Guide to Healing, Leading, and Progressing in WoW Raids
Tonight Conquest is going to take a shot at Heroic Sartharion with one drake up. For those that have done it, I have a few questions to ask:
Good morning! It’s the sweet taste of school freedom for me (and the beginning of Winter’s Veil for all of us). Stealing a page from Anna and Wynthea’s deep thoughts (who has also been far too busy for deep thoughts).
* I finished out Sunday’s weekly Spiritual Guidance post. This week I wrote about the Circle of Healing nerf, some initial thoughts on it and how to counteract or compensate for it when the changes were live. Woke up to almost 60 comments and some of them are depressing. I’ve come far too close to calling it a career on WoW Insider too many times. But then I realize that the number of times the post is viewed versus the actual number of comments is like 0.5% (literally). There another Priest out there that wants to try their luck at it?
* On another note, to the guys that are speccing out of Wild Growth and Circle of Healing, are you sure about that? Like, there’s still going to be AoE raid encounters. If anything, they become even more important now than they were before. Every AoE healing spell from Chain Heal to the Holy Light Glyph to Holy Nova and such will have to be used. I can understand not using it if you’re not in a raid situation. But like, seriously? Everyone needs to pitch in now more than ever and if you’re going to drop them out of your healing lineup, I think you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
* Stick to your guns. If there’s anything school’s taught me is to always stand firm in what you believe in and take a stance. I’m inclined to respect someone more if they take one stance and stay with it. I wrote about it briefly on my Twitter this morning. It started off with a tweet from @ryannaka (WoW Twitterati, there’s another one for you to add):
@mattycus It seems you hit a nerve with that post [The Spiritual Guidance one]. The complaints in the comments section always make me lol.
And he’s got a point. I did hit a nerve. But I’m not going to argue one side and then double back and argue for the other. I’d rather pick a stance and stick with it and let someone else come up with the counterarguments. Fellow WoW Twitterati @roflwolf said it best:
@mattycus it’s the whole "non-biased opinion" thing. no one wants to pick a side because it’ll push away an audience.
So to all the aspiring bloggers out there, you have an opinion to write and a brain to help you critically think. Don’t be all wishy-washy and try to cater to everyone. Sure you might lose guys that don’t agree with you because they might unsubscribe and stop reading. But the ones that do are your real fans and they’re the ones that care about you the most.
Notable heated exchanges include the following topics:
“Greedo shot first!”
“No Han did!
“Dude, Picard saw FIVE lights!”
“Did not! He saw FOUR!”
“Vader would totally kick Arthas’ ass”
“Hello? Army of Stormtroopers versus Army of Undead? I think not!”
(I might’ve made up the last one but the others are true)
* I don’t care what anyone else says. 33/40 on a final exam worth 45% is NOT good enough for me. SIGH!
* I stopped putting up a Christmas tree when I was 12. I still have a pang of enviousness whenever I go to a friend’s house. Yeah, you know who I’m talking about. That friend. You know, that friend who’s decorated his entire house and has candy canes on the front lawn with enough lights to drain the power grid of Los Angeles? And they have a Christmas tree inside with loads of gifts and stockings over the fireplace.
But nah. I’m not bitter. Not at all.
* Speaking of Christmas, wow what is up with the mega commercialization of Winter’s Veil this year? Small Eggs are used in the creation of Gingerbread Cookies. And they’re on the Auction House for 15g this morning. FIFTEEN GOLD FOR AN EGG! What is up with that? Why are you sucking away the spirit of Winter’s Veil by marking up the prices of all this stuff? You’ve got players that just want to make some simple gingerbread cookies for Father Winter. And that can’t afford things like simple eggs! They just want to give it to him as a gift, that’s all!
Interesting how the virtual world can sometimes reflect the real, eh?
* Lots of emails for more Naxx guides. Seriously? WoWWiki and Boss killers have them way more detailed. I’m just giving you what I think is really relevant for healer material. Need some for Malygos or OS as well?
* Speaking of Christmas, some of you might be scrambling last minute to get gifts for that favourite geek in your life. If you need some help, feel free to take a look at my personal Amazon.com wish list. Some of it is Matt specific, but the rest should work for anyone else. There are some things not on the list that I forgot to add. It’s not all non-fiction books. Apparently there’s this series called A Game of Thrones
On the other hand, if you’d like to donate to your favourite WoW blog:
By the way, scratch Dark Knight off the list (Thanks Joyce!)
* Need to comb my hair before I take these shots especially on the sides. It’s all leaning towards my right.
* Shopping for women is hard no matter who they are.
* Need a suggestion for a good electric powered razor with a cradle and recharageability. I’m seriously getting one this year. excellen
* What the heck is this craze about this whole Twilight business?
Recently, reader Solarius wrote in with a question that I found so insightful and thought-provoking that I felt it deserved a whole post in response. In his own words:
I was wondering if you had any advice for players who are looking for a decent raiding guild – I’ve read your post on “How do I break into raiding?”, but there are also considerations, like how to recognize a good guild or know when its recruiting and so on. I remember back during BC when Karazhan just had i’s entrance requirements relaxed, and I had the hardest time finding even a Karazhan guild that didn’t either try to run with greens, or have an established cliquish environment.
While I admit I didn’t improve my equipment to the upmost (enchantments and non-green gems being the cardinal sins), I tried my best to be a better raider: I ran PuG Heroics for equipment upgrades, made and offered potions and elixirs, learned how to maximize my DPS rotations, and read up on instance encounters. I still never really made it past PuGing Karazhan.
Since you were writing about guild management and recruitment, I hoped you could cover the other end of the spectrum. As you’ve mentioned before, not everyone advertises on Trade (and I’ve regretted the three times I took those blind offers), the Realm forums can be sketchy, and sites like WoWJutsu are impersonal and lack contact information.
Solarius is absolutely right in that the question of finding a guild has two sides. Yes, players need to do everything that they can to “sell” themselves to the organization they would like to join. There is plenty of information available in the blogosphere, both on this site and elsewhere, about how to apply to a guild. However, how does a player find a guild worth applying to?
I’ve recently changed guilds myself, and you might say that I had an insider’s tip as to where to go, as I’m now raiding with Matticus (who, as I’ve said, is every bit as great a GM as he is a boss). However, I am confident that, if I had to find a guild with no personal connection whatsoever to me, I think I could sort the good from the bad. What would be my plan of attack, and even more importantly, what decisions would I have to make?
If you’re looking for a new guild, consider following these ten steps to virtual health, happiness, and phat loots.
Personal circumstances will probably decide this one for you. If there will be a lot of drama involved when you leave your current guild, a server jump can be a good way to get a fresh start. However, if you have friends and relatives on your server, and they’re not willing to move with you, you may want to stay. In many cases, this decision will be impacted by the overall health of raiding guilds on your server. If there are many active guilds that you wouldn’t mind joining, it could be a good idea to stick around the neighborhood. If your server’s too quiet, or if your faction is outnumbered or always loses battlegrounds, you may be happier with a change of scene.
What you’re doing is fishing for responses from guilds who are actively looking. If you’re staying on your own realm, make a post about yourself on your realm forum. Be aware that these posts can draw the trolls, but they will get your name out there. However, for a fairly troll-free place to fish, go to the Alliance or Horde Guild Recruitment Forums and place a thoughtful ad about yourself. Quality guilds will search these almost daily when they’re looking for new blood. I found Trinia, an awesome warlock and one of my favorite people in Conquest, that way. Watch to see who responds to your ad, and then research their organization before you take the next step.
If you’re staying on your own server, do watch that Trade Chat. Sometimes really good organizations will advertise that way. Write their names down, and whisper the recruiter for more information. If you’re thinking of a guild on another server, make an alt and stand in a major city for a while. Are they an active presence on the server? If so, do they contribute in a positive or negative way? This is far easier to do on your own server, where you are in effect listening all the time to how other guilds behave. If the guild recruits in trade, ask to talk to someone. That will be your best measure of what the guild is really like. I must admit, I judge guilds by their members, particularly their public interactions with others. Just one person spamming trade with obscenities will color my opinion of the whole group.
If you’re invited to chat or get on vent with a guild recruiter, ask questions. It’s not just about “auditioning” for this new person and proving how great you are. This is your chance to quiz them on the issues that are important to you. How do they distribute loot? How do longtime members treat new people? Is there any longstanding guild drama? What do they do when problems arise? These are tough questions, and you’ll be listening carefully to your recruiter’s responses. If she’s being evasive, take it as a warning sign. This interview is your opportunity to find out whatever you want to know–use it wisely.
Before you accept a g-invite, take advantage of any and all public information about them. Go to their website, and, if you can, make an account there. Read the whole thing if they will let you. If they are well-organized, the site will have at least some content. Raiding guilds tend to have fairly active websites. Watch for too much activity however. All guilds have drama, but beware all-out insult fests.
It probably already occurred to you to check a guild’s progress on Wowjutsu. However, I want you to go with a critical eye. Go through all the listings and find out what their gear distribution is like. How many players are getting geared up? Is there a lot of competition for your class and role? Do the officers seem to be getting everything? Wowjutsu doesn’t track everything, but you can pretty much count on guilds queueing up their loot from first boss kills. If the loot distribution is fair, you will see a lot of different names. In addition, Wowjutsu lets you see the grayed out names of players who have recently left the organization. A high proportion of these can indicate that your prospective guild has lost many members and is trying to rebuild.
In addition to the guild’s own website and Wowjutsu, I urge you to go to the guild’s realm forum and see how other guilds respond to them there. They probably have a recruitment thread up, and there are probably responses from players with other guild tags. If they have a good rep on the server, most of this commentary will be positive. If your prospective guild is comprised of a bunch of ninja asshats, the server forums might just clue you in.
A really good organization will let you try out–and even take loot. They will be proud of what they have to offer. Particularly if you’re on the same server, pug a 10-man with some of their members. If you like the personalities of the people you run with, talk to them more in-depth about the guild. Most people will be honest with you, and you’ll get to see their perspective on the good and bad features of the guild.
Remember, accepting a g-invite is not a lifetime commitment. If you’re unhappy, you owe it to yourself to seek your bliss elsewhere. Even if you server hop, you can change guilds again in a month. I am all for loyalty to an organization, but be sure it is a guild that deserves your allegiance. Be fair to your guild, and don’t expect perfection, but don’t be a martyr either. Happy hunting!
We took out Malygos. A job well done to everyone that showed up tonight.
With this kill, we now set our sights on Sartharion with 1 (maybe even 2) Drakes up.
It’s been decided that we’ll be looking hard at shoulder enchants and head enchants of all players who wish to raid. It should go without saying that players should already be working on the necessary rep on their own time. I’m extremely impressed with the quality of players and raiders. There is still room for improvement for a number of them.
Thankfully, my exams are over now which means I can turn back full time to the blog for the next few weeks.
Being the generous boss I am, I could give them the entire winter vacation off. I’ve got some ideas stewing around on assorted Post It notes. If there’s anything you’d want to read about or any questions you may have, make a comment here.
Yes, my thoughts on the CoH nerf are on the way.
This is a guest post from friend and bodyguard Cassio
I’m Cassio, I’ve been playing a rogue on Ner’zhul for the better part of three years so my area of expertise is something different then the writers here.
I’m a damage guy. I run numbers to figure out how to squeeze another one or two points of damage per second out of my rotation or how much I should weigh hit stat verses attack power or agility. So please understand that I will not be talking about the best way to heal a boss encounter. Most of the time I have no idea what a healer is doing in them since they are behind me somewhere. Instead, I’ll be trying to stay remotely within the sphere of this blog by talking about loot distribution.
With the changes that have been made since the release of Wrath, almost every spec to become viable for raiding. This means that some classes may be dipping down into gear that’s exclusive for other classes to use due to armor class restrictions. Boomkins, tree druids and holy paladins may start to want to take gear that all cloth wearers can use. The same goes for titans grip (TG) warriors and to some extent enhancement shamans and hunters with rogue/feral druid gear.
It is my opinion that this should be avoided whenever possible.
Taking gear from a class when it is all they can use and giving it to a class that is moving down armor types to pick up an upgrade might seem fine in the short term. However, it will hurt raids in the long term due to the limited upgrade pool available to classes who have no other option other than leather or cloth.
In my guild, I am currently the raid leader for ten man raids and it falls onto me to sort out loot distribution and how to do so without causing problems that could destabilize the raid group and force us back due to people leaving and having to replace with new people. The system I have worked out is part science and part art but the basics of it is to keep gear separated to classes that are restricted to their armor type before opening it to others. There are some exceptions, such as if the gear is only a miniscule upgrade for a rogue and a large one for someone else.
Weapons are handled by letting those that get the biggest upgrade from them roll, any two-hander classes have to roll against each other just as any one-hander users and casters have to roll against each other. So that means that ret paladins, TG (Titan’s Grip) warriors and death knights all have to roll against each other. This method relies heavily on the loot master knowing the different needs of the classes and where his raid members are in gear progression.
While I find that I can do this (with some help from officers and others outside my guild that know the other classes better) I would not suggest that anyone try such a method in a twenty-five man environment. Instead make your officers/class leaders do gear upgrade charts for your members and give the upgrades from the different raid instances a set value, making sure to include heroics gear where it applies, and then use that as a way to check which gear is a better upgrade for who. The higher the number the larger the upgrade, also there should be a method worked out to reward those that go out and craft or farm the gear for outside raids that will help you progress through the instances you wish to run.
While all this sound complicated it really comes down to the simple idea that each classes chances for upgrades is different. If someone needs an item that is all they can use, then this may be one of a limited amount of chances to get it. Someone that can use other armor has a larger pool of gear to pull from and so has better chances at upgrades.