Thursday, August 26, 2010

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.

1 comment:

  1. I definately agree. Makes perfect sense - it's even applicable in real life. When you're new to a job, or playing pick up basketball with new guys, or maybe flirting with some girl, you're always stuck with that little bit of uncomfortable "i'm new to this" feeling in the beginning. How fast you shake the defines the greatest you can attain. I love it :)

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