Comfort in Raiding

So last night, being the start of our raiding week, we did ICC 25 as usual. Now as a guild it wasn't an amazing night. No wipes except on lady death whisperer (dumb people getting cleaved and not nearly enough interrupts on the boss) and all bosses except her done on heroic (Morrow, Lady D, Loot Ship, Saurfang, Fester, Rot, Princes, Blood Queen, Dreamwalker if you are curious). It just wasn't as smooth as our raids typically go. Bosses that normally go down easy we had near wipes on, people were making dumb mistakes and everything took longer than normal.

That being said, I actually had a pretty damn good raid (except on Princes, I seriously hate that fight). I didn't make any dumb mistakes, was anticipating boss abilities, using CDs at just the right time and my dps showed clear improvement (using CDs effectivly is super important as a fury warrior, i will be doing a post on them in the near future).

What changed? It seems like just 2 weeks ago, with very similar gear, I was struggling to be in the top 13 in dps. Last night I was sitting comfortably in top ten, usually between 6 and 8, boss after boss.

My theory is raiding comfort. Knowing how a boss works is all well and good; understanding their abilities is key in beating them and maximizing performance. That still only gets you half way there though. Until you not only know what the boss can do but can anticipate them without looking at DBM you just can't eek out every bit of dps. This was the first week I really felt like I had these heroic modes not just understood but down pat.

The thing that surprised me about this is that, while I knew getting more comfortable with boss mechanics makes raiding easier, I didn't expect to see such a dramatic impact in my personal dps. This may seem silly, but in a game governed by the GCD it made sense to me that while easier, your reaction time just can't get a lot faster than clicking the correct button right when it becomes available (proper rotations are pretty easy to learn after all).

This would hold if boss fights were static tank and spanks. They are not, which I consider very fortunate. This variability in positioning, random casting, adds, and debuffing makes comfort with the fight matter a great deal.

This comfort factor is the reason, I believe, that most guilds think new members and pugs often suck. The long time guild members instinctively know what to do, having downed the boss many times before. The new member has hopefully done it more than once, and even then it could have been using a different strategy. So, by no fault of their own, an otherwise great player is caught a bit flat footed, a bit out of sorts, and their dps (or healing, or agro as the case may be) suffers fairly dramatically.

While perhaps unfair, I think the speed at which a raider transitions from understanding a fight cerebraly to actually being comfortable with the fight is what separates good players from bad. My earlier post has several tips about trying to get a jump on this process, but I think even with the best of intentions it takes some time and boss attempts to really develop the level of familiarity that leads to mastery of a given fight.

This is nothing revolutionary. It's actually very familiar to anyone who has been in a guild pounding away on an encounter, steadily getting the boss closer and closer to death until, all at once it seems, everything clicks. I can honestly say that I have seen more first kills where everything went right and everyone was alive at the end than where there were 3 people left standing and even the healers were spam nuking the boss (these are more dramatic though, and inspire great nerd cheers in vent).

I was just surprised how clear the sensation was for me this week. Maybe it's because I'm playing catch up in my guild (who has been doing ICC for much longer than me due to my break from the game), but this time I really felt the transition from knowing what I should be doing to just doing it. I think that it's moments like these, moments of personal growth and advancement, that keep the game fresh even after killing the same boss for the hundredth time. Sure sure, loot too, but if that was the only thing then why aren't we all playing the Sims? We play a game where clearly loot isn't everything, and I think that feeling of getting better, more comfortable, is a big part of it.

Thoughts?

Oh and tomorrow a really warrior specific post, i promise. This was just on my mind.

Hi and Welcome

Hello and welcome to all the new visitors from Pugnacious Priest (pugnaciouspriest.com).

I hope you enjoy my little corner of the WoW blogosphere. Feel free to poke around, comment, and if you enjoy what you read visit as often as you like. If not feel free to post that too, everything can be improved upon and I look forward to your feedback.

Thanks again for the amazing banner Zahraah. It looks wonderful, as those of you here can plainly see.

Gearing Complexity - the story continues

Well it happened. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but I was kind of hoping for later considering I just got the sword (see this post). Heroic Cryptmaker finally droped last night and i got it.

Now first off let me say this is awesome. It's a really nice dps upgrade for me, looks sweet (in my opinion, clearly) and is a great fit stat-wise for my gear. That being said, it means Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand will never be used in my ideal dps set (I wont be vendering it, it did come from the Litch King himself after all).

Now I am going to show what happened once I got cryptmaker, to illustrate again how stat balancing and management has gotten a bit out of hand at this point.

As with most warriors, my gear involves a balance of stats, so when I got Cryptmaker some switches had to be made. First off Cryptmaker put me too high on hit, so I swapped out Ahn'kahar Onyx Neckguard (Heroic) with Penumbra Pendant (not heroic). That's swapping a ilvl 277 neck for a 271, but because I am over the hit cap the armor pen on Penumbra just makes it better, since the +hit on Ahn'kahar isn't worth as much as it would be if I were below the cap.

The weapon also makes me a bit low on Expertise (due to not using Orc racial bonus) but still not enough to make Glorenzelg worth it, so I will be swapping Signet of Twilight with Skeleton Lord's Circle (Heroic). This was not a change I thought would be worth it, but spreadsheeting it shows that it clearly is (around 20 dps difference).

The additional Armor Pen from Cryptmaker pushed me over the hill so to speak, where armor pen is now worth significantly more than Str (used to be the other way around at lower gear levels, and until this upgrade they were basically equal) so now I have to regem my 5 or so remaining 20 strength gems to 20 arp. Each gem swap should be around a 4 dps increase fully raid buffed. While not huge this isn't negligable either.

These swapped out pieces won't be vendered. Not because they hold any sentimental value or anything, but because when I replace another piece of gear (come on new bracers) they may be needed again. My bank is full of this stuff.

I suppose I could have gotten away with guessing. I would have been mostly right, though I would be using Cryptmaker and Glorenzelg, which is over 100 dps lower than using Cryptmaker and Shadow's Edge, so not really. My rings wouldn't be ideal, but i would have a lot more gold from not changing around all my gems, chanting all my off gear, and perhaps be a bit more relaxed.

What do you think? Is this the price we pay for doing good damage, a personal choice where I could just care less and not do all this work, or mandatory with the way the game is currently structured and ripe for a change?

Gearing Complexity - the annoying tale of a sword i don't need

I am really looking forward to Cata, if for nothing else than the stat simplification that is going to take place. This isn't some errant thought, this is driven by something that happened in last night's raid.

All we had left in ICC 25 was PP, Sindi and LK, and because some of our core healers failed to show up we decided to just do them regular (fucking priests, stop being annoying and come to raids k thanks). No problems clearing sindi and PP, and I even got a token to upgrade my last set piece to Sanctified off sindi, a clear upgrade.

Then comes LK, a true pain in the ass, but one we have killed on normal many times before. After two wipes, one due to someone being dumb with defile and the other due to 2 shamblings be up with no plague to be found, we downed him with no issues. And what should drop, but 3 things I potentially need.

First one was the tanking mace, a clear upgrade for my tanking set, which went to me because all our tanks didn't need. Woo hoo, very cool, and considering I was asked to tank for Hellion trash potentially raid helpful (really enjoyed that by the way, raid tanking is a lot of fun).

Next another token I can use, but since I got one off sindi I greeded for it, but wtf, I get it also. It seems that me spending my precious epgp (dkp basically) on the token off sindi wasn't overly smart, but how could I have known (for those keeping score, I now have an extra token waiting for a piece of tanking gear to upgrade).

Then comes the trouble maker - Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand. Well I don't really want to take this, as I am wielding Heroic Bryntroll in my main hand and Shadow's Edge in my off hand, with pretty well balanced stats (basically meaning I am at the Expertise cap and the hit cap without being too far over). My class lead though assures me it will be an upgrade over bryn, and I decide what the hell, I will minor upgrade it (half epgp cost, but lower priority than main specing an item). I get this too (yes, 3 pieces of loot off one LK kill, and one from sindi, lucky dog, i know).

The issue: When I put the new sword into Landsoul's spreadsheet (find the link from EJ, but if you are a raiding warrior you should know what I'm talking about) it lowers my dps by about 40 (theoretical dps with full raid buffs). Now this isn't a ton, but it isn't negligible either. I mess around with gems, a neck and ring I have that i don't wear but are very good, but it just wont budge in the right direction.

The problem, as it often is, is Expertise. The sword puts me well over the cap, and expertise is an odd stat where it is vital if you don't have enough and pretty much meaningless if you do.

Why I didn't see this coming: Well I should have, but the real reason I missed it is because as an Orc I get an expertise bonus to axe's, which is what I am using. Being properly geared I knew that if i was switching to another weapon type I would need more expertise, and the sword looked basically perfect. I just didn't realize how much over the top Glorenzelg would put me, and I only had a minute to make the call on the drop.

So basically my class lead and my gut instincts were right and wrong. The sword could be an upgrade, but only after I replace my boots (heroic Bone Drake's Enameled Boots, so they don't suck) which have a whooping 60 expertise on them.

Until then this very cool, interestingly itemized sword goes in the bank, waiting on another shift in my gear before it becomes useful.

Oh and if heroic cryptmaker finally drops before I get new boots the sword is completely worthless to me.

Gearing in this game has gotten way to complicated. Cata can't come soon enough!

Soloing ZG bosses as fury

Quick, relativly short post today, but wanted to share with you my method of soloing ZG mount bosses (no luck yet, but just started farming).

It's honestly pretty simple, but figured what the hell, an actual warrior tip was worth posting.

Basically the safest and easiest method I have found is more a gear change than a strategy per se. What you do is wear your tanking gear, shield and all, but as fury spec and with your best 2 hander in your main hand (I use heroic Bryntroll, the extra healing helps but is not required).

I was able to stay in zerker stance through the whole fight, making sure to use BT on cooldown for the healing. This method took a lot longer than going in full fury gear, but my mitigation was such that I basically bounced between 85% and 100% health through the fights. If your gear is a bit worse you could use Glyph of Bloodthirst, but I didn't find it needed.

Oh and one more note, you don't have to kill the trash in the tiger boss' room, which is a good thing because when you get 3 of those spinning dudes chain stunning you death can occur, trust me.

And on the raptor boss I held off killing the raptor until after the boss went down but I am not sure this is needed, I just did it to be safe since it was basically doing no damage to me.

New Banner coming soon

By new, of course, I mean any banner at all. You know, more than some text I tossed up. It should even have pictures and stuff.

Zahraah, author of Pugnacious Priest http://pugnaciouspriest.com/, has agreed to help out your artistically challenged author with a new banner, which is incredibly generous of her.

Make sure you read her blog, its insightful and hilarious. Priests may not be as cool as warriors (who is really?), but she has been tanking lately (on a warrior no less), and it's always good to listen to the opinion of a clothy now and again.

Thanks again Zahraah, and keep up the charging.

Mains and Alts

When I look at my friends in WoW and separate those who i consider to be very successful from those who aren't(please note my definition of success is gear, achieves, progression and prestige. This is fairly subjective and other people have different definitions of gaming success, so don't get all uppity on this point, I know my definition isn't for everyone) one factor seems to have more of an impact than the rest: they stick to their main.

There are outliers of course, some incredible DKs immediately spring to mind, but by in large I have found the most successful people in WoW found something they enjoy and have stuck with it through thick and thin, year after year.

Is this because they have a heightened appreciation of that classes particular mechanics due to years of experience, or did they just find something well suited to their particular play style? I don't know, but I do know that sticking it out with one toon seems to predict long term success more than current gear or guild.

If i had to guess, and I clearly will because this is my blog after all, I would say it is due to running out of shit to do. Yeah, that's it, that's my big theory. I will explain a bit more, but I think the concept is pretty simple. People who lots of toons can always find an easy, relatively stress free way to make one of their multitude of toons better (how hard is leveling or heroic farming after all? not very

Securing a raid spot

As promised, here are some tips on securing a raid invite if you find yourself in a similar position to me, trying to carve out a spot for yourself in an established raiding guild. Most of these are from personal experience but a couple are from previous guilds and watching others struggle with similar issues in the past(some more successfully than others).

1. Be patient - don't bitch about not getting in the raid, keep showing up on time and keep a positive outlook. Eventually there will be a night where another melee dps is needed and your name is called by the raid leader. If you are a dick about not getting into raids this wont happen and you will never get in, and probably find yourself poorly thought of. This leads right in to my next point:

2. Be ready when your time comes - You can't out dps shitty gear, you just cant. But you can watch the tankspot videos on the fights you will be doing several times, read the strats and the boss abilities until you know them all by heart, and come ready with flasks, food, and a positive outlook. Raid leaders look for this as much if not more than your dps on your first few raids.

3. Ask thoughtful questions in tells - Find your class leader and ask a question that lets them know you have been doing your homework. Do not ask "what does this plague on me do?" or somethign similar, you should have read about that before coming. Ask something that shows you have been thinking about the fight and your roll in it, and have a strategy question on how best to deal with a particular aspect or mechanic (I am often asking about using cleave and when it is an is not apropriate on fights with adds). This does two things. First off it hopefully makes you better at the fight, and secondly it shows your class lead that you care enough to try to do your job right and have been doing your homework prior to the raid.

Bring the player not the class has another side

Blizzard's whole bring the player not the class mantra has another side to it that is rarely discussed: don't bring the player because we don't need the class.

One melee dps in a sea of melee dps, this is where fury warriors often find themselves. With no misdirect, no kiting ability per se, no bloodlust nor bubbles we have only one option when it comes to securing a raid spot: be better than the other people who want in.

This is pretty simple, but the issue quickly becomes apparent. We are not fighting with one or two other warriors for that 3rd dps war spot. We are fighting, at a disadvantage i might add, with every mage, shadow priest, hunter and lock that wants in. And seeing as they don't have to stand next to a boss to dps them, don't have to intercept an ooze to start hurting it, and don't have to worry nearly as much about blood prince's stacking debuff from moving (i hate that crap), they aren't fighting fare.

Warrior LFB (looking for blog)

I didn't want to write a warrior blog, not really. What I really wanted to do was read a warrior blog. I found a decent one, www.tankingtips.com, but I'm not a tank (not main spec anyway), so this was of limited help. What I was really looking for was a dps warrior's perspective on the state of the class, where blizzard was taking us and what other warriors thought about raiding and the class in general.

Of these types I could find next to none. While complaining to an office mate of mine about this distinct lack of warrior blogs (talking about WoW as a computer programmer isn't really rare) he said 'you like to write, start one or shut up.' Well that got me thinking, why the hell not, and i started what you are reading right now.

I had to come up with a name first, Raging Warrior, clever don't you think? Yeah, my coworker didn't think so either, but i like it. Then came an About Me section (click the link above) which i still think basically sucks so I will be rewriting it soon. Then finally the hard part, posting. Well I figured why not start, as most things do, with an introduction, so here you are.

First off, what you can expect out of this blog? Let me just say I am not a hard core theory-crafter. I dabble a bit, use spread sheets to optimize gemming and plan upgrades, read EJ and watch boss strats before raids, troll other blogs of various classes looking for more in depth discussion and strategy. I don't consider these things that make me a theory-crafter though, i consider them the bare minimum to be a raider. If you think this goes above and beyond then let me just say you need to try harder and you are the reason your raid cant kill Heroic Prof P. even with the 30% buff. Get to work.

That out of the way, what I hope to write about is more thoughts and opinions regarding warriors in general, rage as mechanic, and what it feels like to be a dps warrior in WoW. OMG EMO - i mean, no, not feelings like that. I mean feelings as in, you could have picked any class and done basically similar dps, bring the player not the class and all that, why did we pick warrior? Why do we keep picking warrior (besides the obvious - our gear looks bad ass and charge is mad fun)? And what frustrations go along with that decision? When does being a warrior suck and how can we make it suck less?

I will also post about the game in general of course, about raiding, instancing, pvp and the sucktastic (and very rarely awesome) people you meet in pugs.

I hope this becomes a two way street and we get some good discussion about warriors and WoW, and why we just can't seem to quit either of them, happening here. If not and I write a bunch of posts no one reads but me, at least the next blogger to come around wont be able to complain that they went looking for a blog with banter regarding the life and times of a warrior and came up empty handed.