Naxx News and Conference Time

My guild,  Bucklers of Swash is doing very well with our 10 man progression.  As of this weekend, we only need Sapphiron, Kel’Thuzzad and Malygos to complete Tier 7.  For some that might not seem like an accomplishment, but we’ve completed this level of progression in less than 3 weeks with a grand total of 14 hours raiding in that time.  Needless to say, I’m proud of my team.  We even set a new guild speed record last night clearing Arachnid and Plague quarter in about an hour and a half.  I’m sure we could knock that down to an hour if everyone was completely on the ball.

But, no WoW for me starting tonight untl Saturday afternoon, as I will be attending a conference I go to every year.  You see, I’m a music teacher, and here in GA, we have an annual conference at the end of January every year.  Events start at 8am every day, and go until 10PM, so I’ll be pretty busy while I’m there, and I’ll probably leave the laptop at home.  But there’s a good chance we’ll be attempting new content this weekend, and I’ve got some good ideas for some posts, so I’ll have some updates and new stuff for everyone as soon as Sunday.

-Sam

How (not) to: Loot Master

I logged on yesterday, and a good friend from my guild told me that the 25 man Obsidian Sanctum group he was in needed 1 more DPS.  He had them save the spot for me as I logged off Anabelle and onto Samuel.

As far as the raid goes, it was very smooth.  The entire raid was a one shot, and I was four Emblems of Valor richer.  However, after Sartharion went down, the trouble began, as the raid watched the Master Looter award himself the Large Satchel of Spoils, and another member of his guild one of the tier 7 tokens.

This came as a complete shock to the rest of the raid, as it wasn’t discussed prior to raiding.  I might have understood if it was their guild’s raid, but this was a full blown pug raid.  Even better, this is not where the story ends. 

Pancakes (not his real name), the Master Looter dumped the job on someone else and left; eventually I got passed the job.  If you are unfamiliar with how Master Looter works, it doesn’t matter if you are the current ML, if you weren’t the ML when the boss was downed (might even be engaged, I’m not sure), you can’t distribute the loot, only they can.

So there’s 3 pieces of loot left on the boss, and about 8 of us stay with an open ticket up to solve the problem.  We Finlay got Pancakes (again, not the real name) to come back to distribute the remaining loot.  This is when we got an even better glimpse of the character of this individual, and boy was he a gem.

Did he come back in attempt to try and make it right with those of us that stayed in the instance?  Of course not.  This guy came back to try and get money out of us.  That’s right he demanded money for the loot.  Would I pay a few hundred gold for Tier 7 hands from a vendor?  Probably.  Will I give it to a ninja that’s trying to scam people into paying him?  Hell no.  I updated my ticket, left Wyrmrest and logged on Anabelle to tank some heroics.  On a lighter, happier note, my wife is now the proud owner of a bronze drake mount. /cheer

While farming this morning, I talked to a GM this morning and my ticket has been escalated.  I don’t really care about the loot, but I’d like to see this guy get a substantial ban, as I’m sure he’s violated several parts of the EULA with his actions yesterday.  I’ll keep you updated when I know more.

-Sam

Rogue: A Tank’s Best Friend

Tricks of the Trade is my new favorite rogue ability.  It is available to all Rogues from the trainer at level 75.  Its tooltip reads:

The current party or raid member becomes the target of your Tricks of the Trade.  The threat caused by your next attack and actions taken 6 sec afterwards will be transferred to the target.  In addition all damage caused by the target is increased by 15% during this time.

I think a lot of rogues, including myself, have overlooked this talent.  It’s essentially the same thing as a Hunter’s misdirect, but becuase of how it works, and the other abilities we have, it’s actually better.  Today, I’m going to discuss some good uses for this ability.

Before I get into that though, I want to thank Blizzard for removing the cooldown on Fan of Knives.  I think that lowering the energy cost to 40 would help, as you can pull about 4 of them off in 6 seconds or so, but you’re completely drained of energy after that.  Still, it’s nice to have a true AoE ability.

Rogue: How to Spec and Play Combat

*** Updated for 3.1 ***

Now that 3.1 has been released, Combat has once again become a truly viable spec for raiding.  In my personal tests with my current gear, Combat and Assassination are close in DPS, but when I’ve been in a raid, I seem to do slightly more damage Assassination.  That being said, Combat still performs very close to Assassination on bosses, and on pre-Ulduar trash, it can’t be beat by the other two specs.

Today, I’m going to break down a basic combat spec, and discuss how to play it.  Combat specs are extremely dependant on which weapons you use.  I’m currently using a  pair of fist weapons, but realistically, you can use Fists, Swords or Maces.  While you can mix and match, using two weapons of the same type is generally the best idea.

Anabelle, The Argent Champion

 

One of my goals since the Achievement system was introduced was to acquire the title “Argent Champion” for my paladin.  This requires exalted status with both the Argent Dawn and the Argent Crusade.  I had worked Argent Dawn rep by running Stratholme, and the Scourge Invasion event.  I finally reached exalted status with the Argent Crusade this past weekend, and received my title.  Leeroy may have been a Paladin, and Anabelle Jenkins sure fit nicely, but this title means a lot more to me.

I have been spending more time on Anabelle than Samuel since the beginning of December in an effort to help my guild.  At the beginning of December the guild had 10 level 80 characters, and they were all DPS.  After hitting 80, I immediately began to work on my gear, with the focus being my tanking set.

We decided when our first Naxxramus would be, and I made sure Anabelle was ready with gear to tank.  Our warrior tank had pugged Naxx a few times and had better gear than I did, so I told him the job of Main Tank was his if he wanted it.  He accepted, and has been a stellar performer at the job.  I was going to off tank, or so I thought.

Two of my guildmates busted their hind quarters to hit 80 by the time of the raid.  One was a healer, the other a Paladin tank.  I already knew that the healer would be needed, but there was no need for another tank.   When I learned that the Paladin tank had taken the time to have crafted gear ready for him upon hitting 80, giving him close to the same stats I had, I gave him my tanking spot.

I still went to the raid on Anabelle instead of Sam.  The other paladin has no interest in healing gear, and I know how rare spell plate drops can be, so I decided that I should take Anabelle.  The only problem with the scenario is that we already had three healers (all priests), and two tanks.  My solution: respec Ret and only roll on healing gear.  I only took pieces that were plate or unneeded by other people, and stayed away from the tanking and DPS gear.

This turned out to be a wise decision, as I was needed to heal for the second part of the Naxx Raid.  I respecced holy, and healed away.  Knowing that two healers would be useless in a heroic group (my wife being the other), and I’d likely have to DPS in our next raid, I went back Ret, and I haven’t respecced since.  In the mean time, I’ve put together a healing set that’s better than my tanking gear, and a dps set that’s as good as my tanking set.  Had I stayed Prot and not given the other tank my spot, I would have received two pieces of gear, instead of the many I’ve picked up.  Loot Karma is a funny thing.

 

- Sam

Tanking for Dummies

 

Another interesting heroic group has led to the 2nd post in the “Dummies” series. The offender was once again of a class and spec that I am fairly familiar with. Today, I’m not going into the specifics of each tanking class, but I will point out the basics that all tanks should know.

Before I dissect basic tanking principles, I’ll share with you the inspiration for this post. A former guild member, and fellow rogue wanted to run heroic Gundrak. He had already found a tank, so we needed 2 DPS and a healer. I had recently respecced Retributrion on my Paladin, and I didn’t want to roll against my friend, so I took Anabelle, and grabbed my wife to heal as well as a hunter from my guild.

I’ll admit things weren’t too bad until just before the second boss, but that’s when things went south. I was going to write about it here, but its long enough to warrant its own post. To sum it up, neither skill or gear were on this person’s side, and after he left before the 3rd boss, I successfully tanked all but the last boss, despite the fact that I was Ret. My wife commented that I was easier to heal. We had our guilds main tank come in for the last boss, as he hit me for 6-10K per hit, though we did manage to get him 13% with me tanking. It was a 1 shot with the main tank, and the fiasco over.

What follows is a detailed description of the basics of tanking. Due to the depth of the subject, it is rather lengthy; it’s probably the longest post I’ve written.  However, if you are new to tanking, or even a veteran that wants to read another’s perspective on the subject, it’s there for you to peruse.

How to: Halls of Lightning – Loken

If you just want the strategy, it’s at the end.  If you’re not currently in the instance wiping on Loken, the extra information is worth the read (and will likely keep you from wiping).

Out of all of the 5 man Wrath bosses, Loken seems to wipe more groups than any of the others.  The problem with Loken isn’t that he’s hard; the problem with him is that most people do not understand the strategy, or how to impliment it, to beat him. 

Loken is a positioning exercise, like Murmur was in Shadow Labyrinth.  It is intended to prepare players by teaching them the skills they will need for later encounters in the raiding game. 

With a geared enough group, it is possible to AoE Heal through all of his abilities and treat him as a tank and spank.

How does Loken kill people?  Let’s look at his abilities.  Other than his melee attack, he has 3 abilities: Pulsing Shockwave, Arc Lightning, and Lightning Nova.

• The Lightning Nova is an AoE lightning effect that has a circular area of effect.
• Pulsing Shockwave is an aura that does increasing amounts of damage the farther you are from Loken.
• Arc Lightning is a Chain Lightning type spell.

Anyone who has fought Loken knows that these abilities need to be avoided, but not everyone knows how.  Today I’m going to teach you how to take as little damage as possible, and how to explain to others to do the same thing. 

There are basically 2 rules to this fight that, if followed, will allow you to down Loken with a minimal amount of stress.

Rule #1

Loken’s Pulsing Shockwave Aura will kill you if you stand at range.  This ability does more damage to you the farther you stand from Loken.  If he is not using his Lightning Nova, you should be in Melee Range (or just barely outside if you are a hunter).  The easiest way to accomplish this is to put a raid mark on the tank and stack on them.  Note that this will make your entire group susceptible to the Arc Lightning, but out of the three abilities, it is the least likely to wipe your group.

Rule #2

When Loken begins to cast Lighting Nova, turn around and run away as a group. But, do not run too far.  This one piece of information is the one thing that is left out of most explanations and wipes your group.  When Loken casts his Lightning Nova, there is a circular pulse on the ground that you can watch for, showing you the range of this attack.  Stand about 5 yards outside of the circle and you’re golden.  If you leave within a second of the spell cast, you should have 2 seconds of time after you stop before the attack actually hits.  After he casts his attack, you can simply wait for him to come to you.  You will want to do this entire manuver as a group, so put a raid mark on a reliable group member, and have the group stay with them.

Note: If someone actually eats the Lightning Nova in your group claiming lag as an excuse, they’re either having 2+ second lag (not likely), or didn’t react fast enough to avoid the attack (more likely).

- Loken Strategy -

Instructions for the fight:

1. The tank will aggro Loken and tank him where he stands.  All group members should stack on the tank.
2. DPS the boss as hard as possible, until Loken uses Lightning Nova.  Healers keep everyone alive and as close to full health as possible.
3. When Loken uses Lightning Nova, all group members should run just beyond its range and wait.  I suggest following the line on the floor.  Loken will come back to you after this ability.  It is not worth finishing a cast (dps or heal) before running; just go.
4. Repeat from step 2 until the boss dies.

Tank Expectations

• Mitigate as much damage as possible
• Hold Threat
• Don’t eat a Lightning Nova

Healer Expectations

• Keep yourself and the tank alive
• Top off the DPS as best you can
• Don’t eat a Lightning Nova

DPS Expectations

• Let the tank establish threat
• After the first Lightning Nova, do the most burst damage you can
• Don’t eat a Lightning Nova

Basically, if you can keep from eating the Lightning Novas, and move as a group, this fight is actually easier than many other fights in Wrath.  Coordination is the key, though.

- Sam

DPS for Dummies

While I was on break, I had the unfortunate pleasure of grouping with a Rogue in a group that was, for lack of a better term, terribad.  My wife, a Hunter from our guild, and myself, joined forces with a Death Knight, and the Rogue to take down Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle. 

Things went relatively smoothly until we got to Goretok Palehoof.  That took a few attempts, but he was eventually downed.  Then there were a more than a few attempts on the gauntlet, before we downed Skadi the Ruthess.  The problems with both events were usually attributed to healer and/or DPS death, the cause usually being early or spread DPS.

We finally got to King Ymiron, wiping 3 times, when the rogue, who had been whining about my wife’s ability to heal the whole time, finally upset me enough to say “I’ve got a 2k damage Elemental Shaman that would love your spot.”  He didn’t utter another word and was the the first person to die (again).  He then left the group after rezzing, which happened to be just in time for trash to respawn at the beginning, ending our Heroic run.  Using Recount, and the WoW Armory, I was able to uncover that he used no health pots throughout the run, had a grand total of zero First Aid skill, and pulled an astonishing 1100 DPS.  Adding all of that up, and the attitude that this Rogue had that he was better than everyone else in our group, I got a fire lit in me to post about it.

Now, I’m not the best tank in the game, and I have my shortcomings, but with a competant group, I can clear any Heroic.  So today, I’ve got a few pointers to hand out to the DPSers of the world, to hopefully make life easier on the Tanks and Heals.

2009: The Break is Over

It certainly has been a while, almost a month, since my last post.  With the New Year here and my vacation over, it’s time to get back to work.  I probably could have  spent some time blogging over the break, but the time away to just play and relax was nice.  In my own defense, I did end up celebrating Christmas seven different times between my family, my wife’s family, and our own.

Here’s a recap of what’s been going on in game with me:

• Samueltempus has logged maybe 4 hours since my last post, as I haven’t really had any reason to play him.  He exists for Alchemy at the moment, as Rogues are a dime a dozen, and my wife only likes to go to heroics when I tank….oh well.
• Anabelle is 80, has 23.6k unbuffed health, is crit immune, has over 40% pure avoidance, and can block anything else with holy shield up.  I also spend a lot of time on her farming  ore and eternals while I’m forming heroic groups, or waiting for someone else to.  In a related story, my wife says she doesn’t like it when she’s healing other priest and the tank dies, but it “doesn’t bother her as much if I die.”   kthx, lol.
• Moghann, my hunter, is now level 76.  It turns out, that enough people need tanks and healers, that I can be leveling my hunter, and through the magic of the Looking for Group channel, end up tanking a heroic at a moment’s notice.  Also, after getting the epic flyer on Anabelle, I dropped mining on Mog, and picked up leatherworking, leveling it to 428 already.  Currently, I’m in Sholzar questing, and looking for my Spirit Beast.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season,

- Sam