Player Competency

So I was sitting in Dalaran last night, after the guild's second ToCr-10 for the week, chattin away with some guildies over vent, and spamming my recruitment macro over trade--when a trade chat discussion erupted:

"[Sated] is looking for seasoned raiders for ToCr and the upcoming ICC. Core positions available to tank-healers and competent dps (4k+)."

Trade1: "That's a word I don't hear nearly enough in trade. Competent."
Trade2: "Yeah, it's always the fail, LF non-fail blah blah blah."


I thought about that for a sec.

The two terms may be semantically similar (in-game), but they're actually completely different. As a GM, I'm not looking for "non-fail." I want competent. I want the "I-can-trust-you-to-know-what-you're-doing-and-get-the-job-done-so-I-don't-have-to-pick-up-the-slack-or-compensate-in-other-areas-of-the-raid-for-your-lack-of-(insert area here)" person.

I want people that come face to face with the wall...and barrel through that fucker without looking back.

Runners typically characterize "the wall" as a point in a run where they are inclined to shut down; to give up. Pothead's generally characterize it as one of Pink Floyd's more memorable albums. I tend to look at the wall as being the 3k dps barrier. Some players never seem to see the wall, let alone acknowledge that it was ever there. Others, no matter how much gear they obtain seem incapable of scaling it. This is an issue. And, I'm only mentioning dps here, but "the wall" also applies to healer through-put and tank efficiency. It's about wanting to be the best, standing out in the crowd--its about shining.

The Test
I was in 3 Ony-25 pugs this week. All failed. 20 wipes of geared players, hardly even making it to phase 3.

One of these attempts consisted of 5400 gearscored tanks and the respective healers from fairly known progressive guilds: these were known players. These were known players that failed at breaths and couldn't hit the consecrate button quick enough to grab welp-aggro...

Now let me tell you about our guild run.

I decided to take whatever members of Sated I had on. I didn't gearcheck. I also took members of our sort of sister guild, Deathgrip, some of whom I knew were undergeared. I had players in greens and blues with me in Ony 25.

One-shot.

Oh, and about 20% of the raid were first-timers.

Competency, as defined by me: being able to carry out a specific team strategy while performing your duties as a player. This may include, but is not limited to, being able to quickly adapt to a changing situation, communicate effectively with other raiders and team lead, and setting personal issues aside to the benefit of the team.

Sated wins.

My Apologies...

I've been neglectful with my non-existent posts the last week or so...so to the 5 of you active readers out there, I'm sorry =P

Truth is, there's been a lot I've been wanting to do, but finding other junk getting in the way.

I think I've just been tired. I've been fighting Alienware over this POS M17 they sent me--has an audio/video stuttering issue. After 4-weeks of being in their hands to fix, I get the machine back with a note saying they did absolutely nothing to it. WTG ALIENWARE!!! By far the douchiest company I've ever dealt with. I'm constantly taking video of my jagged framerates and audio of my guildies voices over vent; just in case it comes down to small claims. Right now I'm still trying to get them to replace the rig or refund my money-- to exhaust all possible options, I've even had to file claims with my credit card company just in case.

Been trying to recruit more for 25's--and been trying to pug out ToC25...have had little success. Too many AFK's, slow going attempts. I think I need to step it up and be more of a dick--kick low dps and those not quite getting it. Something to think about.

On another note, we still need some shammies, a warlock or two, and some mages for sure. So if you're looking for a home and a place to raid at 10pm CST-- lemme know.

More posts to come soon.


Oh-- and if there's one piece of advice I leave you with. Don't ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever buy anything from Dell or Alienware. These guys are a piece of work. Their tech's lie about your rig--everytime I called to check the repair status, I got a different story--and their customer service is about the worst that I've ever experienced, hands down. They're too afraid to call, so they only send emails, and never respond to voicemails--even if they are the "person" assigned to handle your case. I've had 4 different "persons" already.

The Death Knight: Back to Basics

I've been wanting to write one of these for a while, now. A night or so ago, a fellow DK in a friends guild asked for a bit of help improving his dps--after a few other random whispers from others on the realm, it finally pushed me to delve into this thing, head first.

So let's begin at the beginning.

Runic System: The Basics
Unlike other classes that use mana, or generate rage, DK's have Runes. 6 to be exact:
2-Frost, 2-Unholy, and 2-Blood. Each of these runes has its own specific cool down, and each of our abilities (strikes) needs one rune, or a combination of runes to work. Upon using these abilities, we are filled with Runic Power (which is used to power other abilities).

Because our runes have an ICD (internal cooldown), the consensus is that in order to maximize our potential for damage, we need utilize our runes in a way that makes use of all of them in a determined amount of time.


Diseases
Another staple mechanic of DK damage is disease. Diseases, when applied act as a DoT (damage over time) effect on the target. When applied to one target, the damage done by diseases is nice. However, when facing multiple targets, the spreading of these DoT's will help maximize dps (and threat if you're a tank).

The two main diseases are Blood Plague and Frost Fever. Blood Plague is applied using Plague Strike, and Frost Fever is applied using Icy Touch.


Talent Tree Independant Abilities
All Deathknights have abilities that are independant of the talent tree they choose to spec themselves into. These abilites are single rune abilities (with the exception of Death and Decay), and I generally categorize them into two groups: Single Target Abilities, and AoE(Area of Effect, or multiple mob) Abilites.

Single Target Abilities: Icy Touch*, Plague Strike*, Blood Strike

Multiple Mob Abilities: Pestilence, Blood Boil, Death and decay

***Icy Touch and Plague Strike, while single abilities, may be spread to
multiple targets using Pestilence***

Talent Tree Dependant Abilities
So you've got down the basic Death Knight abilities up top, now let's talk about what makes each tree unique. The talent trees are broken down and categorized just like the runes we have: Blood, Frost, and Unholy. The talents in each tree are designed so that they boost stats, or damage, or develop synergy between certain abilities. However, each Tree also utilizes a specific Strike, native to that particular tree.

Blood has Death Strike
Frost has Obliterate
Unholy has Scourge Strike

If you notice, all of these abilites have one thing in common: they all require a frost and unholy rune to use...


Rotation Rotation Rotation
A rotation is basically a list of abilities that can be used sequentially to produce the maximum amount of damage (or from a tanks perspective, produce the max amount of threat)
Rotations are created while keeping a number of factors in mind: applying diseases, using our hardest hitting abilities, and making use of all of our runes in such a way that when the rotation is finished, our runes are available again to use. A rotation may also potentially fill us with enough runic power to open up some of our other abilities to use.


Runic Powered Abilities
Some of our abilities don't require the use of our runes. These abilities are instead, fueled by runic power (RP). Some are designed to deal damage, and others to mitigate it. RP damage dealing abilities are generally used at the completion of a rotation, when it is at its max level, however they can be used at any time you have enough RP to fire off an RP ability. The basic DK damage dealing RP ability is Death Coil, however there are others that are talent tree dependant, such as Frost Strike, Gargoyle, and Dancing Rune Weapon.


Putting it All Together
Putting it all together can be daunting, so I'll simplify it the best I can.

1. Spec
2. Rotation
3. Stat Weighting
4. Practice

The first thing you need to do is decide which tree you like playing, and create a spec that fits your needs. You'll find cookie cutter dps specs here on my blog, and in the DK threads over at the EJ forums. I always recommend looking at these first, due to the extent at which they have been tested. The links you'll find should come complete with optimal glyph choices as well. I like to compare sticking to a widely accepted Spec and glyph combo with building a solid foundation to a house: its not just the ingredients that make a foundation strong. It's the synergy between the ingredients...

Along with the spec/glyph combo, you'll find a rotation of abilities that has been optimized either for single target dps, or multiple mob (AoE) dps. Again, these abilities have been proven to do the maximum amount of damage, and should be learned inside and out. Completing a rotation is very easy on stagnant fights, but you'll need to know your abilities inside and out on movement fights, and fights when you'll need to pop damage mitigating cool downs to survive. Spend some time on a practice dummy practicing your rotation--run around, get a feel for it. Run out by Ebon Watch and practice on one of those gigantic skeletons...knowing a rotation like the back of your hand, and how your abilities work together, will allow you to get back on track if something gets borked for some reason.

Now that you've got your spec and rotation mapped out. Let's take a look at your stats. More importantly, are you hit capped? Expertise capped? Hit cap ensures that you can hit your target, and expertise ensures that your opponent doesn't dodge or parry them.

Hit Cap is currently 8% (on mouse hover) or 262.3 Rating
Expertise Cap is 26

If you've already obtained these stats, then you really want to fill your gem slots with Strength gems...

You'll notice other stats on your gear though: critical strike rating, haste, armor penetration, etc. To learn more about those, and how they affect your spec click HERE. =) You'll find that each tree benefits from stats differently, so I highly recommend you give it a glance. Oh, and if you're looking for a list of gems and gear enchants: HERE.

***Note: the previous page hasn't been updated to reflect epic gems***

Wheeeeeew!!!

Now that you've got the basics down, time to put them to practice. Run some heroics, some 10 mans, some 25 mans, and then evaluate yourself. What are you doing well? What can you do better? Is the stat weighting on your gear optimized for the spec your playing? Or has it shifted to benefit another? When you think you're ready to explore the finer details and nuances of the Death Knight, head on over to elitistjerks and delve into the class forums there. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Gearscore in Practice or When Shyste Hijacks YOUR Raid

Last Thursday night I successfully (meaning Sated) ran a 25 Ony. This is nothing to scoff at. I was in 4 or 5 fail-ass pugs in previous weeks before I eventually was able to clear it. I set out with a concise plan: 3 Tanks, 5 Heals (all Sated) and then I'd pug DPS. Stinky spammed the trade, Hazl gear checked those wanting to attend, and 20 minutes later we had a full group.

First Attempt we wiped at .8%--RNG made for a couple of bad fears...all in all a good attempt.

Second attempt: Success.

Fast Forward to Saturday. Was picked up in LFG for a ToCr-25. The Guys were gear checking pretty consistently, making sure everyone was geared enough. My gearscore addon showed everyone at 4400 rating or higher, so the group looked promising.

6 Wipes on Icehowl.

Sunday I received an invite from the same leader, this time for a 25 Uld. Players are being checked again...maybe 1 or 2 slip in just under the requisite. We're clearing trash on Leviathan, about to start, and I notice all the towers are lit. The following short debate ensued:
Me: "Uh, guys....we have 4 towers up, and we haven't coordinated whose gettin launched"
P1: "No shutdown. We'll just stack pyrite"
Me: "Have you ever done 4 towers without a shut down?"
P2: "Better loots! Let's do it."
Me: "If you've done 4 towers before, link the achieve...this can't be done without a shutdown. Take down Storms and Life...we'll make this doable."
P2: "Awwwww...come on. We can do 4 towers."
Me:"Have you done them before? You know what they do?
****Silence****
Me: "Increased HP to Leviathan, and 200% more dmg. Let's get to clearing these 2 towers."

This is where I hijacked the raid.

Quite a few of these players passed the gearcheck, and had never done these fights before. The didn't know their abilities in the vehicles, they didn't know trash abilities in XT or in the Antechamber, and most couldn't evacuate the area when getting hit with light bomb or gravity bomb...and they certainly failed at Kolo's eyebeams. I led them up through Kologarn...but most weren't talented enough to get the fight down. So we left.

I then took a 10 man in(guild alts in blues), and we 2 healed up to Auriaya. These are raiders...

In T-7, it was easy to spot our kind: we were the only ones in Valorous gear. My tier gear screamed "Raider," and it was a good feeling. Now though, tier gear is bought with emblems. They can be accumulated by running a daily heroic. With enough patience, everyone can get ilvl 232 gear...and ilvl 245 rings, trinks, offhands...this ultimately fucks gearscore.

I'm not in complete disagreement with the current, acquiring-of-the-tier-gear-system. On the contrary, I actually like the fact that I can gear myself, and make myself more viable as a raider. I like not having to hope for a certain token drop...

But on the other hand, As a raid leader, I like to be able to check a player at-a-glance. I guess there are other options out there: asking for achievement link, looking for non-emblem pieces, wep, trinks, etc. This is just more time consuming. And seems a little elitist. It was much easier when all I had to do was look at a players shoulders to know whether or not they could hold their own. At least this was a more passive approach. Maybe 5 mans just need to get harder. The new generation of players are skipping over content that will make them better, teach them mechanics, coordination, and improvization; qualities I've seen less and less of as the game has progressed.

I guess the moral of this convoluted story is: don't ever expect your pugs to know what they're doing, regardless of gearscore. Always take the time to explain things out--and omit the details that will confuse them (lol). And, if I end up in one of your pugs, and no one appears to be "leading," don't be surprised to see me step into the drivers seat.

LFR: Looking for Raiders

I dislike running 10 mans.

Let me rephrase.

I dislike the fact that certain items are only available to 25 man groups: trinkets, weapons, etc.
I think this is a dumb philosophy. Mostly because for smaller guilds, and guilds building a foundation of raiders (like Sated), sometimes 25 just isn't feasible. Does that make 10 man raiding any less end-game? I mean, if yoggy dies in 10 and again in 25, is there any other difference besides HP pool?

Currently I'm a little peeved at the fact that I'm forced to pug 25's in order to properly upgrade.

I'm talking ToCr here.

Don't get me wrong, clearing 10 each week has helped boost my stats, but when it comes down to true weapon and trinket upgrading, there just is nothing in 10 itemized for melee. The expertise trink is bleh, and the sword is right proper for a hunter...so where's all the melee love???

It's in friggin 25. Or Heroic ToCr(hard mode, better known as ToGCr 10).

I'm venting.

I need more raiders. I need more competent 2500+ geared raiders. To fill our 9.30 -12pm CST time slot. That's the one thing that kinda sucks about a low pop. server: player pool.

So, if you're looking for a great group of people, hop on over to Sated on Blood Furnace.

Another Post on Knowing Your Class...

I was on MMO-Champ early this morning, and I saw a forum thread regarding the validity of the EJ Forums, and its information (pertaining to Unholy DK's).

The player that posted the thread was having difficulty increasing his dps after switching to a recommended build and rotation from the EJ community. As it turns out, the build he had been using was pre 3.2--but this really got me thinking about all those players out there that don't understand stat weighting and gear itemization...

For all specs, there are stats that are considered to be "bread and butter." These are things like Hit (until 8% for 2H), Expertise, and Strength. No matter what your spec is, these stats are mandatory for you to be doing any sort of competitive dps. These are what you gem for. So what about all the other junk you see on gear: ArP, Crit, Haste, AP???

We see these "secondary" stats creep up on the gear we use everyday--the trick to utilizing it, is knowing what it does, and figuring out which of it is important to the spec we play. So let's explore.

ArP (Armor Penetration Rating)
This stat allows you to ignore a percentage of your opponents armor. For a DK, its pretty useful in all specs, but really shines in Blood, where most of the attacks are physical (as opposed to frost, which is frost, or unholy, which is shadow). In the current tier of gear, ArP is all over the place, so coming into an abundance of it is easily done, if you're looking for it.

Crit (Critical Strike Rating)
This is a money stat for Unholy 4-piece T9 right now, and has always been a decent stat for frost. It's rated very heavily for unholy because disease ticks have a chance to crit--after its nerf in 3.3, the weight for this stat will drop in value drastically.

Haste
For a DK, haste has limited playing field. It affects white hits in all specs, but plays a viable role for Unholy. Haste affects our ghouls, our gargoyles, and Necrosis; which is why next to crit, its an important stat for unholy DK's to have at the moment.

AP (Attack Power)
This is one of those stats you really don't want to see much of--because, if you are seeing this on gear, it means that you're not gearing strength. AP is usually seen on gear without strength on it, usually itemized with agility. For a DK, 1 strength= 2 AP.

Put into Practice:
Let's compare 2 different items: Dextrous Brightstone Ring (ilvl 245) vs. Strength of the Automaton (ilvl 226). In terms of item level, the Dextrous band wins hands down. But when we look at the stats, we see that overall, the Automaton has 72 str = 144 AP vs the Dextrous' 101 AP. The Dextrous edges out in terms crit, but as a DK, the strength outscales it. So in this scenario, that shiny new ilvl 245 ring isn't an upgrade over that old ilvl 226 one.

Moral of the Story:
Be smart when it comes to gear selection. A few poor selections and and your itemization is all over the place. I tend to base my spec from my gear--so if I'm heavily ArP'd I go blood, if I find myself crit/haste heavy I go unholy (not to mention 4pc T9). Stat weighting is sure to change in 3.3, but the knowledge behind it remains the same. There's a reason why the games top players min/max, so choose your gear wisely.