Matt vs Monique: Confessions from a Current ‘Core Raider

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A few days ago, Monique of Girls Don’t Game wrote a great piece detailing her illustrious history and experience in Death and Taxes. While there’s no way I’d be able to match up to her story, I do feel that I can share with you a few key points in my WoW career that shaped my path in a way that won’t come to an end like hers.

Casual times, hardcore philosophies

As a student that wants to succeed in school, I knew that I had to find myself a guild that raided often enough to get my money’s worth but didn’t raid enough so that I wouldn’t get left behind. A lot of guilds rate their ‘coreness’ by the amount of time they invest in raiding.

I didn’t want a Guild that would go from 6 PM – 12 AM. There’s no way I can sustain those kinds of hours. I wanted a Guild that had reasonable raid hours. I wanted one that wasn’t going to do more than 15 hours a week, tops.

At the same time, I wanted an organization didn’t slack off, that didn’t take a casual outlook on progression, and wanted to excel. I found such a Guild in Carnage. They share the same mindset. We all strive to be the best that we can possibly be.

If it weren’t for the fact that we raid such limited hours on a weekly basis, I have no doubt that we would be in Sunwell right now.

Lesson: The game can be addicting but only if you allow it. I was able to set limits on myself.

Blizzards Intervention

Monique’s story about the world dragons are something to be remembered. They could spawn at any time and players had to be ready to go at a moment’s notice. I’ve never been able to kill one. I’ve tried them several times but the group I was with at the time was never good enough. My group had to bow out to other Guilds that were capable of doing them. They respectfully gave us a few attempts. Quite courteous.

Blizzard seemed to say enough was enough. World bosses don’t appear to be a priority for them anymore since there are only two in the expansion: Doomwalker and Kazzak. I suspect we might not see any in Wrath at all.

Lesson: They smartened up here. It’s as if they don’t want players to overextend themselves too much and drop what they’re doing to go after these world bosses.

Monique’s story is an extreme one. I know if I tried and let myself go, I could easily turn into a player who sleeps when the world wakes up. I used to do that before during the summer months just participating in epic DoTA games. Sometimes I yearn to just go and do it. With 3 high level and well equipped healers, I’d have no problem getting into a progression Guild (especially with overpowered Resto Shamans in high demand). But I also recognize that doing so would conflict with my goals in the real world and it is not something I’m prepared to sacrifice just yet.

I love raiding! I love the thrill of killing bosses! It’s who I am and what I want to do. I may not be as hardcore as Monique once was, but I don’t fit in the average WoW player demographic. Because like Monique, I’m constantly pushing myself and constantly doing everything I can to become better within reason.

Introducing the Drama Advisory System

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From time to time, I’ll come across various pieces of drama on the forums or in my forays across the blogosphere. Everyone loves a good dramatic thriller, especially if it doesn’t happen to them or to anyone they know. It’s just comedy after that. I like to share them every once in a while, but no tale of drama is the same. Some of them might be relevant to some people. Others might not really care about the nature of what’s being discussed. Being inspired by the good folks at Homeland Security, I’ve created my very own drama advisory system! Before every story, I’ll prefix it with a rating so you can determine if it really is worth your time to read.

Bloggers, feel free to use this for your own purposes (feel free to wipe the link from the bottom if you like as well).

Summer Fun!

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Usually, I’d crank out a full-fledged post to tell you what to do, but I’m too busy having fun! So here’s the official press-release from Blizzard.

They’ve added a lot of fun stuff… so what are you waiting for?? Grab some matches, and GO PLAY!!

Update: There is neat stuff dropping off the new boss in Slave Pens – most notably, a very interesting new enchant: Deathfrost. That and the icy-theme of the gear drops seems to be a preview of things coming in WotLK.

Also, some people collect non-combat pets; I collect holliday outfits. I’m pretty pleased with myself this time around.

I decided not to go for the shoulders – I just don’t like how they look.

Luv,
Wyn

Rez Me First!

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….Or at least another Priest.

It could be a Soulstone, a Divine Intervention, a vanished Rogue with a pair of cables, or a clever Druid with a well-timed battle rez taken once the coast is clear. The idea is to save the raid the lengthy corpse-run, and to pick up and move on as quickly as possible.

Wipe Prevention – (n.) – \?w?p\ \pri-?ven(t)-sh?n\ – the concept of having at least one raiding member with the ability to Resurrect other members still alive after all other raiders are dead, and the boss or mobs have reset.

Because the entire purpose of wipe-prevention is time-efficiency, it has always frustrated me when the player charged with reviving the raid seems to have no concept of whom to rez first, second, or last. It gets worse when no one else in the raid seems to know what to do, either. After my guild’s last efforts in Sunwell, I decided to write a quick tutorial:

Always resurrect other rezzers first

This is the most crucial point, but even within this simple concept, it makes the most sense to pick some rezzers over others. Three classes have out of combat resurrection spells. Priests have Resurrection, which costs 60% of our base mana. Shamans have Ancestral Spirit which costs 72% of their base mana, and Paladins have Redemption which costs 64% of their base mana. It makes sense to pick up your Priests first, since they will be able to resurrect the most people without having to stop and drink. Remember that HEALER doesn’t necessarily mean REZZER. Druids can obviously not help here, but non-healing Priests, Shamans, and Paladins should. Don’t let them be lazy.

Personally, 60% of my base mana is 1,500. My Shammie brothers-in-arms’ rezzes cost as much as 3,000. I only have to drink to the point where I have 3,000 of my mana back and my regen will allow me to chain-cast rezzes without stopping until the whole raid is up. It makes more sense to pick me up than to pick up an ele shaman with only 250 mp5 and a 9k mana pool.

Resurrect raiders who need to do extra prep second

This means warlocks who need to summon healthstones and demons, Hunters who have to revive their pets, and buff-classes who will need to fill their mana in order to buff. (Mages, Druids)

Last are classes with little prep

Rogues who may need to apply poisons, non-buffing (usually feral) Druids, and Warriors.

Other speed-recovery pointers
  • Once their summoning duties are over, warlocks should drink to replenish their mana, rather than distracting the healers by life-tapping.
  • Group-Buffs should be done as soon as a given party is fully rezzed.
  • If one raider is doing the bulk of the rezzing, another member of their class should take over their buff-assignment (where possible), so they can drink and be ready to go with the rest of the raid.
  • All raiders who are NOT rez classes should eat their buff food and replenish their own mana as soon as they have been revived – this is not the time to take a bio-break or grab a snack.
  • One of the macros I posted in my UI series is my Rez macro. It casts rez, whispers the recipient, and plants a message in my guild’s healer channel to let them know my target. This avoids wasting time while two or three people try to rez the same target.

That can sound like a whole bunch of rules, but the underlying principle is very simple: Rez the people who can help get the rest of the raid up as quickly as possible first. Rez the people who need time to get ready second. Rez the people who need the least time last. You can save enough time this way to get in more attempts, avoid re-clearing trash, or keep a night of farm content from drawing out much longer than it should.

Luv,
Wyn

I Hate Unannounced MIA’s

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As I write this, I’m currently “borrowing” the internet connection of a neighbor. I wanted to update you all on what has been an extremely eventful (albeit fairly painful) week.

  • I injured my lower back earlier this week which had stopped temporary production of posts.
  • I received a text message earlier yesterday that knocked out my ADSL modem (cellphone, bad phone filter, etc.). A tech is being dispatched at some point later this afternoon or early during the weekend. Depending on how quick they can diagnose and troubleshoot the problem, I may not be able to make the WoW Insider show.
  • Wynthea’s boss doubled her work-load then went out of town, so she’s been out-of-commission.

Just wanted to keep you apprised. I haven’t quite disappeared off the radar yet.

On another completely different note, if you possess a router that has wireless capabilities, please do the following:

  1. Disable the wireless aspect if you don’t have any wireless devices
  2. Change your password to something that isn’t: password, admin, nimda, apple, your birthday, or your street address backwards.

All the best!
– Matticus