News and Opinion

General news and opinion about WoW.

Achievement Tips: Arachnophobia

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Players are slowly turning towards Achievements to see where and how well they rank compared to other guilds around them. With that in mind, I wanted to offer a few tips on how to get the them. Most of these tips are applicable to normal or heroic modes.

Achievement Objective: Kill Maexxna in Naxxramas within 20 minutes of Anub’Rekhan’s death on Heroic Difficulty.

In other words, you have 20 minutes to clear out the entire Spider wing. So how do you make your raid leaner in terms of time?

Loot decisions

The clock starts ticking the moment Anub’Rekhan’s carcass hits the floor. Assuming you have 1 tank and 1 healer who do not need loot, they can jet out the door and start clearing the next set of trash. Ideally, players won’t need loot from Anub’Rekhan or Faerlina at all and the loot master can wire all items to the disenchanter so everyone can move on.

But that’s unlikely.

Faerlina

Have a Priest start blowing up the Worshippers. Yes, before she enrages. If you have every healer tasked to the main tank, then they should stay up. By blowing up Worshippers, you can save yourself precious seconds of DPS time.

Heroisms/Bloodlust

If you have two Shamans, you get access to 3 Heroisms. If you’re really good at timing, you can squeeze off one on Faerlina, one on the trash pull to Maexxna, and one on Maexxna herself.

Trash Pulls

There are a few pulls that you can skip. I know there are a pack of spiders that patrol up to the ramp that lead to Maexxna’s chamber. Time it right and you won’t have to deal with them. But if you have to take them out, try to slowly drag them up the ramp and kill them there.

Cooldowns

Speed is of the essence. Every trinket you have, blown. Every cooldown, used. Every nuke, critted. I spot the highest caster DPS on my active Recount and throw them a Power Infusion as soon as it is up.

If you can focus and channel your efforts, this will be an easy achievement to attain. Chain pulls are the order of the day.

4 Questions to Answer on the Respec Policy

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post detailing the freedom that players had in their own play. Reader Revaan wrote a series of questions that I wanted to answer but I never got around to it until now. I’ll divide that post into two parts: One with a direct Q & A to his questions and the second half with a more detailed thought process.

Q&A

Revaan: The debating about consequences of respeccing seems to make it clear that every guild should have a policy about respecs. Do you require approval from anyone? If so who?

Matt: Yes and no. Players are free to respec on their own time for PvP or just for general farting around. I impose no conditions on their respecs. When it comes to raids however, they’re required to go back to the original spec they asked to be in when they joined the guild. I’ll elaborate more on this later.

Revaan: Do you have some sort of trial period with the new spec?

Matt: I usually give it a raid. I’ll compare that day’s performance with data from past raids and see if there’s a significant difference. If both specs are about the same, it’s a wash. I’ll let them decide what’s better for their style of play.

Revaan: What if the chosen role is full?

Matt: Tough. It’s first come first serve, usually. If there’s a set amount of tanks and another player wants to go Prot, it’s highly unlikely they’ll ever get a spot unless one of the tanks decides to retire or spontaneously gets their account hacked. But that rarely happens.

(Actually, at the time of this writing, I just found out one of my main tanks had his account compromised. Go figure.)

Revaan: Are they first up if that role opens up or will the guild recruit and you need to compete with applicants?

Matt: Typically no. Players tend to have a certain amount of gear invested in them. For them to change roles like that is a messy undertaking for the guild because not only do we have to find a replacement for the spec they switched from, we also have to gear up that player again. It would be as if we were gearing up two players again instead of one. I would much rather recruit from outside but I will never say never. Situations like these are often resolved in a case by case basis.

Explanation

I don’t like asking people to re-talent themselves unless I have a very good reason to do so. I prefer to let players come to their own conclusion about what’s best for them.

Here is a list of the 3 goals for the 3 different roles in the game.

  • DPS: To deal an insane amount of damage
  • Heal: To heal or mitigate an insane amount of damage
  • Tanking: To survive an insane amount of damage

Respeccing within the role

Let me give you an example of a case where I approved a respec.

During the infant stages of Conquest when we were working our way through Naxxramas, we picked up a Rogue named Derek. He’s an extremely bright and skilled player. He wanted to try out a new spec because he had reason to believe that he could increase his DPS output.

I don’t know much about Rogues. But I figured I had nothing to lose. I was essentially trading a DPS spec for a DPS spec.

After the raid was done, I pulled up the Patchwerk notes for that day along with notes from previous raids and compared them.

Sure enough, Derek’s performance improved notably. It was partly due to gear and partly his style. But it seemed the spec helped a lot. Alas, from what I’ve been told, this upcoming patch may nerf it. You Rogues probably know what I’m talking about because I don’t know what I’m talking about. All I know is, he respecced and his damage spiked upwards.

Derek did an insane amount of damage before. After the respec, he did an insanely higher amount.

Allow your raiders to innovate and test new specs that allow them to excel at the same role. I had a Warlock (let’s call him Tom) who tried a new spec every raid for the first few weeks because he wasn’t sure what the optimum spec was.

What’s cookie cutter now could become outdated later.

As my former mentor Blori once told me,

There ain’t a problem in the world that can’t be solved without more DPS.

Inform your GM

Let your raid leader know. I guarantee you that they will generally be supportive (the good ones at least). Here’s the process:

Derek: Hey Matt, I’d like to respec.
Matt: Why’s that?
Derek: I think I can do more damage
Matt: Sure, go for it and let me know what you need.
Derek: Don’t forget to log me for Patchwerk so I can compare it to last week.

It’s that simple.

Respeccing roles

This one I am not as receptive as. A raid composition consists of a simple equation:

X healers + Y DPS + Z tanks = Dead boss.

By changing the equation, you risk rendering the problem unsolvable. A great tank does not necessarily make a great healer and you may find yourself short stacked on bosses from time to time.

It is an extremely tough sell to a GM. But that’s when everything is good.

On the other hand, if your raid has a few key role players absent, requesting a respec could end up being favorable.

If I’m short on healers and a DPS hybrid requests to go healing to help alleviate the stress, I am way more likely to approve it.

  1. Keeps the raid in house. I don’t have to outsource my important roles to trade chat.
  2. Solves a problem with little effort: It’s a good reflection on the guild member.

I guess my underlying philosophy towards respeccing can be boiled down to one line:

If it improves the raid group in any way, ask.

Image courtesy of marcello99

Healing Naxxramas – Sapphiron (10 man)

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You’re almost there. Get through Sapphiron, and Kel’Thuzad is next. I’ll walk you through what’s relevant and what’s not.

The position

As you run in for the first time, make a mental note to keep your camera trained on the animation sequence. There isn’t quite another boss in the game which has a similar or haunting experience.

Your tank should immediately run straight through Sapphiron and set up shop on the side opposite the entrance that you came in from.

I personally position my raid on one side. Pick Sapphiron’s left or right. For the purposes of this explanation, we’ll set up on the right (or north).

Phase one

Frost Aura – Everyone in the room takes ~1200 Frost damage per second.

Life Drain – A curse that will drain players for ~2400 health (Shadow damage). Sapphiron then gains about 5000 health every 3 seconds. 2 random players will get affected by it every so often.

Chill – Looks like a big Blizzard. A really powerful one. If you’re caught, you’ll take some big damage and your movement speed will be slowed.

Phase two

As you enter this phase, Sapphiron will start flying up into the air. Several things will happen:

Ice Bolt – He’ll fire off two Ice Bolts at two different players. Those players will turn into blocks of ice and become immobile. Any players within 5 yards of the Ice block will take significant damage.

Frost Breath – After the Ice Bolts are fired off, he’s going to drop a nuke that will deal lots and lots of damage.

sapphiron-iceblock

Wait until both bolts are fired before you move and start hiding behind them. Remember the Ice Bolt deals AoE damage upon impact. You don’t want to start grouping up together only to have the second bolt impale you and your cohorts, right?

Position yourself in such a way that the frozen player is between you and Sapphiron. Hide behind the block to avoid the insta gib that you’re about to take.

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Sapphiron will then land, and it’s back to phase one.

Rinse and repeat!

Execution

During phase one, your best friend is Prayer of Mending. Ensure that you’re firing these off as soon as you can. This is where the 2-piece Faith set really comes in handy due to the bonus (Your Prayer of Mending bounces an additional time). This will help against the whole Frost Aura crap that your raiders have to endure.

Against the Life Drains, task any player that can Decurse. This includes your Mages, Druids, and Resto Shamans. That curse has to fall off or else it will slow the kill down. This fight is a matter of endurance.

Keep an eye on the Chills that float around the room. Be liberal with your Power Word: Shield.

As you enter phase two, Sapphiron starts flapping his wings and flying. This is when you want to start falling back and spreading out. Top off as many players as you can. Wait for both bolts to land, then pick the one closest to you and hide behind it. Don’t stick around and wait. Use your instant spells to try and catch as many players as you can.

For the Holy Priests, slam your Circle of Healing. For the Discipline ones, Penance and Flash as much as possible.

Once the blocks shatter, resume phase one. Keep up what you’re doing, and you’ll end up in the clear.

Extra tips

Remember to Shadow Protect your raid.

Consider crafting around 2 Frost Resist sets if your healers are undergeared (or underperforming) to buy more time.

Potential exploit: I don’t know if this is intended or not and I’m not sure if it’s been fixed. But I’m saying it here so that I can raise awareness. During phase 2, players can run toward the back of the room onto the grated area. By standing there, you can avoid the Frost Breath that lands. Don’t even have to worry about using the blocks to line of sight.

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Battered Guildie Syndrome is a Serious Problem

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You might not have heard of this name. Although I’m certain you’ll have seen it in other players. Maybe you have even experienced it yourself.

Throughout this post, I will refer to Battered Guildie Syndrome with full caps in front as it deserves that sort of attention.

Let me tell you a story.

There once was a Mage named Miranda. She was one of the top spellcasters on her server. The guild she was in was formed like how most guilds are: A foundation of friendships. Over time, it expanded until the Argonauts had enough to launch 25 man expeditions.

This is the story of most typical guild startups.

Unfortunately, like most fairy tale guilds, there was a problem.

And that problem’s name was Larry the Stable Guy.

Note: The nickname was coined for his dogged insistence at watching Stables all the time so he could surf the net while everyone else did all the work. Sometimes he’d get so involved that he’d miss out on Horde players gaining possession of the flag from under him.

His tongue was so sharp and so smooth, he eventually worked his way to the top of the guild as an Officer.

Raids became more difficult. The atmosphere was loosening up. People weren’t hitting their tears. They were dying for stupid reasons and simply not doing what was expected of them.

But not for Miranda and her cohorts. She bought the best consumables and augments money could buy. If elite players had a spokesperson, she would be it.

Not everyone around her shared her attitude about trying hard. Why bother doing your best when bosses were dying anyway?

Slowly but surely, Miranda’s spirit and those of her friends were worn down bit by bit. Her friends couldn’t handle the atmosphere anymore. One by one, they said their goodbyes and left until Miranda was the only one left. By now, she was an Officer. The Argos had a large number of talentless players and bozos. Week after week they’d enter Naxx and continue to be stoned by Patchwerk. She was growing tired and increasingly frustrated.

One day, Miranda’s friend Faith contacted her to touch base and see how she was doing. Faith’s guild had cleared out nearly all the content Wrath had to offer. They had a starting position for a DPS caster and Faith happened to remember Miranda.

Faith practically begged and pleaded for Miranda to transfer over. These guys knew their stuff, he said. Their policy of progression is in line with yours, he argued.

But Miranda adamantly refused. She felt that she could still change the guild. Not only that, they depended on her too much. She felt she would have betrayed them had she just packed up and moved. Because Miranda didn’t budge, Faith eventually gave up and never talked to her again.

Miranda continues to feel weary and disappointment. She was in a casual raiding guild after all. But she wanted to do much more. Every time she felt like leaving, she just couldn’t do it. She felt an obligation to stay. She was afraid of the guilt that would’ve washed over her.

This is just a dramatic and fictional account of what a typical player with Battered Guildie Syndrome goes through.

Symptoms

How do you recognize a player with Battered Guildie Syndrome?

  • Inability to make a decision
  • Difficulty saying no
  • Obsessively sacrificing their needs “for the good of the guild”
  • Playing down guild infractions as nothing serious
  • Continues to go back to their guild despite wanting to leave
  • Frequently talks about leaving
  • A strong sense of loyalty
  • Personal goals do not appear to coincide with guild goals

Battered Guildie Syndrome is a very serious problem. It continues to ruin the lives and experiences of thousands if not more players to this day.

Treatment

Players at advanced stages of Battered Guildie Syndrome considered irrecoverable and untreatable. Treatment is a complete longshot at best.

For those in the early stages, a healthy dose of reality and a good wake up call have a 50/50 chance of working. Some studies show that applying a large amount of peer pressure is enough to cause players to realize that their guild isn’t working for them.

At this time, there is no known 100% effective treatment available to combat Battered Guildie Syndrome. The ability to logic and reason with the patient may have mixed results especially if their sense of reasoning is already damaged.

In the end, Battered Guildie Syndrome patients may end up continuing to be a part of their organization. Until treatment can be found, we have to face the fact that they may suffer from Battered Guildie Syndrome forever.

Image courtesy of hamma

Evaluating Healer Performance

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This is a guest post from Derevka who has been actively blogging on his blog Tales of a Priest. This post is in reply to Healing Meters Suck and tries to tie in some qualitative and quantitative healing performance analysis.

Healing Meters suck? I tend to disagree. Healing meters and WWS Reports provide an insane amount of information and value to a well educated healer.  But now where does that leave us? You have 11 healers signed up for tonight’s raid and only 7 healing slots available — or you have a new recruit healer and you need to evaluate how they are performing. What do you do? How do you go about evaluating healers in a world where the DPSers are e-peening over their DPS and Total Damage Done?

Nearly a year and a half ago, Priestly Endeavors did a post about measuring healer performance. This is a great post, and I encourage everyone to read it.  Perhaps it is time to reflect on what methods are best to evaluate a healer?

Healing Meters:  Recount & WWS

Gasp! Hiss! Boo! There is a lot more to healing than just meters, yes, but don’t forget there is a lot of very valuable information here. The trick is finding the best way for you to harness this data to evaluate yourself and your healing team and learn where can you improve. 

The first thing you need to understand about deciphering healing meter data is knowing the encounter that the data is from.  Looking at a Recount data from Malygos is going to heavily favor the COH Priests and WG Druids, thanks just to Vortex. (While post-3.08 that may change; I don’t think it will skew it that much). You always need to ask yourself "Does this fight heavily favor a specific spec/class over another?". If the answer is yes, you have to both qualitatively and quantitatively account for that information.

Finding out how much effective healing was done by Priest X using COH over other spells can be done in Recount and WWS.  If it is a fight that doesn’t have a ton of AOE damage, and a priest has 20% of the effective healing of the 7 healers, of which 70% was COH, you might have a performance problem here. 
Discipline Priests typically are low on the healing meters since PW: Shield, Grace, and Divine Aegis have no impact on effective healing. How do you evaluate a Disc priest on a numbers game in which they are at a disadvantage? However, with a bit of poking around you should be able to find some good data in there.  On a conceptual level, PW:S is the only spell in the game that guarantees zero "overhealing".

So dive into WWS information. Find out how many times that player buffed the MTs with PW:S then you can gauge the total "effective healing" those shields provided. (I know, not an exact science since you need to weigh in SP coefficients, did the whole shield get eaten, etc. But it does provide additional data that WWS/Recount completely disregarded).

Since we are playing the numbers game using meter evaluation, does that mean it is okay for them to be dead last on the meters with 3% healing done on a fight? Maybe… however, likely not.

Healer Focus and Assignments

Plain and simple: are your healers focusing on the task at hand? Are they sticking to their assignments and trusting their guildmates? Trusting your fellow raiders to do their job is key. You cannot be all things to all people. This often can be easily discovered if you see the healer switching to other healing assignments and slacking on their primary target. Great example would be Patchwerk. You have a healer who was assigned to heal a Hateful Strike Tank, they shift focus to try to get a heal on the Main Tank — BOOM! Your resident Enhancement Shaman eats a hateful strike and dies.

Also data lives on WWS that can also provide good insight, but again keep the encounter and assignments in mind! This report can be found in the "Who Heals Whom" section. The smaller the number the fewer the people that person healed. A high focus number can generally mean the person healed "randomly" and may have deviated from their assignment. On fights that have AOE damage or multiple targets assigned to the same healer, focus numbers can increase for certain healers. A great example is my guild’s Sartharion 2-Drake strategy:  We let the Tenebron’s whelps pop, and AOE them down (and usually have some AOE damage to the raid as a result), and send in a DK , DPS, and 1 healer to heal the damage for Shadron’s Disciple. That healer, typically has a higher than average focus. Again, it is all about knowing which fight you are analyzing.

Ability to React to the Unforeseen

This measurement is very subjective, and not numerical so it is often very hard to guage. When you see it happen, it is usually quite apparent. Sometimes a healer disconnects or dies mid fight, and you need to react. Good healers are able adjust when this happens, take adjusted healing assignments. Great healers excel in these situations. They thrive.

An example would be the healers for Lady Blaumeux and Sir Zeliek on Four Horsemen. Lets pretend one of your ranged tanks DCs. This healer quickly adjusts, calls out on vent they are now tanking Blaumeux (along with the other ranged tank) and spams heals on themselves until a new ranged player comes to replace them from the front group. No one else dies, as you get your shiny epics from the chest minutes later.
This measurement encompasses the "don’t stand in the fire" rule:  Situational Awareness.

Are you in  Sartharion’s Void Zone? Are you standing in Sapphrion’s Blizzard? Now these points, are easily counted.

The Death Test

Probably the easiest to check, but perhaps the most subjective of all. If your assigned target not die, you win. Generally, yes – but not always. You need to look at the bigger picture. Did they go OOM and another healer have to step up and do double duty? Did they lose awareness and chain a KT Frost Blast to the melee?
Evaluating healers is not easy. I am typically the one to do healing assignments, and often the officer to pass final judgement on a recruit healer.  When I say /promote or /gkick, or when I chose one healer over another healer when making up the raid roster for the evening, I often have a lot of math and though behind those decisions. Using WWS and Recount, as well as many subjective methods.

Ultimately your healing roster and performance is something that should be constantly evaluated. Finding out your flaws, and taking steps to correct them is one of the best ways to improve; diving into the details really is the best way to do that.

Further reading:

Matt wrote a Spiritual Guidance column on WoW Insider several months ago titled: Measuring a Priest. Several of those points still ring true today.

Image courtesy of danzo08