Sunday, March 29, 2009
My DK has better gear than my warrior...
DPS gear that is. I'm not sure how I feel about my alt having a ton of best in slot dps gear while my warrior is in a smattering of 10 and 25 man gear. Sure, it's his offspec, but it's still a weird feeling...
The epiphany
Sorry for the lack of posts. School finals and spring break means blogging is not high on my priorities.
For the past few weeks, I've been trying off and on try write something about the Arms changes that are showing up on the PTR. If you're unfamiliar with them, go check them out, I'll wait.
Back? Good, now let's get into the nitty gritty. I could break down each change and buff, but the real thing that hit me was this: Arms and Fury are now very, VERY, similar. Let's think about it; both have 2 main attacks and a proc. Sure, Arms has to keep up Rend and has Bladestorm, while Fury has Death Wish to deal with. But on the whole, the two trees are uncomfortably similar in play style.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. While I understand why the proc nature of Arms was removed (too inconsistent DPS). But that very proc system was the reason I played it in the first place. Now, my decision may come down to simply strength of spec. And right now, Fury is the winner, even with its nerfs.
Of course, nothing is set in stone, the PTR is still up and I've had no first-hand experience with either spec. But I'm worried that some of the skill, and satisfaction, of Arms may be gone. We'll just have to wait a few weeks to find out for sure.
For the past few weeks, I've been trying off and on try write something about the Arms changes that are showing up on the PTR. If you're unfamiliar with them, go check them out, I'll wait.
Back? Good, now let's get into the nitty gritty. I could break down each change and buff, but the real thing that hit me was this: Arms and Fury are now very, VERY, similar. Let's think about it; both have 2 main attacks and a proc. Sure, Arms has to keep up Rend and has Bladestorm, while Fury has Death Wish to deal with. But on the whole, the two trees are uncomfortably similar in play style.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. While I understand why the proc nature of Arms was removed (too inconsistent DPS). But that very proc system was the reason I played it in the first place. Now, my decision may come down to simply strength of spec. And right now, Fury is the winner, even with its nerfs.
Of course, nothing is set in stone, the PTR is still up and I've had no first-hand experience with either spec. But I'm worried that some of the skill, and satisfaction, of Arms may be gone. We'll just have to wait a few weeks to find out for sure.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Daacacia walks into Naxx 25...
This weekend, I had the opportunity to run 25 Naxx on my DK, Daacacia. While I have dps'ed some raids as Arms on Bura, Daacacia has and always will be dps spec. He's currently using the cookie-cutter 51/13/7 Blood spec. While I had to afk during trash (party riding ftw, homework ftl), I was there for all boss fights.
It was fun, gettting the valorous head, Crude Discolored Battlegrips and Legplates of Double Strikes. But I definitely learned that dps'ing as a DK is harder and more intricate than any other class I've had dealings with.
One of the major reasons is the rune system. If I hit the wrong button on Bura, I lose a little bit of rage and a GCD. If I hit the wrong button on Daac, I put a rune (or two or three) on cooldown, severely hampering my rotation. I either have to wait for the rune to come off cooldown, augment my rotation or burn Empower Rune Weapon to reset my self. It was hard to handle, especially on fights with movement or stuff to avoid.
Another is the rotation itself. It's quite a bit to handle for someone used to either the proc nature of Arms or the three buttons of Fury. In contrast, the optimal dps rotation of Blood is quite convoluted and precise. Again, on fights like Patchwerk, it wasn't so bad since I could stare at my bar and be very careful. But on fights like Grobbulus, I had to rely more on my HUD, which I'm still getting used to and keeping myself alive.
And the final thing I noticed was how Bloodlust wasn't that useful for DK's. Sure, the faster swing timer is nice, but the faster GCD does nothing when my runes are on CD. I still have to wait for them to come back up, and I can only Death Coil so often before I'm just auto swinging. Maybe if Bloodlust affected rune CD's, it'd be better, but as it is, it's not that great for the class in my opinion.
So, how'd I do? Let's just say I'll stick to tanking, I'm never the greatest DPSer. The only time I did well on meters was in BT before Arms was nerfed. And that was a result of Blizzard not balancing. But who knows, perhaps with a few more learning experiences, I may be tearing up the meters soon enough.
At the very least, it's a nice change of pace from the normal tanking scenarios.
It was fun, gettting the valorous head, Crude Discolored Battlegrips and Legplates of Double Strikes. But I definitely learned that dps'ing as a DK is harder and more intricate than any other class I've had dealings with.
One of the major reasons is the rune system. If I hit the wrong button on Bura, I lose a little bit of rage and a GCD. If I hit the wrong button on Daac, I put a rune (or two or three) on cooldown, severely hampering my rotation. I either have to wait for the rune to come off cooldown, augment my rotation or burn Empower Rune Weapon to reset my self. It was hard to handle, especially on fights with movement or stuff to avoid.
Another is the rotation itself. It's quite a bit to handle for someone used to either the proc nature of Arms or the three buttons of Fury. In contrast, the optimal dps rotation of Blood is quite convoluted and precise. Again, on fights like Patchwerk, it wasn't so bad since I could stare at my bar and be very careful. But on fights like Grobbulus, I had to rely more on my HUD, which I'm still getting used to and keeping myself alive.
And the final thing I noticed was how Bloodlust wasn't that useful for DK's. Sure, the faster swing timer is nice, but the faster GCD does nothing when my runes are on CD. I still have to wait for them to come back up, and I can only Death Coil so often before I'm just auto swinging. Maybe if Bloodlust affected rune CD's, it'd be better, but as it is, it's not that great for the class in my opinion.
So, how'd I do? Let's just say I'll stick to tanking, I'm never the greatest DPSer. The only time I did well on meters was in BT before Arms was nerfed. And that was a result of Blizzard not balancing. But who knows, perhaps with a few more learning experiences, I may be tearing up the meters soon enough.
At the very least, it's a nice change of pace from the normal tanking scenarios.
Why it's cool to be an OT
Sure, MT's get all the glory, the gear and the women (ok, that last part may not be true, but we can dream). So, why on Earth would someone prefer to be the OT? I mean, we aren't the ones called out to save the day or tank the big nasty. In fact, we're usually tanking adds, or some other menial job. So why exactly should you love the OT position?
- Our jobs can be a lot more interesting - Take for example the Kel fight. While your MT is standing in one spot, hoping no one ice blocks hims, you can help dps a bit, pick up the scarabs, kill skeletons, etc. etc. Sure, Kel is the main target, but the tank isn't moving on him, the OT's are far more active.
- We have more lee-way in gear - The MT generally has to focus squarely on mitigation or Effective Health. Their job is to hold threat, sure, but they also have to stay upright. The OT's generally not facing the big baddies (except during fights with agro drops or soak fights). Therefore, the OT's can tailor their gear to their personal tastes. Hence my full threat loadout. Our resident protadin, Calan is in EH/Block gear. Druids can mix dps and tanking gear and create a formidable dps class with offtank potential if a tank bites it.
- Dual specs will be fun - A lot of dedicated MT's are planning on two protection specs when dual speccing comes around, OT's have a bit more leverage to go their preferred off spec. Want to heal? Go for it, Wanna smash face as Fury? Go right ahead. You're the OT, you're meant to be versatile and help the raid any way you can. Dual speccing will help with that versatility. Enjoy it.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Why trash are the most important mobs in a raid.
Because you're DPS and healers may not be paying attention.
Let me explain. On a boss fight, everyone is (hopefully) dialed in and paying attention. To their health, their CD's their agro, all aspects of the fight. But on trash, they may be shooting the shit, not paying attention to Omen or health bars as much as they should be. In other words, mistakes may happen.
Our DPS may overagro and pull off of you. What once was a mob you're were bucking on, is now running hot and heavy over to Mr. Mage, and his Ice Block won't last forever (if he even gets it off).
Or perhaps your resident Holy Paladin is on the phone with his girlfriend (Holyenforcer, I'm looking at you) and he doesn't notice your bar dipping into the red for a bit too long. (As a side note, the "See how low Bura can go" game can stop anytime).
In either case, you're faced with two different choices:
DPS
"But Bura," you say, "it's trash, they should be paying attention and not overagroing / healing." And you would be right. Each player should be on top of their game. And that includes you.
If you aren't saving your DPS and keeping yourself alive, you're breaking the two tenets of tanking, threat management and survivability. I don't care if it's a five man, Naxxazhan (All Rights Reserved, Bura Inc.) or Ulduar. Because, if you aren't giving your all on the way to the boss, why would Mr. Mage or Holy Paladin trust you?
Sure, WoW is a game, but it's a team game. If you give your all 100% of the time, others will follow suit. You have to earn the trust of your raid members. You're the tank, you're the protector, you have an esteemed position in the raid.
Earn it.
Let me explain. On a boss fight, everyone is (hopefully) dialed in and paying attention. To their health, their CD's their agro, all aspects of the fight. But on trash, they may be shooting the shit, not paying attention to Omen or health bars as much as they should be. In other words, mistakes may happen.
Our DPS may overagro and pull off of you. What once was a mob you're were bucking on, is now running hot and heavy over to Mr. Mage, and his Ice Block won't last forever (if he even gets it off).
Or perhaps your resident Holy Paladin is on the phone with his girlfriend (Holyenforcer, I'm looking at you) and he doesn't notice your bar dipping into the red for a bit too long. (As a side note, the "See how low Bura can go" game can stop anytime).
In either case, you're faced with two different choices:
DPS
- You save the overagroing Mage and receive free biscuits in gratitude
- You let him die and blame him for pulling
- You pop a CD and survive to take a hit to the head another day
- You blame the healer for not paying attention and wiping the raid.
"But Bura," you say, "it's trash, they should be paying attention and not overagroing / healing." And you would be right. Each player should be on top of their game. And that includes you.
If you aren't saving your DPS and keeping yourself alive, you're breaking the two tenets of tanking, threat management and survivability. I don't care if it's a five man, Naxxazhan (All Rights Reserved, Bura Inc.) or Ulduar. Because, if you aren't giving your all on the way to the boss, why would Mr. Mage or Holy Paladin trust you?
Sure, WoW is a game, but it's a team game. If you give your all 100% of the time, others will follow suit. You have to earn the trust of your raid members. You're the tank, you're the protector, you have an esteemed position in the raid.
Earn it.
Is that a threat (item)?
So, I'm a threat tank. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means I focus on threat generating talents and itemization to boost my threat per second (TPS) and snap agro to be as high as it can be.
At the moment, the 15/5/51 spec is the ultimate in TPS generaton. I won't go into much detail, because far better tanks than I have already done so. Check the tankspot.com forums for info. And if you haven't joined that community do it. Now.
However, the basics is to keep up Rend and then keep up the priority system of Shield Slam, Revenge, Concussion Blow (weird, I know), Devastate/Heroic Strike.
However, gearing for threat is an entirely different beast.
In gearing up, you have several stats that are important, and it's up to you to decide which to focus on.
My personal depth chart is as follows:
The first answer is that Hit is found on a lot of items, regardless of its intended itemization. MT items have hit, just as OT/Threat items. It's not like I have to scour for items with hit. I have a fair amount as is, even without working hard to attain it.
Second, while I do work to increase threat output as much as I can, I'm still a tank, I have to stay upright. Therefore, gemming for hit, excluding Stamina is not smart. All the threat I build isn't worth anything if I'm lying on the floor.
Third is items with Shield Block Value (or high strength) is prolific in this period of progression. It is far easier to stack SBV at this stage of the game than it is to hard cap Hit or Expertise. While easier is not always better, now is the time that error can be addressed and studied. I hope to monitor my performance as gear becomes better later in progression. Who knows, my depth chart my fluctuate.
If you ever are totally satisfied with your setup and not questioning its efficiency, you need to start. A good tank knows what gear he'd like to pick up, a great tank keeps questioning. And you want to be a great tank, right?
At the moment, the 15/5/51 spec is the ultimate in TPS generaton. I won't go into much detail, because far better tanks than I have already done so. Check the tankspot.com forums for info. And if you haven't joined that community do it. Now.
However, the basics is to keep up Rend and then keep up the priority system of Shield Slam, Revenge, Concussion Blow (weird, I know), Devastate/Heroic Strike.
However, gearing for threat is an entirely different beast.
In gearing up, you have several stats that are important, and it's up to you to decide which to focus on.
My personal depth chart is as follows:
- Expertise (to soft cap)
- Strength
- Shield Block Value (which Strength adds to)
- Hit
The first answer is that Hit is found on a lot of items, regardless of its intended itemization. MT items have hit, just as OT/Threat items. It's not like I have to scour for items with hit. I have a fair amount as is, even without working hard to attain it.
Second, while I do work to increase threat output as much as I can, I'm still a tank, I have to stay upright. Therefore, gemming for hit, excluding Stamina is not smart. All the threat I build isn't worth anything if I'm lying on the floor.
Third is items with Shield Block Value (or high strength) is prolific in this period of progression. It is far easier to stack SBV at this stage of the game than it is to hard cap Hit or Expertise. While easier is not always better, now is the time that error can be addressed and studied. I hope to monitor my performance as gear becomes better later in progression. Who knows, my depth chart my fluctuate.
If you ever are totally satisfied with your setup and not questioning its efficiency, you need to start. A good tank knows what gear he'd like to pick up, a great tank keeps questioning. And you want to be a great tank, right?
Hello all
Hi all, Bura here.
I guess I should start by introducing myself a bit: ingame info first. My main is Burahaka, on the Balnazzar server. My only other 80 toon is a Death Knight named Daacacia.
On Burahaka, my main spec is Protection with a full emphasis on the most threat output I can achieve. I do so because A. It's fun to see big numbers and B. I am currently squarely in the OT position. As such, I have less need for MT talents and itemization. My guild, UNRESTRAINED, has a great MT (Hi Hell!) and I see no reason to try and usurp the position. Being #2 or 3 is just fine in my viewpoint.
When I'm not Shield Slamming to the top, Burahaka is Arms DPS, because I find Fury boring as f*#!.
I started playing WoW around three years ago. My friend gave me a trial account and by the end of the day, I rushed out and bought myself a copy of the game. He no longer plays, but I have kept on, now playing with my girlfriend, who plays a Holy priest by the name of Nassia.
In a sort of funny full circle moment, my current guild is run by three brothers who I know from my first guild. Several members of my first guild are members of UNRESTRAINED now as well.
Now that you have an idea who Bura is and a bit of his background, I have to talk about one aspect that's unique. Burahaka has about 5 nicknames in the game. Most are shortened bits of his full name: Bur, Bura, Haka, etc. etc.
However, 1 sticks out above the rest: Bear F*#&@er. Yes, it's a curse word, but has a long history. When I first logged into Ventrilo, the Burahaka phonetic came out as the above name. Don't know why, it just did. And the name has stuck for 3 years.
I bring this up to accentuate my favorite part of WoW, the social aspect. After 3 years, people still remember that incident, and me. That's something that not many games can claim, even other online titles. That's why I keep shelling out $15 a month, to interact with all the great (and not so great) people online. So this, my first post, is dedicated to everyone I've run into on my adventures. Thanks for making me a WoW-addict.
--Bura out
I guess I should start by introducing myself a bit: ingame info first. My main is Burahaka, on the Balnazzar server. My only other 80 toon is a Death Knight named Daacacia.
On Burahaka, my main spec is Protection with a full emphasis on the most threat output I can achieve. I do so because A. It's fun to see big numbers and B. I am currently squarely in the OT position. As such, I have less need for MT talents and itemization. My guild, UNRESTRAINED, has a great MT (Hi Hell!) and I see no reason to try and usurp the position. Being #2 or 3 is just fine in my viewpoint.
When I'm not Shield Slamming to the top, Burahaka is Arms DPS, because I find Fury boring as f*#!.
I started playing WoW around three years ago. My friend gave me a trial account and by the end of the day, I rushed out and bought myself a copy of the game. He no longer plays, but I have kept on, now playing with my girlfriend, who plays a Holy priest by the name of Nassia.
In a sort of funny full circle moment, my current guild is run by three brothers who I know from my first guild. Several members of my first guild are members of UNRESTRAINED now as well.
Now that you have an idea who Bura is and a bit of his background, I have to talk about one aspect that's unique. Burahaka has about 5 nicknames in the game. Most are shortened bits of his full name: Bur, Bura, Haka, etc. etc.
However, 1 sticks out above the rest: Bear F*#&@er. Yes, it's a curse word, but has a long history. When I first logged into Ventrilo, the Burahaka phonetic came out as the above name. Don't know why, it just did. And the name has stuck for 3 years.
I bring this up to accentuate my favorite part of WoW, the social aspect. After 3 years, people still remember that incident, and me. That's something that not many games can claim, even other online titles. That's why I keep shelling out $15 a month, to interact with all the great (and not so great) people online. So this, my first post, is dedicated to everyone I've run into on my adventures. Thanks for making me a WoW-addict.
--Bura out
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