Matticus from World of Matticus recently made a post where he confessed to a few mistakes (and evil deeds) that he has done in the past. He mentiones, for example, faking a disconnect by quitting Vent and stopping casting spells while he was the bomb on Astromancer Solarian, just because he was in the mood that day to watch everyone go flying. At the end of his post, he asked a simple question,
What’s the most colossal mistake you’ve ever made that you’re willing to admit to?
As soon as I read that question, one instance instantly popped into my mind. This story took place back in March, and my guild had finally reached 5/6 on SSC, and decided to start venturing into TK. We had already downed Void Reaver and Solarian before (putting us at 2/4), but we wanted to finally give A’lar a shot. My raid leader (and my guild leader) specifically requested I be there, as I had demonstrated by ability for being a good add courier the previous raid. I had given him my word. Additionally, I was a little bit behind the rest of the group in terms of gear, as I had been carried to the point where I was. Because of this, I needed as much DKP as I could possibly get.
Unfortunately, I had also just gotten a girlfriend, and it was one whom I don’t see very often. She called the day before the raid and told me she specifically freed up time the next day (the day of the raid) so she could come and see me. You can probably already see the problem I faced. You probably see two options here;
I, however, saw a third option. I spent most of the afternoon setting up WoW on my laptop, and arranging all my add-ons. The evening arrived, and my girlfriend showed up at my door. We went down to my basement, so we could have some privacy (and play with the Wii, which she was a huge fan of). Raid time drew near, and I opened up my laptop and logged in to WoW. Wanting to get the DKP for the night, I did something that was highly discouraged; I joined the raid group even though I wasn’t planning on raiding that night.
However, lady luck was not with me this night, and we were low on tanks, and my raid leader requested I go as our first off tank. I’ll spare you the agony of the whole situation, but I’ll highlight a few more interesting moments.
We wiped once on the boss due to our new warrior add tank having line of sight issues. The raid leader called for a 10 minute recess so we can all recollect ourselves. He took me into a private channel, and told me that he knew that I wasn’t giving it my all, and he had noticed I was in my kitty gear all along. He asked me if I wanted to stay in the raid and actually try, or take the night off (he was generous enough to offer me the night off without giving me a DKP penalty for leaving unannounced). I apologized to my girlfriend, ran to get a mouse (I was on my laptop, remember?), and turned on my music. Surprisingly, this is the one fight where I truly proved myself to the raid leader, and the rest of the guild. We all remember it clearly, because of one little thing that happened.
The way my guild does A’lar is to have two tanks leap frogging A’lar from platform to platform. We then have an add courier (my job) that grabs adds as they appear, and brings them to a fourth and final tank who’s sitting on the bottom floor “collecting” all the adds from the courier. I was already fairly well known from our last attempt a few nights ago, as I was doing my job perfectly, picking up the adds exactly when I needed to, and delivering them successfully each time. I was using my abilities intelligently, and I was positioning myself correctly.
However, it was getting late, and we were all a bit tired. Without realizing it, one of our main tanks (the guild/raid leader!) accidentally positioned himself on the platform in a way that he was out of site of the healers. He quickly died. I was nearby getting ready to pick up the add and noticed him fall. I used Feral Charge to get to the boss as quickly as I could, and positioned myself on the edge so the healers could get me. I tanked Al’ar right there the whole time, and the second he flew away, I threw a battle rez (without waiting for a proper brez request from the raid leader) to the fallen tank. I threw a healing touch on him, as well as a quick Mark of the Wild. I then shifted into bear and properly transported the add to our add collector. The tank was in position and ready to take on A’lar the next time his turn came around. That was the first time we downed A’lar.
Just goes to show you, you can completely mess up and let your raid down, and still end up on top. I wouldn’t recommend it though, ;)
While gearing up my Feral Druid, there was something peculiar that caught my attention. Keep in mind that other than that Kara run (which I was basically carried through, since my heals were insignificant at the time), I had yet to do a single instance. If I was a new player to the game, I would have zero experience with group dynamics, or working with a group at this point. I wouldn’t know the basics about waiting for the tank to get aggro, waiting for casters to get mana after a pull, or even what “marking” is. The idea of a “boss” would be something new for me, especially a boss with unique moves that I had never seen before.
This game almost forces you into groups if you want to get gear, so you don’t end up in a Kara group without knowing anything about running with a group. I remember grinding instances on my Mage to get minor upgrades, which affected my DPS and survivability so significantly. And gear that I couldn’t get in instances, I’d have to spend a lot of time working towards. I can’t even remember how many hours it took me to farm for just the [Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders], let alone the other two items in the set. And don’t even get me started on the primals needed for [Spellstrike Hood] and it’s companion. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of time and gold that went into powerleveling my tailoring up to 375 so I could make and use the full set. Now compare it to my druid.
I bought [Heavy Clefthoof Leggings], [Heavy Clefthoof Vest], and [Heavy Clefthoof Boots] from a LWer in Orgrimmar for 150g. I bought the gems ([Enduring Talasite] and [Solid Star of Elune]) uncut from the AH and had the guild jewelcrafter cut them for me. I spent a day doing AV for [Gladiator's Dragonhide Spaulders], and gemmed that up as well. Paid the guild LWer 10g for a [Stylin' Purple Hat], and he gave me 4 Heavy Knothide Armor Kits free. I hit him up a little later and paid him 100g for [Nethercleft Leg Armor] which I attached to the leggings. I bought [Braxxis' Staff of Slumber] from the AH for 30g, and I had [Dabiri's Enigma] from a Netherstorm quest that I stashed in case I needed a defense rating boost. I also grabbed [Strength of the Untamed] from the CE quartermaster. The rest of my gear was made up of random odds and ends that I had picked up while leveling or during my first Kara run (like [Bracers of Maliciousness]).
Without stepping into any instance, and without paying that much gold (<500g), I was already set with crit immunity, 14k life, and 20k armor self-buffed. I was basically ready for Kara. If you read my post from a few days ago where I talk about gearing up a new Druid, you saw that I could get a Druid to almost 17k health and 23k armor without even running a single normal instance!
It becomes increasingly interesting once you look into the respective play style of each class, and what’s required of them. I found that most of the time on my Mage I was spamming a single hotkey over and over, occasionally hitting another one to put it on cooldown, all while watching the DPS charts. Depending on the fight, I may switch target or move around a bit, but it all came down to spamming a button or two. On the other hand, my Druid required full situational awareness, and the ability to instantly react to a change in situation, whether that be a CC breaking that I need to pick up, losing aggro on a target, or even having to reposition or move around, based on the fight. I need to have my “oh shit” buttons ready, and need to be able to react to anything at anytime.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition, if you really take the time to think about it. The class that is simpler to play requires a lot more when it comes to gearing up, while the one that is harder to play and requires more attention (and, may I say, requires more skill?) and focus and reaction time, is significantly easier to gear in comparison. Hm… perhaps this is another way that Blizzard balances the game?
What do you think? Anyone else play any classes that they had an easy time gearing? Or the opposite, any of you found yourselves having to invest a lot of time towards gearing up your class? And how hard (or easy) would you say it was to gear yourself up? Share your thoughts in the comments, or in your own blog post (link back so I see it)!
The more I play a Feral Druid, the more I realize how much is different from the DPS role I’m used to. One of the things that really struck me last night when we were cleaning up Kara was the synergies between a Tank and people in other roles.
As a Mage in a DPS role, it was almost all about the charts. I’m not going to lie, but I considered myself an above average mage. I could not only bring the numbers in a raid, but I was also aware of the situation and reacting to what was going on (as well as doing my job). However, most of the time I was staring at the DPS meters and perfecting my timing of hitting my “3″ key. Every so often hitting another hotkey to start a cooldown. I loved healers who would heal me and keep me up when I took a random hit, and got slightly annoyed when I died and no healers were targeting me. In a few 5-mans, I admit, I even looked at the healer in the eye and said that I was watching their spellcasts and they weren’t even trying to heal me (which I really feel bad about now).
However, I now know what it’s like from the other side (DPS vs Tank/Heals). There is some sort of special connection that occurs between Tanks and healers that can’t quite be explained. And one that DPS classes can’t even come close to understanding. I’ve been leading Kara runs for a few lower geared people in our guild who are trying to work their way up to T5 (where my guild’s officially at) by organizing and running Karazhan raids. One of the people I help run through is a holy paladin, who often gets the assignment of healing me (the main tank).
When we’re all in the middle of the action and I’m hitting all my hotkeys and worrying about my positioning and what’s going on and just trying greatly to keep the boss pissed at me, and pissed enough that my DPS can unleash just that little bit more without worrying, I’m also constantly watching my health bear to make sure I hit that “oh shit” buttons when I need to. Being a tank means you’re a constant magnet for heals (obviously), but it’s still sends a tingle down your spine when you see your health bar topping off and noticing that one healer giving it their all just to keep YOU alive. It’s almost an instant friendship, and it’s hard to describe.
Since then this one holy paladin and I have become great friends, and I almost cheer to myself quietly whenever he’s assigned to be my personal healer in raids. I know I can trust him with keeping me alive, and I trust him to do his absolute best at each and every raid when he’s assigned to me. He makes sure my blessings stay up, and will put me before himself. Similarly, I offer him many liberties, giving him first priorities with Innervates (though as a Paladin he rarely has mana issues), and feeling a slight excitement when I’m the lucky one chosen to throw a battle rez his way. I also happily recommend him when we need another spot to fill a raid or a group. Additionally, when the shit hits the fan, I loyally run between him and oncoming mobs, and pick up whatever I can (at one time tanking 5 elite mobs in TK since our tanks dropped and they were running for the pally keeping me up).
So I must ask you readers out there; Tanks, do you notice yourself forming this kind of unique connections with healers? Healers, is there a similar synergy that you form with tanks? What about you, DPS, do you find yourself in a similar position as I was when I played my mage, or do you find yourself forming your own connections?
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