so that the group of mobs is in front of me and hit shockwave. (Using shockwave is how I try to build further threat on the mobs who are not being downed first & it stuns them for a time so that they are not a problem for a few seconds)
- For my rotation for the remainder of the fight I use rend to keep a bleed on the mob, devastate spam to sunder armor and build threat, and shield slam when it is off cooldown. For as long as there are more than one mob, I use cleave and alternate between cleave and devastate to keep threat. I continue to use thunder clap and shockwave when they are off cooldown.
This is my current talent spec.
So today, after reading this article on Tankspot, I have decided to re-evaluate my rotation, talents, as well as get a better sense of where I should be focusing to get my hit rating and expertise up because they are pathetic.
For the sake of later comparison of these items as well, I'm going to list where I am at with these stats.
Health - 22801
Armor - 22555
Defense - 551
Dodge - 17.52%
Parry - 15.57%
Block - 16.04%
Hit - 95 (2.90%)
Expertise - 15 (3.75%)
Later I will post my conclusions as well as what changes I have made to see what changing my talents, rotation, and getting different gear has done for me. But for the sake of not making this epic & long, I'm breaking it up.
The Journey to Tankdom
My name is "Yora". A little over four years ago, when my husband, "Dughan", and I had just started dating, I started playing World of Warcraft. At first I didn't even know what it is, but he was extremely excited because he was in the beta test before the game came out. Every day and night Dughan would play the game late into the night, often leaving the game on after falling asleep. There were a few mornings where I would wake up to the ever familiar login screen music After about a week of this, I decided to try it for myself. So I logged on to his account and created a character.
Of course, I created a Night Elf. That's just the kind of girl I am. I decided on hunter because it seemed like the most interesting class at the time. So I created Thalithionel the Night Elf hunter, leveled her into the late teens. I did a lot of stupid things as that hunter. I never trained my pet. I didn't use any talent points when I hit level 10 until Dughan asked me what I was using my talent points for (Talents? What's that?). But eventually I learned a little bit. Still, I was pretty crappy, but I had fun. When the game came out, we both got a copy, I re-created Thalithionel on my new account and set off to leveling her again.
Well after a few months of struggling to level her on the server we picked, which was, unfortunately, a PVP server, I quit. After Blizzard initiated World PVP into the game, it was less than fun to try and level in contested zones like Desolace or Stranglethorn Vale because it seemed like people had nothing better to do with their high level characters than sit around and kill people trying to quest in those zones. I didn't play for a few months, but got back into it briefly when I was convinced to play Horde. I played a warrior then into her 20s, then got bored again, and quit.
When I finally got my WoW shoes back on I set out to do it smart this time. I decided that I would create a character on a new server, that was RP, not PVP, so that no one couldn't kill me unless I wanted to fight. I also decided that this time I would create a Rogue, because it seemed that Rogues were more than abundant in any server's population so I concluded that they weren't hard to level. Thus, Orahlith, the Night Elf Rogue, was born. I was not, admitedly, a very good rogue. My understanding of dps and minmaxing is limited and for some reason I always felt like I was missing something. It was fun, but often stressful in a ways that sometimes made me feel inadequate.
I'm not going to go too terribly into my long stint playing Orahlith. I played her for over a year. I had started my own guild with high hopes of making friends who I could PVP and run dungeons with, but this was all before I ever even hit level 40 with her, so it was all just fun an games. Eventually, I had gotten my good friend Featherwind to play the game. To make a long story short... after my guild of lowbies fell apart we joined a larger guild of people who were pretty friendly. Eventually we were level 60 (gasp, before expansions!) and we were raiding Molten Core and Onxyia with them. Everything was sunshine and roses until Burning Crusade came out. Then it all went to crap.
Our guild suddenly developed a complex of elitism. Some of the core members hit 70 so fast that by the time the rest of us caught up they were already geared up from running heroic dungeons that they were ready to raid. So they didn't really want to run heroic dungeons to help us gear so we could raid with them. (Note: "we" does not just mean me and Dughan and Featherwind. It's a lot of people who weren't in the "clique") By the time we had enough gear to start raiding with them, they had progressed so far in the raiding that they didn't want to do the first few raids like Karazhan or Gruul's Lair because they were off to do The Eye and Serpentshrine Cavern. This, clearly, was becoming a trend. At some point, for a number of varying reasons, a lot of them speculation, the guild officers decided to transfer to a different server. At first, we were pissed. By then we had been with the guild a little over a year. We had developed what we thought were friendships and if we were to have any loyalty to them then shouldn't they have the same for their members? Well yet another brief Warcraft break ensued, but, we were inevitably sucked back in again within a month; and bit the bullet by transfering.
BUT. This is were this story is coming from. Before I decided to transfer to Ysera, I created a character there to see what the server was like. I joined a low level guild and "spied" on my old guild to see what was going on over there. I thought that I would make a warrior for fun because I thought it might be fun to try tanking. Suddenly, regardless of guild drama, I was having fun. Mi had created a Druid for healing and we were leveling together like the dream team.
We still played our "mains" as we transfered them to the new server, but eventually our guild was up to it's old tricks again and we left. It may have seemed like a waste, to have spent the money to transfer characters for a guild that didn't really care about us. However, things are working out well now. Featherwind, who is a master at finding good people, found us a new guild full of good, genuine, people. They are helpful to their members even if they are far ahead of them in game progression. They don't beat around the bush when it comes to telling the truth-something I appreciate a great deal.
So now, here I am: in a guild that apreciates me playing a character class that I feel at home in. Even though number crunching still baffles me, I enjoy the challenges that tanking presents me. Despite what reservations I might have about being the leader of a group, I find that in the end, I really do enjoy it. So, hopefully, things continue to go well... happy hunting!
Of course, I created a Night Elf. That's just the kind of girl I am. I decided on hunter because it seemed like the most interesting class at the time. So I created Thalithionel the Night Elf hunter, leveled her into the late teens. I did a lot of stupid things as that hunter. I never trained my pet. I didn't use any talent points when I hit level 10 until Dughan asked me what I was using my talent points for (Talents? What's that?). But eventually I learned a little bit. Still, I was pretty crappy, but I had fun. When the game came out, we both got a copy, I re-created Thalithionel on my new account and set off to leveling her again.
Well after a few months of struggling to level her on the server we picked, which was, unfortunately, a PVP server, I quit. After Blizzard initiated World PVP into the game, it was less than fun to try and level in contested zones like Desolace or Stranglethorn Vale because it seemed like people had nothing better to do with their high level characters than sit around and kill people trying to quest in those zones. I didn't play for a few months, but got back into it briefly when I was convinced to play Horde. I played a warrior then into her 20s, then got bored again, and quit.
When I finally got my WoW shoes back on I set out to do it smart this time. I decided that I would create a character on a new server, that was RP, not PVP, so that no one couldn't kill me unless I wanted to fight. I also decided that this time I would create a Rogue, because it seemed that Rogues were more than abundant in any server's population so I concluded that they weren't hard to level. Thus, Orahlith, the Night Elf Rogue, was born. I was not, admitedly, a very good rogue. My understanding of dps and minmaxing is limited and for some reason I always felt like I was missing something. It was fun, but often stressful in a ways that sometimes made me feel inadequate.
I'm not going to go too terribly into my long stint playing Orahlith. I played her for over a year. I had started my own guild with high hopes of making friends who I could PVP and run dungeons with, but this was all before I ever even hit level 40 with her, so it was all just fun an games. Eventually, I had gotten my good friend Featherwind to play the game. To make a long story short... after my guild of lowbies fell apart we joined a larger guild of people who were pretty friendly. Eventually we were level 60 (gasp, before expansions!) and we were raiding Molten Core and Onxyia with them. Everything was sunshine and roses until Burning Crusade came out. Then it all went to crap.
Our guild suddenly developed a complex of elitism. Some of the core members hit 70 so fast that by the time the rest of us caught up they were already geared up from running heroic dungeons that they were ready to raid. So they didn't really want to run heroic dungeons to help us gear so we could raid with them. (Note: "we" does not just mean me and Dughan and Featherwind. It's a lot of people who weren't in the "clique") By the time we had enough gear to start raiding with them, they had progressed so far in the raiding that they didn't want to do the first few raids like Karazhan or Gruul's Lair because they were off to do The Eye and Serpentshrine Cavern. This, clearly, was becoming a trend. At some point, for a number of varying reasons, a lot of them speculation, the guild officers decided to transfer to a different server. At first, we were pissed. By then we had been with the guild a little over a year. We had developed what we thought were friendships and if we were to have any loyalty to them then shouldn't they have the same for their members? Well yet another brief Warcraft break ensued, but, we were inevitably sucked back in again within a month; and bit the bullet by transfering.
BUT. This is were this story is coming from. Before I decided to transfer to Ysera, I created a character there to see what the server was like. I joined a low level guild and "spied" on my old guild to see what was going on over there. I thought that I would make a warrior for fun because I thought it might be fun to try tanking. Suddenly, regardless of guild drama, I was having fun. Mi had created a Druid for healing and we were leveling together like the dream team.
We still played our "mains" as we transfered them to the new server, but eventually our guild was up to it's old tricks again and we left. It may have seemed like a waste, to have spent the money to transfer characters for a guild that didn't really care about us. However, things are working out well now. Featherwind, who is a master at finding good people, found us a new guild full of good, genuine, people. They are helpful to their members even if they are far ahead of them in game progression. They don't beat around the bush when it comes to telling the truth-something I appreciate a great deal.
So now, here I am: in a guild that apreciates me playing a character class that I feel at home in. Even though number crunching still baffles me, I enjoy the challenges that tanking presents me. Despite what reservations I might have about being the leader of a group, I find that in the end, I really do enjoy it. So, hopefully, things continue to go well... happy hunting!
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