Break time

The holidays are over, raiding for the non hard core is really ramping up and I think I must bow out of the game for a while.

This is not a I hate Blizzard, or they screwed the game up or anything like that. My issues are more with the players or at least the ones I've dealt with.

If you haven't seen my post about the dread of the xfer it will explain it more. After that I had one bad experience after another.

• A guild that I joined, brought me in to tank, then said "it will probably only be in a pinch, or heroics to gear the guild".
• Another who claimed they were 12/12 HM ICC, wen in and wiped for 4 hours on Magmaw 10 man while their tank who was wearing greens drained the healer of mana prior to the chain phase. I was outside the instance so they could bring in a 4th healer and soulstone the tank. But "I could come back in for trash"
• After a  45 min talk w/the GM of a 10 man guild, I joined the guild and felt like they were going to be a good fit. I logged on at raid time and watched 6 people G quit. The reason? The GM just logged on and gave the guild to an officer and quit the game for good. The day after I talked to him.
• I posted in the guild recruitment forums, I received multiple offers to go to guilds that had 5 members or East Coast servers who started at 5pm. After asking for replies of those who start their raid after 9pm EST.

After weeks of looking I found a guild, a good fit. The GM came to my server and hunted me down. He talked to me for over an hour. Hell we talked about non wow things. It seemed like a guild that I wanted to be a part of. While in talks they were 4/12 25 man Cata. Close to where I was. The raid times were what I needed. All in all it was a great fit.

I had to xfer again. I was leery and talked to the GM prior to the Xfer. He said w/the app I put in the whole guild was waiting for me. They were willing to allow me to make "new" mistakes ans all in all they were excited to have me there.

As I arrived on my new server, I did a /who to find a guild member, only 1 85 was on but it was late so that was expected. I whispered him "is an officers on, this is the new xfer" He says....OH F*CK another one. Sure let me get him. As I was for a reply he is trolling trade w/racial slurs and more.

I get a tell, this is **** what can I do for you? I tell him and the guild was really cool. We talked and it looked like things were on the right foot.

I log on the next day, Say hi and *crickets*...Oh, well. I wait about 5 mins, there is roughly 40 people on. I ask, "anyone for a random H"? *crickets* Five minutes later, a warrior pops on and says "lets do a random" and 15 people answer up. Not a shocker that happens.

A bit later another group is starting so I say I'll tank. This is a guild that is 7/12 now. We get Stonecore (I hate that place) and can't get past the 1st boss. The SP is doing 5k (alt) the rogue is in 3/4 epics and is only doing 8k and a pug hunter who was doing a good amount of DPS. They boot him. Yep the vote kicked him cuz they wanted to bring in a guildy.

Everyone was in agreement to reque for another. The SP who was in group was a rager! He was in guild and just didn't shut up. He was annoying. We got Grim Batol and the guild they brought in had to go.We get a pug warrior. We WIPE repeatedly on the 1st boss. Not enough DPS and no CC on the purple add. The SP rages, says he ill be right back on his warrior. He didn't solve the CCon the add but sure brought turbulence to the run. He blast the other warrior for his DPS. Tells me on vent, not by my name of course but as "tank" I'm going to pull off you, don't F*ck it up.

He didn't quite pull off me all the time but alot. He was doing 18K DPS and hit 21K on the boss. The next boss was a mess. Tons of wipes later and about all I could take with this warrior who was cussing out the healer for his lack of heals as he stood in the fire and didn't get kept standing or a B-Rez. He pulled threat n the pull. This Dbag was the worst player I had grouped with. He was in all shiny epix and did 18K DPS but couldn't stay alive or keep under my threat. He literally yelled at me for BoP'n him when he was creeping on threat. I salved him every pull.

Who was this guy? I looked atthe guild screen, he was an officer and the Raid Leader. Really? This is what I had xfered for? Well after a few more wipes, belive me...I'm not a pro tank but threat is very rearly an issue. Not with this guy, but DPS need to watch too and well, he said F*ck omen. A few more wipes and we all give up. The healer couldn't keep me alive, the dps wouldn't wait on threat....oh and the rogue wasn't tricks'n me either.

After the run we were in vent and all I heard how terrible that tank was, and how bad he hates this game and how this guild was recruiting BADDIES!

I don't think I can do this, I don't think I want to deal with people who treat a game like life or death. I deal with life or death at work, or I used too. I guess I could go raid and down a few bosses with these guys but I'm not sure hearing yelling over vent, like I did in that 5 man is something I'm willing to do. Hanging on and grabbing gear just to have it while I 'm miserable logging on is not something I want to do either. I want to build a loyalty to a guild, a guild I'd love to enjoy wiping with guild, but I don't think it will be this one.

I'm done for now, for a while. I'm going to give my beloved Chasey a break. I enjoy WoW, I love to tank. I've hit a string of bad luck and need to get out. To use a card playing metaphor, I'm changing tables after getting a string of bad hands but headed to the bar 1st.

Talk to you all soon. I'll check back every now and then.

Patch 4.0.6 upcoming changes!

Breaking news ~ Prot has an interrupt, read all about it...


Let me say this is only in the PTR during the time I post this. Things could change and probably will as it has already changed a bit since yesterday.

Paladin (from MMO-Champion 1-7-2011)
•Inquisition is no longer dispellable.

•Rebuke can now be trained by all paladins at level 54. Existing characters will need to visit their trainer, even if they had talented Rebuke before.

To me this looks like Prot will now have an OCD Interrupt, REALLY? Do we really get an interrupt? Oh and what now replaces this will be the source of QQ and tears will fill buckets and flood basements of dwellers everywhere.

Holy
•Denounce now has a spell overlay.


Retribution
•The Rebuke talent has been replaced with a new passive talent, Sacred Shield. Paladins who had Rebuke before will automatically have Sacred Shield. Sacred When reduced below 30% health, paladins gain the Sacred Shield effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs X damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Undispellable.

Rets now get a 20% heal buff, an absolution of damage and it can happen ever 30 seconds for 15 seconds. Is this only for rets? I can't wait to see the official forums fill with "dear blizz pallys are OP, that is all".

•Zealotry is no longer dispellable.


Bug Fixes
•Word of Glory will no longer reset the swing timer.

More blues news - (MMO Champion 1-5-2011) Since this is a paladin blog I will update you on the racials and  how it affects paladins.

•The draenei racial trait Gift of the Naaru now heals 20% of the target's health over 15 seconds, rather than a scaling value.
•The dwarven racial trait Stoneform now reduces all damage taken by 10%, rather than increasing armor by 10%. It also increases the dwarf's size when used.
•The human racial trait Every Man for Himself has been reverted back to a 2-minute cooldown, down from 3 minutes.

Does Dawrf become the min/maxers choice for pally's now? The goats now have a differnt kind of cooldown but its not game breaking.

Paladin
•The mana costs of Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings have been increased by approximately 217%, making them roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.
•Crusader Strike weapon damage percent has been increased to 135%, up from 115%.
•Divine Plea now lasts for 9 seconds, down from 15. It grants 4% mana per tick, instead of 2%, for a total of 12% mana, up from 10%.

Not really sure about the increased mana cost but I think it makes glyphing for these worth it now, thus making our minor glyphs mean sort of something.

Oh Crusader Strike has its damage boosted, which is more a buff for ret's damage who is sort of on the low side according to the leet DPS. It also make threat more of a NON-Concern for tank which I can see in the future our threat getting nerfed, along the lines of Rightous Fury in 3.1 or 3.2 (my memory fails me).

I'm sure that this will change. I'm sort of on the excited side about an interupt, I mean really this to me is outstanding. With just the heroic fights in Cata if you don't have someone in the group you aren't screwed or sitting on Avenger shield hoping Hammer of Justice is ready. I am very fond of this patch full of notes. I guess will see how it changes and what the experts say.

The Cataclysm Dungeon Hero!

Thats me!

I am now a hero! and it feels pretty good.

I had que'd for randoms (with or without) my guild. I had downed all bosses besides Commander Springvale in SFK. LFG is totally random or so they say. I had only once got The Stonecore, the group fell apart on our 2nd wipe on Ozruk. I ate shield spike and it one shot me. I had that silly monstrous fight explained to me and I didn't get out of pound. Bad tank is bad, or so they said. Group fell apart and I started looking that fight up.

I got Vortex Pinnacle and finished it off. It was fun aside from the boss that throws you all around which is at best a dumb mechanic. I had one place left to do. A place I loathed, a place that made me nervous...

I'm a tank, am I supposed to say that? Do you guys have places you dread to go? I had to face my demons.

I knew the fight, I knew what I had to do.

One shotting a tank-

It seems that The Stonecore is Blizz's big FU to Wrath. Lots of movement, and mechanics in every fight that will one shot you. All bosses in there are capable of killing the tank or anyone else if you don't have total focus. In one shot.

Lets not forget the stupid ass trash that jumps, twirls and cleave everyone! oh, lets not forget the crystals that allow you to take more damage per stack.

The more I looked the more I seen tanks and groups in general having issues with this boss and this place in general. Now don't get me wrong, its not undoable or even luck its lots of awareness and movement. I have never, even most raid bosses are not as brutal on tanks as this 5 man heroic.

Ascared?

I had to face my demons, or stone asshats. I wanted to tell Blizz FU for the FU to us. I want to concur my past failures.In its essence its not a hard fight, I can do it. Cuz, I am not a fail tank...I think.

Well I have had my past issues with others failing in heroics. I mean hard, see my last tanking adventures post to see my 17 death run or my first time in Tol'vir were we wiped over and over on the Croc. I'm good at this game, not AWESOME, not PRO but good. I take pride in my play style and know my class.

We wiped a few times on Coborus due to bad dps or low dps. We one shot the 2nd boss and move do Ozruk.

I was nervous and this was pure pug! I had little room for error, the group was snide and edgy as it was but I wanted to get this done. BAD!

Ozruk-

In case you don't know, he has 3 abilities: Ground slam, Shatter and Paralyze, oh a few other lil dandies but this is not a guide on how to do the fight.

1st pull (oh we didn't one shot him) Got him to 2%, really I did this pretty well. I got caught by Ground slam standing between his legs. I thought I was far enough behind him but I guess not.

The DPS was asking if I knew how to do the fight. I said yes, I got it but I made a mistake and said sorry. The fury warrior, a blood elf pulling 4k dps said, l2side step that and it won't be an issue.

2nd pull, I did the most pro move ever, I pulled the trash and we wiped. The DPS was really giving it to me, I said sorry and told them I made the mistake and it won't happen again.

3rd pull, got him to 20%ish and caught ground slam again between his legs. I really thought I was under him enough but again. WOW this fight is brutal. I was feeling the pressure, and the DPS was killing me. It got really bad and I told them, "look I'm learning the fight I've mad a few mistakes but either kick me or keep it informative".

4th pull, I'm nervous now big time. I'm shaking not out of being scared but pure wanting to get the boss in my past. I really IRL need to accomplish this. It sounds weird but its a hurdle I have to get past in my tanking career and life. I don't remember a fight were so much relies on one tank to do so much. I mean, hold aggro, move around him, not pull extra mobs and keep the boss in range and oh, manage cool downs and make sure the healer is ok to heal after paralyze.

I throw my shield and grab this brute up! I'm going to do it this time. I noticed his timer is off, at least in my head he is a few seconds off. DBM is off too.This is going to require my total concentration of position, and awareness to get my job done. Things are going smooth so far he is about 50% and I'm still middle of the tunnel.

I got this!

25% he enrages, IDC I pop guardian and hope I can make the movement in sync with him and his shabby casting.

DOWN GOES Orzuk! I got him and let these silly DPS know it. Yes, I was overboard! but I did it, I slayed my dragon.

The DPS gave me gratz and then bagged me for being a baddie.

Last boss, I say watch the adds and stone throws. I get one shotted by a stone hitting the ground. HEY, give me a break its my first time. I seen the graphic and knew what I was looking for now.

We pull again and:

Not bad for my 1st time in the place and I don't think I'll ever go back again. Yes most have this done now but I'm pretty proud of this due to the fact it the fight bothered me so much outside the game.

Can anyone think of a fight so brutal on a tank, other than maybe Brutallus or a very progressed raid? In a 5 man?

Tanking Adventures

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you had a safe and fun weekend!

Grim Batol

I love this place. I really do! Great rep cool fights will challenge players skill a bit. The fights are not face rolls. Not entirely complex but you can't round them up and burn them down. But it was a PUG.

My fault for doing this, it was New Years morning about 6 AM server time, 9AM for me. I looked and no one was on in guild beside a "friend and family" level 25 shammy.

I every so brilliantly PUGGED! I know what you are thinking, why? Well I wanted to knock my Valor points out for the day. In all honesty as I zoned in the group make up was not bad.

Me
Priest heals
MM Hunter
Rogue
'Lock

Gear wasn't bad and a few even said "hi" as we zoned in. I gave kill order and CC order. Things went smooth and stuff was dying fast. The 'Lock DC'd 3x's and a vote kick went out. She was removed. Incomes a DK. He was a gem. He arrived w/"sup, never been here b4".

He proceded to pull 3k DPS on trash and our 1st boss attempt. Somehow we wiped on trash and had the healer rez him.

We got to General Umbriss, his DPS went up to 4k. We wiped at about 40%, the healer had to rez him. The rouge tells him stop being a lazy ass and rez. He says "I've never been here before, I don't want to get lost"

We wiped 3 more times on Umbriss, for some reason the healer wanted to stand on top of me. I was charged 3 times. My fault for not moving but it was an insta kill for the healer. Usually I can live thru his charge. The helm dropped, the hunter took it and left group. I was sad, she was a smart hunter. She was replaced by a lock.

Me to 'Lock- are you glyphed for fear? What is that? o.O

On the next boss Forgemaster Throngus we wiped A L O T! Four times in a row were 2% ish wipes. The lock and 3k DK left and were replaced by a Shammy, who was wearing PVP gear "cuz its just fill in til i get good stuff".

The shammy and DK died on his fire phase. They both left and were replace by 2 toons that zoned in and DC'd. They never came back. In comes a 'lock and a DK.

Me
Priest heals
Rouge
DK
'Lock

Lock SS DK, we all go "WHAT?" oops sorry wrong target. Pull boss, DK dies in fire. Uses SS and dies in fire...........LOL

We finally get him dead, the wand drops, healer needs takes it and drops group.

Druid heals comes in, we pull to Drahga Shadowburner wipe a few times because people are unable to get behind him during the drakes flame phase. This was for a brief second, my fault "cuz tank doesn't have aggro on boss" "use taunt so drake doesn't turn towards group"

OMG

We figured that out, lost the lock, got a mage and killed the boss. All was good, a decent group with great DPS and nice make up for Erudax and slowing his adds.

I tell group how we should set it up -  Mage help w/both adds. Rogue take left, DK take right. Slow adds and kill them before we get to the eggs to hatch.

Rogue "I can't use crippling poison, it will hurt my DPS"
Mage "I don't have a frost spec, I can't slow"
DK "I'll chains them both, others burn them down."

It didn't work like 4 times. Some way, shape or form these three guys couldn't get the adds before the birds got hatched. They were all at 7k dps or better and couldn't do it.

Healer drops, DK drops, Rogue drops. 3 hours into this place....I'm at my wits end but soooo want to finish this. I'm so close to my valor points, I don't know if I can stomach redoing a heroic today to get them.

The mage stayed with me, zoned in are a shammy healer, MM hunter, Frost DK , me and the mage.

Mage give run down of boss, and says, what I have said about 15 times....Kill adds fast and we win.

We wiped. But I noticed something the hunter and DK were doing 12k dps. Oh, could it be, could we have a chance to do this?

DK says I'm so sorry I messed that up. We got him next time and....

We did!  I was so excited for killing this simple ass boss I could have hugged all those toons IRL for real.

In case you lost count: TL, DR:

17 wipes
3 1/2 hours (9am til 12:10pm)
17 players (plus 2 more that zoned in and dc'd and never came back)
96g in repairs
70 valor points
one very patient tank who used every CD he had multiple times (including LoH 5x's)

Tanking Adventures: Cata Edition.

VoA Version 2.0.

I went in with my guild and 1 shot the new Argaloth on 25 man. We tried last week but ran out of time on TB starting. This boss really is a face roll, the only real chance to not kill him is slow DPS. When we had our kill I was to pull the boss. Even in guild runs you have those who need to newb it up...lol Our "lockstar" face pulled the boss which in turn got me yelled at for not having him in a proper position. He was in fact killed so we DPS'd him with 24 and still had a good 20 seconds before the enrage timer.

Now time for me to brag a second. My DPS is on the low side in raids right now compared to 5 mans. Well, yes I know there is the Vengeance thing but tanks I'm tanking against seem to have me riding the treat line with them so I either have to auto attack or stop attacking all together. I guess I will take a low DPS number to get a kill no doubt. Not really sure why, I've never been the "big" threat guy like some of my other tanks but so far in Cata its been like this. I'm proud of that. Here is the bottom line thou, as long as the DPS doesn't catch me or my Co-Tank it really is no issue.

Blackwing Decent

We had a few who had to leave after killing Argaloth. We broke into a 10 man group and picked Blackwing Decent for a run at the bosses. We had no real raid leader in our group so it was done by committee.

We took a run at Magmaw 1st. OH MY is that trash annoying. How can a mob switch targets, stun you for 5 seconds and do 95% of your health as damage? I felt useless as a tank. After a few wipes on said trash (one at 1%) we killed it. What an amazing feeling to have no trash to pull the boss...lol

Our group set up for Magmaw wasn't great. No hunter or mage and we couldn't decide which way to do the boss. We did get hime to 65% or so but after three wipes we took a shot at Toxitron and his crew.
By compassion that trash is cake!

We watched the vid, had a bit of discussion and started the pulls. We did manage to get the fights rotation and got them down to 40% and wiped. After a few more hours it got no better so we called and are putting said we'd give it a shot later in the week. About 20 mins later invites were out and a whisper was sent, we were going on Thursday for another shot.

The Bastion of Twlight

Again no raid lead and no one with a clue other than "tankspot" and another Youtube vid that we all watched. According to the "experts" we had the bad set up. Our opponent? More Whelps and the Slate Drake.

My impressions of the fight? The debuff the boss puts on you is FAST, DPS really has to allow you to get time on the drake that gets MC'd and only real problem with this fight how fast the raid wide damage goes out.

Our strategy? We pulled the Boss - Slate Drake and Whelps. After the first minute of doing that the fight is cake. Raid damage is non existent and all it takes is a tank swap.

We gave the twin drakes a go for 3 or 4 attempts and our best was 50%. Its pretty fun, lots of movement and totally doable. Again the raid damage is pretty harsh and I think Blizz has said "tanks learn how to use cooldowns and Heals learn how to manage mana" with this 1st tier of raiding.
All in all it was a fun week, raiding is slightly ramped up compared to what we seen in Wrath.

The Dread of the Transfer

An ode to the gamble of moving your toon...

I’m using my Blog to vent about something I truly enjoy doing, playing WoW. Why has it been so rough? Please read on.

Today was a horrible day in my WoW life. My confidence is shaken a bit and not having to much fun. Oh…and I haven’t even started raiding yet. Really, I haven’t raided yet.

As much looking around as you do and as much research as you put into moving guilds, you don’t know what’s coming to you get there.

As Wrath was coming to a close, my guild I was in Jinx was going in a different direction or so I thought. Icecrown’s talent was drying up a bit as the number 3 guild left for the alliance. I like Jinx a lot, good raiders but it felt like a job with them. You logged on to raid and jumped on vent and after the raids were over everyone logged off and vent was silent. It was odd for a group that got along like they did, communication was almost non existent.

I did some research, no other guilds on Icecrown were looking for tanks. I wanted to tank and Jinx didn’t have a solid spot for me. I didn’t get demoted but they were unsure of the 10/25 thing. I chose Hyjal for a home. PST server, big Horde population, decent raiding population and PVE. For months everywhere I looked was a guild named Macabre of Hyjal looking for players. They stated they were unique in that there was no drama and the offered multi 10 man teams. I seen many, many recruitment posts looking for people. I gave them my time and here is what happened.

I applied to Macabre, talked to two officers and was accepted. Both were looking for a tank and I told them when I xfered over I’d talk with them more and seeing as they weren’t raiding there was no big hurry to pick the team. I xfered a few toons to Hyjal. Why a few? Well Cata was rolling around and I wanted a few farmers as well as my main on the same server. So I spent my RL money to do this. Yes I’ll say it again, I spent money with the understanding I was getting into a “drama free and different type guild”.

About five days after I arrived, there was also about six others who xfered over to Macabre of Hyjal. Not with me but just coming for the “uniqueness of Macabre” that we were all told existed.

I logged on one day and the guild I spent money for fell apart. But not in a way that normal guilds fall apart. See the “hard core” teams, ya know the ones who still raided after 4.0 to get their “Light of Dawn” title didn’t feel comfortable being in Macabre any longer. The took the 50 “best” players and made a new guild called . The biggest excuse for the mass exodus was that the ’leet players were no longer having fun playing with people they didn’t know.

Can I understand that? Sure. I want to know those I play with but the kicker is the new people that just xfered weren’t offered those spots. You see, all the recruiting that Macabre did for the individual teams wasn’t known. Everyone was just recruiting and no one really had control of it. So yes the guild did grow fast.

As the guild split over the next few days, I found out that the lady they left Macabre with “casual” and didn’t really want the lead but stayed for the better of the guild. The forums light up with bickering back and forth. As the Dread people had access to Macabres’ web but not the other way around.

Those that left made it know to those of us left behind there was plenty of talent to start new teams for raiding, that the comments that were made were childish and that we now had a casual atmosphere and they could go play with like minded people.

I get all that, I do. The problem lies with those of us who were caught in transition. I know of 3 tanks who came to tank for this guild. Two have xfered off server due to lack of core tanking spots right now in game.

I’m kind of stuck at this point. I’m in a good guild with decent talent. Very friendly but again. Its not progression, its very “friendly” and I’m the new tank looking in to get a spot. I have been told I have a tank spot, I’m tanking heroics and I’m going to do Ret as an off spec in Cata.

Here is where the rough day part comes in, where my confidence has taken a hit. I guess this is over a few days really. I’m new so when I ask to run a heroic I usually get asked if I want to DPS *my dps set is SOOOOO bad* or no response when I ask. I’ve had a few REALLY horrible pugs lately too. We did the 1st boss in SKF today for 18 minutes and never got him below 50%. I DPS’d ToT today and pulled an amazing 3800DPS on the final boss *never downed him* cause I wasn’t the worst dps in there. The healer just kept saying over and over in G chat how bad that run was, how horrible the DPS did and how it hurt his ego that he even healed such a place. I was in another run (tanking) where we wiped 3 times and one of the DPS was tired of beating his head against wall and was not really into wiping and rage left. I’ve had another DPS from my current guild tell me he isn’t going to glyph fear for CC as he is tired of CC’n already.

The kicker to all this was was in trade recruiting for two tanks. Yes I said two tanks. Must have ilvl blah and loads of experience. This is the second team from I have seen looking for a tank.

The whole xfer to Hyjal has just been bad for me so far. I’m in a “friendly” guild that has a glut of “OS” tanks, at the start of an expansion where many guilds aren’t yet looking for tanks, and if they are, they are start up guild who are RL friends looking to be server 3rd as raiders and have no clue on what it takes to raid at a decent level after coming out of wrath of the free epic xpac that just past.

I’m not the greatest tank in the world. Maybe about top 1000 quality, I’ve done that. I’m not the most dedicated person. I have a RL with a family and things that take priority over WoW. I’m good at what I do, I make sure I fix my errors, know fights, set a good pace and let what is supposed to beat on me, beat on me. Why can’t I find a guild that I can fit into, be happy and get bosses down?

I don’t want to be with people like the guild I’m pissed that they didn’t give me the opportunity to go there thou. They talked about ‘leet and good they were and yet I was better geared than any of the tanks when I arrived and if I hadn’t halted my raiding when I did for school I’d have been more progressed than any of the teams they had. Sure a few were 12/12 HM but it was post 4.0 or very close to that when gearing became the nerf of HMLK in 10 man. Nor do I want to be told “grow up” when I say I think its shitty I spent real money to come tank for a guild that blows up because the tag you have isn’t as prestigious as the one you think will be.
 
I'm stuck right now.

Merry Christmas

I just wanted  to take a minute to wish everyone a very merry christmas. I hope you have an enjoyable holiday and get to spend wonderful time with your loved ones.

I know in general we have bad times come to mind of the year that is about to pass but take a minute and reflect on the good times you had this year. It will do you good. Thinking of the good is a great way to have a better day.

If all else fails watch this:

So you want to tank...

I found this link on the official forums. Not always a great place but its very informative at times if you can get away from the QQ and Trolls.

I would love to thank Sceilence from Yesera for a wonderful post. Its a tad bit of a long read but really hits the mark. Please take a moment to read thru this its really well writting and hits the mark HARD!

I have played this game since launch, and I have played this character since Blackwing Lair was endgame content. I have never been in a server-leading progression guild, but I have led raiding guilds working their own progression, usually a tier behind the curve or so. In Wrath, I had all three plate-wearing classes at the level cap, specced and geared for tanking. I am a self-admitted idiot at DPS or healing; for some reason, my brain just won’t function properly in those roles. But so far as it goes, I’m pretty well versed in tanking in this game.


I have recently noticed a number of instances, in-game and in the forums, where 1) people are asking for advice on tanking because they’re new to it, 2) DPS or healers are complaining about tanks because they are being bossy or dictatorial, and 3) tanks are complaining about DPS for…being DPS. Several of these questions and comments have been addressed from the perspective of mechanics, but only rarely do the responses really touch on the theoretical foundation of tanking, or what I have come to call the Tao of Tanking. This post is intended to address this gap.

I am not a Theorycrafter. I leave that kind of thing to much more dedicated and talented individuals. I would recommend Elitist Jerks and Tankspot for guidelines on mechanics-related specifics, should you have questions on exactly how to maximize your threat or what the best tanking build is for your class. I am also not God’s Gift to Tanking, and frankly, I would question anyone who tried to tell you they were. From my perspective, tanking is a mindset, much like political affiliation; nobody is ever actually right (no pun intended), but people can certainly be wrong.

The purpose of this post is to put into writing some of the philosophy behind tanking. I expect that it will be exceedingly droll for people who have been tanking for quite a while, because they’ve probably got this figured out. It could, however, provide some insight for people new to tanking, or to DPS/healers who would like to understand why tanks act the way we do.
 
On Leadership
The tank’s role in 5-man content is, in my opinion, the most critical role in the group. Now, I understand (and agree with) the argument that without a healer, there is no victory, and without DPS, there is no victory. No tank is going to solo a level-capped instance or Heroic. However, the complexity for any given role in a group is largely determined by the amount of responsibility the player has to take for other people in order for the group to succeed.

The DPS player has only to:

Do any CC they’re asked to do

Do damage to the appropriate target

Stay out of the fire

The DPS player does not have to take responsibility for any other member of the group (though really exceptional players will find a way to do this - these players are truly treasured gems that should always be appreciated).

The healer, on the other hand, has to:

Do any CC they’re asked to do

Stay out of the fire

Make sure that nobody’s hit points get to zero before the pull is ended
The healer takes responsibility for other people by healing them when they take unnecessary damage (taking cleave hits, standing in fire, pulling threat from the tank…I could go on and on here); in this way the healer is taking up some of the slack created by poorly performing DPS (or tanks).

By comparison, the tank has to:

Assign CC targets based on mob type/group composition

Make sure everyone in the party is ready for the pull (particularly, the healer has mana)

Pull the group, often in some elaborate fashion that creates separation between the CCed mobs and the active mobs

Establish and maintain threat on all active mobs

Position the mobs to reduce splash damage to alleviate healer’s workload

Apply appropriate defensive debuffs to alleviate healer’s workload

Pick up broken CC before it WTFPWNs someone

Pop defensive cooldowns at the most appropriate time, usually to lower the healer’s blood pressure

Direct the other party members through those “oops” moments (i.e., the infamous hunter “Where’s My Pet?” scenario)

If you buy into this model, generally speaking, a DPS player takes responsibility for him/herself, the healer takes responsibility for the party’s health, and the tank takes responsibility for everything else.

And even if you don’t buy into this model, chances are, your tank does. This is why the tank starts looking through the combat log after a wipe – they want to figure out what happened, so they can appropriately address any apparent issues and avoid another wipe. This is also why the tank asks the one question healers hate to hear after a wipe: “So, uh…what happened?” The inevitable response is: “Uh, you ran out of hit points?”

Of course I ran out of hit points. But why? Were you busy healing one of the DPS because he was standing in fire? Was there some debuff that needed to be cleansed but wasn’t? Did you run out of mana because you were spamming flash heal? Where other members of the party may be willing to dismiss the causes of a wipe or a bad pull, the tank refuses to do so, because all tanks know this one fundamental truth: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results”. Loosely translated, this means that the tank doesn’t want to repeat that horrible experience again, and is looking for input on avoiding doing so. So give your response some thought before pointing out the obvious.
 
On Threat, Crowd Control, and DPS  
One thing everyone needs to understand, and this goes for the tanks, the healers, the DPS, everyone, is that trash is no longer a speed bump between you and the boss mob’s loot table. This is no longer the WoW that has been played for the last two years. The Wrath model for the game was discarded by Blizzard, and AOE grinding instances is a thing of the past. Yeah, at some point tanks will have the gear to survive pulling the entire group without CC, and healers will have the gear to heal through such pulls, but even under those circumstances it will be more efficient to single target than AOE DPS, because Blizzard doesn’t want AOE DPS to actually do anything anymore.


I think what really needs to happen in the game is a paradigm shift. Everyone needs to step away from the view that being a good DPS player is represented in the numbers posted by Recount, and embrace that a good DPS player is someone who avoids taking unnecessary damage, does a good job with CC (both performing and not breaking it), does respectable damage, and has the ability to think outside the box. Honestly, this is the level of expectation placed on tanks and healers, so why have we allowed DPS to be gauged solely on their damage output?

I have a mage and a ret paladin that I group with regularly. The pally has been playing since launch, and the mage just started in Wrath (3.1 or so). For nearly two years I have heard them arguing constantly about overall damage done according to Recount. With this expansion, they are having a hard time beating my damage output when it comes to overall instance damage done according to Recount. This has caused absolutely no end of argument and frustration for them, which in turn frustrates me, because I just don’t care about overall damage done for an instance. Show me your l33t skills by not dying to your own stupidity, by be a benefit to the party rather than a hindrance, and by doing some decent measure of DPS. DPS players that do this are like liquid gold.

The fixation players have on damage meters is probably one of the single largest causes for the ineptitude encountered in random groups. DPS players want to prove their worth in the group. As established previously, it’s not hard to prove the tank’s worth, or the healer’s worth. DPS have to work at it. Enter, the DPS meter. Now we have PROOF of how important we are to the group! We have numbers to back it up!

Yes. And sadly, Recount provides me with some equally interesting numbers. For example, I can see that I’m still at the top of the chart in interrupts, because I’m the only one doing it. I can see that the healer is spending entirely too much mana healing your stupid ass. And if you keep playing like an idiot, I’m going to start seeing you climb the charts in total number of deaths as well.
 
I tank with the understanding that many DPS characters can pull agro off of me whenever they really want to. This is less of a concern at this point in an expansion, where the gear differential is not significant. As that gear difference becomes more pronounced and as DPS players in Tier 18 epics start showing up in your random daily heroic run…you may notice some threat issues. Do not be discouraged by your lack of ability to maintain threat in this situation, for Blizzard has granted you a tool for dealing with such inanity: the repair bill. It really is OK to let the DPS die, as long as you save the healer from a similar fate.
 
On the Successful Group
The successful healer understands that communicating with your tank is important. You need to be willing to speak up if you need a minute to drink. Again, without heals, the tank is not going very far. Complements should always be extended to a good healer, and patience should always be extended to a new healer, for this one thing is true: healing sucks. Just as being a good tank is a thankless job, being a good healer is even more thankless.


The successful DPS player understands that they can be replaced instantly, or that the tank’s queue time is pretty much immediate. While DPS wait in a queue for over 40 minutes, a tank waits less than a minute most of the time. So if you’re unwilling to play by the tank’s carefully laid plan, don’t be shocked when you’re booted from the group. It’s no problem for me to replace a DPS who is breaking CC, or AOEing all over my sheeped and repented mobs.

The successful tank understands that the game is social in nature. Goading your DPS by linking your top-of-the-meters-in-overall-damage-done performance is not only insulting to the DPS players, it shows your own ignorance of the game’s mechanics: congratulations, you’re the top of the meters in a useless stat. It’s like being top of the meters in mana regeneration. You’ve also alienated the rest of the party, and while you may not care (yay, anonymity), you’re also not going to improve anyone’s performance by doing that kind of thing.

The successful group will accept that there may be some deaths, and that you may actually have a repair bill after a heroic run (contrary to most of Wrath). Every expansion since Vanilla has increased the amount of gold available in the game, and Cataclysm is no exception. Commenting on your repair bill after a wipe shows only one thing: you are a lazy tag-along who wants to get carried to your gear.

The successful group will understand that being respectful of one another is preferable to a more egomaniacal approach, and that teamwork is required in order to avoid a wipe-fest. The successful group will understand that the tank’s goals are the same as everyone else’s goals: to finish the instance.

Can I CC that?

Wrath did alot of damage to players. They now know how to AoE like no other but when it comes to know what a classes skill set it has set us back as a whole.

What do you say to a mage that tells you he can't CC a beast...
When a tank BoP's you becuase you were kiting a mob and he says it was to many taunts on him so learn to play your class....

What is CC?
Crowd Control (abbreviated CC) refers to spells and abilities which limit an opponent's ability to fight. CC abilities are used to reduce the number of mobs that the group fight at once. Due to the fact that most groups cannot tank more than a certain number of elite mobs at a time, crowd control is often essential to prevent a group from being overwhelmed. For a guide on how to effectively use CC in instances, see the Instance grouping guide for a crowd controller. (source)



Druids -

•      Hibernate- works on Beasts and Dragonkin.
•      Cyclone - 6 seconds only but unable to attack or be healed while banished.
•      Roots- Snare effect works great on melee mobs.

DK - (No major source of stable CC) excellent kiters.

•       Chains of Ice - 95% reduction speed.
•       Death Grip - pulls mob to DK.

Hunters-

•      Traps- used with launcher or placed at feet and distracting shot.

•      Wyvern Sting (surv hunter only)- sleep target for 12 seconds.
•      Kite- Probably still best class in game to kite a target. Use of traps, wing clip and aspect makes hunters excellent for all your kiting needs. Hunters can also slow by use of Concusive shot as well.

Paladin -

•      Turn evil - fear on Undead only.
•      Repentance - sap like for Undead, Dragonkin, Humanoid, Demon and Giant.
•      Hammer of Justice - short term long CD 6 second stun.

Shaman -

•      Hex - solid sheep like frog. Lasts 30 seconds and works on humans and beasts.

Rogue-

•      Sap- used before combat, Human, Dragonkin, Beast and Demon.
•      Blind - disorients target for 10 seconds.
•      Various other slows and intrupts.

Mage -

•      Polymorph - Humans and Beasts only. Turns target into sheep (turtle, cat or w/e) for 50seconds.  Breaks with damage.
•      Frost Nova - snare that locks mobs in place for 8 seconds.

    
Priest -

•     Mind Control - Humans only.
•     Shackle Undead - only works on undead and breaks on damage.
•     Pysic Scream and Horror - Fear and if talented will make the target tremble in fear and drop weapon.

Warrior - (no major source of stable CC)   

•      Intimidating Shout - 8 Second fear on up to 5 targets
•      Hamstring and Piercing Howl - stun and slow targets.

Warlock -

•      Seduction - Only with succubus out and last 15 seconds on humans
•      Banish - Demon or Elemental will be immune to attacking for 30 seconds.
•      Fear Kite - by placing curses on a mob will cause the mob to ping pong back and forth.
•      Enslave Demon - Controls Demon for up to 5 minutes.

So far in Cataclysm we have a ton of Elementals and Dragonkin -

• Paladins Holy Wrath (glyphed) will stun them.
• Dragonkin - Root, Trap, Sap, Fear, Stun, Repent and Hibernate
• Elementals - Banish, Root, Trap and Fear. (source and source)

Archaeology in Cata

What is this and what does it do for me?

Its a secondary profession, a time sink and a way to get some cool rewards. The other aspect it brings into the game Lore *GASP* why did they do this? To add another thing for people to do with their toons. To see the rewards check out this link.

How do you do this?

See your trainer in for your faction in any major city. For Stormwind it is Harrison Jones and for Orgimmar it is Belloc Brightblade. Now if you intend to go forward with this WoW give you a bit of info if you click on your profession tab. Pull up your map and it will add little shovel icons to show you were to go. Next put your dig icon on your hot bar to make putting out your scope faster.

Head off to your dig site, you view this by the little icon of a shovel on your map. As you enter the zone you will see on your map an area oranged out for you approximate location. Now when you get there know a few things; you can dig 3 times in this area, no one else has this dig location and it can be anywhere in the world (according your skill and toons level).

Are you ready to dig? Click on the shovel icon it looks like this and was the one I suggest to be put on the hot bar.

Now the only thing left to do is read where you need to be. After the scope is placed you will get a direction and a color light. The bigger end of the scope is which way you need to go and the color will tell you approx. how far you need to go. Red indicates you are the furthest, yellow is closer and green means you are within yards. If you are in the area you need to be a clickable treasure will appear.

You will need up to 27 to finish the artifact you are working on. Once you get enough of the items, click on solve and you will get the item you were looking for as well as some lore to read about the artifact.

As of launch in cataclysm, this is not a extra raid buff for you or PVP buff type job. Right now its just a ton of fun. According to the video below there may be something later on in game but as of now it might lead to an epic or boa weapon. For leveling purposes I got XP, at level 81 I was receiving almost 9k per dig.

Please enjoy the video below for further details.