Every day or so, I peruse the guild roster on Wow-heroes to see how people are doing on gear upgrades. One of these days, I'll take it one step farther and figure out what ppl need instance wide to help them.
A few people asked me to explain my spell rotation on Bandage the other day and it got me thinking. I usually power-level a toon to 75 or so and don't really pay attention to the mechanics of a particular class as they change very rapidly every 20 levels or so. Once I hit 75 now, I tend to focus on learning the techniques and focus of the playstyles.
The first thing I do is look the character up on the net, look for the highest damage specs, rotations, and the stat focus. For healing, this changes to Healing per mana efficiency of various spells, then stat focus. Also for healers, you have highest healing/minute and highest mana efficiency builds.
First: Check out http://www.talentchic.com/
Second: Google your class/spec "shadow priest wrath 3.1" and look for blogs, but turn security on your browser way way up and do a virus scan before you log into wow next. Ppl love to toss keyloggers into ads or other portions of sites.
Third: Look at http://www.wow-heroes.com/, look up some of the better raiding guilds, find a person who is the spec you're looking into, compare you're gear/stat focus/spec to theirs.
Fourth: Adjust your spec to focus on either heroic or raiding, get the best enchants you can afford (keeping in mind that unless your in full 200/213 gear, you're going to be getting upgrades so don't do the ones that cost 1+K gold apiece)
Fifth: look up your char on http://www.wowarmory.com/ and find craftable/questable/Reputation upgrades and make a list in a word file. List the SLOT for the item, then list the order you're likely to persue/obtain them. This will help with which instances to run.
Sixth: Glyphs are an insane addition to every spec. And they are completely spec dependent. These are an absolute necessity.
Interspersed Between 1-6: Talk to ppl who are masters of their spec, hell, ask for advice on general " Anyone on that can give me advice for specifics on XXXX class/spec" And then look up this person on armory/heroes and guage their char versus their advice.
Sixth: Here's something alot of parttime or periodic raiders dont like. When you raid, you're responsibility is to bring the most you can do the raid, that means bring potions, food, etc. Of even higher importance is that even though you may like a particular spec, if one does substantially better dps across the board.... use the higher dps one.
Example: A hunter in DnR had been marksman for years, kept the same spec. Last week, changed to survival. DPS went from 2.9 to 3.7K dps in the course of one night raiding. With research, he chose survival because alot of the fights in naxx/ulduar are AOE intensive which makes keeping pets alive difficult, and BM damage is greatly pet dependent but higher than survival when the pet survives.
One of the problem I think people are facing is that they don't raid fulltime so in their spare time, they lvl alts. Rather than focusing on one, and getting the best gear available, they spread that time commitment across 2-3-4+ alts.
Just as a frame of reference
Heroics: you're going to have 3-5 buffs.
Raids: You're going to have 7-20 odd buffs.
Test Dummies: will be lower than your actual dps output in raids/heroics. On the regular dummy I pulled 1.9K on a shadow priest. Heroic/Raid I pulled 1.4-5K. In actual heroics I pull 1.8-2K and Raids I've pulled 2.3-2.6K due to buffs and other factors.
For Heroics, if you can't sustain > 1.2K dps across the board, you're a liability. This might sound harsh, but the longer a fight lasts, the longer it takes to get that rift down, the more adds/spawns/damage etc the raid takes. Now, given that this is a game, and "liability" is a hardcore term. I don't define "liability" as "you suck" I define it as "you're character/rotation/gear needs more work." With gear and proper rotation, you should be around 2.2-3K dps or somewhere around there.
For Raids(10): 1.5K is the rough minimum unless there are proportionately better geared people to carry you. Well geared in raids should pull 2.5K+ dps. Truly obsessed people should be pulling 3K-5K+ dps depending on fight and class.
Before Wrath, I was uninterested in raids, focused on alts, had 4 70's and every craft to 375. I'd gotten into a few raids, but didn't know the mechanics/fights/ or how to maximize my dps in given situations. Didn't really care as I was enjoying the experience. Needless to say, the fights took longer than they should have and were rougher. Once wrath came out, I went resto with Wad, got invited to raids, and quickly learned the cost of the above mentality. Ulduar w/ one unaware person = wipe. Deconstructor has a 6 minute rage timer, requires 2.8K+ dps constant throughout. Try doing that with 1-2 people dead.........
:P, Got to love being bored at work with nothing whatsoever to do except spam a blog site :P
Showing posts with label Instance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Instance. Show all posts
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Nexus
Next in ouir series of instance strategies:
Name: Nexus
Location: Borean Tundra
Number of bosses: 5
Special group make-up: Off tank helpful in heroic
When progressing through this instance, keep going left throughout the whole thing. I suppose you could go right but I have never seen it done and your party members would probably look at you weird.
Commander Stoutbeard: This is a heroic only boss and this is also the fight where an off tank is really handy. The tank will grab aggro from the boss and tank him by the hallway entry for the entirety of the fight. This prevents party members from being feared into further mobs. Meanwhile, the off tank should grab aggro from the 2 clerics and all dps should take these down as quickly as possible. The healer should stay between the tank and the dps to heal both groups. Once the dps is finished, they can rejoin the fight on the boss. Make sure to not get hit by his whirlwind and you'll be fine.
Grand Magus Telestra: Tank where she is standing. After a while she will split into 3 different versions of herself. Each version has a different color and you need to kill the purple one first, followed by the blue with the red one being last.
In some of the upcoming mob groups you will see a rift. This can be dps'd down by range without pulling the rest of the group.
Anomalus: Tank where he stands. When he opens up a rift, everyone needs to focus on it and bring it down before turning back to the boss. These rifts will span adds that should either be picked up by the tank or a designated dps.
For the next part, you will be making your way through a gauntlet of elites and annoying little plants. The plants will keep popping back up if you don't keep moving.
Ormorok the Tree-Shaper: Tank where he stands. The boss will shoot up ice spikes that must be dodged (you will see where they are going to pop before they actually do). The boss also does a spell reflect at times. You should have a designated dps help with any adds that attack healer.
Keristrasza: Tank where it stands. All dps and healer needs to stand on the side of the dragon (not head or tail) to avoid getting hit. The big thing in this fight is that you must jump or move continually (I prefer jumping). If you stay in one place too long, you will get a painful debuff that will only get worse and the healer will not be able to outheal it. Melee can jump continually as they hit boss. Casters can jump in between each cast. Healers need to try and rely on instant casts during the fith. There will be times when the boss freezes the party to the ground. This is the time to do any of the longer cast heals as you will be bolted to one place anyway.
As always, hope you enjoy and feel free to comment if I missed anything of utter import. Next up: Azjol-Nerub.
Name: Nexus
Location: Borean Tundra
Number of bosses: 5
Special group make-up: Off tank helpful in heroic
When progressing through this instance, keep going left throughout the whole thing. I suppose you could go right but I have never seen it done and your party members would probably look at you weird.
Commander Stoutbeard: This is a heroic only boss and this is also the fight where an off tank is really handy. The tank will grab aggro from the boss and tank him by the hallway entry for the entirety of the fight. This prevents party members from being feared into further mobs. Meanwhile, the off tank should grab aggro from the 2 clerics and all dps should take these down as quickly as possible. The healer should stay between the tank and the dps to heal both groups. Once the dps is finished, they can rejoin the fight on the boss. Make sure to not get hit by his whirlwind and you'll be fine.
Grand Magus Telestra: Tank where she is standing. After a while she will split into 3 different versions of herself. Each version has a different color and you need to kill the purple one first, followed by the blue with the red one being last.
In some of the upcoming mob groups you will see a rift. This can be dps'd down by range without pulling the rest of the group.
Anomalus: Tank where he stands. When he opens up a rift, everyone needs to focus on it and bring it down before turning back to the boss. These rifts will span adds that should either be picked up by the tank or a designated dps.
For the next part, you will be making your way through a gauntlet of elites and annoying little plants. The plants will keep popping back up if you don't keep moving.
Ormorok the Tree-Shaper: Tank where he stands. The boss will shoot up ice spikes that must be dodged (you will see where they are going to pop before they actually do). The boss also does a spell reflect at times. You should have a designated dps help with any adds that attack healer.
Keristrasza: Tank where it stands. All dps and healer needs to stand on the side of the dragon (not head or tail) to avoid getting hit. The big thing in this fight is that you must jump or move continually (I prefer jumping). If you stay in one place too long, you will get a painful debuff that will only get worse and the healer will not be able to outheal it. Melee can jump continually as they hit boss. Casters can jump in between each cast. Healers need to try and rely on instant casts during the fith. There will be times when the boss freezes the party to the ground. This is the time to do any of the longer cast heals as you will be bolted to one place anyway.
As always, hope you enjoy and feel free to comment if I missed anything of utter import. Next up: Azjol-Nerub.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Utgarde Keep
Hello all,
Since we are starting to get a lot more organized and have many more players gearing up to tackle heroics, I thought I would start an ongoing series on instance strategy.
First some basics: Plate tanks need to have 535 defense minimum and preferably be at the 540 cap. Healers should have 1400 +heals at the very least. Dps should strive to be 1200+. Obviously these are rough guidelines but if you go any lower in any of the these categories, the difficulty gets exponentially greater. Also players need to be comfortable using crowd control and tanks should be comfortable with marking so the pace doesn't lag. When pulling trash mob groups, 99% of the time kill anybody with mana first.
I will not go over each pull as I think learning these things is half the fun, but I will give you tips on each boss as well as any other special things.
First instance up...the easiest of them all:
Name: Utgarde Keep
Location: Howling Fjord
Number of bosses: 3
Special group make-up: None needed
Prince Keleseth: Tank him where he is walking. Casters...make sure the tank/boss is between you and both doorways. Boss will call forth skeleton adds and they will come from these doorways. Tank should aggro them before the reach casters. Boss will also encase someone in ice. When he does this, all dps should hit ice casing immediately to break out your comrade.
Dalronn/Skarvald: Tank where they are standing. Everyone needs to focus on Dalronn (the caster) and bring him down to about 20%. Then everyone switches to Skarvakd (the melee) and do the same. Then try and bring both of them down as quickly as possible and at somewhat the same time or very bad things happen. Adds will come during the fight but these can easily be handled by an assigned AoE dps or led into tank's AoE.
Ingvar the Plunderer: Tank where he stands. Casters need to stand at range and tank should try and point boss away from everyone. When he starts to cast his smash (a cone AoE in front of boss), tank should strafe away or run through him. When he starts to cast his roar, casters (including healers) should stop casting until he finishes or be silenced. Once you kill him, run behind one of the pillars so you are out of line-of-sight. He will be resurrected and you get to start all over. For the most part it is the same, however, he also has a nasty little axe that will spin around so don't get hit by that.
As always, hope you enjoy and feel free to comment if I missed anything of utter import. Next up: Nexus.
Since we are starting to get a lot more organized and have many more players gearing up to tackle heroics, I thought I would start an ongoing series on instance strategy.
First some basics: Plate tanks need to have 535 defense minimum and preferably be at the 540 cap. Healers should have 1400 +heals at the very least. Dps should strive to be 1200+. Obviously these are rough guidelines but if you go any lower in any of the these categories, the difficulty gets exponentially greater. Also players need to be comfortable using crowd control and tanks should be comfortable with marking so the pace doesn't lag. When pulling trash mob groups, 99% of the time kill anybody with mana first.
I will not go over each pull as I think learning these things is half the fun, but I will give you tips on each boss as well as any other special things.
First instance up...the easiest of them all:
Name: Utgarde Keep
Location: Howling Fjord
Number of bosses: 3
Special group make-up: None needed
Prince Keleseth: Tank him where he is walking. Casters...make sure the tank/boss is between you and both doorways. Boss will call forth skeleton adds and they will come from these doorways. Tank should aggro them before the reach casters. Boss will also encase someone in ice. When he does this, all dps should hit ice casing immediately to break out your comrade.
Dalronn/Skarvald: Tank where they are standing. Everyone needs to focus on Dalronn (the caster) and bring him down to about 20%. Then everyone switches to Skarvakd (the melee) and do the same. Then try and bring both of them down as quickly as possible and at somewhat the same time or very bad things happen. Adds will come during the fight but these can easily be handled by an assigned AoE dps or led into tank's AoE.
Ingvar the Plunderer: Tank where he stands. Casters need to stand at range and tank should try and point boss away from everyone. When he starts to cast his smash (a cone AoE in front of boss), tank should strafe away or run through him. When he starts to cast his roar, casters (including healers) should stop casting until he finishes or be silenced. Once you kill him, run behind one of the pillars so you are out of line-of-sight. He will be resurrected and you get to start all over. For the most part it is the same, however, he also has a nasty little axe that will spin around so don't get hit by that.
As always, hope you enjoy and feel free to comment if I missed anything of utter import. Next up: Nexus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)