Haven't really done crap in the past week or so. Most of our guild logs on occasionally, or not at all anymore. Makes it really hard to do things when you want to. Been spending most of my time either taking care of BS achievments (all the Azeroth instances). Been playing my alt Pally more lately, I think he's 61 now.
Still been wanting to try out my new spec, and fine-tune AoE tanking. I still feel I could be better at holding multiple mobs. I think I'm still just fine on single target mobs, but the new multi-mob tanking mechanics still make me feeling like I could be doing more. I guess all-around I still feel like my new abilities and specs are not 2nd nature yet. I think it will surely come with practice, but it's not there yet.
And not to disrespect any of my guild members - especially my officers. My officers are among the best players on the server no doubt, but sometimes they make me pull my hair out. I'm not naive or arrogant enough to assume that the problem falls entirely on their shoulders. I will admit sometime - I'm a terrible GM and player. When I have a bad day at work, it often shows when I play. Sometimes, the littlest thing in game will set me off in a spiral of off-color remarks. One of my downfalls - any wipe in a 5 man just pisses me off. We are way to overgeared and way to skilled to be wiping in Heroic Shadow Labs.
One thing the other day that set me off - was pretty stupid thinking back on it... I have been wanting to do a bunch of heroics since patch 3.0.2 came out. Both for the achievements associated with them (only got credit for Trial of Naaru instances), and for the experience with my new spec and abilities. Well, we finally got around do doing some a couple days ago. I started off a little bit slow - at least slower than we could have gone. Was one of the Auchindon instances - don't remember which one. I didn't use any marks at all. CC was not needed, and I have been playing with these guys for about a year now - everyone knows the drill. One of my officers was attacking a different target than I was nearly every single pull. The first few pulls I kept thinking I was losing aggro. Then I noticed he was never attacking my target to begin with. It was not even a big deal at all. For the first half of the instance, our healer never dropped below 90% mana, and I never dropped below 75% health. He started tossing out some DPS later on, but still had tons of mana.
Either way, still just bored to tears lately. We are coming up with all kinds of stuff to do to waste time. We've thought about doing like a 5 man Onyxia - but we only have like 3 people attuned. Most guys don't want to spend the time to do MC, or BWL (although I think we could clear each in 1 hour). Hence the time spent doing BS achievments and leveling alts....
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
3.0.2...Finally
So I finally got to play the new patch last night. Spend the first 2.5 hours reconfiguring my UI, hotbars, etc. I admit that I am spoiled with some addons, and could not imagine playing with the default WoW UI and unit frames. I opted for Bartender 4 for my buttons and Pitbull for the unit frames. I also nabbed the latest versions of Recount and Omen, but mostly just to see where my numbers were at. I'm going to try to keep my addons to minimum as much as possible. I know I will need a good Raid Leader/raid management addon, but I have a few months before I need to worry about it. Might also get a buff/cooldown/proc monitor. With some of the changes, I notice I'm having to watch many more cooldowns/buffs/procs than I was before.
Here is the spec I opted for. Not planning on doing any serious instancing before WotLK, so I was going for more of a leveling spec.
Holy CRAP!!! I think I could muster up about 350 DPS in my max threat gear in 2.4. After the patch - and new spec - I was soloing mobs and putting out 600-700 DPS. I went to the terrace by Black Temple to see how I fared against a swarm of mobs. Waaaaaaay easier than I thought it would be. The first time, I pulled about 1/2 the platform and AEd them down within the duration of 2 Shockwave cooldowns. I think I lost about 4k HP for that fight. Then I waited for the entire platform to respawn and pulled the whole thing. Lost about 10k HP (still had 5k left) and killed them in about 3 Shockwave cooldowns. My Recount showed my average DPS just south of 1100 at that point. I imagine that one huge pull was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 DPS or so.
It's just simply amazing how much DPS I can put out now in DEFENSIVE stance, with FULL TANKING GEAR on. Just obscene how they changed the talents, and core abilites. I knew I was going to love the removal of the target cap on Thunderclap, but I didn't know I would like it this much. Shield Slams were crittng for 4500 when I popped my handy little macro (Gnomer Auto-Blocker + Lucky Coin + Shield Block). I think my SBV was something like 2300 for 10 secs.
I can definately see where Ciderhelm says we should be focusing on doing as much damage as possible. Before, most of the DPSers I played with could easy top the 1000 DPS mark (T4 and Badge gear). My extra 350 on top of that was not crap, especially in a 25 man. Increasing my DPS by say 20% meant I had to give up so much survivability, and for what? An extra 70 DPS over a 25 man raid?? Now I can see where I could be doing 800+ consistantly, depending on the pulls an instance. Increasing my DPS by 20% now seems much, much easier, as nearly all of my abilities scale with Strength - and scale well. I can easily see how an outstanding Protection Warrior could possibly out DPS a poor player of a "true" DPS class/spec.
Kinda related - but kinda not....
My dad and I were bored last night after setting up our UIs and messing around the BT terrace. After doing 3 of those huge AE packs, I got this dumb idea in my head, "I bet I could solo those non elite AE packs in Karazhan." You know the ones? Right before Moroes? He ported me over there, and I gave it a shot. Well, I didn't technially AE them down, as he helped quite a bit. It's probably a good thing too. I was wearing my threat gear, which is very skimpy on the mitigation. My spec, was also less than perfect for something like this. We killed them anyway. I had about 5k HP left when they all died. Was able to use Shockwave only once before they were dead. I like the new aggro warning system, it popped up a warning over each mobs head notifying me that I was about to lose aggro. Simple target -> Shield Slam cured that right up.
All in all, I think Protection Warriors are freaking OP now. Forget the Ret Pally poop most people are spamming. I actually did 3 BGs last night as well. In one AV there had to be something like 15 Ret Pallies. One was an officer of mine, and a good friend. He was in the top 3 everytime. For most of the BGs, I out DPS'd the other Ret pallies. In one Warsong, I was #5 overall, and #2 for the Horde.
I'm sure all other classes and specs are noticing a good improvment after the patch too. But I doubt any of them can say their DPS trippled or quadupled, while maintaining everything else about their class that people love. If I would have choosen a more "tanking" spec, I don't imagine my survivability would have been hindered at all.
Thank you Blizzard
Here is the spec I opted for. Not planning on doing any serious instancing before WotLK, so I was going for more of a leveling spec.
Holy CRAP!!! I think I could muster up about 350 DPS in my max threat gear in 2.4. After the patch - and new spec - I was soloing mobs and putting out 600-700 DPS. I went to the terrace by Black Temple to see how I fared against a swarm of mobs. Waaaaaaay easier than I thought it would be. The first time, I pulled about 1/2 the platform and AEd them down within the duration of 2 Shockwave cooldowns. I think I lost about 4k HP for that fight. Then I waited for the entire platform to respawn and pulled the whole thing. Lost about 10k HP (still had 5k left) and killed them in about 3 Shockwave cooldowns. My Recount showed my average DPS just south of 1100 at that point. I imagine that one huge pull was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 DPS or so.
It's just simply amazing how much DPS I can put out now in DEFENSIVE stance, with FULL TANKING GEAR on. Just obscene how they changed the talents, and core abilites. I knew I was going to love the removal of the target cap on Thunderclap, but I didn't know I would like it this much. Shield Slams were crittng for 4500 when I popped my handy little macro (Gnomer Auto-Blocker + Lucky Coin + Shield Block). I think my SBV was something like 2300 for 10 secs.
I can definately see where Ciderhelm says we should be focusing on doing as much damage as possible. Before, most of the DPSers I played with could easy top the 1000 DPS mark (T4 and Badge gear). My extra 350 on top of that was not crap, especially in a 25 man. Increasing my DPS by say 20% meant I had to give up so much survivability, and for what? An extra 70 DPS over a 25 man raid?? Now I can see where I could be doing 800+ consistantly, depending on the pulls an instance. Increasing my DPS by 20% now seems much, much easier, as nearly all of my abilities scale with Strength - and scale well. I can easily see how an outstanding Protection Warrior could possibly out DPS a poor player of a "true" DPS class/spec.
Kinda related - but kinda not....
My dad and I were bored last night after setting up our UIs and messing around the BT terrace. After doing 3 of those huge AE packs, I got this dumb idea in my head, "I bet I could solo those non elite AE packs in Karazhan." You know the ones? Right before Moroes? He ported me over there, and I gave it a shot. Well, I didn't technially AE them down, as he helped quite a bit. It's probably a good thing too. I was wearing my threat gear, which is very skimpy on the mitigation. My spec, was also less than perfect for something like this. We killed them anyway. I had about 5k HP left when they all died. Was able to use Shockwave only once before they were dead. I like the new aggro warning system, it popped up a warning over each mobs head notifying me that I was about to lose aggro. Simple target -> Shield Slam cured that right up.
All in all, I think Protection Warriors are freaking OP now. Forget the Ret Pally poop most people are spamming. I actually did 3 BGs last night as well. In one AV there had to be something like 15 Ret Pallies. One was an officer of mine, and a good friend. He was in the top 3 everytime. For most of the BGs, I out DPS'd the other Ret pallies. In one Warsong, I was #5 overall, and #2 for the Horde.
I'm sure all other classes and specs are noticing a good improvment after the patch too. But I doubt any of them can say their DPS trippled or quadupled, while maintaining everything else about their class that people love. If I would have choosen a more "tanking" spec, I don't imagine my survivability would have been hindered at all.
Thank you Blizzard
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Unforeseen Events
Today patch 3.0.2 goes live. I was just barely able to start the install before I had to scurry off to work. I'll probably give my impressions about the patch tomorrow.
Last night something kinda bad happened. For those unaware - about 3 weeks ago myself and about 6 players split off from our old guild and created a new one. It was half from lack of progression, and half about just the way the guild was generally ran. I think we had 5 officers from the old guild, plus a couple experienced vetrans. The new guild had the GM (me) + 4 other officers, everyone else was just a regular member for the time being. So we are a new guild - basically on a break until WotLK hits and we can start leveling again. We are going to focus on clearing 10 man content, until we can recruit enough to do 25 man content.
Three of our members decided to leave to play with friends. They had played with the same group of players since about the day they created their characters if I remember right. I can not blame them one bit. I play with my RL girlfriend and dad. If they were in another guild, I sure as hell would leave to play with them. I think these friends are more virtual than RL, but the same theory can apply.
One was a Holy Paladin. It's obviously bad to lose a healer in any capacity. When the guild was first drafted, we were tossing ideas around. How many officers? Who is GM? You know, the typical stuff. I was willing (and wanting) to take on the GM role. Especially as I didn't think anyone else really had the motivation to do so. With the exception of this Holy Pally... Her and I talked about it a bit privately and decided that I would take the responsibility for the time being, and possibly pass it off if I felt over burdened (I was going to be the RL and MT without a doubt, adding GM in there could cause a person to go mad!). We didn't really have a ranking system in the guild as far as 2nd in Command or anything. But if we did - she would probably have been #2. Both for the ability to play often enough to handle guild issues, and in skill of the game. So her leaving has obviously put a damper in my spirits from a Guild Leader standpoint.
Another player to leave was a Warlock. I'd tell you his spec, but by the time you read this he would have changed it all ready. Hands down the best Warlock player I had ever had the honor of playing with. Long story short, did a PUG Botanica run with this guy 3-4 months ago - before we were in the same guild. His ability to CC flawlessly, while still maintaining top spot on the DPS charts blew my mind. He is the one that essentially introduced me to the others. He was working his way into learning about guild and raid management techniques. I think with time would have been an outstanding raid or guild leader. So yeah...losing the best Warlock you have ever played with? Not good.
The third player to leave was a Priest. He would play both Holy and Shadow depending on what was needed. I did not get to play with him very often, especially as a damage dealer. His healing ability was definately top tier. Knew what he was doing as a healer without a doubt. Another tragic loss.
One of the players left before I logged in last night, the others left about 30 mins after my logging in. I was devasated by it when they told me - but completely understood. I freaked out a little bit. I was the only one online when the 2nd left and didn't have anyone to vent to. About 30 mins later 2 of my officers came on, and I told them what happened. They did their best to calm me down. They eventually did. Mostly by telling me they would play whatever character or spec was needed for the guild to get through Naxx (they both have multiple 70's).
This overall made me calm down and happy. Also gave me relief in who I choose to be officers for the guild. Our conversation last night gave me much more confidence in our guild than I have ever had - even after losing 3 outstanding players. We are going to go full steam ahead when WotLk hits. We will likely need to pick up 1 or 2 solid players to fill our roster for a 10 man raid. I don't think that will be too much of a problem really. We have a lot of flexibility in our roster right now, so we can take nearly any class and spec - save maybe tanking specs. I think we have 3 potential tanks in the guild out of 8 players right now. Obviously healers are always welcome, but we will be able to make due getting DPS players to start with.
We obviously are not too crippled as we are not raiding right now. We have lots of time to recruit those extra 2 skilled players. Has anyone else ever had to deal with something like this?
Last night something kinda bad happened. For those unaware - about 3 weeks ago myself and about 6 players split off from our old guild and created a new one. It was half from lack of progression, and half about just the way the guild was generally ran. I think we had 5 officers from the old guild, plus a couple experienced vetrans. The new guild had the GM (me) + 4 other officers, everyone else was just a regular member for the time being. So we are a new guild - basically on a break until WotLK hits and we can start leveling again. We are going to focus on clearing 10 man content, until we can recruit enough to do 25 man content.
Three of our members decided to leave to play with friends. They had played with the same group of players since about the day they created their characters if I remember right. I can not blame them one bit. I play with my RL girlfriend and dad. If they were in another guild, I sure as hell would leave to play with them. I think these friends are more virtual than RL, but the same theory can apply.
One was a Holy Paladin. It's obviously bad to lose a healer in any capacity. When the guild was first drafted, we were tossing ideas around. How many officers? Who is GM? You know, the typical stuff. I was willing (and wanting) to take on the GM role. Especially as I didn't think anyone else really had the motivation to do so. With the exception of this Holy Pally... Her and I talked about it a bit privately and decided that I would take the responsibility for the time being, and possibly pass it off if I felt over burdened (I was going to be the RL and MT without a doubt, adding GM in there could cause a person to go mad!). We didn't really have a ranking system in the guild as far as 2nd in Command or anything. But if we did - she would probably have been #2. Both for the ability to play often enough to handle guild issues, and in skill of the game. So her leaving has obviously put a damper in my spirits from a Guild Leader standpoint.
Another player to leave was a Warlock. I'd tell you his spec, but by the time you read this he would have changed it all ready. Hands down the best Warlock player I had ever had the honor of playing with. Long story short, did a PUG Botanica run with this guy 3-4 months ago - before we were in the same guild. His ability to CC flawlessly, while still maintaining top spot on the DPS charts blew my mind. He is the one that essentially introduced me to the others. He was working his way into learning about guild and raid management techniques. I think with time would have been an outstanding raid or guild leader. So yeah...losing the best Warlock you have ever played with? Not good.
The third player to leave was a Priest. He would play both Holy and Shadow depending on what was needed. I did not get to play with him very often, especially as a damage dealer. His healing ability was definately top tier. Knew what he was doing as a healer without a doubt. Another tragic loss.
One of the players left before I logged in last night, the others left about 30 mins after my logging in. I was devasated by it when they told me - but completely understood. I freaked out a little bit. I was the only one online when the 2nd left and didn't have anyone to vent to. About 30 mins later 2 of my officers came on, and I told them what happened. They did their best to calm me down. They eventually did. Mostly by telling me they would play whatever character or spec was needed for the guild to get through Naxx (they both have multiple 70's).
This overall made me calm down and happy. Also gave me relief in who I choose to be officers for the guild. Our conversation last night gave me much more confidence in our guild than I have ever had - even after losing 3 outstanding players. We are going to go full steam ahead when WotLk hits. We will likely need to pick up 1 or 2 solid players to fill our roster for a 10 man raid. I don't think that will be too much of a problem really. We have a lot of flexibility in our roster right now, so we can take nearly any class and spec - save maybe tanking specs. I think we have 3 potential tanks in the guild out of 8 players right now. Obviously healers are always welcome, but we will be able to make due getting DPS players to start with.
We obviously are not too crippled as we are not raiding right now. We have lots of time to recruit those extra 2 skilled players. Has anyone else ever had to deal with something like this?
Monday, October 13, 2008
The beginning of the blog...
Well, my blog at least.
I've been browsing the web more and more lately. Half out of boredom, and half out of need. I've noticed that there are some pretty smart players out there in WoW. Most of them don't give any world changing views, but most of the stuff still makes you think - at least it does me. Kadomi at tanklikeagirl and Veneretio at tankingtips are two that I read quite often.
I can not leave out Ciderhelm's site tankspot.com, but I'd be wrong to call that a blog. He's put an area up there for members to post their own blogs (as he does), but the site is more than that. It's more of a database of all that is good in the warrior (and now tanking) community. I can only hope that the tanking brain trust of the upcoming Death Knight class knows of the site and will offer their knowledge to it. Even though I will likely not be playing a DK (at least for 6 months or more), I would still be sad if the same level of knowledge and skill was not on tankspot.
So I guess that's what this site will be for. Not for publishings of the newest breakthroughs in Warrior tanking, or WoW in general. Just maybe my take on the entire experience. I'll probably be posting a lot in between now (the day before the 3.0 patch) and the release of Lich King. My guild is essentially on hold for now - more on that later. Needless to say, I'll have a lot of time on my hands. What better to do with all that time that take up virtual space on a blog!?! probably going to have to regulate myself to one post per day - there's a lot of junk in my head.
To anyone stumbling across this - I appologize. If I could credit those 2 mins back to you, I would.
I've been browsing the web more and more lately. Half out of boredom, and half out of need. I've noticed that there are some pretty smart players out there in WoW. Most of them don't give any world changing views, but most of the stuff still makes you think - at least it does me. Kadomi at tanklikeagirl and Veneretio at tankingtips are two that I read quite often.
I can not leave out Ciderhelm's site tankspot.com, but I'd be wrong to call that a blog. He's put an area up there for members to post their own blogs (as he does), but the site is more than that. It's more of a database of all that is good in the warrior (and now tanking) community. I can only hope that the tanking brain trust of the upcoming Death Knight class knows of the site and will offer their knowledge to it. Even though I will likely not be playing a DK (at least for 6 months or more), I would still be sad if the same level of knowledge and skill was not on tankspot.
So I guess that's what this site will be for. Not for publishings of the newest breakthroughs in Warrior tanking, or WoW in general. Just maybe my take on the entire experience. I'll probably be posting a lot in between now (the day before the 3.0 patch) and the release of Lich King. My guild is essentially on hold for now - more on that later. Needless to say, I'll have a lot of time on my hands. What better to do with all that time that take up virtual space on a blog!?! probably going to have to regulate myself to one post per day - there's a lot of junk in my head.
To anyone stumbling across this - I appologize. If I could credit those 2 mins back to you, I would.
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