War-Crafting

Game mechanics, add-ons, play styles, guides, explanations and how-to’s.

1% wipes are not fun

by

We took on Leo yesterday and got him down to about 12% on the first try. Five straight attempts saw Leo float around during phase 3 between 15% and 1%. The last one of the night had him at 1% with two of our priests doing everything they can to kill him. Sadly, Smite rendered ineffective. Must make a note to Blizzard to buff Smite.

I have a sinking feeling that we could’ve killed the boss had I gone to repair when the raid leader called for it. But the only that was broken was my enchanted, gemmed T5 shoulders! SURELY it would not have made a difference between 1% and death! …Right? :O

Loot Management Week: The Ultimate Solution

by

I was drafted on Friday to compete in a CS: Source tournament at the VS Gaming Arena down here on Broadway. It was a great tournament and it’s an excellent LAN center which boasts 18 of the fastest computers I’ve seen ever. They also have an X-Box 360 and a Wii for players who want to have some fun on the console (Halo 3 anyone?). They’re one of the first LAN centers in Vancouver that I’ve heard of to have acquired a copy of Team Fortress 2. Anyway, after some last minute strategical work, we placed 3rd (Don’t be amazed, only five teams showed up). If I wasn’t play WoW and if I had a better computer, I would be doing this more often. Vancouver has a huge untapped LAN scene and hopefully VS Gaming will evolve into something big in the future.

Today’s piece is long and will bring all elements together for what I believe is the best possible answer to everything for a freshly formed raiding Guild where people may not be used to each other quite yet. It will cover a basic DKP system, discouraging DKP hoarding, and a loot hierarchy.

We’ve covered economizing loot items. We’ve covered player/loot discretion. Both have their strong points and their weak points. Now lets combine the two together and see what we can come up with. I’m going to use T1 and T2 loot as an example.

Effective DKP

Effective DKP utilizes the zero-sum DKP system along with an extra element: Attendance. A frequent complaint of Guilds is inactive players who attend raids sporadically. There is no consistency at all over their attendance. Effective DKP would help ensure attendance. In addition to the zero-sum amount that you would normally get from taking down a boss, an attendance percentage value would be added to help weigh what your final DKP total is. The formula would be the total number of points you have earned multiplied by the attendance rate over a period of time (60 days, 45, or 30 days) would determine the final figure. Choosing Effective DKP rewards players who attend scheduled Guild events.

An example would be Player A earns 100 DKP. However, his attendance has dropped to 40%. Player B has earned 40 DKP but has attended 100% of raids. Both players would effectively have 40 DKP.

Countering People Hoarding DKP

A controversial opinion has involved the use of a loot priority system by awarding members with items who have attained some important status. Players are hoarding their DKP in the hopes of utilizing it in later dungeons to acquire significantly superior loot. For example, players forgo their Tier 1 pieces in the hopes of skipping right to Tier 2. It is important to remember that the objective of the game: High end equipment allows completion of difficult dungeons. As they progress in difficulty, the items become superior to that of items obtained earlier.

An incentive that has been used in the past is to prioritize higher level pieces to players who already possess the initial high level pieces (ie, a T2 piece to a T1 player). Proponents of this system argue that in this manner, players will take their T1 piece n the route to T2 thereby helping the organization as a whole. Every piece no matter minor or trivial helps the team progress as a whole. Opponents of the system argue that this system, while forcing players to upgrade their initial gear, does not benefit the organization. This would concentrate items on specific players only. This system would gear out up a small group of players instead of the entire group. It would far benefit the Guild in the long run to have a player equipped with T1 and another player equipped with T2. In this manner, the potency of players has equalized to a similar degree. The success of players in a raid instance would not have to rely on one or two players who have received three epic quality items. It allows greater flexibility in player and class deployments to answer any threats or obstacles.

Another incentive to persuade players to take T1 items is to include a DKP reimbursement system. A player who takes T2 would receive a refund on the points used to obtain their T1 piece. In a sense, their T1 piece is received free when the player helps the organization. The economic benefits of this would be enourmous. Tier 1 items would help greatly. Not only does the system encourage people to take pieces, it allows other players a chance at earning T2 pieces who do not have T1. This is extremely important as it helps distribute both levels of loot accordingly.

Opponents of the system would argue that it would be unfair for older, veteran players if newer players who already have a T1 piece, come in and take advantage of the discounted price and reimbursement. There are several different methods to account for newer players. One way is to play such players on a lock where they will not be able to obtain any items for a set period of time unless other members of the Guild do not need the item. This way, points can still be accumulated but they cannot be spent. Once the period has expired, that player is allowed to compete for and bid on items.

Another method is to only reimburse players who have received items within that organization. Players already equipped with T1 upon membership would be required to pay the full upgrade price regardless. Both solutions help deal with newer players.

The Hierarchy

Finally, the third part in issuing and awarding items is to incorporate a hierarchal system. An example would be a Guild with three levels. The lowest level would have players start at the bottom with the low attendance or new Guild members. Although new members have a low chance of receiving any rewards, it is not entirely impossible. There is still a chance for them to receive items. The second tier would consist of long standing members of the Guild w ho have not distinguished themselves but their combined capability helps the Guild. Their presence has been steadfast and enduring. Their persistance has helped the Guild progress. The third tier would comprise of members who have stood head and shoulders above everyone else. They would consist of the leadership like class leaders or officers. These people are the backbone and spine of the Guild. The core players help hold the organizationtogether. Ideally, they would recognize the value of Guild progression and will not hesitate to pass gear to benefit the raid as a whole.

The proposal for a tiered level of loot priority would be structured so that the third level would have option first, followed by the second level, and then the first level. This helps ensure that new guild members do not simply join and then leave after receiving an item. But the most part, the third and second levels of membership would have equal loot priority.

Conclusion

No system is better then that of human discretion. Always use it. Different ways to handle loot are useful for different types of Guilds. Find out what works best for you.

Calling the Wipe

by

This is one of the toughest calls for any raid leader to make. But it’s one of the best ways to optimize your raiding time and not waste any more effort or consumables trying to prolong a fight that’s already lost. I know some of you may think “Never! No surrender!” but really, it is a futile effort if your MT dies or over 50% of your healers are dead, or some other crap hits the fan. I want to give an example of a wipe procedure since not many young Guilds have such a concept in mind. Many inexperienced Guilds will continue to engage to the bitter end.

Wipe Preparation

What, you thought Warlocks were only good for Healthstones and DPS? No, they have Soulstones which when applied to any player allows them to resurrect themselves whenever they like. If that player falls in combat when the entire raid is still alive, it’s best to blow it. When you are engaging raid bosses, operate as if you are not going to wipe unless it is painfully obvious. So again, blow the stone. If you’re the last man standing, don’t blow the stone.

Wipe Calling

I sympathize with the Raid Leader when it’s called. It’s not a very decision to make and a false call will involve a waste of over hundreds of gold in repair bills and consumables. The correct call will save time and allow for more attempts. Typically, your Raid Leader will announce a wipe. When that happens, the following should happen: Ranged DPS would run to a location where they can be easily picked up (Such as the Gate when engaging Gruul). Try to get a Priest, Shaman, or Paladin in that same position and have a Paladin use their Divine Intervention to render that player immune. Shaman’s have the ability to self resurrect themselves, but that is an ability which should be used if the other two options are available. If you want to be really crafty, get a Druid outside in a clear position from where he can Battle Res a healer. Generally that is not recommended since it can be put to better use during combat. But if you’re in a raid instance and mobs start to respawn in ten minutes, you may not have the time or energy to reclear it all. Make sure that healer doesn’t accept it until after the encounter is reset. The moment wipe protection is utilized, make sure it’s called in vent so that players know. If there isn’t one, the last thing to do is the walk of shame back from the graveyard.

So to summarize in the following order:

* Soulstone
* DI
* Shammy Res
* Fancy Druid maneuver

Post Wipe and Analysis

Your Stoned healer picks himself up and starts ressing other healers OR Your DI’d player clicks off the buff (debuff?) and starts ressing other healers OR Your Shaman activates his self res and starts ressing other healers OR your Battle Res’d Healer wakes up and starts ressing other healers.

See a pattern here? Let your tanks and melee run back since most of the time you won’t be able to pick them up without drawing Aggro. If you can get a player, call it out in vent so they don’t zone in and be forced to run the gauntlet.

As players are being ressed, buffed, and positioned for the next attempt, go over the encounter and figure out what happened. What is a badly timed misheal? A crit from a mage which pulled aggro? The tank not eat his Wheaties that morning? Figure out what the problem is and remedy it, or else it will happen again. Raid Leaders should not be afraid to reassign healers to different assignments. Some healers are better tailored for certain jobs then others. Maybe you want your veteran healers to focus more a bit on the clothies during some phase where they take damage (Mage tank in Gruul’s lair). Sometimes you need to mix and match. But more importantly, analyze what your mistakes were so that they don’t happen again. If the fault was the result of a player, don’t call it out in raid but allow them to speak up and take responsibility. It shows signs of maturity and trust. If no one admits fault but you know who it is, send them a light whisper letting them know that they forgot an assignment or made a mistake because some players just aren’t aware that did anything wrong.

Sometimes, I wish Blizzard would implement an Instant Replay function with speed up and slow down functions so certain phases can be analyzed.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, PvP Stories

by

I started to level a Paladin.

Yeah, that’s right, it’s my third healer (I have a 53 druid lying around somewhere too).

Herein lies the problem. I’m out in the middle of hell(fire) happily wailing away on random boars so I can treat their toxic carcass (worst quest ever by the way) into something purified. Then receive a tell being asked if I want to heal Ramparts. I’m thinking about doing it until something hits me: I’m Retribution specced. Sadly, I turn the poor chap down.

Well, here I am in a sort of catch-22 situation. There’s almost no chance whatsoever that I can heal Ramparts with a ret-specced pally without substantial healing gear. But at the same time, if I switch over to Holy it makes grinding quests and leveling way more difficult then it should be (I leveled Holy/Disc on my Priest). So here’s my dilemma:

I can spec Holy and simply instance grind my way up to 70 and do whatever easy quests I can do.

or

Stay Retribution and stay out of Instances altogether relying on drops from Quests or the AH to upgrade my equipment.

I’m quite glad with Blizzard’s decision to at least look at the possibility of adding an element of spelldamage to all of us +heal users. Even though we’ll go down, we’ll go down with the intent of delivering a bloody nose to that bastard warlock or sneaky ball-less rogue who ganked us healers.

When I was grinding my Priest to 70, I didn’t have as much runins with the Horde as I anticipated. I guess that was because there was a mutual ceasefire between the two sides as both factions wanted to rush to 70 quickly. Oddly enough, I was the first to hit 70 in my Guild. Now it seems all bets are off as both Horde and Alliance are hanging out in early leveling areas to take out their frustration on us low level guys.

Carnage has developed a healthy hate relationship with Sword of the Horde. My Guildmates were out in Thorium Point in the Searing Gorge just leveling up their Shaman Alts. A few SoH members arrive and a skirmish ensues. Both sides begin calling for reinforcements but alas, I do think the decision went to SoH.

A few days later, we caught wind that SoH was planning to engage Doomwalker! Oh how the WoW Gods must love us. For those unaware, Doomwalker is an outdoor Worldboss. Ner’Zuhl is a PvP server. It didn’t take long before a battle plan was in the works. We had a few observers out by Doomwalker over in Black Temple and sure enough, SoH members began trickling in. Immediately the siren was sounded and a wing of Carnage members in epic mounts in PvP took off from Shattrath to head straight for BT. There were only ten of us but that’s all that was needed. We had no intention of engaging them in direct combat. Sheer numbers would dictate that we would lose. Our goal was to disrupt and harass. All is fair in love and PvP servers after all. We were noticed by one or two members and they broke away from their main raid group to engage us. Bad idea. All of us swooped down, dismounted smoked the lone Shaman, mounted up, and orbited the area within a span of 7 seconds (1 second to dismount, 3 to kill, 3 to mount). I love surgical strikes! Of course, we did have our share of problems with accidental Doomwalker pulls (I forgot he shoots people out of the air). Decision to Carnage.

Just a few days ago, SoH must’ve still felt bitter over the events that transpired. They start harassing my Guildies Shaman alts yet again (now in Hellfire). They ran back into the second Horde town (blood elf town) in the area hiding behind the town guards thinking they were safe. Our guys hopped on their mains. If you’re trying to get at two Horde low level Hunters who think they’re safe behind guards, so what do you do?

AoE the town Guards. It was absolutely hilarious when I heard about it over ventrilo. I’ve always known Mages were powerful, but you really do not want to get on their bad side. Decision to Carnage on this one. My hats off to them, they’re a great sport.
Now I wonder if I’m going to get jumped when I’m out there leveling.

Rant: Raid Selection

by

BC raids mostly consist of 25 players. Gone our the days when one or two guys could sit in MC afk and accumulate DKP by wanding and not doing anything (Alterac Valley is a shadow of what it was like then). Most Guilds either have under 25 players and struggle to fill raid spots, or have over 30 players and are placed in an unfortunate situation where they need to choose.

Hockey teams are no different. The NHL season is starting up soon and training camps are underway. The point of the camps is to determine who gets to suit up for the big leagues and who gets to sit in the press box watching or play in the minor leagues. Players who are too lazy on the backcheck get released from camp.

As a Guild, you want to bring the very best possible players to your raid. How do you determine that? You could base it on gear, skill, talent, personality, and so on. But consider another point: consistency.

Players should be fighting over raid spots. I’ve seen lack of dedication and consistency mean the difference between a guild invite and a guild boot. What, I ask, is the point of being in a raiding guild if you don’t raid? Bloggers blog, runners run, beer drinkers drink, analysts analyze. You obviously applied for a raiding Guild with one purpose in mind: to raid. Would you want these kinds of players in your 25 man raid?

The Druid tank who decides to show up 30 minutes late and hold up the whole raid to finish up a non-heroic Merchanar.

The Priest who decides not to raid one day for some stupid reason and comes back the next day whining why he’s not allowed to raid.

The Paladin who refuses to raid with a “weak” Kara team because they can’t clear it in 3 hours.

The Rogue who is frequently AFK for a ready check because he’s too busy occupied watching Naruto reruns.

Seriously, who the hell are you people and why are you here? A better question is what do they all have in common? What one trait do they all share? They want better loot without having to work for it.

Thankfully, life does not operate that way otherwise Communism would have succeeded a long time ago. You need to earn the right to play. You have to compete to win. I’m very glad Blizzard trimmed the raid instances from 40 to 25 because it truly separated the men from the boys.

There are 25 raid spots that are open. Most guilds have 30 active players. Do the math. Some players will get the call up, some players will get benched. It astounds me how people expect a free ride. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch as my dad always told me. WoW is no different. I find it hilarious when players don’t want to do something when a Guild leader asks them to do it, and then begin to whine about not getting a raid spot. Well no kidding, moron. The boss doesn’t have a reason to. You were asked to be more responsible and you turned it down. You are aware of when the raid time is yet you make a choice not to show up. Do not be surprised if the next time you show up, you don’t get the invite. If you can’t handle something so minor why in Zeus’ name should you be given more responsibility that you clearly are unable to handle?

Performance and attendance is the key here, people. If you want to raid, the first step is to show up. You can’t clear Kara with 3 players (yet). I don’t care how geared you are. I don’t care how good you think you are. I don’t care how much you pay me. If you don’t show up once, you don’t get another chance. No I’m not referring to excuses with medical emergencies or academic reasons or what have you. Those are understandable. Sometimes life deals you a pair of Aces and you get beat with a Flush. These things happen. The important part is that you’re not afraid to buy in and ante up. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves.

Alain Vignault is the coach of the Vancouver Canucks. Last year he turned a struggling Canucks team at Christmas break into a Playoff contender. Why? Because he would start players that would perform and bring their A game. His philosophy is this: It doesn’t matter what name is on the back of your sweater, if you are there, you will see significant ice time. During games, he gave more ice time to players who he thought was performing. You see, he doesn’t play favourites. He plays whoever shows up.

Jeff Cowan, a 4th line grinder, got to play on the top line because he was contributed energy and his presence was felt.

Coach Vignault also won the Jack Adams award. That means he was widely considered as the Coach of the Year.

The next time you start your raid invite, pause for a sec and think to yourself if the names you want on your list are really the ones you want. If you’re a person whose sitting there scratching your head wondering why your Guild pulled someone outside into the raid of inviting you, it’s because you’ve proven to him that would not be useful in anyway.